Topic: Christianity

So, Let’s consider: Are we really thankful? 0

Posted by on in Christianity, Giving Thanks, Holidays, Thanksgiving



So, Let’s consider: Are we really thankful?

It’s the weekend after the Thanksgiving holiday. I’m sure that the stores are packed with all those materialists looking for the best sales of things that they think they need but haven’t got. I guess they call it Black Friday for a reason. Then there’s Cyber Monday when I’m sure the internet will be crammed with the same people buying yet more stuff they think they need. I’m reminded of the George Carlin skit on people and their “stuff” – I’m sure you can find it on youtube.

You really have to hand it to marketing types that excel at convincing people to part with their hard earned cash for things they really don’t need, or in many cases break out that well worn credit card for the same.

During seasons that have are being redefined by monetarization and gifting, do we ever get back to the real reasons for Thanksgiving? That of giving thanks.

Of all the holiday seasons, I find that I appreciate Thanksgiving the most. Unlike many other religious centric holiday seasons (Easter, Christmas, etc.), it’s one that actually has a solid base in actual history and fact. No, I’m not doubting the birth, death and resurection of the Christ child, but celebrating it on a formerly pagan feast for Nimrod or the winter solstice, etc, or His resurrection during the Feast of Ishtar are events that I personally find problematic.

I don’t think I have to recount the origins of Thanksgiving. It’s well known that it was a time when peoples of different faiths, nationalities, personal and social priorities, and many other diffentiating aspects of life, gathered together to give thanks. They gave thanks to each other, they were thankful for what they had, they were thankful to their God and his beneficence. It was a time of positive celebration, of coming together in commonness. It would appear they set aside what divided them and concentrated on that which unified them.

So, in this ever increasing materialistic centric world, let’s be reminded to be thankful for the simple things. For friendship. For freedom. For our country, and if you’re not a US citizen I would presume that you’re also thankful for things where you live and are from. For our God and his benevolence. For family. For the so many things that we’ve grown to take for granted as givens.

During this season, I would also invite you to extend your thanks to others that you may not even know. The homeless person on the street or local organizations that help others in need, and other peoples and groups. By helping them, you share the spirit of thanksgiving in ways that you may never realize or understand.

In these times of strife and mayhem, there’s so many reasons to give thanks.

Be thankful.

I’m Don Rima and that’s the view From Where I Stand.

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So, Let's consider: How can you have a safe online shopping experience during the holidays and the rest of the year? 0

Posted by on in Christianity, Christmas, Let's Consider..., Life, Prevention, Scammers





So, Let’s consider: How can you have a safe online shopping experience during the holidays and the rest of the year?

So, once again, we find ourselves in the last week or 2 before xmas and it’s time to hit the internet and see what we need to buy. Or, you could be one of the smart ones that is doing their shopping earlier to make sure that things actually arrive when they’re supposed to… Then again, you could be shopping in the middle of April for some items that you need and you want to make sure you’re not going to get snookered (yes it’s a word!) online by some nepharious website, pricing scheme, or some other schemer that isn’t in your best interest.
So, What are a few things we can do to having a fighting chance on the wild world web? Let’s take a look at a few:

Watch out for false advertising.

Does it sound too good of a deal to be true? It just might be. Also be aware of look alike web pages that are designed to look just like the real thing. Watch for subtle differences like name changes or misspellings and always be careful for being redirected to another web page when you think you’re buying from something authentic.
Look over the website carefully.

Only shop on secure websites.

By secure websites, I mean sites that don’t send all your information in the clear for everyone to monitor. A secure site’s url will begin with HTTPS:// ….not just HTTP://…. And, NEVER use your credit card on a site that isn’t using a HTTPS page nor give any of your personal information on a page that’s not HTTPS protected. If you’re not familiar with a site that you want to use, checkout their BBB profile at BBB.org.

Is your antivirus current?

If your antivirus protection isn’t current don’t even think of shopping on the net until it is. By not protecting yourself you leave yourself open to all kinds of problems from non-secured sites and those sites that love to go phishing for your personal information.

What are the return policies?

Frankly, there are those that will buy anything and everything on the net. Frankly, I’m a bit more picky. Especially for clothing, if I can’t see it and feel it and know that it’s going to fit I don’t want to buy it. This is one of the reasons I like JC Penney brick and mortar stores over anyone’s web page. And when I buy cloths or other things over the net, it’s because I know what I’m buying and it’s what I’m looking for.
BUT, not everyone is that hard core when it comes to buying stuff on the net and, face it, there’s going to be times when you either get the wrong stuff, wrong size, wrong colour shades, etc., or you just don’t like the damn thing and want to send it back! Make sure you can and how you can BEFORE you buy. Many major chains with a web presence will let you bring a return into the local store for return or exchange. Frankly, I really like this option. Yet for some others, you’re going to have to call their return center is some 3rd world country to get a return authorization and instructions…and hope you can understand what they’re saying.

