One at a time, here.

espeir wrote:

Jesus did not institute anything.

During the Lord's Evening Meal, Jesus said "Continue doing this in remembrance of me." Nough said.

espeir wrote:

I'm sorry, but it looks to me that you've decided to ignore the clarity of Corinthians I in favor of other passages that are frankly not relevant.

No, I was discussing Corinthians 1 along with the other principles found in the Bible. I believe that you were misapplying Corinthians, which I've stated several times, so I wasn't ignoring it. You, however, try to completely step aside the points I bring out.

espeir wrote:

Because, as I've already stated, it's not "mixed with paganism".

It's not? Easter - originally a Saxon word (Eostre) denoting a goddess of the Saxons The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible states that Easter was “originally the spring festival in honor of the Teutonic goddess of light and spring known in Anglo-Saxon as Eastre." the bunny - “Ancient pagans used the rabbit as a symbol of the abundant new life of the spring season. . . . The first record of the bunny as an Easter symbol is found in Germany about 1572,” says The Catholic Encyclopedia for School and Home. eggs - As An Encyclopedia of Religion, by Ferm, says: “Pagan practices were introduced into the Christian observance of Easter at an early age on account of the fact that the feast coincided with the beginning of spring. . . . At that season of the year, the New Year and the creation of the world were celebrated in ancient times by an exchange of gifts (Easter eggs) and by generous hospitality to friends, to the poor, and so forth.” Well renowned historians disagree with your statement that Easter is 'not mixed with paganism'. Even from the Catholic Encyclopedia. In fact, that last quote says "pagan practices were introduced into the Christian observance of Easter..." Slaughtering a lamb in the name of Zues would be mixed with paganism, so how is celebrating a resurrection in the name of Easter not?

espeir wrote:

You are claiming that the holy celebration of Easter is tainted with paganism and I'm calling you out as a bearer of bad fruit.

What would be the bad fruit I am showing? Is it because I believe that it is better to memorialize Jesus death as he told us to do in the scriptures

Wow.

espeir wrote:

It's a completely Christian celebration.

Tell me where in the Scriptures does it advocate the use of bunny's eggs, even the name Easter, which is of pagan origin, for the use of this COMPLETELY Christian celebration.

espeir wrote:

The spirit of the holiday is what matters. As we already know, the bible is not clear on many dates. You are not touching anything unclean when you worship Christ.

As the illustration was meant to point out, the origin of things do matter. It is the origin of Easter that makes it unclean, not the commemoration of Jesus death and resurrection.

espeir wrote:

If you strictly decide to attach religious celebration to certain dates rather than the spirit of the event, then you're endorsing numerology of sort. The point is to worship God...not dates.

True. However, consider. Jesus instituted the celebration of the Lord's Evening Meal, with the passing of the bread and wine, on Nissan 14. The passover had always been celebrated on Nissan 14, as God had commanded the Israelites to do, and the first-century Christians also observed this on Nissan 14. However, the importance is not worshipping that date, but what happened on that day.

espeir wrote:

You're intentionally taking that quote out of context to suit your own ends. That specifically refers to a single incident and a single group of people and it clearly says so, unlike the first Corinthians that specifically says how to deal with the beliefs of non-Christians.

No, I'm not. I am pointing to an instance in Israel, as actually there were many such cases. Israel fell to pagan worship many times. When a good king came to rule, or Israel turned back to pure worship, they cleansed the land of pagan worship. I did not say that this scripture is god's instruction to us on how to handle Easter specifically, but showing, by example, that this was gods view of things in the past. Malachi 3:6 says that God does not change. And Romans 15:4 says "For all things that were written aforetime [like, in the Hebrew Scriptures] were written for our instruction.

espeir wrote:

There's no need to go searching for passages and reinterpreting them to your own ends.

I didn't. But you did seem to want other scriptural backing, which

espeir wrote:

So then it is clearly stated that as long as we know the heart of what we in regard to idols, paganism, etc..., that it does not matter if we eat meat sacrificed for a pagan God as long as we are not pagans.

