Society & Culture - 25 December 2006

2006-12-25 10:09:49 · 3 answers · asked by handyman 1 in Etiquette

So I'm watching Shindler's List on Christmas (I know, not exactly a festive uplifting movie for the holiday...but, eh, I like the film).
I realize a lot of people have asked whether or not Jews are a race and/or a religion. I've read them and they make various points for being a race or a religion or both. My question is WHY? Why do people who beleive in Judism and live in America or England for example, describe themselves as Jewish instead of American or English? (I realize not everyone does this) Why do you choose to identify yourselves as Jewish? Is there a Jewish law that states that you must identify yourselves as such?? I identify myself as an American (I was born here and I live here) or Minnesotan (eventhough I wasn't born in the state) if I need to get specific, (but I usually don't feel the need), I don't define myself by my spiritual beliefs (mostly because they can't be defined by any "set" religious doctorine).

2006-12-25 10:09:46 · 10 answers · asked by leckscheid 3 in Religion & Spirituality

Akashi is a name, and i want to find the meaning of this name. Can anyone help me?

2006-12-25 10:09:42 · 3 answers · asked by lil_sakura 2 in Languages

2006-12-25 10:09:31 · 11 answers · asked by Einstein 7 in Christmas

2006-12-25 10:09:27 · 3 answers · asked by silverleaf90210 3 in Religion & Spirituality

What was the reason for which he converted to Islam?

2006-12-25 10:09:13 · 14 answers · asked by fs 3 in Religion & Spirituality

2006-12-25 10:08:57 · 3 answers · asked by BRAT 1 in Etiquette

My mate is 27 years old, not bad looking or anything but is depressed, he has never had a serious relationship and is sad that hes is getting told and will end up alone, he belives he aint very good looking and but has a good heart, would never mess with a girl, or desrespect them, but hes told himself his destinty is to end up alone, single and depressed, his age people are all either married, kids, got bf's and gf;s and he is really low about this, he just cant seemto finda girl, i know he aint bad looking and ive seen many worse guys have a woman, even guys who play around have women, but my mate cant get girl, i knowq ma mate wud always respect a girl, love her, do anything for her, but hes told himself he aint good looking enough or smart enought to get annyone and hes always depressed, hes tried everything, going out places, not exactly clubs because thats not hos thing, but anywhere you can meet but says they dnt even look at him, what can b done, anything people?

2006-12-25 10:07:49 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Other - Society & Culture

2006-12-25 10:04:29 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Other - Holidays

2006-12-25 10:04:21 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Other - Society & Culture

and gather around the cake and put candels on it and sing happy birthday to jesus?

2006-12-25 10:02:13 · 10 answers · asked by maskmanmikep@verizon.net 1 in Other - Holidays

when giving birth to my son i had a realization .. what if the next life starts at the very moment you come out of the womb.. when people die they say that they see a dark tunnel and a bright light .. well what if that dark tunnel is the womb.. which would be dark. and the bright light would be the exiting of the womb. and people say they hear loved ones saying come on you can do it .. he/shes coming etc... etc.. well atleast think about it

-my friend john on ghosts
ghost are souls in waiting (purgatory)

2006-12-25 10:01:37 · 16 answers · asked by dustin s 1 in Religion & Spirituality

2006-12-25 10:01:20 · 5 answers · asked by forest lover 2 in Other - Society & Culture

Muslims believe in all three Mohammed (PBUH), Jesus and Moses......but Christians and Jews don't believe in Mohammed.. ..so where does it leave them if they ended up wrong in the afterlife? (serious answers please)

2006-12-25 09:59:38 · 19 answers · asked by bigboobsucker 1 in Religion & Spirituality

I NEeD SoMEONE TO TRaNSLATE A SONG FROM AFRICAANl language .
MDLWEMBE by Zola,from soundtrack of 'Tsotsi' the movie that won Oscar this year for best foreign movie

2006-12-25 09:59:11 · 2 answers · asked by TINAC 1 in Languages

Although dan browns the Davinci Code story was fiction but the facts were real. In dans Angels and Demons The illumanti don't exist but there symbols and heritage still live. Now I want to join because I believe what The Priory Know i want to know what they do. And I believe they could be a bit more harder to find than the secrets of The Free masons.

