ProudToBeAChristianFruitcake's Xanga

Capitalism V Socialism

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:52:35 GMT

This is going to have to be a short post, as I have to wake up in about 4.5 hours or so. All I am looking for are a couple definitions, I will explain in a later post when I have more time

Define Capitalism

Define Socialism

Feel free to give a definition, evenif someone else has. I want to get as many as I possibly can.

Click!!

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:55:02 GMT

Think back to your earliest memory. How old are you at that moment? less than 10? less than 5? Can you think back to the age of 2? What kind of memories do you have about being a young kid? Maybe mom and or dad tucking you into bed. Maybe a bedtime story or song as you fell asleep. Coming down the stairs, on Christmas morning and seeing all the presents under the trees. I think the majority of us, have some of these types of memories. Memories of a time when life was simple, when nothing was expected of you, except maybe to remember to say please and thank you.

Now, imagine for a moment, that you are 2 years old. Every night, your father tcuks you into bed, he sits in a chair by your bed and reads you a bedtime story, after the story, he gives you a peck on the cheek and tells you that he loves you. He leaves and turns off the light in your room, and closes the door. You snuggle into your covers and fall asleep content and happy to be loved.

Now, imagine you wake up the next morning, and as you rub the sleep from your eyes, you walk into the living room. It is full of people, and you are very confused, as to why all these people are in your house. Who are these people? you know a couple of them as aunts, there are your grandparents, your mom is sitting at the kitchen table, crying. You walk up to her and give her a hug, as you ask what is wrong. She picks you up, and sits you in a chair in front of you. She explains that last night, after you went to bed, daddy had to do something. While he was gone, daddy had an accident and was in great pain, so Jesus came and took him to Heaven with him, so that daddy wouldn't be in pain anymore.

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Maybe, you can't imagine a scene like that. I myself may not be able to imagine or process the thoughts that might be running through the mind of a child in that instance. But 2 years ago, I know a family where something close to that did play out. The father died in a car accident, partly because the father was not wearing a seat belt. His daughter, has now been without a father, for as long as she had one. Lives were changed, family members lost a loved one, a little girl lost a father that as time goes on, she may even forget all about.

It would have taken what, 20 seconds to reach over and buckle a seat belt? I wish that circumstances might have been different, maybe another car on the road, something or someone to blame. But the circumstances are simple. he drove down the road, hit a patch of black ice, was thrown through the windshield where he rolled for a few feet, before the pickup truck that he was in, landed on him and crushed him. He was alive for awhile pinned, before rescue crews managed to get the truck off of him. The weight of the truck had actually been keeping him alive, as it pressed down on his various wounds. After the truck was removed, he bled out within minutes and never made it to the hospital from what I understand.

For the past two years, on this day, December 15th, the day of his death, I have written posts asking you to please remember to wear your seat belt. You may be a great driver, but circumstances happen, things that you don't even know about, could cause an accident. For all you know, the person in the car next to you today on the street, may have a disease that causes a seizure and that person could plow into you. We have things in our car, that are there to protect us. We have air bags, and seat belts, but these things can only protect us, if we use them. So do your loved ones a favor, buckle up and possibly save your life.

Double Standard

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 09:01:26 GMT

Congress, just got done sending a 1.1 trillion dollar budget, to President Obama to sign. A lot of people have recently begun to complain about the amount of money that the Government has been spending. I agree to a certain extent, that the Government has no business, spending so much of the tax payer money. But I am wondering if there is not a double standard in action here. At the very least, there could be a healthy dose of hypocrisy here.

Other than the amount of money being spent, what is the difference, between a congressman who spends money that the Government does not have, and a parent or parents, who buy something they want, and simply charge it as they do not have the money? We yell at Congress for spending our money, while at the same time, we pay big amounts of money on interest as we continue to charge even more money on the credit cards.

Now some might interject here, and argue that the sin of the Government here in spending more money than the Country can afford, is greater because the Government has the responsibility to do what is in the interest of the Country.

My counter to that is simple. 1 Timothy 5:8 says that if anyone does not provide members of his household, he denies the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever. Are we providing for our family, by wasting a thousand dollars or so on interest a year? All of our money, has been given us by God, in order to take care of our needs and the will of God. Are we being good stewards of God's money by charging desires on credit cards and paying interest for months?