You are right about that quotation. It was refering to the Jews who would buy meat in the marketplace, but others would not eat meat at all because they were afraid it may have been sacrificed to idols. About celebrating Easter, however, the scripture does not apply. There was a difference between eating meat that may have been sacrificed to idols, and actually going and sacrificing to idols. It's akin to buying a bunny that may have been used in easter celebrations, and actually using that bunny to celebrate easter. There you would be taking an active part in the pagan celebration. If you need some scriptures that may be more clear, consider, Ephesians 5:10 tells us to "Keep on making sure of what is acceptable in the Lord." Thereby imploring us to really search out that what we are doing and believing is acceptable. But it seems you feel that the origins of holidays have little to do with how they are celebrated today. Do origins really matter? Consider: Suppose you saw a piece of candy lying in the gutter. Would you pick up that candy and eat it? Of course not! That candy is unclean. Like that candy, holidays may seem sweet, but they have been picked up from unclean places. We need the viewpoint of Isaiah at Isaiah 52: 11 "Touch nothing unclean." I don't see how it's unclear that 2 Corinthians says not to mix light with darkness, good with bad, pagan with Christian. According to those altars and celebrations in Israel that were pagan, the Israelites were told this at Deuteronomy 7:5,6 "On the other hand, this is what you should do to them: Their altars you should pull down, and their sacred pillars you should break down and their sacred poles you should cut down, and their graven images you should burn with fire." If the Israelites were supposed to tear down, not reuse but tear down, pagan altars and sacred pillars, wouldn't it make sense that we, too, wouldn't want to use pagan customs and traditions for Christian worship? Danny The stupidity of others amazes me!

Interesting. A few points:

espeir wrote:

but unless we practice those traditions with the intent of worshipping pagan Gods, then it is not pagan.

So, you're promoting a mixing of Christian and pagan traditions, though of course no longer with the intent of worshipping pagan Gods? 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 says "what fellowship does light have with darkness? Further what harmony is there between Christ and Belial... 'and quit touching the unclean thing'." Does it seem appropriate then to mix pagan traditions with true worship when the Bible clearly tells us not to? Would it make sense to buy a gift for your father that is decorated with things that you know he clearly hates? Also,

espeir wrote:

The rabbit may or may not have derived its fertile sumbolism from pagan traditions, but the fact that it was not used as a symbol for Easter until the 1500's (when paganism was no more) indicates that it does not have pagan roots.

Have you heard of wicken, taoism, buddhism, African tribal religions, etc., etc? There still is pagan religions out there, pagan meaning not Christian (or Muslim or Jew). In addition, the ancient Egyptian religions are dead (I think), but would you consider it right for me to take images of Osiris, Horus, or Ra and to name them for Christian Saints or Jesus and use them in my worship? Would that even make sense? These pagan 'gods' were held in opposition to the true God. Do you think He cares, then, whether the religions are still around? So what if the pagan religion that spawned the Easter bunny isn't alive anymore? Wouldn't God still find that pagan god just as offensive today? Danny The stupidity of others amazes me!

espeir wrote:

Are you that guy that sponsors those billboards that say going to church on Sunday is satanic?

No, sir. As I noted in my other posts, I am Christian. I just don't observe pagan practices and beliefs. I attend Sunday, and Tuesday and Thursday as well. I read the Bible daily and strive to apply it in my life. We are all imperfect, though, so I'm not trying to claim I'm better than anyone else. Just pointing out a bit of history. Anyone that is serious about observing a religious holiday, I believe, should be ready and willing to research that celebration to see if it really is in accord with their beliefs. Danny The stupidity of others amazes me!

espeir wrote:

I didn't say that, you illiterate retard. I said the claim that it was pagan in origin came up 20 years after you were born. The easter bunny has been around for 500 years. If it were pagan, it would have been around for 2000 years.

“Ancient pagans used the rabbit as a symbol of the abundant new life of the spring season. . . . The first record of the bunny as an Easter symbol is found in Germany about 1572,” says The Catholic Encyclopedia for School and Home. The Easter bunny has been around for 500 years, the fertility symbol of the rabbit has been around for much, much longer. So, yes, it is pagan. Danny The stupidity of others amazes me!

