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Showing posts from October, 2023

Unmasking Halloween: Exploring its Pagan Roots and Traditions

Halloween may be a secular affair today, dominated by candy, spooky costumes, haunted houses, and trick-or-treating  is a popular holiday, celebrated on the 31st of October every year, in many parts of the world. However, many people are unaware that the Halloween festival has deep pagan roots that go back thousands of years. In this blog post, we will attempt to look into the history of Halloween, exploring its ancient origins and examining the pagan customs that continue to influence the festival as we know it today.   The Celtic Festival of Samhain   To understand the pagan origins of Halloween, we must return to old Celtic rituals   Halloween, also known as "All Hallows' Eve," is thought to have originated from the Celtic holiday of Samhain. In Celtic Ireland about 2,000 years ago Samhain was a pagan religious festival that marked the Celtic New Year, the end of summer, and the conclusion of the harvest season. It also was the beginning of winter and the darker half o

Exploring the Talmud: Uncovering Its Views on Gentiles, Jesus, and Christians

The Talmud, a central text in Rabbinic Judaism, plays a pivotal role in Jewish religious law and theology. It's considered the cornerstone of Jewish cultural life and a guide for daily living. But what's intriguing is that the Talmud, written nearly five centuries after the time of Christ, holds critical and controversial perspectives on gentiles, non-Jews, heathens, and pagans.   To understand the Talmud's views, it's not enough to look solely at the Talmud itself. A more comprehensive perspective is gained from examining Jewish encyclopedias, which provide a summary of the many rabbinic statements on various subjects.   In the Talmud's discussions about Gentiles, the Jewish encyclopedia highlights a stark differentiation between Jews and Gentiles. According to the rabbis, only Israelites are considered full-fledged humans, while gentiles are often referred to as barbarians.   This perspective extends to legal rights. Gentiles, it was believed, did not have the sam

Unveiling Judaism's Hidden Insights: Unknown to Most Christians

Most Christians believe that the Judaism of the Old Testament is the same as the Judaism being practiced today. I beg to differ and will be showing you the difference in this blog post. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, the Jews were faced with challenges to their faith which they never faced before when in the 6th Century BC,  King Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah and led them (JEWS) to distant Babylon. Ever since the time of Solomon, Israeli religious practices; sacrifices, and rituals, centered around the magnificent temple in Jerusalem. While exiled in Babylon and far from the temple, the question now became how could one be a true Jew in a very foreign and hostile environment, far away from their Holy Temple. This  vacuum birthed a certain class of lay priests called scribes to interpret the law in this new Babylonian setting. Scribes were experts in the law of Moses;  and could draft legal documents  (contracts for marriage, divorce, loans, inheritance, mortgages, the sale