Dr. Friedman,
>What surprises me is that Mr. Greene finds it offensive when a
>member of the minority objects when it appears that the majority
>is assuming that a mystical event in its own theology has
>applicability to other groups that reject the underlying premise
>of that theology.
Don't assume that you are the only minority that has even existed. It
was not your objection that I objected to, so much as the fact that you
flamed before getting clarification. I am fully cognizant of how one's
calendar shapes their view of the world, my main interest is in the
early Pascal controversies. Also as a Russian Orthodox Christian I am no
stranger to being in a minority, neither am I unmindful of how people
may be persecuted for their faith.
>Caedmon Greene is correct in that the Christian date has become
>accepted as a civil reference throughout most of the world. This
>is a practical accommodation that reduces the chaos in the world.
>What he seems to overlook is that the interest in the millennium
>is as a spiritual phenomenon.
Apocalypticism is not a spiritual phenomenon, it occurs all over the
place. And this present go around, it is not even necessarily a
Christian one. Day in and day out, people see the western calendar, and
they think, "2000, Gee that's a big number, it must mean something."
Never associating it with Christianity. One may be influence by a
calendar they do not use for religious purposes. Look at me,
technichally I use the Julian calendar, but I think of today as Mayday,
not April 17.
-Caedmon
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