Across cultures, people have sought to flee oppression and escape persecution from the beginning of recorded history. A recurring theme in Western classical literature and in modern classics such as Superman and Disney originals, which revolve around the struggle between good and evil, is the need and critical role for a rescuer or savior. The ultimate rescuer and savior for mankind would be a “messiah,” who would vanquish evil, oppression and falsehood once and for all. It is no accident that only Christianity has its roots and its entire reason for being in the messiah Jesus Christ. No other religion makes the claim that it was founded by a messiah.
Meaning of Christmas
Without a doubt, Christmas is a magical time of year not just because of the appeal of peace and a guiding star, as well as decorations, light displays, and volumes of wonderful music, but specifically because it marks the birth of Jesus Christ who came into this world as the son of God—the Messiah and savior for all who accept him. Christmas is really about internal and eternal things rather than external and temporal matters.
So many people think approaching God is an impossibility. For them, Christianity appears to be a religion with questionable appeal because of the perception that it is like all the other religions that require giving up certain bad habits and behaviors and performing good works in order to approach God. Surprise, surprise: Christ reminds us in Matthew 11:30 that, “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” This was illustrated through a learned Jewish Pharisee whose life revolved around living up to stressful demands of the Mosaic law. When he asked which was the greatest commandment in the law, Jesus answered simply that if we love God and love our neighbor as ourselves, we will have fulfilled all the laws.
Even non-believers know there was something different about Jesus. For one thing, Jesus Christ—being God, affected history with such an impact that He split time, dividing all human activities and events into happening before his coming (called B.C.) or after his coming (called A.D.). Christ had to have had a supernatural impact for non-Christians around the world to agree to dividing history in two.
How and why people can trust that Christ is the Savior
First, Jesus Christ is more historically verifiable than any other person who lived in that ancient time and era—including such luminaries as the Roman emperors, Aristotle or Alexander the Great—because of the number of eye-witness accounts that were recorded in writing within a generation of his life. Christ is the only person in history who was pre-announced starting 1,000 years before he was born—with eighteen different prophets from the Old Testament between 10th and the 4th centuries B.C. predicting his coming birth, life, and death. Hundreds of years later, the circumstances of Christ’s birth, life and death validated those prophecies in surprisingly accurate detail. This is unique to Jesus Christ—no one else in human history.
Second, Christ lived, and not only demonstrated his otherworldly power to heal and perform the ultimate miracle of bringing the dead back to life, but he set the absolute highest standard of love possible—being willing to die to give life to others. As Jesus prophesied, his resurrection confirmed God’s power and plan—providing “seeing is believing” evidence by bringing Jesus back from the dead and buried in a tomb to being alive, thus providing the people with living proof of who He was. In fact, Jesus made ten separate appearances to his disciples between the resurrection and his ascension into Heaven—a period of 40 days. Some of those appearances were to individual disciples, some were to several disciples at the same time, and once even to 500 at one time. This was not hearsay, but a matter of record of multiple separate eye-witness accounts that were recorded in writing.
Third, no other religion teaches that God became flesh. In other religions God is too high, otherworldly, and pure to be accessible in terms of having a communion with believers. In Christianity, God had his Son born in the humbleness of a stable and had him raised in Nazareth, a small and very poor town that was one of the lowest in social status in Israel because He wanted his Son to be approachable by people from all walks of life. Unlike other religious paths that require certain formalities and good works, the Christian approaches God not by his or her works but by simply a humble recognition that Christ gave his life for our sins—that he paid the price for us—and that through Christ we can have a direct relationship with God—a two-way personal relationship of communion with God.
Christianity is Foundational to America
Christmas—that is Christianity—is foundational to the formation of America, for if Christ had never been born and died the way He did, all of history would have been different and neither Columbus nor the Pilgrims would have received or have been motivated by the good news of salvation through Christ to explore or establish a new community with a higher purpose in the New World.
There would never have been a constitutional government created in the way and time that it was in America, without two necessary conditions: First, the foundation of recognizing man’s unalienable rights of freedom and equality that came out of the teachings of Christ, but not fully recognized until the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century; and second, the unprecedented collection of Christian human genius that came together—rather amazingly at the same time—people we call the Founding Fathers, who were 95% Christian in their beliefs. It was their extraordinary biblical, historic, and classical learning, faith, wisdom, temperament, and practical experience that enabled them to write and frame the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and its Bill of Rights. Equally important, those Christian founders knew the potential depravity that exists in everyone that can lead to abuse of power and tyranny. For this reason, they structured the government with checks and balances between the three branches of government, but also through the federalist system of division of power between the states and the federal government.
So profound was the accomplishment of the Founding Fathers that it far surpassed achievements of Periclean Athens in Greece, Cicero and the Roman Republic, Florence under the Medicis or any other nation. The founding of America was the greatest political and civic event in all human history, which is why domestic and foreign evil enemy forces relentlessly work to destroy the United States.
The constitutional republic formed by the Founders provided for and protected individual rights of freedom and independence such that America achieved material prosperity more rapidly than any other prior civilization. Additionally, the American constitutional framework enabled people to move closer to the divine image in which all people are created free and equal more than they would have achieved under any prior system.
To summarize the Christmas message, it’s remarkable that Christ had no servants, yet everyone called him master. He had no formal education or degree, yet the educated Jews called him rabbi and teacher. Jesus had no medicines, yet he was desperately sought out as a healer. He had no army, yet emperors and kings feared him.