Andy Moore wrote:

In this case also the Christian celebration has replaced the pagan observances.

You think Christmas has replaced the pagan observance? In fact, December 25th was chosen, yes, because of the Roman festival of the Sun. The religious leaders adopted this festival and tried to make it "Christian". The pagan roots of Christmas have long been recognized and was even banned in England and some American colonies because of this. Not convinced that it's pagan? The first-century Christians did not, and would not have, celebrated Jesus birthday. His disciples likely knew that birthday celebrations were connected with superstition. For instance, many Greeks and Romans of ancient times believed that a spirit attended the birth of each human and protected that one throughout life. “This spirit had a mystic relation with the god on whose birthday the individual was born,” says the book The Lore of Birthdays. So the very celebration of his birth would link that celebration with pagan superstitions. Danny The stupidity of others amazes me!

espeir wrote:

Actually, as I stated, the Easter bunny is a recent invention:

Well, first I'd like to state that even if the Easter bunny was a recent invention or whatever, it's included as 'part of Easter' and yet has no basis in the Bible. My post you responded to was mainly about the choice of dates, which you had said were not known, or something, so dates of pagan celebrations were chosen. That in itself is tainting the celebration with pagan beliefs. But the dates are known, unless I'm misunderstanding what dates you are refering to. Again, see my earlier post.

espeir wrote:

Christianity is not tainted by pagan beliefs. That's just another angle of attack taken up by militant atheists bent on destroying the concept of any religion but their own.

First of all, I'm not a militant atheist. I am Christian. Second of all, I did not write that Christianity was tainted by pagan beliefs (though many of the different sects are), I wrote that the celebration of Easter is tainted by pagan beliefs. As far as Easter goes, The Encyclopædia Britannica says: “There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament.” Jesus instituted the commemoration of the Memorial of his Death, or the Lord's Evening Meal, which first-century Christians observed every year on Nissan 14. If you need it to be pointed out what some 'Christian' religions believe that is tainted by paganism, observe the following list. Note: I'm not trying to get into a doctrinal debate with you; any search of these subjects should show, however, the pagan basis for the beliefs. The Trinity - The Bible does not advocate a trinity of three gods as one. A man name Michel Servetus wrote "In the Bible there is no mention of the Trinity." The Jews understood God to be one God. (Deuteronomy 6:4) And Jesus taught the same thing. (John 5:19, for example.) The belief of the Trinity didn't enter Christianity until the Council of Nicea (sp?) I believe. It came from pagan religions. hellfire - In ancient Babylonian and Assyrian beliefs the “nether world . . . is pictured as a place full of horrors, and is presided over by gods and demons of great strength and fierceness.” (The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, Boston, 1898, Morris Jastrow, Jr., p. 581) Early evidence of the fiery aspect of Christendom’s hell is found in the religion of ancient Egypt. (The Book of the Dead, New Hyde Park, N.Y., 1960, wit

Michael Martin wrote:

f*** off idiot, the Easter Bunny frequented my place from the early 1970's.

Uh, if I'm reading correctly, he's not saying the Easter bunny did not appear before 1990, but that this certain legend regarding it did not. Danny The stupidity of others amazes me!

espeir wrote:

Passover is Jewish, but was celebrated by Christ (who was a Jew). Good Friday is the mourning of His death and Easter is the celebration of his resurrection. I think you're confusing the dates with the pagan nature of Roman holidays (an intentional confusion frequently done by militant atheists). The dates were chosen because they were not already known and previous pagan holidays already occurred on those dates. The commemoration has nothing to do with paganism.

Easter was chosen from pagan dates. Christ celebrated the passover (yes, he was a Jew) and instituted something new for Christians, the Memorial of Christ's Death. I don't know what you mean the dates were not already known. Jesus died on Nissan 14 of the Jewish calendar, the day of the passover. Nissan 14 corresponds to the first full moon after the Spring equinox which, on our calendar this year, was April 12th. Easter does come from pagan religions. The bunny was a symbol of fertility (don't remember from what religion right now). The eggs are also not Christian, etc. Is it really right to celebrate something that is tainted by pagan beliefs? I'll leave the answer to that to the reader. Danny The stupidity of others amazes me!