Always pay by credit card!

Many issues and problems with returns can be easily dealt with if you paid with a major credit card. If the vendor isn’t responsive to your issues, just call the card company and talk to them about the transaction. It’s amazing how fast a vendor will return your call when they get a complaint from a credit card company, especially when they realize that their transaction is being canceled. Also, a credit card protects you from other fraud potential issues, currency exchange manipulations if what you’re buying is in a different currency than your own, etc. And I said CREDIT CARD….do NOT use a debit card or wire someone funds unless you REALLY know and trust the target. Getting problems fixed with those types of transactions can be a lot harder to do…at least to do to your satisfaction.

What’s the price and are there any special promotions going on?

Everyone’s going to claim they have the best price of the item because they want your sale. Do your own research. That’s what Google’s for! Further, it’s normal and regular for vendors to have seasonal sales, loyalty awards bonuses, etc. Look for them. When they exist, avail yourself of them!

Watch out for phishing scams.

These generally come in the form of unwanted or unsolicited emails sending you to a website that you may have never heard of. Caveat emptor! And, in a big way! Some of these may claim to have something free just for you, or have just what you’re looking for. BE CAREFUL. Search engines and web trafficking monitors can and do keep track of what you’re searching for and buying. This information is available for a price and it can and will be used in marketing schemes against you.
Be careful about unwanted phone calls from high pressure people that have exactly what you’re wanting. Especially if you’ve never heard of them and more so if they’re calling from off shore on a poor quality phone connection. Chances are their name’s NOT Joe and they don’t work for State Farm!

Those emotional appeals for donations.

Well, I’ve covered this before, but, be prepared for all those phone calls and the tonnes of junk mail from every worthy cause that thinks you should be donating to them. Frankly, I have my own list of charities that I support each year and I’m not opposed to adding to them if and when I find something I want to support. And, neither should you. However there’s a few things to be aware of:
Watch out for the hyper emotional appeals. These are intentional and designed to maximize your wallet emptying.
Does the charity disclose how it’s using your donations? If not, then don’t give them anything.
Watch out for charities that may sound like a well known and trusted one, but aren’t. Name similarities abound like apples in the summer, make sure you aren’t getting one with a worm in it. The BBB’s wise giving alliance (www.give.org) is one of many good places to start looking to verify a group you may not be familiar with.
Fortunately, the world is generally full of good people wanting to do good business and help their fellow man, regardless of the time of the year. Yet following that old Reagan adage of “Trust but verify” is always a good policy to have.

I’m Don Rima and that’s the view From Where I Stand.

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Happy Feast of Ishtar! Uh, I mean Easter… BRING OUT THE BUNNIES!!! 0

Posted by on in Christianity, Easter, Holidays





Happy Feast of Ishtar! Uh, I mean Easter… BRING OUT THE BUNNIES!!!

So I’m driving home today and standing there on the corner of the intersection is a group of people waving signs and banners inviting me to their church next weekend for Easter celebrations. The thing that was absolutely hilarious was that they also had a dancing bunny with them. YES, a BUNNY!

OK, you usually hear this around mid December – people talking about “the reason for the season”, but does anyone really study history enough to know the REAL reasons for any of these religious centric holidays?

Based on the Biblical historical record (and yes, I think it’s a correct historical record), Christ died and was resurrected during the last weekend of Passover. I think most of Christianity will easily agree with me on that. Uh, you may want to actually check your calendar or Google to see when that actually is this year…

Simply put: ACCORDING TO THE BIBLICAL RECORD: Christ died the Friday evening at the END OF PASSOVER! Uh, that’s the NEXT WEEKEND!!!!

Interestingly enough, the Biblical record makes no references to brightly coloured eggs or bunnies. So, what’s really going on here?

Well, like it or not, Easter is yet another pagan holiday season that Christianity felt it had to adopt for its purposes. You would think that Christianity would follow the Biblical historical record in celebrating the death and resurrection of their Saviour and celebrate it when it ACTUALLY DID HAPPEN – uh, that would be the last weekend of Passover.

But, the calendars tend to create a bit of a problem here. This year(2019) Easter and Passover actually happen on consecutive weeks, it’s incredibly rare for them to happen on the same week! Consult your calendar if you disagree with me. Sometimes the two events are several WEEKS apart! Gee! Go figure!

The Jewish calendar dictates when Passover occurs but, who and how do we determine when Easter occurs? Well, for that we need to look at the historical record.

In 325AD, the council of Nicaea determined that Easter would be the first Sunday after the first full moon, occurring on or after the vernal equinox. If that sounds like it’s more out of astrology than Biblical, well, it is. From then on, the date of Easter depended on the ecclsiastical approximation of March 21 for the vernal equinox. Hmmm….doesn’t sound like Passover to me.

