December 26, 2007

  • A Belated Merry Christmas to all! ... or is it?

    I guess I am getting around to posting a little late for an "on time" well wishing. It has been a quiet and peaceful day.  I really needed that. We all exchanged gifts the evening before and simply enjoyed the peace the next day brought.  And perhaps I spent a bit more time than I ought tuning up  my computer later in the day.

    Do I really believe that December 25th is the real Christmas? Not really. Would I be interested in knowing when it really was? Sure... simply to know.  The point (to me) is that we still remember Christ's birth at any time and to remember that God kept His promise to have the seed of the woman crush the head of the serpent. Has the world responded appropriately to all this? Certainly not... but it is just as He told us it would be. We shouldn't be surprised. We certainly can find fault in ourselves, too, can't we? Yes. Aren't you glad that the gift of salvation is through Christ and not through anyone of ourselves? I am. If it were up to me, we'd all be in trouble.

    Since His sacrifice was absolutely and forever complete, every day is now "Christmas" not just December 25th. Every day is a good day to give the gift of God's love to man... and to love the Lord God as well.  So as I wish you a "Merry Christmas" and it now being December 26th, it is not late but an expression of the eternal verdict on the Cross by one called Christ on a particular date in history.

    It is done. It is finished. Sin and death are defeated. Eternal life with Christ is ours. My friends, we really can be joyful now... everyday we live.  Mr.Vee

Comments (4)

  • Amen! Merry Christmas!

  • I have studied the matters of Christ's birth - the incarnation of God - and Christmas several times. They are different things. Is it a greater sin to worship in a way I know is in error, or to tell others who are worshipping that their worship is wrong? This is an honest question, not just rhetorical. The foundation of Christmas is faulty, yet God used the faulty throughout time to accomplish His perfect will. I do know that when I look down my nose at Christmas I take no joy in it. I'm thankful Christ was born to us. I'm even more thankful he paid the price of my sin for me by his death.

  • Hi, Professor... It is a spiritual test to be shown the truth. We can react in many different ways. Yes, Christ's birth and Christmas are two different things. How we handle that is the essence of my message.

    You asked..."Is it a greater sin to worship in a way I know is in error, or to tell others who are worshipping that their worship is wrong?"

    While I would seriously wonder if you really worship "Christmas" instead of Christ as might be suggested by that question, here are a few answers.

    First, it is a greater sin to focus on what does not really matter, give oneself a bad attitude (and everyone else as well), and then summarily neglect what carries eternal worth. I think you were trying to say that at the end but it wasn't clear.

    Second, worship is due the Lord on any day... even when Christmas itself is seen to be a "syncretic maneuver" to place the celebration of Christ's birth to coincide with a pagan holiday during the Nicaean Council in the 4th Century AD. Since we know the truth, we are set free. If we worship the Lord (and not the pagan's "sun god") on December 25th, are we doing wrong? Indeed not. Why should we stop worshipping the Lord because of this? It makes no sense.

    Third, remember that it wasn't the Word of God that told us Christmas was on December 25th. "Lies" and "falsehood" are the trademarks of our existence as fallen men. Why should we think this is the only error we will ever find with what we do? If we would suspect to find more, then it would seem a good deal of humility is appropriate on our part concerning what we think we know about anything. We need to realize that as soon as we make a "standard doctrine" about something, it invariably comes around that we had something wrong in it and we find ourselves in error again. How we need the Spirit of God to lead us into all truth! The path is simply too slippery to hope that we'll get it right by ourselves.

    That said, I know that Christ was born on a particular day in history and it was not likely to be December 25th of any year. Yet, He was born and this meant that He would die... a sacrificial death... a critical thing to seal the pardon for our sin. That's the essence of the truth at its most basic level. God keeping His promise to save us from our sin is another portion of that.

    In all of this, the magnificent benevolence of God toward sinful man (of which I am a part) is manifest. We only wait for the realization of the complete fulfillment of this wonderful thing God has done that goes far beyond what we see now before us. Given that this is an eternal transaction, everyday thereafter might as well be as joyful as any "real Christmas" that we might imagine. So again, may you have a most joyful and wonderful day after Christmas and every day after that for our Lord has seen our plight and has redeemed us from a most awful state which we could not ourselves do anything about. Thanks
    be to God! Mr.Vee

  • Amen to all that!  I'm so glad that through Christ, we have the freedom to worship Him in a multitude of ways, whether directly spelled out in the Bible or not...this would of course include Christmas (Easter as well).  We are really only given two commandments in the scriptures:  Love God and love people.  As long as one's focus during Christmas is in loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength -- I say deck the halls and show the world what Christmas is truly about! 

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