I had a professor at college that told class one day, that if a college student was to order a pizza and charge it on the average credit card for college students, and pay only the minimum amount due, by the time the card was paid off, the pizza would cost $200. I don't know about you, but it would have to be a really really really good pizza for me to spend $200 on a pizza.

I am not saying that we should not protest government waste, all I am trying to say is that the next time we are tempted to complain about government waste, we should stop and look at our own waste, and clean up anything that needs to be cleaned up, as we protest government waste.

Is it too much to ask, that we get our own finances in order, before or as we argue that the Government needs to step it's waste?

Christmas odds & ends

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:09:13 GMT

It is my intention that this will be the final post in my Christmas series. Which is not to say that I won't do any more posts regarding Christmas, but this is the final planned one.

In the first post, we talked about Christmas trees, and I came to the conclusion that since we do not worship the trees and the Bible does not say we can't have a tree in the house, that Christmas trees are acceptable. In the second post, we discussed Santa Clause. I talked about how it was wrong for Christians to lie to their kids about Santa being a "real" person. Fantasy where the kids know that the story is just a fictional story is acceptable. But we shouldn't lie to our children and tell them Santa is real. Particularly if we are telling them that Santa is watching them and is making a list of all of the bad stuff and the good stuff they are doing.

The third post, talked about the commercial aspects of Christmas, and how we ought to spend time in spreading Christ's love by volunteering and helping others, than spending money on bunches of gifts.

This post will cover more than one topic, hence the title of odds and ends. One thing that will stay the same is Christmas, being used to refer to a Biblical celebration and christmas, referring to a secular version of the holiday.

One, thing I do want to address, is the stupid debate between "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Holiday" This dispute actually has nothing to do with Christmas, or christmas. It has everything, to do with a human being's right to follow the religion of his/her choice no matter how wrong or right it is. If I walk up to you, and say Merry Christmas, I am not trying to shove my religion in your face. I am following my religion. My religion and my right to follow it does not end, at the moment in time I meet you. There is a Jewish family that I ride the bus with sometimes. I have been saying Merry Christmas to them, and they respond with Happy Hanukkah. Oddly, this does not bother either of us. They have a right to be Jewish, they have a right to of free speech and a right to practice the Jewish religion, and if that means they say Happy Hanukkah, I am okay with that. They are okay, with me saying Merry Christmas to them, because they know that I am a Christian, and that is what Christians say.

Having said that, I consider a good business practice, to say Happy Holidays, because you want people of all religions to shop at your store. To possibly offend one religion, could be very detrimental to your business. When I shop at a store, and they say Happy Holidays, I respond with Merry Christmas, we both smile and move on with our lives. Why does this have to be a big deal? I don't care if you are Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, or other. Say whatever phrase you want, I will say Merry Christmas and we can move on. Why should I be offended by the words "Happy Hanukkah"? Of all the things to be offended by, words, meant to convey blessing or good will to a person, is the stupidest thing on earth to be offended by. We should spend more time crusading against cuss words and words designed to injure, then we do words that someone is saying to wish you good feelings.

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The next thing that I wish to cover is the thought that we can't celebrate Christ's birthday, because He wasn't really born on December 25th. While it is true, that we do not know the exact date, I maintain that it is not insulting of someone, to celebrate his or her birthday, on a different day. I know many a families, where two birthdays would be close together, and so the parents would just have one party. In my family, we as a family usually have pizza and ice cream on a person's birthday. Well there is a pizza restaurant in our town that used to have these gigantic pizzas that were so big, they had to be turned vertical, in order to get it through a doorway. They were more than two feet in diameter. One year, I really wanted one of these pizzas, so I agreed to forego the pizza and ice cream on my birthday, and combine the money that would have been spent, with the money that would be spent on my brother's birthday pizza and ice cream, and together there would be a budget big enough to spend on one of these big pizzas. Did I feel cheated out of a birthday, because we didn't have anything on my day? No, because I knew it was not forgotten, just moved.

