Practice began in 4th century
Monday, December 15, 2008 1:12 AM PST
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Practice began in 4th century
A reader recently wrote that Christians have stolen holidays to create their own: Passover/Easter and Saturnalia/Christmas. In reality, many Christians still celebrate Passover as it commemorates the Lord passing over the Israelites upon seeing the blood of a sacrificed lamb smeared on the door posts of their house. This is a picture of Jesus, the sacrificial lamb who was crucified on Passover to take away the sins of the world. Moreover, Jesus was resurrected three days later, which is why we celebrate Easter near Passover.
On the other hand, many scholars believe that Jesus was probably born in the autumn, which would make the true miracle, God placing Jesus in Mary’s womb, occur in winter. What better time to send the light of the world, Jesus, than when the days are darkest and the nights are longest — around winter solstice. It is my understanding, however, that the practice of Christmas in December did not begin until the 4th century.
Lastly, it is dangerous to judge God based upon the actions and thoughts of people. Please consider carefully your eternal destination.
Dave Coons
Longview
Huge discounts
Sitting home with nothing to do, I decided to see what was for sale that I really did not need, but could not live without.
Many ads gave me huge discount, with 50 to 60 percent. What a buy. The ad said the regular price was $275, with a huge discount only $175. Again, what a buy. Then I saw another ad with very same article at the regular price of $165, but if you buy now only $155. I’m getting confused now.
Dress slacks with a regular price of $80, and with 50 percent off are only $40. Buy three pair for only $119.99. Shirts regular at $40, with 50-plus percent discount, only $18. Buy two at only $35.99.
I feel sorry for these stores giving these huge discounts, they may go out of business if they continue giving the stuff away. I then made up my mind to not buy anything to help them from going broke.
Arold Lien
Longview
Trespass is a problem
Each year, hunting begets a minority of slob hunters and trespassers around here. My wife and I own a small acreage farm where we are attempting to raise cattle and hay. Since 2002 we have had a fairly large elk population that comes and goes. This herd ranges from private property to property managed by the DNR. Our problems with trespass began when the DNR game department recommended that we allow hunters to help thin the herd and we agreed.
We were also informed that we probably would not have a claim for elk damages (elk eating our hay and tearing down fences) unless we did let hunters on, which we did. We have now posted and attempted to close our property to all hunting and trespassing, but some continue to ignore the signs. One of the trespassers who is known to us by name, along with a couple of his friends even went so far as to drive down the road shooting in an attempt to scare the elk off our property while another fired shots from the wooded area above that the field the elk were in. We are unaware of any elk were hit in the process but several were limping.
We called 911 and the DNR to report this incident. As of this date we’ve received no contact by either law enforcement agency.
Wayne Adams
Toledo
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