Entries from December 2006 ↓

Tucked in the bookshelves of my grandparent’s living room sits a book entitled The Standard Book on Etiquette, printed in 1948. A chapter in the book is Teen-Age Etiquette. It is comical and yet informative. Here is an excerpt:

There is probably no one in the world who needs to know the conventions and proprieties more than a teen-age boy or girl. Of course the teen-agers themselves would be the last to admit it. They would, in fact, scoff at the very idea of etiquette.

But have you ever seen anything more pathetic than a teen-age boy on his first date trying to act completely adult and sophisticated . . . and not knowing quite how?

Have you ever watched a teenage girl getting ready for her first big “formal,” wondering what to wear and how to act, and hoping she’ll make the right impression?

No- they don’t give a hoot about behavior, these bright young moderns. But when they start dating, going to parties, and coming smack up against the proprieties–that’s when the agony begins! That’s when they want to know exactly what to do, say, write and wear, that’s when they want to be, in their own colorful and characteristic phrase, “in the groove.”

I hear and read Christians who complain that Christmas is being attacked by ruthless, godless corporate America by saying “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.” They make a stab at the business who choose one holiday greeting over another. They claim that it is an obvious and obtrusive sign that our society hates Christianity and everything associated with it. They shake their heads in disgust to the secular rejection of the term “Christmas.”

I’m a fan of Christmas, but do we really have reason to protest against a store putting Happy Holidays on their shopping bags instead of Merry Christmas? Is the complaint against bringing shame on Christ or is it more against the break in our Christmas tradition? Have business owners actually been offended by the gospel and thus have rejected His name in connection to this holiday?

It seems to me that our society has conscientiously switched from using the term Christmas in an effort to be as religiously tolerant as possible. They are not purposely rejecting the person and work of Jesus Christ, but they are trying to include the Christians, as well as the Jewish people, the atheists, and every other religious group.

The term Christmas doesn’t even represent what Scripture teaches about Christ, but only loosely holds His name. In fact, the majority of people who use the word “Christmas” don’t believe in the man, Jesus. Just as much as choosing to use “Christmas” doesn’t represent a genuine acceptance of the gospel, so choosing not to doesn’t represent a complete rejection of the gospel.

I don’t feel any special connection to the term “Christmas” because I don’t see any connection between Christmas and Christ in Scripture. I will stand and fight for an accurate understanding of the Incarnation (John 1:14), but if Christ and His glorification is not the issue at stake, I see no reason to contend for mere tradition.

What do you think? Do think that people using “Happy Holidays” instead of “Christmas” is an attack on the gospel of Jesus Christ or just a preference issue?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8790082034544435027

If you have ever wondered where your Christmas lights come from, there could be a good chance that they come from imprisoned pastors in China. This video explains it more.

Scripture is written in words. This statement may see obvious to you, but found within it is a beautiful complexity.God has chosen to speak in words. In a simple unit, composed of individual letters, is the life-altering message that God has given to mankind.

Why did He choose words? Why didn’t he use some other form of communication fitting the Almighty God? For whatever reason, He wrapped up the eternal, world-creating, sin-convicting, heart-changing, Gospel-powered, error-shattering, God-glorifying truth in letters, words and sentences.

Therefore, what a great honor it is to be able to read those words and have them available to us. We often lose sight of the greatness of the words that we read and what it has cost men through the ages to bring it into a language that we can read. Many spent their whole lives fighting to put the Word of the living God into the vernacular of the people. They endured rejection by the church, persecution from kings, and hatred from their enemies; all the while understanding that a battle for the truth was worth fighting. You would not have the Bible today if it were not for men who gladly went to the stake to be burned on behalf of their Savior.

Let us have that sink in and change the way that we approach the Word of God.

A couple of Sundays ago, I had the opportunity to attend the West Angeles Church of God in Christ. My missionary life and experience class went there to experience what it feels like to be in a different culture. I had never been in that kind of environment before and actually enjoyed it a lot. It was vastly different from Grace Community Church or Grace Bible Church, but nevertheless I learned much about being a minority in culture that is different from my own. About 99% of the congregation were African American and they whole-heartedly practiced the black-gospel style of music, preaching, and participation.

We sat in the center section in the 3rd and 4th rows. I’m sure it was strange for them to see a group of 35 white people right in front, but that is where we were escorted. During the first song, three people came and sat in row two - Denzel Washington and his wife, and Natalie Cole. Several of the females of the group kind of started freaking out, but once we stopped them from hyper-ventilating, they were fine. The church is huge. They have 26,000 contributors, with an average Sunday attendance of 9,000 on two campuses. The picture is of their cathedral, showing the large stage, two presentation screens, and the nature of the atmosphere.

Although I tried not to judge them for doing things differently than I am accustomed to, I could not help, but hold what was preached from the pulpit and what was sung in the lyrics up to the Holy Scriptures. The first ten minutes of the sermon surprised me because the bishop talked about sin and gave some of the historical context of the passage. He spoke from John chapter 8 on the story of the woman caught in adultery. He spoke solidly for a half hour and then for the next half hour included the congregation. We did everything from holding hands with the person next to us and saying prayers of success and prosperity on them to singing songs to others.

My judging instincts kicked in quite frequently, but I had to continually remind myself that I was in a gathering of believers. They believed and followed after the same God that I did. It saddened my heart that the truth of the Word was not unleashed upon God’s people, but they were spoon-fed. The bishop gave them short, small promises to repeat over and over. I walked away feeling like hadn’t thought about anything deep for all two hours. The truth was muddled up in the heavy emphasis on experience. Over all, I was glad that I went, for I learned about a different culture and was thankful for what I had in the churches I attend, both at school and at home.