I maintain that it is more important, that we remember Jesus' first coming and why he came, then it is to celebrate that coming on the exact day of the event. Then again, I may be considered strange, as I continue to maintain and hold to the belief, that it is possible that Jesus was indeed born somewhere around the 25th of December. Here is why.

I was curious a couple of years ago, and so I e-mailed the zoo in Jerusalem and asked them, what month were lambs born in Jerusalem, particularly a couple of thousand years ago. The response was interesting, the zoo said that lambing season, the period of time when baby lambs were born, was the last 2 weeks of December, and the 20th-25th in particular. This would mean that by the time that lambs were weaned, off of the mother's milk, there would be fresh green shoots and grass for them to eat, as it would be the beginning of spring.

Furthermore, this would be during the Hanukkah season, and so God would be sending Jesus, the true light of the world, to Earth during the Festival of Lights, and the true Lamb of God, during lambing season. Sounds like a perfect concept doesn't it?

Now, some might say, that Jesus was born, during the Feast of Tabernacles, and that Jesus Tabernancled with us, by being born. The thought seems sound and Biblical, but there is an issue with it, when you investigate deep enough. The gospels of Matthew and Luke, talk about Jesus being born during a census. If Jesus was born during a Jewish festival, then Matthew and Luke would have mentioned it. Other festivals are mentioned in the gospel, like in John 5, it mentions the Feast of the Dedication, and other gospels record Jesus doing things during Passover. Why is the Feast of Tabernacles somehow not mentioned, and the census is mentioned? It doesn't make sense, particularly for Matthew, as he was Jewish.

The Feast of Tabernacles, required daily food sacrifices to be offered, and so if Joseph and Mary were to have traveled up for the Feast of Tabernacles, they would have stayed in Jerusalem to be near the table, not 6 miles away in Bethlehem. Would you want to walk, or ride a donkey 12 miles a day round trip with a 9 month old pregnant woman, so that you could make your offerings?

The Romans, having a vast empire, would not have wanted to cause trouble, by putting a census, during a holy week that meant that Jews would have to be in Jerusalem for it. The Jews had already rebelled a number of times, and so why does Rome want to cause trouble, by requiring a relative of the tribe of Dan, or Asher, have to travel dozens of miles, to go to the city of their family, while the religion dictates they need to be in Jerusalem. There is too much of a risk of someone causing trouble that Rome would have waited.

So, for those reasons, I maintain that Jesus was born during the final two weeks of December, and not during the Feast of Tabernacles

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So, what should a Christian, do with Christmas?

A Christian should celebrate Christmas, as a day set aside to remember that Jesus was born and came into the world, so that He could die for our sins later. Christmas, is a date to remember that event. Any trappings, traditions or history, that does not direct our thoughts in worship toward God, and in remembering the coming of Jesus as Savior, needs to be done away with. If that means we toss out a Christmas tree, or a red jolly fat man, or a Christmas Eve dinner with roast ham. Then so be it. The important thing is to remember that Jesus came, so that we might have life. Anything else is either a distraction, or an extra bonus.

So this Christmas think, do you want to run around and buy 15 gifts for people you don't really care about, and go into a forest and cut down a tree, so that you can decorate it? Or do you want to sit with family, read the nativity story, play a board game, and spend time giving and receiving Christ's love? The choice is up to you this Christmas, I don't know what choice you will make, but give me Christ any day. You can keep Santa and anything else you want.*

* I am not saying that you can't have Christ and all the Christmas trappings, just that if the trappings are leading you away from Christ, it is okay that you dump them and get back to just Christ.

Buy!!! Buy!!! Buy!!! Buy!!!

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:59:23 GMT

This is the third post, in my series on Christmas. Just as like the last post, I am going to use Christmas to refer to Biblical Christmas. and christmas to refer to the secular version of the holiday. Having dealt with Christmas trees in the first post, and Santa Claus in the second post, this third post is going to talk about the commercial aspects of Christmas.

Many people have issues with Christmas because they view it as more of a holiday for Wal-mart then a day of celebration of Christ's birth. Is it possible to celebrate Christmas, without spending the annual budget of small African countries?

I grew up in the Worldwide Church Of God, one of the things that always bugged Armstrong (founder of WCOG) about christmas is that it seemed to him that people forgot to give to the church during the holiday. They spent all of the money on gifts for friends and family, and didn't give the church much at all. How can they claim to be celebrating Christ's birthday, when they didn't give Christ's church a gift?

