Halloween and Christmas confusion

[Mikey]

Why do Engineers get Halloween and Christmas confused? Could it be that OCT31 actually equals DEC25? Now that is SCARY !!

[phkrause]

Why do Engineers get Halloween and Christmas confused? Could it be that OCT31 actually equals DEC25? Now that is SCARY !!

[Mikey]

A Hint is the number systems we use.......

[phkrause]

I'm still lost. :(

[Mikey]

OCT is Octal base 8 and DEC is Decimal base 10...... any help now?

[fccool]

LOL, Mikey. You are a GEEK! :)

[Mikey]

Sorry Engineer / Geek as Octal base 8 is 31 or (3)(8) + 1 = 25 as Dec is also 25..... I told you it was scary from the beginning.... now everyone knows why there is so much confusion at the end of the month.

[Dottie]

I wasn't confused, but I sure am now...

[Bravus]

Let me try my hand at an explanation: Geek Man to the rescue. ;-)

Our number system is based on 10 and is called 'decimal'. Reading from right to left, the first column is 1s, then 10s, 100s and so on. Each column is 10 times the previous column.

It is possible to use a number of other numbering systems. Computers use 'binary', where each column is 2 times the previous one.

A system in which each column is 8 times the previous one is called 'octal'. The rightmost number is still 1s, but then it's 8s, 64s, 512s and so on.

Now, the joke treats December 25 or Dec 25 as though it meant 'decimal 25'. Since decimal is our normal system, that's just 25.

It treats Oct 31 as 'octal 31'. There is a 1 in the 1s column and a 3 in the 8s column. So 3x8=24, plus 1=25.

Therefore decimal 25 and octal 31 are the same number.

Yes, it's engineer humor.

[Dr. Shane]

U make things so simple. U must be a gr8 teacher.

[M. T. Cross]

See this is why I am a musician. You count to 4 and start over. Its so simple

[Dottie]

Bravus, thanks for your explanation. I didn't even know it was a joke, even though I had some study of different number systems in college.

[FLO]

HEY ALL

I was going to say that both HALLOWEEN AND CHIRSTMAS

or both pagan holidays

Halloween honors the devil and spiritual world

Christmas honors false worship

so now you have the rest of the story

dgrimm60

Well said!

Samhain (aka. Halloween) and Yule (aka. Christmas) are some of the most important days on the Devil worship calendar.

They are actually called Sabbats on the Wiccan "Wheel of the Year".

I'm sure Satan laughs out loud when people celebrate Christmas and think that they are actually worshipping the true God.

“The LORD your God will cut off before you the nations you are about to invade and dispossess. But when you have driven them out and settled in their land, and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, "How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same." You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates.”

- Deuteronomy 12:29-31 (NIV)

If you want to worship the true God, then find out how God actually wants to be worshipped. The Bible is a good place to start (see Leviticus 23).

http://www.yah-tube.com/videos/rood/1_rood_tradition/index.html

[Dr. Shane]

I'm sure Satan laughs out loud when people celebrate Christmas and think that they are actually worshipping the true God.

I don't know if Satan laughs or not as we open our Bibles and read the story of the first advent and sing nativity hymns.

[FLO]

Originally Posted By: FLO

I'm sure Satan laughs out loud when people celebrate Christmas and think that they are actually worshipping the true God.

I don't know if Satan laughs or not as we open our Bibles and read the story of the first advent and sing nativity hymns.

That depends on when and how you do that. If you do it on Christmas day at the foot of the Christmas tree, he's laughing real hard. He's not scared of people opening their Bibles if they don't follow God's instructions inside of it. Especially if they're doing exactly what God asked them NOT to do. The bible is just a piece of leather and paper if you don't pay attention to what it says and follow the instructions contained within its pages. The power of the Bible comes when we pay attention to what it says and follow God's instructions, then Satan isn't laughing at all, that's when he gets scared.

[Dr. Shane]

That depends on when and how you do that. If you do it on Christmas day at the foot of the Christmas tree, he's laughing real hard.

Since God told me, through His servant Ellen White, that celebrating Christmas with a Christmas tree is OK, I don't think Satan is laughing when I open my Bible and read the nativity story to my children.

[Neil D]

That depends on when and how you do that. If you do it on Christmas day at the foot of the Christmas tree, he's laughing real hard. He's not scared of people opening their Bibles if they don't follow God's instructions inside of it. Especially if they're doing exactly what God asked them NOT to do. The bible is just a piece of leather and paper if you don't pay attention to what it says and follow the instructions contained within its pages. The power of the Bible comes when we pay attention to what it says and follow God's instructions, then Satan isn't laughing at all, that's when he gets scared.

Where again is that verse that says "thou shalt not celebrate Jesus' birth"? I have misplaced that book of the bible...

Now, I have read where wisemen celebrated Jesus' birth by giving presents to His parents....now, if wise men celebrate Christ's birth , then it follows by corollary that those who are not wise, do not celbrate Christ's birth....

I'm just sayin'......