History shows that so many levels of human advancement were made possible by God who became man, born in the humble circumstances of a dirty stable in the small village of Bethlehem, a speck in the vast Roman Empire. And while that empire would crumble and fall, Jesus, who had neither an army nor won any military battles went on to become the Lord and Savior for people who believe all over the world. For, as He said, “My Kingdom is not of this world.”
Scott Powell is senior fellow at Discovery Institute. This article is a vignette out of his latest acclaimed book, Rediscovering America, which was #1 new release in history for eight straight weeks at Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1637581599). Reach him at scottp@discovery.org.
One of the greatest ironies of history is that the colossus of Rome which at one time tried so desperately to stamp out Jesus and His teachings would one day become literally synonymous with the religion that has borne his name for centuries.
Christianity did NOT produce America. Christianity produced the one-thousand years of the Christian Dark Ages. Christianity produced the American Puritans and their theocracy but it was the Age of Reason and Age of Enlightenment that produced the Founding Fathers. America is not the product of Puritan Massachusetts but of Enlightenment Virginia.
It was the introduction of the reason and logic based philosophy of Aristotle by Thomas Aquinas into the Christian Dark Ages that resulted in the rebirth of reason, logic, and science. That rebirth of Greco-Pagan-Aristotelian reason is called the Renaissance. Renaissance means rebirth, not the rebirth of Christian faith, but the rebirth of Greco-Pagan-Aristotelian, SECULAR, reason.
Through the next 500 years the ascendancy of reason over faith grew. Thomas Aquinas had separated reason from faith, releasing reason from being the mere handmaiden of faith. Giving reason an intellectual legitimacy all of her own. It was Aristotelian reason that produced the Protestant Reformation, not Christianity. The idea that each man should be free to use his own reasoning mind to personally interpret Holy Scripture is a gift of Aristotelian reason and logic, not of religious faith.
“Religion versus America” – Objectivist philosopher Leonard Peikoff
Ah yes, this historically ,morally, philosophically, and systematically illiterate doggerel.
Once more into the breach.
Part 1
“Christianity did NOT produce America. ”
It was clearly one driving force that produced it, though I agree it was not the only one. Perhaps not even the main one.
“Christianity produced the one-thousand years of the Christian Dark Ages. ”
Ah yes, the incoherent idiocy of the “one thousand years of the Christian Dark Ages.”
Ok chowderhead. Bracket the time frame of the Thousand Years of the Christian Dark Ages. Give or take a few decades, or even a century or so.
I’ll wait.
I said I’d do that several months before, and I’m still waiting. And I have little doubt you will also not answer it here, instead dismissing me using some pathologically dishonest and illogical excuse such as my alleged dishonesty before (which you have never been able to explain and which is just a reflection of your own dishonesty) or alleged pride, completely ignoring the fact that none of those changes – or even addresses – the objective claims I made, and thus cedes the ground to me
Great response sir, I salute you, Merry Christmas.
Part 2
The Dark Ages of Western Eurasia were at best tertiarily caused by Christianity, and were caused far more by a mixture of climatic disaster, the rise of Islam, and the growing centralization and authoritarianism of the Roman Empire. Which is why we see their effects stretch far beyond where Christianity did, with the ramifications being visible in Scandinavian Treasure Holds and the Indus Valley.
This is in sharp contrast to the Carolingian Renaissance, which occurred less than 300 years after the fall of Western Rome under the aegis of powerful Christian and Muslim monarchs such as Charles le Magne, Empress Irene of Eastern Rome, and the last of the “righteously-guided Caliphs”, as well as the “Great” or “Florentine” Renaissance. Christianity had far more of a role in those renaissances than it did in the Dark Age.
But that doesn’t fir your narrative. So it has to be not merely glossed over but outright denied with the myth of the “Thousand Year Christian Dark Ages.”
Part 3
“Christianity produced the American Puritans and their theocracy ”
True, but it also produced the more freewheeling and commercial civilization of the American South, and the strong anti-Puritan religious dissent that ultimately toppled the Puritan theocracy.
“but it was the Age of Reason and Age of Enlightenment that produced the Founding Fathers. ”
Problem: Christianity was a decisive component in producing the Age of Reason and the Age of Enlightenment. Which of course you will ignore.
“America is not the product of Puritan Massachusetts but of Enlightenment Virginia.”
This is freaking rich on a massive scale. Especially when you remember that while Virginia was the “Mother of Presidents” it is also the mother of a parasitic, self-destructive slaveocracy defined by racial caste, classism, and demonization of honest labor that gradually self-destructed over the 200 years or so on either side of the US.
In contrast, modern America’s ethics and mores descend from a mixture of Virginia, Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania.0 It is particularly notable that the struggle for American Independence began in Massachusetts.
But again, more inconvenient truths you do not want to confront.
Part 4
“It was the introduction of the reason and logic based philosophy of Aristotle by Thomas Aquinas into the Christian Dark Ages that resulted in the rebirth of reason, logic, and science.”
Ah yes, the Randian superstition about Aristotle, and his misguided apostle Aquinas. I already tore this tissue of nonsense apart for the combination of lies, superstition, historical illiteracy, and outdated bigotry that it is.
Firstly: Ask any Physics Major about whether Aristotle was based on “reason and logic” and expect to laugh. Especially given the baleful influence Aristotle had on the development of the hard sciences due to his demonization of empirical research. Which utterly invalidates the claim that all things in modern civilization ow to Aristotle.
Secondly: I’m pretty sure that dismissing the people who invented the water wheel as people who did not use reason and logic says more about your lack thereof.
