Maybe we should all give it a rest for one day. As Brian Wilson said, Love and Mercy is all we have. And if you can't look through all the human failings and focus on the message and joy of Christmas maybe at least try to remember our common humanity. Sending best wishes and love to everyone here. Stay warm and peace to you and your families.
I never realized how hated Christianity is until I started reading comments on social media, which has only been 5-6 years. The word “hypocrites” is often used to reference Christians because we are sinners, and non-believers expect more from us. Christianity constantly has us looking within, and wherever we’ve seen ourselves not in line with the teachings of Jesus, asking God for forgiveness…over and over and over again! Wishing Peace and Joy for everyone…and a future filled with peace and unity in this beautiful but flawed country of ours. As we Orthodox Christians say on this day…Christ is Born! Glorify Him!
This is great stuff. Merry Christmas. You really know how to keep Christ in Christmas. The spirit of forgiveness is the Spirit of Christ. Without using the word: "forgiveness" - your writing oozes with it.
"Glory to God in the highest". God never smiles at sin. But he surely smiled at his only begotten son. We belong to Him and we forgive men their trespasses. Forgivness heals us and the world.
What an interesting but sad piece! How different from my own growing up in a traditional Christian home - one that subscribes to the traditional Christian creeds and beliefs about Jesus. The Westboro Baptist Church pickets MY CURRENT Christian church when they come to town. They are viewed as a "cult" and "fringe, heretical outlier" within traditional Christendom, but as a "Poster Boy" for Christianity by secular society and the MSM, who never miss a chance to vilify historical Christians and ridicule them for the "Straw Men" (and women) they are not (for those that you would destroy you must first disparage and debunk...).
The late Richard John Neuhaus observed “Politics is chiefly a function of culture, at the heart of culture is morality, and at the heart of morality is religion.”
Secularists and leftists recoil at the notion that they are "Religious." They like to believe that they are superior in knowledge to the "superstitious, religious deplorables," but they are in denial. We are all religious. We cannot be otherwise.
Today, "wokeism" is the new "public religion" in America, and it is supplanting and usurping traditional Judeo-Christian theism. See, e.g., "Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America" by Columbia Prof. John McWhorter. An "ism" is an ideology, which is a secular religion founded on the existential premise that "Man (or ME or SHE) is God), a so very Nietzschean notion. But what interests me is that, unlike the heralds of the Messiah "Christ Child," there are no "Good tidings of Great Joy which shall be to all people," or wishes for "Peace on Earth, Goodwill towards Men" in Wokeism. It only leaves in its wake the "Circular Firing Squad" we see today as it pits one envious, greedy, covetous, ungrateful "identity group" against the others in perpetual discord.
True Christianity celebrates the "Good News" that begins with the words "For God so loved the world..." ... and ends with "There is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female - for you are all one in Christ Jesus..." Merry Christmas...
Terrific story! For me, it's not Christmas until I watch A Charlie Brown Christmas. To this day I still get goose bumps when Linus reads what he says is the true meaning of Christmas, Luke 2: 8-14
Awesome retelling of your experiences. I am happy you have found peace and joy in what is my favorite holiday.
Christmas even if you don’t believe is a time for peace, joy and love to be in style, regardless of your political beliefs. The excitement of kids and even adults is a joy. Of course there are the liberals who hate everything, but it’s easier to ignore them at Christmas. But then deep down they hate themselves also and relish making others miserable like themselves.
Plus it’s a time to where you can actually say remember the reason for the season. So no matter your beliefs, all of the different celebrations from Christmas and other religions or cultures are a joy. Plus it puts the belief in God forward. Even if you choose not to believe.
Thank you for your story and Merry Christmas to everyone.
Very interesting perspective. On the other side of your mirror, we too should reflect on what this season means. Whether you believe or not we are a blessed people and should reflect on that at least once a year.
With respect to the association of Christmas with pagan festivals of the winter solstice (usually very close to 21 December), it is quite plausibly true; but it seems to me that the pagans were on to something. After all, especially if you live in latitudes farther northern than most of the U.S. (Europe for example), noticing that the days are not getting any shorter, and might even be getting a little longer, is plenty of cause for celebration. So what the hell...
I think the words of Ebenezer Scrooge are appropriate here, “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me.”
“I hate, I despise your feast days,” God chides in one Bible passage. God hated Christmas, and so everyone else had to as well.“
————————————————————
Obviously, that sentence doesn’t mean all feasts must go. But this is the same exact way David French reads the Constitution. His interpretation of how freedom works is very Westboro Baptisty.
“Oh it says free speech? Well then we have to let guys who are sexually aroused by dressing up as women read books to children who are sitting on their lap on government property while wearing lingerie and heels. I mean it says free speech…..”
“No we believe in small government so conservatives can’t use the government to stop the government from infiltrating private companies in furtherance of fascism because that would expand the government…..”
It’s just a total lack of discernment. It’s infantile.
Cheers to the Free Press for featuring this 21st century "Christmas Carol". Megan is a remarkable person, overcoming the ghosts of childhood past, and a terrific writer as well. Dickens could not have done better. God bless us every one!
This is why cancel culture is bullshit. We need to give people a chance at redemption. I'm sure it's a fine line but I believe in second chances.