2006-12-25 09:57:58 · 5 answers · asked by corleymatthew 1 in Mythology & Folklore

2006-12-25 09:57:48 · 21 answers · asked by Little_asian_chick 2 in Christmas

case in point... this question....

2006-12-25 09:57:11 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Religion & Spirituality

I wanna tell you what kind of luck I've got. If this year I cornered the mistletoe market, they'd postpone Christmas.
Christmas: When you exchange hellos with strangers and good buys with friends.
Christmas is the time when people put so many bulbs on the outside of their houses, you don't know if they're celebrating the birth of Jesus or General Electric.


Do you know what it is like to put up fifteen hundred Christmas lights on the roof of a house? The kids are giving two to one I'm gonna come down the chimney before Santa Claus does.

Christmas in Los Angeles is always interesting. Seeing carolers dressed in Bermuda shorts...groping their way through the smog singing: "It came upon a midnight clear."

2006-12-25 09:56:35 · 6 answers · asked by lightsandaction 2 in Other - Holidays

Okay, this is an odd question, and I realise you can't really give me a single reply that will tell me how I feel, but I'm hoping that someone wiser than me will post something which will help me work it out for myself, or at least make it a bit clearer!

Basically, I'm seventeen years old and have always been attracted to both sexes. It's never bothered me, and at times when I was confused about my sexuality in early teenagehood (either liking only one or the other sex or both) I simply didn't worry - I felt I had no need to put a label on my sexuality, I'm young and it just doesn't bother me - I date who I want to.

However, I have been with my boyfriend for 18 months, and I'm hitting a problem, because... wow I really, really love him, and I'm aroused by him, but I don't know if it's more the idea that he wants me than that I'm turned on by HIM. I am also finding myself disgusted with the idea of men sexually... physically, it literally makes me feel sick!

2006-12-25 09:56:07 · 19 answers · asked by ihearttheheartless 1 in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender

2006-12-25 09:54:54 · 25 answers · asked by Anonymous in Religion & Spirituality

2006-12-25 09:53:26 · 17 answers · asked by Mr.C 1 in Religion & Spirituality

Yes...I see a rainbow on a car or something, I assume that person is gay. I think it will always be that way unless a major movement to defend a rainbows rights to be an independent party is initiated. I may be it's founder if you like...I'll keep us posted on how it goes. Good luck.

2006-12-25 09:52:17 · 9 answers · asked by Lee Edward 1 in Other - Society & Culture

I am an environmentalist and agnostic, but I come from a family of V-8 driving, 12 kid having, non-recycling, anti-environmentalist, fundamentalist christian rite-wing nut-jobs.

I believe in tolerance, so at family gatherings I always try to avoid the topics of the environment and religion, but inevitably they pick a fight with me. It goes something like this:

"God told us to be fruitful and multiply to replenish the earth, and god can't be wrong, so if you think there is a population problem you are brainwashed by the liberal-environmentalist agenda"
"We should just burn all the plastic if it doesn't decompose"
"The world is cleaner now than it was before because humans use machines to clean it up and develop the wilderness into useful land as god intended"
"It doesn't matter because god is going to cleanse the world with fire and take us all to heaven before the world is destroyed"

ON, and On, and on the ignorance flows until I can't take it. How can I NOT hate them?!

2006-12-25 09:51:24 · 12 answers · asked by Heather L 4 in Religion & Spirituality