Thirdly: as I pointed out ad infinitum, the myth that Aristotle was “Lost” in Christiandom is at best a half-truth and at most an outright falsehood. While his primary works were little known in the Latin speaking West due to the paucity of Greek language, they were never forgotten in Eastern Rome (which you would think would become a bastion of rationality and logic rather than an increasingly atrophying absolute monarchy like it did), and many of his works were preserved in Latin through commenters.
Part 5
Moreover, the myth that Aquinas reintroduced Aristotle to the West is false on its face since he was not anything like the first translator of Aristotle’s main works into Latin, as I pointed out. And he would have been among the first to point this out. But your citation of Thomism serves not respect for St. Thomas or his works or even the truth, but your own mythology.
“That rebirth of Greco-Pagan-Aristotelian reason is called the Renaissance.”
No, it absolutely isn’t.
Especially since one has to be incredibly dumb to equate Paganism (even Greek Paganism) with “reason”, especially given the aforementioned devastating effect Aristotle’s superstitions, illogic, and prejudices had on the sciences and logic for centuries (one of the greatest counter-examples to the Myth of the Rediscovery of Aristotle there is: Christian and Muslim thinkers alike accepted many of his biases whole sale even if they chipped away at others).
Moreover, the Renaissance started decades before Aquinas’s birth, during the decades between the late 1100s and early 1200s. In many ways Aquinas was a fruit of the Renaissance, not its cause.
Part 6
“Renaissance means rebirth, not the rebirth of Christian faith, but the rebirth of Greco-Pagan-Aristotelian, SECULAR, reason.”
Translation: You’ve never bothered reading Aristotle, have you? Because secular reasoning is notably downplayed by him. Moreover, the fact remains that the Renaissance was deeply Christian and ensconced in Christian faith, even if not exclusively so. Indeed, it helped lead to the challenging of many of Aristotle’s old and inaccurate prejudices such as that heavier objects would fall faster than lighter ones and the formal birth of that thing that the Classical Philosophers mocked more thoroughly than most; experimental research.
“Through the next 500 years the ascendancy of reason over faith grew. ”
Ah yes, because nothing screams “the ascendency of reason over faith” like the relapse into witch hunts that occurred during the peak of the Renaissance and the ensuing brutal wars of religion. Of course you will want to attribute all of that to Christianity while ignoring its role in sparking the Renaissance. Because you have no concrete standards or grasp of history, only talking points.
Inaccurate talking points.
Part 7
“Thomas Aquinas had separated reason from faith, ”
No, he didn’t. Indeed, he pointedly cited many Church Fathers centuries before him about the distinction between them and how they co-existed and clashed. But then you haven’t actually read – say – the Pauline Epistles of the Bible, or the writings of St. Augustine of Hippo..
“releasing reason from being the mere handmaiden of faith. ”
See above.
“Giving reason an intellectual legitimacy all of her own.”
You give St. Thomas too much credit, see above.
Part 8
” It was Aristotelian reason that produced the Protestant Reformation, not Christianity.”
This is incredibly stupid and indeed Martin Luther and others explicitly called out Aristotle for his dead end embrace of abstract, untested reasoning in the absence of faith.
“The idea that each man should be free to use his own reasoning mind to personally interpret Holy Scripture is a gift of Aristotelian reason and logic, not of religious faith.”
Untrue, especially if you study Aristotle’s interactions with the Pythia.
So your position is that reason is a man made construct? What intoxicating vanity. And the fact that man is imperfect isn’t exactly a revelation. A reading of Kings in the old testament is a log of such weakness. We strive for the perfection of spirit of Jesus. But falling short is unfortunately our tendency. Mans arrogance is the subtext of every word of your boring screed. Merry Christmas turtle dove.
Part 1
“So your position is that reason is a man made construct? What intoxicating vanity. ”
There’s not much vainer than pushing words into another person’s mouth in an attempt to make yourself better, and that’s what you did. It is certainly vainer than what I wrote above.
For the record, I believe reason is a gift from God and not a human construct. However, it has been used to erect many human constructs, including many of the conceptions of it that we have, that are clearly not God’s, due to our use of that other divine gift, free will.
Unless you want to argue that Aristotle’s follies about the number of teeth in goats and horses or that heavier objects will drop faster than light ones were not merely drawing from a divine wellspring but were God’s will themselves. Which is nothing less than heterodoxy bounded on heresy
Changing your position isn’t an argument it’s made to confuse the issue. Seen it done by the left in almost every area of our culture. Your words are yours you don’t need me to fill your mouth.
Part 2
“And the fact that man is imperfect isn’t exactly a revelation. A reading of Kings in the old testament is a log of such weakness. ”
And yet, the imperfection of man as well as the inability of man to be perfected by his own means is a revelation, mainly in the metaphorical sense but to a lesser degree in the literal sense since it was one of the key teachings of Jesus Christ. The Abrahamic Faiths I think have the most eloquent and truest of the summaries of this, but they were hardly the first. One need only look at the Legend of Gilgamesh and his quest for immortality (and the harsh criticism it gets in the text) to see that this was understood thousands of years before Christ’s bodily incarnation.
Part 3
“We strive for the perfection of spirit of Jesus. But falling short is unfortunately our tendency.”
It is not merely our tendency, but our fate. We can only hope to change that through salvation.
“Mans arrogance is the subtext of every word of your boring screed. ”
It is also the main text of every word in your own post here. And I note that you spent far more time attacking me when I refute THX on behalf of Christians than you do THX’s far more arrogant claims I do not claim my “screeds” are not boring, only that they are accurate.
“Merry Christmas turtle dove.”
