Merry Christmas, Merry X-Mas, Christian Confusion & The Whole Nine Yards

Well, this year is a lot like most years.  Some are desperately trying to “put Christ back in Christmas”.  Some are trying to kick Christ out of everything to do with our civilization.  Some are so mixed up they don’t know which way to jump.

Sometimes I must confess I am the latter. Here’s my dilemma...  As a Christian, I am absolutely compelled to stand up for my Lord and Christianity in general.  However, what most people consider to be “Christianity” is not truly Christianity.  Ironically, those wishing to attack Christianity, often end up attacking Catholicism or some other denominational variant instead.
  
With Christmas in mind, let’s pick one example of confusion: The nativity scenes. . .

In recent years, there has been a full court press against the public display of nativity scenes.  Those attacks are intended to drive Christianity from the public spectrum.  Ironically anyone who has a respect for the Bible, is going to be loathe to defend the nativity scenes (regardless of the motives of those attacking them!). These same Christians (myself included) may aggressively wish to defend the fact that Christianity played a huge role in developing our culture, and it’s eventual success. 


Why can’t I defend the nativity scenes?   Let me count the ways. . .
1)  Angels over the manger. The angels appeared to the shepherds in the field.  Luke 2:8ff. The angels spoke to the shepherds.  Then, “When the angels had gone away from them into heaven,”  (Luke 2:15)  the shepherds went to the manger and saw it all. Were the angels around all this? You bet. Do I have a right to place them at the manger when the Word of God doesn’t say they were there?

2)  The three wise men.  How many wise men? The bible doesn’t say.  Many of the oldest traditions hold that there were 12.  (not three). It is thought that tradition has eventually settled on three wise men because of the three gifts.

What You May Not Know About Christmas

Today’s article (see below) will allow a bit of a father’s pride to show through.  It was written by my daughter.  She had done her own research with the intention of drawing her own conclusions and explaining why she believed what she believed to her friends.  She then sent it to me to edit and criticize… I asked for permission to send it out on my “Jottings”

Christians that study scripture will rapidly find themselves in a dilemma.  What can we participate in and defend?  For example, only a light reading of scripture reveals that the nativity scenes pass on a sorely mistaken view of what actually happened the night our Lord was born. As the ACLU attacks their placement in public places with a view to attacking Christianity… Our dilemma is, how do we defend Christianity without defending what is not really Christianity?

There is a certain joy that comes with watching your children come of age and establish families of their own.  That joy runs even deeper as you watch them choose Christian spouses and then establish Christian families.

Yours in Christ,
Jerry Blount

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What You May Not Know About Christmas...

What does the Bible say?

I don’t celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday- the reason being that the Bible doesn’t tell me to. Under the Old Law, God was very specific about the holy days He wanted observed. He told what event was to be remembered, what should be taught, how and when to observe the celebration. Today… we aren’t under the Old Law anymore (refer to Hebrews 8-10), and God radically changed the way worship occurs in the New Testament. The only way we are commanded to remember Christ with a ceremony today is the Lord's Supper which we observe every Sunday. (1 Cor 11:23-26, Ac 20:7). The New Testament church did not celebrate the birth of Christ in any special way. If Jesus wanted us to celebrate His birthday, He would have told us to celebrate it, when and how to celebrate it. God has given us all instruction about life and godliness in the scriptures (2 Peter 1:3, 2 Timothy 3:16-17). It’s not my place to add in any religious holidays or observances that God didn’t command (Rev. 22:18).
 
 
When was Jesus born?

         No one knows the date Jesus was born! Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2 describe Christ’s birth. December 25th, or any Roman or Hebrew equivalent is not mentioned! What we do know is that the shepherds were abiding in the fields, watching over their sheep at night (Luke 2:8), which wouldn’t be the case in December. “It's a well-known fact that December falls in the middle of the rainy season in Palestine, and the sheep were kept in the fold at that time of the year.”3 (Refer to Ezra 10:9-13, Song of Solomon 2:11, which show winter as the rainy season and shepherds could not be out on the cold, open fields at night with their sheep.)