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

Samhain (aka. Halloween) and Yule (aka. Christmas) are some of the most important days on the Devil worship calendar.

They are actually called Sabbats on the Wiccan "Wheel of the Year".

People have funny notions about Wiccans. They are not Devil worshippers. They worship the goddess (of their choice) and are basically nature lovers, though some *can* be rather treacherous to deal with. Wiccans are not the only witches around. There are many varieties. Some actually practice what they call "white Magick" - a combination of Christianity and Magick. I know of SDA's who do this. But Magick is NOT Christianity in any of its forms. Magick derives its power from Satan, even though those who use it will usually and consistently insist they do not worship Satan. Debatable.. **shrugs**

Halloween is, in English, "All Hallows Eve"...the evening before "All Saints' Day"...

There are 4 important sabbats for those who work Magick. Samhain is, arguably, the most important, because that is when the "veil" between living mankind and the spirit world is the thinnest and most easily a go-between between the living and the dead (the spirits, however, are not those of the dead, but those of Satan's minions).

Yule is not December 25. Yule is the winter solstice, usually on December 21. It is important to witchcraft because it heralds a new beginning, a new birth, of nature's cycle.

Interestingly, when I was a student at the Austrian SDA seminary (Bogenhofen) the men came over to the women's dorm area on Walpurgisnacht (April 30), the eve of Beltane (May 1), another important sabbat. The purpose for the men to come over was to hit (and I mean, "hard") all the girls they could find, using switches from trees. It was said that the witches are out on Walpurgisnacht and to frighten them off, it is allowed to abuse women thusly. I didn't like it much.

[phkrause]

Thanks for the interesting insights rudywoofs. Its always great when someone keeps us informed.

[FLO]

Originally Posted By: FLO

That depends on when and how you do that. If you do it on Christmas day at the foot of the Christmas tree, he's laughing real hard.

Since God told me, through His servant Ellen White, that celebrating Christmas with a Christmas tree is OK, I don't think Satan is laughing when I open my Bible and read the nativity story to my children.

Ellen White, though she had some visions from God, was not infallible. What she wrote about the Christmas tree in church was NOT from any vision she had, nor was it from God (as it contradicts the Word of God). It was her own opinion (just like when she said we shouldn't buy bicycles). If she had known all the things we know about Christmas today, there's no way she would have written that. Everything Ellen White (or anyone else in the world, for that matter) writes still has to measure up against the Word of God. In this case, it does not. Christmas trees are idols whether you want to admit it or not.

http://www.yah-tube.com/videos/lew/Asherah/index.html

[FLO]

Where again is that verse that says "thou shalt not celebrate Jesus' birth"? I have misplaced that book of the bible...

[Dr. Shane]

What she wrote about the Christmas tree in church was NOT from any vision she had...

That may be so, but she is still authoritative. The Bible does not ban Christmas trees and God's end-time prophet did not view them as a problem in the Christian walk.

[Dr. Shane]

“Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.” - Jeremiah 10:1-4 (KJV)

The use of this verse to suggest that Christmas trees are sinful is like suggesting it is sinful to use a knife to eat because the same knife can be used to murder. The tree referenced in Jeremiah is used for false worship, not to draw attention to the birth of the Savior and the forgiveness He offers to mankind.

Rest assured that Ellen White was aware of Jeremiah and still found no problem with the use of a Christmas tree.

[FLO]

The tree referenced in Jeremiah is used for false worship, not to draw attention to the birth of the Savior and the forgiveness He offers to mankind.

The Christmas tree is false worship at its best. What does an evergreen tree, in your house, decorated with gold and silver (just like an idol), during the winter solstice (many weeks/months removed from His actual birth date), have anything to do with the Saviour of the world?

Why can't you draw attention to the birth of the Saviour when it actually happened (as opposed to when the pagan's celebrate the birth date of several different sun gods)? There's even a biblical command to celebrate on the day that the Messiah was actually born (the Feast of Tabernacles), but you don't see anyone trying to observe that day (even though its right there in Leviticus 23).

[FLO]

Originally Posted By: FLO

What she wrote about the Christmas tree in church was NOT from any vision she had...

That may be so, but she is still authoritative. The Bible does not ban Christmas trees and God's end-time prophet did not view them as a problem in the Christian walk.

Ellen White herself wrote that there are things (many, many things) that we need to unlearn. Why would she say that if everything she ever wrote was the truth and the final word on every topic.

"We have many lessons to learn, and many, many to unlearn. God and heaven alone are infallible. Those who think that they will never have to give up a cherished view, never have occasion to change an opinion, will be disappointed. As long as we hold to our own ideas and opinions with determined persistency, we cannot have the unity for which Christ prayed".

—The Review and Herald, July 26, 1892.

"In regard to infallibility, I never claimed it; God alone is infallible. His word is true, and in Him is no variableness, or shadow of turning". —Letter 10, 1895.

If she was here today, I honestly believe she would rip out the pages of her books where she OK'd the christmas tree.