You too, Mark. Try to remember what a certain carpenter said about the Mote in One’s eye. You could do with remembering that.
“ Changing your position isn’t an argument it’s made to confuse the issue.”
I didn’t change my position. You are simply lying to try and justify your own smear job.
“ Seen it done by the left in almost every area of our culture. “
I’ve also seen the left put words into peoples’ mouths and lie about it before. “I can see Russia from my house” anyone?
“Your words are yours you don’t need me to fill your mouth.”
Then quote my words as I am quoting yours, and stop wasting time.
Otherwise you are simply being a cowardly smear merchant and imitating – in a small way to be sure, but imitating all the same – the Father of Lies.
America managed to produce you….a bitter, venal, miserable excuse for a person. A sick little twit who hates the country.
A person who simply cannot hold his tongue or thoughts for lack of impulse control. A person who endlessly pushes his own selfish version of history based on the tortured soul version of frauds like Peekaboo and the fake goddess Rand.
A busybody who simply cannot leave anyone alone
You are so unimaginative and boring all you really have is the “Christian Dark Ages” and the notion that Christianity is the forerunner of Communism.
What happened to you to make you this way? Not enough mommy and daddy time? You didn’t get a bike for Christmas. Or were you sexually abused and now it’s your turn to try to make everyone miserable..
If you are what Objectivism is all about it is no wonder you and your faux mentor are doomed to fail.
See a psychiatrist. You really have a ton of unresolved issues.
What produced the Dark Ages was the collapse of governance, society, and civilization, with the demise of the late Roman Empire in the West, officially in A.D. 476. Also, Christianity in fact had been the state religion of the late Roman Empire, tracing back to Theodosius the Great in the 4th century. Many of the Germanic conquerors were Arian Christian, but were converted to catholic Christianity over time. Later, when Germanic leaders such as Charlemagne emerged, they helped advance Christianity as a key institution of both state and society. Christianity did not produce the Dark Ages; Christianity helped preserve western civilization.
Absolutely, the absence of God in society has produced many tyrannical governments because they have no moral code, conscience, or heart for humanity.
THX1138……..You are really seriously confused and absolutely wrong. You really need a encounter with the living Messiah the Christ. I will pray to that end.
I think it may have been Voltaire who said……..”.Religion was born when the first con man met the very first fool! “
Poor little THX, always so bitter. Fortunately for America the author has a wider audience than you. This article is appearing in the Federalist on this Christmas Day.
So you better hurry. The day is waning and there isn’t much time left to bash us on a site very few people actually read.
Sucks to be you.
This is your intrepretation, whose animus seems a bit driven by a bias against Christianity.
Your comments suggest that bias prevented you from some of the facts that I laid out.
I said nothing about the Puritans, whose theocratic approach to governing did not get much if any airing or traction at the Constitutional Convention. Of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention, 51 self-identified as Christians of different Protestant denomiinations, two self-identified as Catholic–Thomas Fitzsimmons (PA) and Daniel Carroll (MD), one self-identified without a Christian affiliation–James McClurg (VA) and one self-identified Diest–Ben Franklin (PA). .
These founders were well acquainted with the classics and scholarship revived Renaissance and the Enlightenment (as you point out), but it was the Bible that provided their primary belief and philosophic compass. 34% of their written citations were from the Bible in the decade of the 1780s, while 24% of their citations came out of the Enlightenment. (see John Eidsmoe, Christianity and the Constitution).
The genius of checks and balances manifest in the three federal government branches and the federalist system of divided power between the states and the federal government clearly come out Christianity and not the Enlightenment.
When American Christians BANNED Christmas. The first ‘War on Christmas’ was declared almost 400 years ago, courtesy of our Puritan forefathers.
https://theweek.com/articles/479313/when-americans-banned-christmas
No one cares. You sound beyond desperate at this point.
“Why Christmas Should Be More Commercial” by Leonard Peikoff
Even after the Christians stole Christmas, they were ambivalent about it. The holiday was inherently a pro-life festival of earthly renewal, but the Christians preached renunciation, sacrifice, and concern for the next world, not this one. As Cotton Mather, an 18th-century clergyman, put it: “Can you in your consciences think that our Holy Savior is honored by mirth? . . . Shall it be said that at the birth of our Savior . . . we take time . . . to do actions that have much more of hell than of heaven in them?”…
In fact, Christmas as we celebrate it today is a 19th-century American invention. … Santa Claus is a thoroughly American invention. … Of course, the Puritans denounced Santa as the Anti-Christ, because he pushed Jesus to the background. Furthermore, Santa implicitly rejected the whole Christian ethics. He did not denounce the rich and demand that they give everything to the poor; on the contrary, he gave gifts to rich and poor children alike. Nor is Santa a champion of Christian mercy or unconditional love. On the contrary, he is for justice — Santa gives only to good children, not to bad ones.
Part 1
“Even after the Christians stole Christmas, ”
Ah yes, more evidence that Peikoff is a false idol and not even that particularly good as a researcher.
The idea that Christians “stole” Christmas from the Sun God, Sol Invictus, has been pretty thoroughly beaten down and crushed for better than half a century among those who bothered reading the sources. Starting with the obvious fact that the oldest references to celebrations of Christmas predate the first mentions of the analogous celebration of Sol Invictus’s birthday. by decades. And while we must admit that there was a significant amount of source loss, it is still telling and handily repudiates the idea.
https://unherd.com/2020/12/the-myth-of-pagan-christmas/
Part 2
Ironically, because Peikoff is nothing if not incredibly prejudiced and citing debunked superstitions, he clings to the idea that Sol Invictus first was established then and misses the more telling and accurate accusation that Christians appropriated several elements of the Sol Invictus cult and the Yule of Northern European Heathens as the faith moved North from the Med Basin and into Northern Europe, mixing with the faiths there. It is especially in contrast to the repasted Pagan Deities as Saints like Saint Brigid.