Maybe we should all give it a rest for one day. As Brian Wilson said, Love and Mercy is all we have. And if you can't look through all the human failings and focus on the message and joy of Christmas maybe at least try to remember our common humanity. Sending best wishes and love to everyone here. Stay warm and peace to you and your families.
I never realized how hated Christianity is until I started reading comments on social media, which has only been 5-6 years. The word “hypocrites” is often used to reference Christians because we are sinners, and non-believers expect more from us. Christianity constantly has us looking within, and wherever we’ve seen ourselves not in line with the teachings of Jesus, asking God for forgiveness…over and over and over again! Wishing Peace and Joy for everyone…and a future filled with peace and unity in this beautiful but flawed country of ours. As we Orthodox Christians say on this day…Christ is Born! Glorify Him!
This is great stuff. Merry Christmas. You really know how to keep Christ in Christmas. The spirit of forgiveness is the Spirit of Christ. Without using the word: "forgiveness" - your writing oozes with it.
"Glory to God in the highest". God never smiles at sin. But he surely smiled at his only begotten son. We belong to Him and we forgive men their trespasses. Forgivness heals us and the world.
What an interesting but sad piece! How different from my own growing up in a traditional Christian home - one that subscribes to the traditional Christian creeds and beliefs about Jesus. The Westboro Baptist Church pickets MY CURRENT Christian church when they come to town. They are viewed as a "cult" and "fringe, heretical outlier" within traditional Christendom, but as a "Poster Boy" for Christianity by secular society and the MSM, who never miss a chance to vilify historical Christians and ridicule them for the "Straw Men" (and women) they are not (for those that you would destroy you must first disparage and debunk...).
The late Richard John Neuhaus observed “Politics is chiefly a function of culture, at the heart of culture is morality, and at the heart of morality is religion.”
Secularists and leftists recoil at the notion that they are "Religious." They like to believe that they are superior in knowledge to the "superstitious, religious deplorables," but they are in denial. We are all religious. We cannot be otherwise.
Today, "wokeism" is the new "public religion" in America, and it is supplanting and usurping traditional Judeo-Christian theism. See, e.g., "Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America" by Columbia Prof. John McWhorter. An "ism" is an ideology, which is a secular religion founded on the existential premise that "Man (or ME or SHE) is God), a so very Nietzschean notion. But what interests me is that, unlike the heralds of the Messiah "Christ Child," there are no "Good tidings of Great Joy which shall be to all people," or wishes for "Peace on Earth, Goodwill towards Men" in Wokeism. It only leaves in its wake the "Circular Firing Squad" we see today as it pits one envious, greedy, covetous, ungrateful "identity group" against the others in perpetual discord.
True Christianity celebrates the "Good News" that begins with the words "For God so loved the world..." ... and ends with "There is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female - for you are all one in Christ Jesus..." Merry Christmas...
Terrific story! For me, it's not Christmas until I watch A Charlie Brown Christmas. To this day I still get goose bumps when Linus reads what he says is the true meaning of Christmas, Luke 2: 8-14
Thanks Bari ! Thanks for Common Sense and Free Press ! Thanks for stories like this.
Nice it started with the lights. That was your bridge.
Awesome retelling of your experiences. I am happy you have found peace and joy in what is my favorite holiday.
Christmas even if you don’t believe is a time for peace, joy and love to be in style, regardless of your political beliefs. The excitement of kids and even adults is a joy. Of course there are the liberals who hate everything, but it’s easier to ignore them at Christmas. But then deep down they hate themselves also and relish making others miserable like themselves.
Plus it’s a time to where you can actually say remember the reason for the season. So no matter your beliefs, all of the different celebrations from Christmas and other religions or cultures are a joy. Plus it puts the belief in God forward. Even if you choose not to believe.
Thank you for your story and Merry Christmas to everyone.
Very interesting perspective. On the other side of your mirror, we too should reflect on what this season means. Whether you believe or not we are a blessed people and should reflect on that at least once a year.
With respect to the association of Christmas with pagan festivals of the winter solstice (usually very close to 21 December), it is quite plausibly true; but it seems to me that the pagans were on to something. After all, especially if you live in latitudes farther northern than most of the U.S. (Europe for example), noticing that the days are not getting any shorter, and might even be getting a little longer, is plenty of cause for celebration. So what the hell...
Thank You. To All: May You find what You're looking for. :-)
I think Jesus would say of Westboro followers, as He did of all of us, “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.”
Merry Christmas everyone, remembering today that love is the greatest gift of all.
I think the words of Ebenezer Scrooge are appropriate here, “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me.”
“I hate, I despise your feast days,” God chides in one Bible passage. God hated Christmas, and so everyone else had to as well.“
————————————————————
Obviously, that sentence doesn’t mean all feasts must go. But this is the same exact way David French reads the Constitution. His interpretation of how freedom works is very Westboro Baptisty.
“Oh it says free speech? Well then we have to let guys who are sexually aroused by dressing up as women read books to children who are sitting on their lap on government property while wearing lingerie and heels. I mean it says free speech…..”
“No we believe in small government so conservatives can’t use the government to stop the government from infiltrating private companies in furtherance of fascism because that would expand the government…..”
It’s just a total lack of discernment. It’s infantile.
Cheers to the Free Press for featuring this 21st century "Christmas Carol". Megan is a remarkable person, overcoming the ghosts of childhood past, and a terrific writer as well. Dickens could not have done better. God bless us every one!