posted June 09, 2008 09:13 AM         

http://www.aloha.net/~johnboy/christpi.htg/christpi.htm

I stumbled across this whilst looking up some info on the Star of David configuration which is on this page:

posted June 09, 2008 10:37 AM         

I always thougth Jesus was a CAPRICORN??? Born on the 24th of December in the year 0 ... ! And, from what is told about him in the bible and other sources, he probably had a Pisces-ASC .. ;-)

N o- seriously: Is this page about a zodiacal-sign-correction? A different calendar-method or what?

posted June 09, 2008 11:06 AM         

Their work here is based on the configurations in the sky that they think prompted the Magi to go on their journey. I thought that was meant to be the Saturn/Jupiter Conjunction but they seem to think it was something rather more dramatic.

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posted June 09, 2008 08:22 PM         

The reality is that pagan religions and Christianity existed side by side in peace in many places prior to the Reformation. Several stories of Medieval saints indicate that even these "pillars of the faith" practiced pagan rituals as well as Christian ones - Albert the Great, for example, practiced astrtology and alchemy and many female saints were known herbalists, drawing from pagan medicine rituals and wisdom. In many areas, like Scandinavia and Northern Europe, pagan beliefs lived on in folklore and children's tales, which often portrayed Christan priests or ministers as fools and heroes triumphed by way of older, pagan wisdom. The Slavic peoples to this day are known to "practice one religion at church and another one at home" - despite having been Christianized 1000 years ago, they still cling to many of their old druidic beliefs.

posted June 14, 2008 09:07 AM         

Christians killed thousands of Hungarians - then, for the heck of it, Germans - then Greeks. Christians also killed Jews. (This is the Crusade that was supposed to be a success.) The armies of the first Crusade were successful and took Jerusalem from the Muslims in 1099. The Crusaders set up Christian kingdoms along the coast of Palestine and Syria, and built strong fortresses to defend their new lands.

There were seven more Crusades after the first one. Many of them failed because the Crusaders quarreled with each other. The Muslims took back much of the Holy Land. When the Muslims took Jerusalem in 1187, the third Crusade set off from Europe. Richard Lion Heart massacred 3,000 innocent Muslim villagers. When they got to the Holy Land, the Crusaders were defeated by the Muslim general, Saladin.

During the 4th Crusade, the Christians sacked Constantinople, but during the 5th Crusade, the Crusaders got caught in the flooding Nile and had to go home. The Children's Crusade took place between the 4th and 5th Crusades. More than 30,000 French and 20,000 German children were sent to the Crusades. French kids got to Alexandria and were sold into slavery. The German kids got across the Alps, got homesick and deserted. Many died.

Later, the Crusaders forgot that they were fighting for their religion. Knights had good reason to go. Going was a good career move. Hop on a horse, kill a few hundred people, and come home a hero. Times were different. If you died, so what? Also, they got paid, and most knights were broke. In medieval times, the eldest son inherited the family's wealth, and this left the younger sons in the poorhouse.

Many of them went to Palestine hoping to take the land and become rich. the Christians got tired of it and went home, and the Holy Lands reverted back to Muslim control The Crusaders stole their food from local farmers, ran around in mobs, and brought thousands of mistresses and prostitutes with them. By 1291, the Muslims had taken the last remaining Christian city at Acre.

During the Crusades, European people learned more about the eastern parts of the world. When they returned to Europe, they took back with them many new things including foods, spices, silk, and paper. They learned about medicine, mathematics, and astronomy from the Arabs, and trade between east and west began to grow.

The Inquisition
In 1233 a church court, or Inquisition, was set up by Pope Gregory IX to end heresy, or beliefs that the church thought was wrong. It was primarily in response to heresy of the Albigenses, a religious sect of southern France. They were Christian heretics who believed in the coexistence of two ultimate principles, good and evil. They held that matter was evil and that Jesus only seemed to have a body. Over the next 100 years the Inquisition slowly brought the sect to an end.

People suspected of heresy had one month to confess; those accused came before the Inquisition until they confessed. They were punished by being whipped or sent to prison, but were welcomed back into the Church.
http://members.tripod.com/mr_sedivy/med_hist3.html http://atheism.about.com/od/crusades/The_Crusades_Islam_vs_Christianity_Causes_History_Images.htm
As for Biblical mass slaughters and so forth:
http://www.nobeliefs.com/DarkBible/DarkBibleContents.htm