But Peikoff rarely misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity, and you are much the same.
“they were ambivalent about it.”
Citation Freaking Needed. I challenge this clown to provide evidence from annals to prove that they were “ambivalent” of it.
Part 3
” The holiday was inherently a pro-life festival of earthly renewal, but the Christians preached renunciation, sacrifice, and concern for the next world, not this one. ”
I realize that Peikoff’s theological understanding of Christianity is regularly shallower than some cartoons, but this is pretty daft even by his standards. Especially since he ignores the co-existence of concern for this world with that of concern for the next and the entire idea of the Church Militant struggling “on Earth, as in Heaven.” The fact that Christ’s death was a spiritual renewal and redemption of the world made it an easy fit with many other Winter Celebrations.
Especially since t is Spring Celebrations that better represent “Earthly Renewal” than the likes of Saturnalia and the Winter Solstace celebrations.
Part 4
“As Cotton Mather, an 18th-century clergyman, put it: “Can you in your consciences think that our Holy Savior is honored by mirth? . .”
It’s rare that I have to defend a corrupt, tyrannical hack like Cotton Mather, but in this case I actually have to. Well done THX and Peikoff, you managed to be more dishonest and corrupt than a freaking Mather. That takes some doing.
Here’s what Mather ACTUALLY said:
‘…“can you in your conscience think that our Holy Savior is honored by mad mirth, by long eating, by hard drinking, by lewd gaming, by rude reveling? If you will yet go on and will do such things, I forewarn you that the burning wrath of God will break forth among you.””
Huh, doesn’t it look like you left out some things?
Not simply “mirth” but “Mad Mirth, long eating, hard drinking, lewd gaming, rude reveling.” In other words, Mather was not issuing an injunction ala the Ayatollah that there were no jokes in Islam, but condemning what he labeled (self-righteously and often hypocritically of course, but still) as gluttony, revelry, lewdness, and greed.
Which are recognized as sins, and not just in Christianity. And indeed, one does not have to do much to realize the damage that can come from hard drinking, lewd gambling, and rude reveling.
Part 5
Esp
“In fact, Christmas as we celebrate it today is a 19th-century American invention. … ”
At best half-true. Many of the modern day parts of it date to the US in the 19th century, but many telltale parts originate in the Old World, particularly in Northern Europe during the 1500s. Hence why you see traditions such as Good King Wenceslaus, and a vision of Santa that had far more to do with a mixture of Pagan Yule traditions and memories of Saint Nicholas of Smyrna than with the 19th century.
Part 6
“Santa Claus is a thoroughly American invention. …”
Santa as he is portrayed now is a thoroughly American invention, but like countless American inventions he was based on prototypes from before, particularly the merger of Northern European Yule and Christian Winter traditions, the memory of Bishop-Saint Nicholas of Smyrna (the historical Santa, or at least as close as there is to one), and so forth.
” Of course, the Puritans denounced Santa as the Anti-Christ,”
They did no such thing, because as bad as the Puritans could be they correctly recognized that “Anti-Christ” is a collective identity, not a singular one; not a Godhead for the Devil but an identity of all those against Christianity.
Moreover, even the most stuck up and critical Santa Bashers (or those that went further and briefly outlawed most celebrations of Christmas) viewed him as it.
” because he pushed Jesus to the background.”
That’s… Not how fundamentally religious celebrations go.
Part 7
” Furthermore, Santa implicitly rejected the whole Christian ethics. ”
No he didn’t. Indeed, he embodied them, particularly since the historic Santa was a Christian Bishop and Saint.
“He did not denounce the rich and demand that they give everything to the poor; ”
I realize you and Peikoff are goddamn idiots, but Christianity never demanded that either.
And if you don’t believe that, check the Parable of the Talents, aka “Advice on how to have your slaves ethically and productively invest gold talents on the ancient marketplace.”
That synopsis reads like an almost over the top parody of the “Religious Right” and “An Caps” by a butthurt collectivist, but it is readable for anybody who bothers to check it in the Book of Matthew, attributed to the Godhead of The Christ himself.
(Whether or not you want to argue whether Jesus actually said it or indeed existed even as a mortal man is irrelevant, since if we are discussing “Christian Ethics” what is portrayed as Christian Ethics is important).
Most Randians and others that vilify Wealth take the comments about how it is easier for a donkey to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get into God out of context, and act as if Christ had unique scorn for the rich. But in reality he makes it clear it is maddeningly hard for anybody to get into Heaven, rich or poor alike.
Part 8
He also quite bluntly rejected the idea of giving everything to the poor (which he reproaches Judas over), and points out “You shall always have the poor.”
“on the contrary, he gave gifts to rich and poor children alike. ”
As have Christians for centuries. Indeed the roots of Santa as Gift Giver trace back to St. Nicholas going about giving gifts to pay off the dowries of girls, both rich and poor alike. Sadly, many people do not realize that and the historical Saint Nicholas’s story is little remembered, but it is still a telling repudiation.
Christ was quite clear that there is no inherent virtue or vice in wealth, or in poverty.
“Nor is Santa a champion of Christian mercy or unconditional love. On the contrary, he is for justice — Santa gives only to good children, not to bad ones.”