He sounds like a walking idiot contradiction. Danny The stupidity of others amazes me!

Wow! Amazing! Danny The stupidity of others amazes me!

Sorry, or SET SEL. Danny The stupidity of others amazes me!

There should be a SetFocus() function you can use. Danny The stupidity of others amazes me!

Thank you both. The other answers I've read were much more complicated, so much thanks. Danny The stupidity of others amazes me!

I've read a lot that to make your window non-resizable that you need to remove the WS_THICKFRAME style, but I can't find here on Code Project, or MSDN, really how to do that. Can someone help me out? Danny The stupidity of others amazes me!

Marc Clifton wrote:

"But what IS truth? Not easy to define! We both have truths! Are yours the same as mine?" - Pontious Pilate, Jesus Christ Superstar

First of all, your quote is a twisting of what was actually written in the Bible. Jesus had told Pilate "You yourself are saying that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, that I sould bear witness to the truth. Everyone that is on the side of the truth listens to my voice." Pilate responded simply, "What is truth?" - John 18: 37, 38 Jesus didn't answer probably because Pilate was really not looking for an answer to that question. But Jesus did say in a prayer to God earlier in the book of John: "Sanctify them by means of the truth; your word is truth." - John 17:17 So if you're really looking for an answer to that question, 'truth' is God's word. (I don't know how this applies to the original post. I didn't read that long message.) Danny The stupidity of others amazes me!

Stan Shannon wrote:

So religion gets all the blame for that? There were no other political, economic, social forces at work aside from religion?

Not sure. Guess there could have been. The point I'm sure you got was, they were all done in the name of Christianity. Ghandi is claimed to have said, "The only people on Earth who do not see Christ and His teachings as nonviolent are Christians."

Stan Shannon wrote:

Example?

I don't have evidence here I can give you over a forum, but how often have you heard the phrase "God bless the troops". This doesn't only happen in America. And some church must be supporting the wars. How many Chaplains are on army bases or on Navy ships? Also, a specific war I remember reading about it World War II where Hitler had bishops or priests blessing the troops and so did other countries. Danny The stupidity of others amazes me!

Jeff Brickley's comment was way off because he missed the whole point that it's religion that provides the reason for the Muslims that strap bombs to their backs, whereas most if not all of the things Jeff talked about did not have anything directly to do with religion (I think :-O) But much of so-called Christianity has given us things like The Crusades, The Spanish Inquisition, and they even bless wars in modern times. Okay, but the same religion blesses the forces on both sides. Danny The stupidity of others amazes me!

Dan Bennett wrote:

Maybe it confuses you but it is an example of evolution - whether you like it or not. Changes do not have to result in speciation to be evolution.

Not an example of evolution by the dictionary definition and the type of evolution as taught in schools (macroevolution, as some like to call it). One thing I've noticed in your speciation article is that life always came from other life, not from non-life. I also noted that too often a hybrid produced infertile plants and such. However, I don't have the biology background to directly refute all claims in that article, especially since it did not go into much depth.

Dan Bennett wrote:

What I find strange about ID supporters is how much effort they put into proving the theory of evolution wrong.

As far as I remember, I was not supporting that ID should be taught in schools as science, but objecting to how evolution is taught. And people claim that if ID was right, God left no evidence, but there is evidence of God not only in nature but in the Bible, miracles performed by Jesus, etc. But I don't have the energy today to get into that debate.

Dan Bennett wrote:

Wouldn't providing evidence of ID would be a better use of their time?

And, as you may know of proofs from geometry or such high school classes, If there are only two or three options, and all but one of the options are disproved, the remaining option is accepted as true. It's called a proof by process of elimination. So there is some sense to disproving evolution while backing up ID. Danny The stupidity of others amazes me!