Let me make this simpler, Easter is the Sunday after the first Full Moon occurring on or after the March equinox. Sounds more like a Druid event than a Christian one.

If we look further, we find that the term “easter” we find that the it directly refers to the mythical goddess “Eostre” – sometimes also referred to as Ostara or Ishtar. So, we’d be just as accurate to be saying “Happy Ishtar!”. Oh, by the way, her symbol was a bunny or rabbit because of the high reproductive proclivities of rabbits…and I’m sure you’ve heard several humorous analogies during your life.

Chances are the Germans brought us the colored eggs from their traditions, but then, there’s also the ancient Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex, yes Ishtar again, in which bunnies and eggs play a big part.

If you really want to dig deeper into this, you’ll find origins going back to Nimrod and his family as well. Interesting reading on a rainy afternoon when you’re really interested in finding out the real roots of how you got where you are now…not just what your preacher is telling you.

Christianity has a bad habit of attempting to sanitize old pagan and druid customs, rites and celebrations and attempting to make them Christ centric events.

But is this right?

Christianity could also declare the color green to be called brown…but would that make it right or better yet – correct?

Instead of celebrating the death and resurrection of the Saviour of mankind, humanity is more interested in eating chocolate bunnies. Just what are Christianity’s priorities?

Don’t you just love it when people let preachers tell them what to do and believe and don’t think for themselves?

SO, if you still want to continue to celebrate the old Babylonian and pre-Babylonian fertility rites and celebrations, GO FOR IT! Don’t forget your chocolate eggs, bunnies and viagra !!!

Have a great weekend and enjoy doing what bunnies do best!

I’m Don Rima and that’s the view From Where I Stand.

This Week’s Words Of The Day Can Be Found At

Word(s) Of The Day – For The Week Of April 14, 2019


This Week’s Thoughts Of The Day Can Be Found At

Thought(s) Of The Day – For the Week of April 14, 2019


This Week’s Quotes Of The Day Can Be Found At

Quote(s) Of The Day – For the week of April 14, 2019




Easter – What’s the real reason for the season? 0

Posted by on in Christianity, Easter, Holidays





Easter – What’s the real reason for the season?

OK, you usually hear this around mid December – people talking about “the reason for the season”, but does anyone really study history enough to know the REAL reasons for any of these religious centric holidays?

Based on the Biblical historical record (and yes, I think it’s a correct historical record), Christ died and was resurrected during the last weekend of Passover. I think most of Christianity will easily agree with me on that.

Interestingly enough, the Biblical record makes no references to brightly coloured eggs or bunnies. So, what’s really going on here?

Well, like it or not, Easter is yet another pagan holiday season that Christianity felt it had to adopt for its purposes. You would think that Christianity would follow the Biblical historical record in celebrating the death and resurrection of their Saviour and celebrate it when it ACTUALLY DID HAPPEN – uh, that would be the last weekend of Passover.

But, the calendars tend to create a bit of a problem here. This year Easter and Passover actually happen on the same week, but this is NOT case on a REGULAR basis! Consult your calendar if you disagree with me. Sometimes the two events are several WEEKS apart! Gee! Go figure!

The Jewish calendar dictates when Passover occurs but, who and how do we determine when Easter occurs? Well, for that we need to look at the historical record.

In 325AD, the council of Nicaea determined that Easter would be the first Sunday after the first full moon, occurring on or after the vernal equinox. From then on, the date of Easter depended on the ecclsiastical approximation of March 21 for the vernal equinox. Hmmm….doesn’t sound like Passover to me. Let me make this simpler, Easter is the Sunday after the first Full Moon occurring on or after the March equinox. Sounds more like a Druid event than a Christian one.

If we look further, we find that the term “easter” we find that the it directly refers to the mythical goddess “Eostre” – sometimes also referred to as Ostara or Ishtar. So, we’d be just as accurate to be saying “Happy Ishtar!”. Oh, by the way, her symbol was a bunny or rabbit because of the high reproductive proclivities of rabbits…and I’m sure you’ve heard several humorous analogies during your life.

Chances are the Germans brought us the colored eggs from their traditions, but then, there’s also the ancient Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex, yes Ishtar again, in which bunnies and eggs play a big part.

If you really want to dig deeper into this, you’ll find origins going back to Nimrod and his family as well. Interesting reading on a rainy afternoon when you’re really interested in finding out the real roots of how you got where you are now…not just what your preacher is telling you.

Christianity has a bad habit of attempting to sanitize old pagan and druid customs, rites and celebrations and attempting to make them Christ centric events. But is this right?

Christianity could also declare the color green to be called brown…but would that make it right or better yet – correct?

I’m Don Rima and that’s the way I see it, from where I stand.