I realize that you’re a fool, but the idea of Christian mercy and unconditional love always had limits. Love for thy enemy did not mean not guarding against or taking action against them. Hence Christ’s point that “I come not to bring peace but a swor.d.” And his enforcement of the condemnation of the Amalekites and others.
This is the problem with failing to double check your own sources or those they are supposedly commenting on.
There’s no mystery why dear Leonard wants it more commercial and less religious THX.
Christmas and Christmas carols have been going since long before Dickens which is why he had something to write about. In fact Christmas has been a feast since the 2nd century. It’s modern incarnation is of course modern and perhaps we should not expect little details like this to be mentioned by propagandists even on Christmas.
You better watch out, you better not cry
You better not pout, I’m telling you why:
Santa Claus is coming to town
Have a merry Christmas THX
Have a very, merry, CAPITALIST-COMMERCIAL, abundant PRODUCTS-GIFTS, from productive-capitalist Santa, Christmas to you too, una Salus!
“The secular meaning of the Christmas holiday is wider than the tenets of any particular religion: it is good will toward men — a frame of mind which is not the exclusive property (though it is supposed to be part, but is a largely unobserved part) of the Christian religion.
“The charming aspect of Christmas is the fact that it expresses good will in a cheerful, happy, benevolent, non-sacrificial way. One says: ‘Merry Christmas’ — not ‘Weep and Repent.’ And the good will is expressed in a material, earthly form — by giving presents to one’s friends, or by sending them cards in token remembrance. . . .
“The best aspect of Christmas is the aspect usually decried by the mystics: the fact that Christmas has been commercialized. The gift-buying . . . stimulates an enormous outpouring of ingenuity in the creation of products devoted to a single purpose: to give men pleasure. And the street decorations put up by department stores and other institutions — the Christmas trees, the winking lights, the glittering colors —provide the city with a spectacular display, which only ‘commercial greed’ could afford to give us. One would have to be terribly depressed to resist the wonderful gaiety of that spectacle.” Ayn Rand, The Objectivist Calendar, December 1976
No one cares about your boyfriend Lenny Peekaboo either.
In the meantime, this weekend the churches will be full, hymns will be sung, Christmas trees will go up, presents exchanged, Christmas dinner will be enjoyed and those football games will be forever on.
Not a damn thing you can do about it either, Thank God.
Enjoy your misery
God found a Woman the Virgin Mary to give Birth to a Savior. Just remember from the Christmas classic A Charle Bown Christmas and Linus reading the passage from the Bible about the birth of Jesus
The Word of the Lord:
Psalm 85:10 “Mercy and truth are met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.”
Isaiah 53:6 “We all like sheep have gone astray,
each one has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid upon Him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet He did not open His mouth.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so He did not open His mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away,
and who can recount His descendants?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
He was stricken for the transgression of My people.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with a rich man in His death,
although He had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in His mouth.
10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush Him
and to cause Him to suffer;
and when His soul is made a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days,
and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
11 After the anguish of His soul,
He will see the light of lifeh and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant will justify many,
and He will bear their iniquities.”
Thanks be to God!
Sorry . I forgot to finish the last sentence . The entire sentence is “What we may be sure of is that they must have had strong men with then to be their guards and servants , For they did have valuables with then in their long journey from the East.
As concerning the exact day that Jesus was born in no place in Matthew or anywhere else in the Bible is the is it written that Jesus was born of December 25.
Some Christian Bible scholars have made it known that in the light history of the climate in the Middle East that the winters and night could because bitterly cold and that shepherds kept the sheep in the barn and they also stayed inside their homes at night because of the frigid cold .
Therefore, those scholars have speculated that Jesus might have been born mid-September if not even earlier in that year.
It matters not the exact date, the darkest day of every single year is December 21st when all of humanity needs a light to follow, and the 25th December is when we can start to discern the days getting longer.
In the Northern hemisphere the days get longer. In the Southern hemisphere the days start getting shorter. The ancient mystics did not travel much, you know, they could not figure that out, they were too busy counting how many angels fit on the point of a pin. Only reason and science can figure that out, mysticism not so much.
“Earth is divided into the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere at the equator. The two hemispheres have opposite seasons, and the night sky can look very different…. Seasons in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres are opposite. When it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s summer in the Southern Hemisphere. This is because Earth’s axis is tilted in relation to its orbit around the Sun, known as axial tilt….
According to timeanddate’s data, around 6.7 billion people live in the Northern Hemisphere: 87% of Earth’s population…. One of the explanations for the bias can be that most of the world’s population lives in the Northern Hemisphere.” – Aparna Kher
https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/seasons-causes.html
As for the quant stereotype Christmas story of the three wise men for the east visiting the baby Jesus in tin manger. Some Christian Bible scholars have come right out and declared the such a story isn’t really accurate to the information provided by Bible in the Gospel of Matthew.
For the those scholars have speculated that there might have been an elapsed time of two years since the day of the birth of Jesus , when the shepherds visited Him in the manger and then two years later the wise might had come men visit him . This is because when they came Jesus was in the manger for Matthew records that Jesus was living in a house and that account for Matthew refers to Jesus and “Child” and not a “babe” or a “baby.”
Furthermore, nowhere in the Bible is it does it read they there were “three” wise men there could have been four and maybe even five of them. The exact number of him or her no one really knows for sure. Also nowhere in Matthew was it written that those wise men were kings.
What we may be sure of is that they must have had strong men with then to be their guards and servants , For they did have valuables with then in their long journey from the East.
