Weird Christmas text message on horus and amun-ra

[Ma.Eugenia]

I texted a friend Merry Christmas last night…and got a weird message about (Dec. 25) we celebrate the birth of horus …and something to do with an amun ra.

Who on earth is horus and amun ra?..what are they suppose to do with Christmas?

I tried to believe that he might be saying a joke…but I did not see any “ha-ha” written at the end to indicate that he was joking!

I felt that it was a bad thing trivializing the importance of Christ’s birth to us.

He gave a a black cup with a red middle and my name written on it…I thought it was an odd color to give to a female friend…I am a bit hesitant to use it after receiving that text message…which totally weirded me out.

Should I be concerned or am I putting too much thought on nothing?

 

[ZDHayden]

Horus and Amun-Ra were gods in the ancient Egyptian Paganism. Some people seem to be opposed to celebrations such as Christmas as they see a similar celebration in pagan religions. I do not know how to advise you, since I’d probably be “weirded out” myself.

 

[ohioszo]

Your first reaction was that it was odd? Or was it that you received a gift from a friend? If you do not like the gift, just pass it along, by way of charity. If it is truly ugly, I don’t know if it is such a good gift. Trust your conscience, as they are to be a little suspicious of the friend’s motives.

 

[puzzleannie]

I texted a friend Merry Christmas last night…and got a weird message about (Dec. 25) we celebrate the birth of horus …and something to do with an amun ra.

Who on earth is horus and amun ra?..what are they suppose to do with Christmas?

I tried to believe that he might be saying a joke…but I did not see any “ha-ha” written at the end to indicate that he was joking!

I

this person chose to return your friendly greeting with a display of “knowledge” at the expense of showing disrespect to your religion (I assume as a friend he knows you religion). That type of person is not a friend. We don’t send and received texts or participate in social networks, real or virtual, with non-friends. Nor do we accept gifts so if you want to keep it you will have to tell him your friendship is conditional on mutual respect.

 

[Ma.Eugenia]

Hi everyone!

Thanks for your replies.

The exact text message went like this…

Thing is, this friend of many years, as far as I know is Catholic, though last time I saw him was more than a year ago.

In praisIe of Horus whose birth we celebrate today we say amen.
In praise of amun-ra, Happy saturnalia!

Some say (I am not sure if its true) that the message may be satanic, Is this true?

He might have just passed on the the message to me …the black cup was probably his idea of an elegant gift…I might be wrong to assume bad intent…or that he had somehow become part of a cult or something. I want to help him if he needs help…but I don’t know where to start.

 

[ConstantineTG]

Is your friend in any way Iglesia ni Cristo? Many anti-Catholics take that against us that Christmas, being celebrated around Winter Solstice, is also the source of many pagan worship, including births of pagan gods. Christians placed the birth of Christ this day to replace pagan worship with true worship of the true God. Its no secret that we are unsure of the actual date of the birth of Christ, but by replacing pagan festivals with Christian ones, people who have converted to the faith in the past can continue to celebrate on the same day, but this time the center of their celebration is Christ.

 

[seeker57]

What he said wasn’t satanic, but it did refer to the Saturnalia, which was a Roman celebration of the rebirth of the sun. It was one of many winter solstice observations in ancient times.

I am not aware it had any connection to Horus, or other ancient Egyptian deities.

Maybe your friend was pulling your leg.

Seeker

 

[Farsight001]

Hi everyone!

Thanks for your replies.

The exact text message went like this…

Thing is, this friend of many years, as far as I know is Catholic, though last time I saw him was more than a year ago.

In praisIe of Horus whose birth we celebrate today we say amen.
In praise of amun-ra, Happy saturnalia!

Some say (I am not sure if its true) that the message may be satanic, Is this true?

He might have just passed on the the message to me …the black cup was probably his idea of an elegant gift…I might be wrong to assume bad intent…or that he had somehow become part of a cult or something. I want to help him if he needs help…but I don’t know where to start.

You should respond by pointing out that Horus’ birthday was on the 21st and Saturnalia coincides with the solstice, which was the 22nd(?) this year, so he’s 4 days too late on his celebration.

There is an unfortunate myth out there that has shown up all over blogs and youtube and even found its way into Bill Maher’s “documentary” Religulous that Jesus never existed, but is rather a copy of previous mythological deities and Christmas a copy of past pagan celebrations. There is no historical merit to it, but that doesn’t stop people from perpetuating it. I always found it odd that the story is so popularly promoted by atheists who sometimes mock Christians for lack of evidence, only to throw their desire for evidence entirely out the window for this claim. Your friend, IMO, wasn’t just being funny or quirky, but was full on mocking your faith and insulting you - which seems odd for a friend to do. Maybe someone else had a hold of his phone at that moment?

