Happy Pentecost!

[hrmjustin]

In the Christian calendar it is the day we celebrate the Holy Ghost/Spirit descended on the apostles in tongues of fire 10 days after the ascension of Jesus Christ. Acts of the Apostles also says the Apostles were able to speak in many different tongues so that all people would understand them.

In the Jewish calendar it is the day they celebrate the giving of the Law/Torah to the whole congregation at Mount Sinai.

Happy Pentecost!!!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Tongues of fire is what you get from eathing Thai food.

Which, I suppose, is slightly less painful than great balls o' fire.

[DesertFlower]

2. even though i don't practice any religion

(former catholic) i wish you a "happy pentecost".

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. And here's a hymn appropriate for the day:

[hrmjustin]

5. I love it! This is one I love as well.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="

?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[femmocrat]

4. Thank you! I never knew what Pentecost meant.

[LostOne4Ever]

6. Happy Pentecost to you.

Happy Pentecost to you and though its a little over a month ahead of time, happy summer solstice to you as well!

[hrmjustin]

7. Thank you!

[HeiressofBickworth]

8. So THAT explains it

I wondered why some of the movie channels on TV were showing religious-themed movies.

[struggle4progress]

9. Let's not confuse Pentecost with Shavuot: the similarity, between the day-counts

from Passover to Shavuot and from Easter to Pentecost, clearly exhibits the Judaic roots of Christianity; but with the divergence of the traditions, Easter does not always fall near Passover so Pentecost does not always fall near Shavuot

If I understand correctly, Shavuot was celebrated in the middle of this last week (14-16 May) this year. But in 2008 (for example), Passover began the evening of 19 April so Shavuot began the evening of 8 June, while Easter was celebrated 23 March and Pentecost on 11 May

[rug]

10. Today's reading.

Acts 2:1-11

When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled,
they were all in one place together.
And suddenly there came from the sky
a noise like a strong driving wind,
and it filled the entire house in which they were.
Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire,
which parted and came to rest on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in different tongues,
as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven
staying in Jerusalem.
At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd,
but they were confused
because each one heard them speaking in his own language.
They were astounded, and in amazement they asked,
“Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans?
Then how does each of us hear them in his native language?
We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites,
inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia,
Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene,
as well as travelers from Rome,
both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs,
yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues
of the mighty acts of God.”

A momentary reversal of Babel.

Enjoy the day, yrm.

[cbayer]

11. Happy Pentecost to you, justin.

[moobu2]

12. There's no such things as ghosts or spirits - holy or not.

and people can not magically be made to speak different languages they never learned and the world was a much bigger place than the Mediterranean, right? I mean there were advance human cultures in South, Central and North America, Polynesia, Australia, The Far East etc... Taken literally the entire premise of the Pentecost is absurd. Where did this Ghost descend from, Heaven? Where is Heaven? How did people magically start speaking different languages and all languages at that? For any of this to have actually happened it would require violating the laws of nature. None of it could have actually happened the way the Christians believe it did.

The story is more likely an average astrological allegory about the constellation Orion descending and ascending which occurs in the exact same time frame. Thinking that this is just a made up story about a celestial event doesn't require any supernatural magical hocus pocus either. All advanced cultures developed complex allegory surrounding astrological events. That's all this is.

[rug]

13. So many questions . . . .

"At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were astounded, and in amazement they asked . . . ."

Granted, none of them asked, "Where did this Ghost descend from, Heaven?"

[Warren Stupidity]

14. Some of them asked, "WTF are they drunk or what?"

The Day of Pentecost

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans?“ And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born?“ Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others were mocking and saying, “They are full of sweet wine.”

Or a better question might be, "is this passage awfully convenient for the evangelists of this new religion attempting to claim it as universal to all people of the roman empire?" Did god forget the Chinese?

[rug]

15. Lol, yes, verse 13.

I am always surprised at how often expressions of incredulity pop up in the Bible.

As to your question, I don't think there were any Chinese people in Jerusalem during the Pentecost.

[hrmjustin]

16. Well we are all entitled to our opinions.

I take it literally.

[Warren Stupidity]

17. opinions yes, facts not so much.

There is no evidence for ghosts, spirits, angels, demons, gods etc. Believe all you want but please do not put your beliefs on the same scale as evidence based assertions and expect, in this forum, to have that go unchallenged.

[hrmjustin]

18. Challenge all you want.

[Warren Stupidity]

19. why? You will just get all upset and start complaining. nt.

[hrmjustin]

20. My complaints with you was the way you said things not your challenges.

I would not have posted it here if I did not want to be challenged. I am sorry that I bellyached in the other post.

[okasha]

21. The basis of all science is observation.

At least as far back as 30,000 BCE, humans have reported encounters with spirit beings of various types. Given that you can neither observe nor prove their non-existence, there is no reason for anyone but yourself to privilege your opinion. You are expressing opinion here, not fact.

[Warren Stupidity]

22. Well no the basis of modern science is not simply "observation".

Last edited Sun May 19, 2013, 10:02 PM - Edit history (1)

It is a process that produces testable, falsifiable theories, challenges those theories, demands that those theories provide predictable repeatable explanations of specific aspects of the natural world.

It has been known for quite a long time that observations alone are insufficient. The purported sighting of the holy ghost, whatever that is, reported long after the alleged incident, is not at the same level as, for example Darwin's Theory, or Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, or any of the other quite remarkable post enlightenment scientific theories developed in spite of religion's stifling effect on the advancement of knowledge.