The Tablecloth
>
>
>
> The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned
>
> to their first ministry, to reopen a church
>
> in suburban Brooklyn, arrived in early October
>
> excited about their opportunities. When they saw
>
> their church, it was very run down and needed
>
> much work. They set a goal to have everything
>
> done in time to have their first service
>
> on Christmas Eve.
>
>
>
> They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls,
>
> painting, etc, and on December 18
>
> were ahead of schedule and just about finished.
>
> ;
>
> On December 19 a terrible tempest - a driving
>
> rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days.
>
>
>
> On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church.
>
> His heart sank when he saw that the roof had
>
> leaked, causing a large area of plaster about
>
> 20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the
>
> sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning about
>
> head high.
>
>
>
> The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor,
>
> and not knowing what else to do but postpone
>
> the Christmas Eve service, headed home.
>
> On the way he noticed that a local business was
>
> having a flea market type sale for charity so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful,
>
> handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth
>
> with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross
>
> embroidered right in the center. It was just
>
> the right size to cover up the hole in the front
>
> wall. He bought it and headed back to the church.
>
>
>
> By this time it had started to snow. An older
>
> woman running from the opposite direction was
>
> trying to catch the bus.. She missed it. The pastor
>
> invited her to wait in the warm church for
>
> the next bus 45 minutes later.
>
>
>
> She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor
>
> while he got a ladder, hangers , etc., to put
>
> up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor
>
> could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and
>
> it covered up the entire problem area.
>
>
>
> Then he noticed the woman walking down the center
>
> aisle. Her face was like a sheet.. "Pastor,"
>
> she asked, "where did you get that tablecloth?"
>
> The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check
>
> the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were
> crocheted into
>
> it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman,
> and she had
>
> made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria .
>
>
>
> The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor
;
> told how he had just gotten the Tablecloth. The
>
> woman explained that before the war she and
>
> her husband were well-to-do people in Austria .
>
> When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave.
>
> Her husband was going to follow her the next week.
>
> He was captured, sent to prison and never saw her
>
> husband or her home again.
>
>
>
> The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth;
>
> but she made the pastor keep it for the church.
>
> The pastor insisted on driving her home, that
>
> was the least he could do.. She lived on the other
>
> side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn
>
> for the day for a housecleaning job.
>
> ;
>
> What a wonderful service they had on Christmas
>
> Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the
>
> spirit were great. At the end of the service, the
>
> pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door
>
> and many said that they would return.
>
> One older man, whom the pastor recognized
>
> from the neighborhood continued to sit in one of the
>
> pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he
>
> wasn't leaving.
>
>
>
> The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on
>
> the front wall because it was identical to one
>
> that his wife had made years ago when
>
> they lived in Austria before the war and how
>
> could th ere be two tablecloths so much alike.
>
>
>
> He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he
>
> forced his wife to flee for her safety and he was
>
> supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and
>
> put in a prison.. He never saw his wife or his home
>
> again all the 35 years in between.
>
>
>
> The pastor asked him if he would allow him to
>
> take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten > > Island and to the same house where the pastor
>
> had taken the woman three days earlier.
>
>
>
> He helped the man climb the three flights of
>
> stairs to the woman's apartment, knocked on
>
> the door and he saw the greatest Chri stmas
>
> reunion he could ever imagine.
>
>
>
> True Story - submitted by Pastor Rob Reid
>
> Who says God does not work in mysterious ways..
>
> I asked the Lord to bless you as I prayed for
>
> you today, to guide you and protect you as you go
>
> along your way. His love is always with you, His
>
> promises are true, and when we give Him all our
>
> cares you know He will see us through.
>
>
>
> So when the road you're traveling on seems
>
> difficult at best.. Just remember I'm here
>
> praying and God will do the rest. Pass this on
>
> to those you want God to bless.

2006-12-25 09:48:53 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Religion & Spirituality

2006-12-25 09:46:35 · 20 answers · asked by tulip 4 in Religion & Spirituality

10? 11? 12? How old should a child be before the parents reveal the truth about Santa Claus?

2006-12-25 09:46:04 · 18 answers · asked by Naviator 3 in Other - Holidays

racist thing you have ever experienced or seen?

2006-12-25 09:45:07 · 15 answers · asked by princezzjin 3 in Other - Cultures & Groups

He wants to put into practise what he preaches... the catholic church is one of the richest organizations in the world...i will not call it a church or anything spiritual. i don't want to offend the spirits. but he needs to grow spiritually and help thje poorer people of this world. and if i can add. if he followed jesus's teaching to the letter, the pope would not be sat surrounded by all the gold, money and othe extravagansas the vatican has....

2006-12-25 09:43:44 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Religion & Spirituality

2006-12-25 09:43:41 · 13 answers · asked by anglle 1 in Other - Holidays