I think Armstrong has an interesting point, a point that needs to be addressed. I don't believe that it is wrong to give gifts to each other during this holiday. But we shouldn't forget the church either. My pastor, has challenged his church in the past, to take the amount of money, of the most expensive gift, and match it as an offering to the church. So if the most expensive gift was say $60, we take another $60 and donate it to the church. I don't know about you, but I think an arrangement like this, would certainly remind me, that as much fun as family can be, Jesus is the reason for the season. Other things can be done, like volunteering at a soup kitchen, ringing the bell for the Salvation Army, helping the kids at the church practice a Christmas musical, joining the adult church choir, if they do a musical. I am sure that many of you can come up with other ideas. It may be hard for some of us to focus on Christ, during this time, as we run around and try to get everything done, but taking the time out, to remember God, and the true meaning of Christmas, may help to make this less stressful.

I know of a family, where the dad tried each year, to have the "perfect" christmas. he grew up in a family, where if you bought one member an $11 gift, and another member a $12 gift, the one who got the $11 gift would think you didn't love him/her as much as the one who got the $12 gift. So the Dad decided that when he had kids, he would have the christmas that he never got as a kid. However each year, it seemed like it could not measure up to his expectations of a "perfect" christmas. The family eventually joined WCOG and that put an end to Christmas. When WCOG changed in 1994 and decided Christmas was not pagan, this family decided to continue to not celebrate Christmas to make it easier for the dad.

How can Christians, avoid falling into the trap of debt, and the trap that the family above feel into? We already talked about volunteering our time, but what if we limited everyone to 1 gift? or maybe at the most 3? If Jesus only got 3 gifts, why does your child/parent/aunt/uncle/coworker/boss/grandparent need 6 gifts? I think that would certainly help the budget. Another thing we can do, is set aside a certain amount of money each month, and only use that to buy gifts. That will help with the debt aspect.

My point here, is let's not throw Christmas out with the bath water, because the secular world spends a lot of money. We are not the secular world, we need to be seperate, different, we need to be focused on Jesus and not the brand new BB gun we can use to put someone's eye out with. Let's have fun sharing gifts with others, but let's also share Jesus, we can have both Jesus and gifts. Who cares what the secular world does? if they want to spend hundreds of dollars, let them. But we need to focus on Jesus first, and remember him, then we will have his live to share with family in the form of gifts and love.

Santa Claus, the myth, the legend, and more.... or not

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 10:00:52 GMT

So, this is the second, in my series of posts on Christmas. I hope you enjoyed my first one, where we talked Christmas Trees. If you haven't guessed, I am going to be covering Santa Claus today. Before I do though, I need to define a couple words here that I will be using. They are both rather simple, as they are the same word. I am just going to assign them two meanings to make it easier to follow. If that made a lick of sense, then you will be able to understand this post.

Christmas = The true Biblical Christmas that Christians should follow and celebrate.

christmas = the secular celebration of Christmas.

Please notice that the only difference between the two words, is which case the letter c is.

You know, I looked all over my Bible, for the Bible verse that mentions Santa Claus, but I never found it. All those verses and not a single one mentions Santa Claus, does that mean he must be a good idea? Should Santa Claus be a part of Christmas? If he is not mentioned by name, we will have to examine, the legend and myth of Santa Clause to see if any of that, is allowed or forbidden by the Bible.

Now, we could play some fun word games, and move around the letters in "Santa" and make Satan. Wouldn't that be evidence? We could continue to play silly word games and make God into doG and people could say we worship a four footed animal. If Santa is evil because the letters can be rearranged into Satan, then because we can make God into doG then we can say we worship four footed animals that bark. But since when did we allow logic to get in the way of our theology?

But let's not play silly word games, and just talk turkey about the jolly man in the red suit.

