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Tell HN: Merry Christmas

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401–410 of 478 posts

Re: Tell HN: Merry Christmas

#401

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Since I might have peoples' attention for a moment (Can no longer edit my original post). Might I suggest the King William's college quiz this Christmas? https://kwc.im/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/GKP_2025_26.pdf

[deleted]

Re: Tell HN: Merry Christmas

#402
Folks who have some extra time this Christmas, do check out the tv show Pluribus on Apple TV. It’s not your typical action packed sci-fi show but is very slow burning, philosophical kind of show which I found very smart.

Turns out my best 2 tv shows of last couple of years are on Apple TV: Severance and Pluribus

Re: Tell HN: Merry Christmas

#404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DOOM BSP (XMAS) TREE :p . * . (IDKFA) ---\ | /--- \|/ ( ROOT NODE ) ( Partition ) /`--...___...-`\ / \ / \ o--( Node 1 )--o o--( Node 2 )--o / Front \ / Back \ / | \ / | \ / o \ / o \ [SUBSECTOR] ( Node 3 ) [SUBSECTOR] | (Leaf A)| / \ | (Leaf B)| |_________| / \ |_________| [SEGS] / \ [SEGS] ( Gift ) [SUBSECTOR] [SUBSECTOR] ( Gift ) | (Leaf C)| | (Leaf D)| |_________| |_________| [SEGS] [SEGS]

Love the cheat code at the top

idkfa iddqd idspispopd

This is etched into my mind.

Re: Tell HN: Merry Christmas

#405

Folks who have some extra time this Christmas, do check out the tv show Pluribus on Apple TV. It’s not your typical action packed sci-fi show but is very slow burning, philosophical kind of show which I found very smart. Turns out my best 2 tv shows of last couple of years are on Apple TV: Severance and Pluribus

thanks for the recommendation

Re: Tell HN: Merry Christmas

#407

Merry Christmas, dear HN Community! Being super-lonely this year, I hope all of you are much better off than me - this year contained some catastrophic external events in my life, which led to permanent change on some "layers" of my live (not only material, but also in psy etc.) I hope the next year will bring the luck to re-align some things and bring them backs on the track, otherwise next year I will write the sam…

Merry Christmas to you. You are not entirely alone, in the sense that other people have gone through loss and hardship and have come out of it eventually, better, happier, and stronger. Also, there are strangers like me who wish you well. I hope that things will work out for you soon. For now, here's a warm greeting and a smile for you. :)

Re: Tell HN: Merry Christmas

#408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Weeks ago a local newspaper had the headline: "keep the big bang until later for your children, the bible is really a great set of fairy tales" Im not religious at all, actually "implicitly fighting against it", though I have to admit: This sentence made sense and Im thinking still until today about it, because actually I think its quite true - for smaller children, the storylines in the bible are much more "real" an…

If you think the Bible is childish, then I can only assume you've never studied it in earnest. These aren't fairy tales. They are a collection of books written in numerous styles and languages belonging to various genres drawn from many cultural contexts spanning thousands of years and whose canon was determined by the Catholic Church in the 4th century (most famously, at the Council of Rome when the 73 books were listed). Theologians, philosophers, and biblical scholars are deepening their understanding of this text to this day.

Just look at something like John 1:1: «In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.» Most adults aren't in a position to comprehend that, never mind a child. It is one of the most profound sentences ever uttered (those with sufficient philosophical and theological background might find this recent book on this topic of interest [0]). Or consider Exodus 3:14: «God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”». If that doesn't knock you off your feet, then you have not understood it. This is an incredibly sophisticated metaphysical statement, the meaning of which was unknown to the ancient pagans. (A good, short introduction from a philosophical angle can be found here [1].)

But more importantly, both you and the author of that article have committed a very basic category mistake. The Bible is not in the same business as the physical sciences. It doesn't answer the same questions. The Bible is not a scientific treatise, and the physical science are not a path to salvation from sin.

The Bible is also not a text of mere parables and life lessons. Indeed, this is one of those distinguishing features of Christianity that many fail to appreciate. In other religious traditions, it doesn't really matter where the truth claims come from or who said them. You could accept the claims without knowing or caring about the author. But you cannot do that with the figure of Christ. You cannot say "Oh, I accept the lessons of the New Testament, I think Jesus was a wise teacher. I just don't accept his divinity or the resurrection or the miracles or all that other stuff my bourgeois sensibilities can't stomach." Those claims that are uniquely Christian are about Christ and rooted in the authority of Christ. It is Christ who saves - a person - not knowledge, not some method, not a technology, but a person. Christ calls himself the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of all creation, eternal, the Almighty, and the source and completion of history and salvation.

That's not just some "fun" or "cute" passage. The point is that - if Christianity is true - it is through Christ that Man's relationship to God is restored and elevated. It is through Christ that man is ennobled. Man is invited to participate in his divinity, and unlike other traditions that maintain Man can attain divinity through his own efforts alone, the Christian says "no", it is not in Man's power to do that, to pull himself up by his own bootstraps; only God can do that, and the way is by answering "yes" to his offer, by cooperating with him so he can accomplish that divinity in us. To do that, God humbled himself through the Incarnation to share in our humanity: «the Word became flesh and dwelt among us». He entered the pathology and disorder of the world to liberate it from it, to be the path out of it.

That is what Christianity teaches. That is what Christmas is about. Either that is true, or Jesus was a liar or a madman. What he wasn't was merely another "wise teacher". Either Christmas celebrates this momentous historical event of the Incarnation, or it is ridiculous.

[0] https://a.co/d/1QtQWCP

[1] https://a.co/d/bSqgkXq

Re: Tell HN: Merry Christmas

#409

I became a parent of two this year and my oldest is now 3 years old. One of the greatest things in life has to be a newborn baby. And more than ever for me, it makes sense that the greatest thing would be if God came as a newborn baby. ¡Feliz Navidad!

Enjoy the journey, make the most of as much of it as possible. The present can feel as if it moves very slowly, but the future arrives incredibly quickly. My two are 18 and 16 and it feels like only five minutes has passed (I'm sure this is how you feel about the last 3 years). I miss their unrestricted toddler personalities, but I'm also incredibly happy and proud of who they've both become as, essentially, adults n…

Time flies by way too fast. But if you did good you'll get upgraded to grandparent!

Re: Tell HN: Merry Christmas

#410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Bible and the Big Bang theory are not mutually exclusive. The Old Testament is a very symbolic book and gives no specific details on how exactly the world was created, other than the seven days of creation. We know that the 7 days weren't referring to our current concept of a day. There's also no water above the sky. It was written like that, because it would be easier for people to understand. Science wasn't a t…

If we are free to interpret the Bible that way, does that mean the resurrection of Christ is also a metaphor? Maybe they just meant that he is alive in our hearts. What part of the Bible are up for interpretation, and what parts are considered to be fact?

Every part of the Bible is up for interpretation. Which parts you interpret as fact will depend on what worldview you're trying to justify (or which church you're trying to be a member of).
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