To keep everything in perspective Christmas is supposed to be about the birth of Jesus. Not about Santa Claus.
This Christmas season with many decorations of glitter, one of which is that fictional fantasy non-entity called Santa Claus. Some Christians agree and some don’t that this third level myth is of no value and is even terrible. Only worthless mythical character that distracts and subverts the center of focus from the God -Man Jesus to valueless character of fiction, Santa Claus. For example during the 1960’s when I was eleven I was taken to a Presbyterian church Christmas social. The minister of that church gave no mention of Jesus but had a man come into the room as the guest of honor .He was dressed up and Santa Claus . That was terrible.
Some Christians have, well spoken, when they had said the Santa Claus is a type of Anti-Christ. Meaning a usurper of Christ or a Christ –like substitute. After all, Jesus taught many good values. This substitute for Jesus, [S.C.] wants little girls and boys to be good and rewards them for it. Also, in the Bible Jesus had great power and performed miracles. Likewise ,this usurper [S.C.] has great magical powers .As to visit with gifts the homes of millions of people in one night. A further example of this myth character being a Jesus usurper who is god- like is the song HERE COMES SANTA CLAUS one of the lines in that song is “He doesn’t care if your rich or poor he loves you just the same….” What blasphemy .that sounds, very much, like Jesus ! Then there is the other song in which some of the lyrics are “He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when your awake , he knows when you are bad or good so be good for goodness sake…” Now this clown [S.C.] is all-knowing, as in god-like .
The very worst of all was on Yahoo new which ran a tragic story about a small terminally ill child who died in the arms of an actor playing the role of Santa Claus. In other words that was a news story of a child who dies in that that usurper arms [S.C.] and not in the arms of Jesus. In short Christians should feel nothing but disdain and abhorrence about that fictional character Santa Claus.
That third level myth known as “Santa Claus” is not as nice as some people take it as being. For the fictional character of “Santa Claus” does have a mostly subtle wicked essence to it. For just the other Christmas a news story was covered about a little girl who is ,no doubt, a caring and loving young person asked a man dressed as “Santa Claus “ to cure her cousin for cancer.
That little girl .She a sincere little girl, she must not have had been taught well because that Santa character was usurping the place of God. For that poor little girl needed to ask God through prayer to cure her cousin. Not ask that useless story character that is dressed and that red suit.
As for that red outfit that Santa Claus always wears, it’s been noticed but not dogmatically stated that since the old Soviet flag was mostly red . Likewise, the flag Communist China is mostly red and in the Bible the whore of Babylon is mostly dress in red , Revelation 17:3-6. Furthermore many of the people who have embraced the religion Satanism are very fond of the color red does show that something is very wrong with Santa Claus. Maybe that red suit of Santa is from Satan.
The Santa Claus myth is a personification of an insidious usurper of Jesus.
As an example is the 1959 movie entitled Santa Claus vs the Devil. For in reality it’s Jesus who had a confrontation the Devil, Matthew 4:1- 11. , Not that fictional big elf dress in a red suit.
Much more recently in this second decade of this twenty –first century, one Christmas season on Yahoo the US news section there was an article there was an article about a little girl who was praying to Santa Claus for her older cousin to be cured of cancer.
First it needs to be made clear that this little girl shouldn’t be mocked or made fun of in any way because her intentions were both and noble.
Nevertheless, the point is that youngster wasn’t, obviously, raised in a Bible based Christian home because her prayers were not to Jesus but to that fictional character in a red suite.
Red some Christian’s scholars have speculated might be the Devils color because first of all In Revelations 17:4,5. One of the two main colors “The Whore of Babylon” dresses in is red.
Second, many people who are Satanists do have red Satanist” church membership” cards and certificate. Likewise many other “churches” have in them red decorations.
Third the color of Communism is red and observed in the old flag of the former Soviet Union as well as in Communist China.
Those three last points, alone, do hint, that there is something sinister and evil about that third lever myth of Santa Claus.
There have been at least 100 prophecies that have been fulfilled in the Bible that Jesus spoke or the prophecy was fulfilled. The Dead Sea Scrolls and so many archeological proof is now present that proves the life of Christ and the prophets. Only those who are doubters will see the Tribulation period, the End of Time because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Rejoice that you received the Holy Spirit which led you to all truth!
Luke 1::26-33.
“He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David….And He will reign over the House of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end
The prophets do not mention Jesus. They talk about a human messiah who will free the Jewish people, after which the world will recognize the truth of the Torah and come to the Temple to worship God. Needless to say, it hasn’t happened yet, and definitely has no relation to anything Jesus did, assuming he existed at all as he is portrayed in Christian literature.
The Dead Sea Scrolls also do not mention Jesus.
Marlow, myth or not, Jesus is on your side — altruism and self-sacrifice for the neighbor. Jesus is on the side of welfare-state socialism. “Love your neighbor as you love yourself”, “You are your borther’s keeper”. Christianity prepared the ground for socialism and the welfare state. “The concept of social justice, which jettisoned the idea that we actually earn and deserve what we get in life, was first adopted by the Jesuit Luigi Taparelli in the 1840s, as drawn from the work of St. Thomas Aquinas.” – Richard M. Salsman
“Holy Scripture and the Welfare State” – Richard M. Salsman
https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardsalsman/2011/04/28/holy-scripture-and-the-welfare-state/?sh=1aef1c7924f2
Ok, I’m fine with having Jesus in my corner.