Santa is not real, he does not exist, and no I am not bitter because he never left a single gift at my house for the last 28 years, but whose counting right? Since, he is not real, then by telling kids that he is real, we are sorta lying and commiting fraud aren't we? you know lying, lying is that thing that got you spanked or your mouth washed with soup when you are a kid, but is suddenly "harmless fantasy" when you are an adult and you want to force your kid to behave by making someone up. Just today I was at the Post Office, and I was standing in line getting ready to mail out the amazon.com orders from my amazon store. When I noticed a boy that was picking on his sister, i would say the ages were boy age 7 and girl age 5. Instead of telling the boy to stop, or be nice, or behave, the words that came from the parental unit were " if you continue picking on your sister, santa won't bring you any toys"

Seriously parents, have we stooped so low, that we need to use fraud and deceit to make children behave? which is easier to say, "that behavior is unacceptable and it will stop right now" or "Santa won't bring you any toys" who is the parent here, Santa or the adults that live with the kid? If you have to commit fraud and deceit to make your kids behave, you have a big problem.

Now, I am not saying that all parents, force kids to behave, by holding Santa above the child's head like the parent at the Post Office. I am sure that for some parents, Santa Claus really is a cute little fantasy for the family. However, a lie is still a lie, and you can rationalize it all you want, but you are still lying to your kid. Why should a lie, have any part in a celebration of Christmas. Christmas is about the birth of Jesus, I am sure that we all remember Jesus, Jesus is the person that died for all of our lies.

Rather than lying to our children, perhaps we should be telling them another story. How about the story of the birth of Jesus, and how Jesus' life and death, inspired a guy by the name of Nicholas, Nicholas who used to give gifts to children and give gifts without tooting a horn and wanting credit. He would give gifts without leaving his name. Why don't we tell that story? When our kids get old enough to pay attention, such as like age 2 or 3. We should tell them the nativity story, and the story of Nicholas, stories that do not involve lying and fraud. As they grow older, we can add activities like standing out front of stores and ringing bells for the Salvation Army. Or serving in a soup kitchen. Activities that will help our children reach out and help others. The story of Santa Claus, does not really add to anything. Santa Claus is as useless as the christmas tree from the last blog post. It doesn't add anything to a truely Biblical Christmas. Santa Clause, doesn't help our children draw closer to God. In some kids it may actually hurt. The song has lines like "he knows when you are sleeping, he knows when your awake, he knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake" These words describe God. Only God is capable of these things. When some kids, who think a certain way, find out that Santa Clause is not real, then maybe God isn't real either. Not all kids, will make a connection like that, but like I said, the story of Santa Clause, does not help anything. So lets toss Santa Claus into the pile of more hurt then help.

Santa Clause is a lie, a fraud, and these activities are not what Christians should involve themselves in. So let's cut Santa Clause out of Christmas and leave him in christmas. If the secular world wants to lie and believe in a lie, and promote a lie, then let them. But we should strive to live a holy and pure life.

O Christmas tree O Christmas tree

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:40:25 GMT

Here is the first post I am writing, in an attempt to defeat the most common misconceptions and arguments against Christmas. One of the most common arguments that I have came across, is the idea that Jeremiah 10, forbids or rather talks about Christmas trees. Let's look at Jeremiah 10, and see what we can find shall we? I know I usually use the ESV, but I am going to use the KJV, this time, because that is the translation used in the arguments against Christmas.

Jeremiah 10:1-7

¹Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:

²Thus 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.

³For 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.

⁴They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

⁵They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.

⁶Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.

⁷Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee.

Now at first glance, this might look like a Christmas tree, with all the talk about silver and gold. However, is it really talking about a Christmas tree? or for that matter, a tree of any type? Let's disect a few of the verses and see if we can find out. Starting with verse 2

"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."

The first thing we have to pay attention to is always context. If verse 4 talks about Christmas trees, then verse 2 must also talk about Christmas trees, unless there is some sort of transition that would point us to a subject change. So look at verse 2, does it apply to Christmas trees? Do people who have Christmas trees, pay attention to signs in Heaven? Do signs of Heaven have anything to do with Christmas trees and the practice of having one? My answer to all of the above is no. Let's continue to verse 3.

"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."