 

[PbloPicasso]

Perhaps you should treat it as making a wise crack and take a chance with a smart, but funny, reply…depending on how well you knew him. I have a friend that does stuff like this and makes every conversation very awkward. Needless to say we’re not very close. If you want to challenge him in a fun way ask him “are you celebrating the world of pagan worship now? ” I think you ought to assume that since he was Catholic the last time you spoke he should know better and by witnessing to him in a funny way you may dispel all suspicion or at least get clarification and then realize the limits of your friendship in question now. If siding with a cult like Roman ritual that may approach pagan worship you are making it clear that God is on your side and that you politely reject his believe and that he is now apostate, not just a heretic. I mean no disrespect by the choice of these terms but simply to make it clear that sometimes friends choose not to be friends. Someone said a similar thing to me on MySpace once and I knew they were being hateful towards me because of our last conversation years prior when she was a practicing Catholic. Just an idea to offset the awkwardness of it. Hope you figure it out.

 

[OrdinaryMelkite]

Hi everyone!

Thanks for your replies.

The exact text message went like this…

Thing is, this friend of many years, as far as I know is Catholic, though last time I saw him was more than a year ago.

In praisIe of Horus whose birth we celebrate today we say amen.
In praise of amun-ra, Happy saturnalia!

Some say (I am not sure if its true) that the message may be satanic, Is this true?

He might have just passed on the the message to me …the black cup was probably his idea of an elegant gift…I might be wrong to assume bad intent…or that he had somehow become part of a cult or something. I want to help him if he needs help…but I don’t know where to start.

From the tone of it, it was probably being “smart-aleck” and “clever” in tone.

Horus and Amun-Ra were indeed Egyptian deities. And Horus was indeed born on Dec. 25th according to some Ancient Philosophers and Occultists. Infact, there were several Prophets/Deities in Religious History who were (coincidentally) said to have been born on Dec 25.

The MAIN Person your friend should have mentioned was Mithras. He was the Roman Sun Prophet/God whose Cult was extensive during the Empire. In fact, a Huge portion of the Army was composed of Mithraists. They were characterized by Secret rituals and Mythology that sort of parallaled the life of Christ (Miracles, Teachings, etc.). His Birth Date was Also Dec 25 and the Main Date for His Nativity Festival. The Saturnalia was also a Festival—honoring Saturn—that happened around that time. It was sort of associated in some ways with the Mithraic Festival.

Nowhere in the Bible does it say WHEN Christ was born. Most assume it was later in the year because of some details in the Nativity Stories in the Gospel.

However, after Christianity finally gained ascendancy in the Roman Empire, the Powers That Be wanted to find ways to discredit and usurp the Old Pagan Religions in Favor of the One True Faith—so one of the things they did was declare Dec 25 to be THE Date of Christ’s Birth. By doing that, they offset and “discredited” one of the Main Religions of the Empire and established that Date as a Day of Worship and Celebration for the relatively New Faith—and it has been so ever since.

Most Christians I know have no problem with it-------- Even after finding out for the first time about it. I personally see as a triumph of Truth over Lies.

I think your friend was basically being a Smart-A-s and being Sarcastic. OTOH, He could have been “for real.” He could have been basically saying, “Look, Christianity is not a Legitimate Religion because the Birthday of Christ was Actually/Really stolen from the God of another Religion.”

A lot of New Agers and Deniers throw out that kind of line. Don’t fall for it. The film Zeitgeist also threw this out there. Don’t buy it.

What I would do is give your friend the benefit of the Doubt and ask for clarification of the Text’s “Intentions.”

 

[Publisher]

I usually return the greeting of “Merry Xmas” with “Happy Holidays”…those times around the winter solstice are “sacred” for various traditions…one of my Neo-pagan friends sent me a “Happy Solstice” card…I think giving your friend the benifit of the doubt is the best plan…take no offense where none was intended…he returned your greeting with one of his own…did you expect him to honor your religious traditions at the exclusion of his own?

Don’t know of course…but if he has “Neo-pagan” leanings…he may have been simply responding in the “religious tradition” he was comfortable with…in much the same way you sent a formal greeting which included YOUR religious tradition.