What was on Yahoo news was terrible which a years ago it ran a tragic story about a small terminally ill child who died in the arms of an actor playing the role of Santa Claus. In other words that was a news story of a child who dies in that that usurper arms [S.C.] and not in the arms of Jesus. In short Christians should feel nothing but disdain and abhorrence about that fictional character Santa Claus.
I can’t speak for other religions, but there are clear reasons why Jews do not consider Jesus the biblical messiah::
There’s also a good discussion of the subject by Rabbi Steinberg in his celebrated book, BasicJudaism.
Exactly why they killed Him
No, it’s that the condition of the world since the advent of Jesus has not justified such an appraisal of him.
Also, it’s not clear who you mean by “they,” but whoever they were you should be thanking them. If instead of “he died for our sins” he had died of old age, then what?
Finally, the link to Rabbi Simmons’ article did not appear in my above post, so here it is:
Ah! So the sacrificial torture and sacrificial murder of an innocent man can be justified. Where’s that scapegoat? We need to sacrifice him so we can live forever on his blood, we’re vampires!
“Christ, in terms of the Christian philosophy, is the human ideal. He personifies that which men should strive to emulate. Yet, according to the Christian mythology, he died on the cross not for his own sins but for the sins of the nonideal people. In other words, a man of perfect virtue was sacrificed for men who are vicious and who are expected or supposed to accept that sacrifice. If I were a Christian, nothing could make me more indignant than that: the notion of sacrificing the ideal to the nonideal, or virtue to vice. And it is in the name of that symbol that men are asked to sacrifice themselves for their inferiors. That is precisely how the symbolism is used.” – Ayn Rand
As if Jesus were the only innocent person in human history who was ever crucified. And why don’t all those others deserve your recognition, if not your adoration?
And who is the “we” you are referring to? What can it possibly mean to say, as you do, that we “need to sacrifice him so we can live forever on his blood?”
There’s too much nonsense in this article to deal with, so I’ll just say this: Jesus basically says nothing more than “be nice to people.” The rest is blithering like “consider the lilies…” Now, it may be that in the context of an extremely brutal ancient world, this was a revolutionary idea, but it doesn’t prove any of the easily dismissed blathering about him being God or predicted by the prophets (he definitely wasn’t). It seems obvious that worshiping a human being as God is an incredibly bad thing, and humanity has paid a terrible price for it. If one wishes to worship, one should worship God, not a man.
Jesus says much, much, more than just be nice to people. Jesus says SACRIFICE and renounce everything you’ve got, including your family, and follow me to the after-life. Follow me unto death.
True, but that’s a product of his messianic zealotry. His essential message is “be nice to people.” And that’s fine, but it’s not exactly profound. Basically every civilization and spiritual leader in history has said something like it.
Part 1
Guys, all you believers out there… after all this discussion, why don’t we just (re)turn to the Bible – ostensibly the foundation of our faith?
Let’s start with Luke 6:46.: “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I say?”
And what did the Lord say?
Matthew 5:17-20:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Notice the Lord is refering here to His Law, His Torah, His instructions, or teachings) that He gave the Israelites at Mt. Sinai – the wedding contract if they accepted to be His Covenant people .. or as we would say now, His “church”, the Bride.
Part 2
And what Feasts does the Law tell His people to observe?
Well, those on God’s calendar of course, because they both commemorate and foreshadow His plan of redemption for mankind all the way through to His return, the Messiah being hidden in each one of them. For these, check out Leviticus 23.. The sacrificial requirements of these feasts were of course fulfilled in Christ’s sacrificing himself to pay for our sins, once and for all.
Note that Lev. 23 starts as follows:
“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts OF THE LORD that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are MY APPOINTED FEASTS” [emphasis mine].
Part 3
So they’re HIS FEASTS, not Jewish feasts.. And here’s more proof.. Genesis 1:14.. God made the 2 lights for “signs and for SEASONS”. The Hebrew word “mo’edim” for ‘seasons’ is the same one used for the Feasts in Leviticus 23. So He gave us a calendar for us to be able to observe His ‘mo’edim’, and that includes the Sabbath, the 7th day!
And I notice, Christmas is not listed among them. But then, it could be in the New Testament, right?
Well, I dare anyone to find a single passage in either AT or NT that says we should celebrate the birth of Jesus as opposed to His death and resurrection. That’s why the Bible is not specific on when Jesus was born. Once you study the feasts and God’s calendar, however, it becomes obvious He was born in September, probably on Yom Teruah, the Feast of Trumpets. That’s also when ‘shepherds were in the field”..
Part 4
And in answer to those who think it doesn’t matter when we celebrate what… notice the accuracy with which God specifies when these feasts are to be observed. To the day. ‘Renewal’ by the way is not synanomous with the winter solstice, but rather the Spring equinox! That’s what Passover, the 1st feast falls into.
Lastly, because some of you made reference to ‘loving your neighbor’, etc.., here’s the exact wording of this passage. Matthew 22:36-40:
“Teacher, which commandment is the greatest IN THE LAW?” Jesus declared, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’e This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ALL THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS HANG ON THESE TWO COMMANDMENTS.” [emphasis mine].
Now, with each of us making their own decision as to who to follow, the traditions of men, or the Word of God… have a restful and peaceful end of the year you all!
Speaking of the Christmas story: http://www.thankevann.com/christchild/
When I was 15 a tour guide asked me what significance Gold, Frankensence, and Myrrh had, and I uncomfortably blurted out something about the gifts given to Jesus(he was hoping for a cute little Boy answer like “The Three Wise Guys”). I only knew about that from a sketch on “The National Lampoon Radio Hour”.
The statues of the nativity display scene is idolatry. That should be obvious.