Now we are getting warm right? surely this is the start of the talk on Christmas trees. But let's move on to verse 4 and see if we are continuing on the possible Christmas tree talk. Verse 4 is next

"They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not."

getting warmer right? that sounds like a christmas tree doesn't it? So far we have verses 3 and 4 giving a slight chance of describing Christmas tree, will the trend continue? Before we go to verse 5, is there anything in 3 and 4 that gives us the idea that he is changing topics? if not, then verse 5 must be talking about the same thing as 3 and 4 right? here is verse 5.

"They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.

Wait a minute, something is wrong, when was the last time a Christmas tree talked? Verse 5 says it is speaks not, why is he talking about speaking, if we are talking about trees? The only time I know that a Christmas tree talks, is when you have too much spiked egg nog. We don't usually think or believe or expect our Christmas tree to talk. This investigation is starting to get weird. The very next few words, makes it even weirder. because we are now carrying our christmas tre, because it cannot go. I am assuming, that Jeremiah means on it's own. When was the last time you expected your Christmas tree to walk? When was the last time you carried your Christmas tree because it could not go?

Finally the last part of 5, makes this whole investigation really weird. Because now Jeremiah has entered the realm of the movies on Sci Fi channel. He is talking about not being afraid of this Christmas tree because it cannot do evil, nor can it do good. Have you ever been afraid of your Christmas tree doing evil? have you expected it to do good? So, for Jeremiah to be talking about Christmas tree, it would be a Christmas tree that is carried about because it cannot walk, it can't talk, and is not to be afraid of, because it can't do evil?

Can anyone say DUH!!!! I have never expected a christmas tree to walk, talk, or kill me in my sleep with a knife from the kitchen. It makes no sense whatsoever for Jeremiah to be discussing these things because these are not things that Christmas trees are expected to do.

What makes more sense, is for Jeremiah to be discussing idols. idols are supposed to be gods, gods are expected to walk, talk, and do evil or good. Christmas trees are not. the context of Jeremiah 10, makes no sense if these verses are Christmas trees.

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So if Jeremiah 10, does not forbid Christmas trees, are they Biblical?

I think they are useless, they don't really add anything to the celebration of Jesus' birth. I mean if Christmas is supposed to be about the birth of Jesus, Christmas trees, add nothing, more than looking nice. If you want something to put your gifts on or under, try a nice table, or manger scene. The only logical argument against Christmas trees I have heard, is that Christmas trees are bad stewardship of resources. They are not a requirement to celebrate the birth of Christ, but we chop them down, put them in our house, and after we killed a good tree, we toss it in the trash and get a new one next year. The point is what?

I do not believe the Bible forbids them, but I do not believe they are promoted by the Bible, or needed in order to celebrate Jesus, they are purely for show. Do we really need to kill a tree, for show?

Merry pagan sun worship day

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:59:19 GMT

Actually the title was just an attempt to get more people to come to the site. I don't know if you have seen my new addition to my site, but it is right under the banner for my half.com and amazon stores. It is one sentence, designed to tell people that I agree with Christmas. I grew up, in a church that for the most part, considered christmas to be pagan, I have heard all the arguments, and I disagree with each of them. Every year I write a post that defends Christmas. Mainly because it pains me to see Christians, removing Christ from Christmas, because of actions taken by non Christians close to two thousand years ago.

We defend Christianity, from people using the crusades as a reason not to be a Christian, but Christmas is accused of being pagan, and we write blogs accusing Christians of sun god worship. I was told by one "Christian" a couple of years ago, that it mattered not how I celebrated Christmas, or how many church services I went to on Christmas, everything I did on that day was pagan, because Christmas is a pagan holiday.

I find that view, to be very sad. How can anyone sit there, and tell someone they are praying to a pagan sun god, because it is the 25th of December, even though the person is sitting in a Church, praying to God? Is there something about the 25th, that somehow diverts prayers away from an all powerful God, and instead sends them to someone that doesn't exist?

I have decided, to defend Christmas a little bit differently, this year, instead of attempting to explain why Christmas is not pagan, I am going to take a look at some of the arguments against it, and do one post per argument. Maybe if we can explain why the arguments against Christmas do not hold water, then in a round about way, we can show the validity of Christmas.

What argument against Christmas should I start with? Do you celebrate Christmas?

The day after

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 11:11:27 GMT

As far back as I can remember, the day after, or a couple days after thanksgiving, my mom always made turkey soup, using the leftover bones and such from the thanksgiving meal.

Now I love most soup, chicken noodle is my favorite, but turkey soup is not all that bad either. Tomato soup with milkand some pasta is not bad either. Some soups that I don't like are split pea, and ministrone. I don't like ministrone mainly because my mom made it with garbonzo beans and I am not fond of them. Nine bean soup is another soup from my childhood that I wouldn't mind forgetting. It is exactly as it sounds, a soup with nine different types of beans in it. It kinda had this dark feel to it, I can remember my mom reading the Lord Of The Rings series to us, while we ate it, and thinking that such a dark soup needed a dark book like The Two Towers to go with it.

But enough about soup, what do you do with your turkey leftovers?

What or who do you obey?

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:35:33 GMT

In May of '99 the retail building, that the church I attend was meeting in, caught on fire and burned to the ground. We built an "educational" building for our church run school in 2001, and started working with the county to build a much bigger sanctuary. After 8 years of going back and forth, we finally got permission to start building. One of the things we had to agree to do, in order to get our permits, was to agree to build a sidewalk, rain drainage, and curb, near the church.

To accomplish this, we had to block off one lane of the major road, that runs near the church, and one lane of the much less traveled road that runs on the other side of the church. So I have volunteered a couple times, to direct traffic, as I have no expeirence in doing such a thing, I am directing traffic on the less raveled road. Friday when I did this, I had a few angry drivers that were upset when I had to flip the side over to stop and tell them to wait, so we could let other cars go. But today, I was standing, holding the sign, displaying "slow" as I waved the orange flag towards the lane that I needed the car to go down. When I first started, I was shown how to hold and use the flag, and so I had been using it the way I was told, and 99.9% of the drivers knew what I was asking them to do, which was drive down the left hand lane or the "on coming " traffic lane, so that we could do the work that was needed on the right lane. But this one lady, driving in one of those old "boat" cars, if you are familiar with that term, saw the slow sign, and me waving her towards the right lane, we made eye contact, so I know she saw me, right before she drove straight down the right lane, causing one of our workers to jump out of the way.

I have no idea, where the confusion took place, maybe she decided she knew better than I did, and was just not going into the "on coming" traffic lane. But her actions, could have been dangerous, if our worker did not jump out of the way, or if the bobcat that was picking up gravel to dump, backed into her car, as it was not supposed to be there.

As I stood there the rest of my shift, I was thinking, about how often do we do that with God? How often as people, do we make eye contact with God, as He is waving us down the narrow path, and we just decide to gun our motor and go down the wide path instead.

Who knows, maybe for some of us, we are reading the wrong sign. Maybe for some of us, we see God holding the "stop" sign, and we see someone else holding a slow sign, and decide to obey that sign instead of the one that God is holding.

How do we know that we are reading the right sign? The Bible in 2 Timothy 3:16 says that scripture is all scripture is profitable for correction, for reproof, for teaching, and for training in righteousness. Some translations says that scripture is God Breathed. meaning God inspired and breathed the words into the minds of the writers of scripture. Nowhere, in the Bible, does it say that tradition, or habit is God Breathed. Only the Bible is said to be God Breathed. Now, if God wanted to come down and tell me to do something, there is a strong chance that I will do it. Unless of course it directly contradicts the Bible, if it does, then I may have to wonder if it was really God telling me to do it.

Paul, in Acts 17 goes to the area of the Bereans, after leaving Thessalonica. He preaches the gospel, and they react by running to the scriptures available to them and making sure that what Paul is saying is real. For this action the are commended by Paul.

This is how we can tell that we are on the right path, and paying attention to the right road signs. If we want to do something, or someone is telling us a doctrine or a belief, we need to run to the Bible and check it out. If it is not in the Bible, then we have no basis to belief it.

What if it just sounds good or right? The Bible says that there is a way that seems right to a man, it leads to death. Ever hear the phrase,"sounds too good to be true"? Just because it sounds good, does not make it right or wrong, we have to go to God in prayer, and read His God Breathed word to make sure that what we believe or heard is in there.

Is the Bible, the one road sign that we need to listen and follow, or are there other road signs that we can read and stay on the narrow road?