Rather than write something new about Christmas, I decided to just insert into one post the 2 comments I have already made on the Random Contact blog.
Enjoy!
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Thursday, December 13, 2007
Christmas is coming!
What is Christmas about anyway?
It's not about presents, Santa Claus, reindeer, decorated evergreen trees, wreaths, candles, carols, candy canes, angels, camels, shepards, Magi, snow, snowmen, parties, pies, turkey, dressing, cookies, fudge or any of the trappings of the season. It's about family. More specfically, it's about God's family.
The Father wanted a bigger family, so He sent His Son to die for our sins, rise from the dead, and provide a way for us to join God's family.
I know the objections that some have to celebrating Christmas. They don't matter to me.
One objection is that we don't see Christians celebrating Christ's birth in the Bible. Well, we don't see Sunday School or many of the everyday practices of the church in there either.
Some then would get "spiritual" and point out that Jesus said He only did what He saw His Father do, and we should follow His exapmle. In that case, we then have a good reason to celbrate His birth. Read the accounts in Matthew and Luke and you'll see the Father celebrating! He had angels singing and invited people from all social classes, from shepards to royal advisers. He even set a beacon in the sky to invite the Magi.
Then some point out that from the Bible and historical/cultural/geographic background information about that time and place, Chirst could not have been born on December 25th. They say the clues point to the Jewish feast of Succoth, which occurs in September and includes the more well-known celebrations of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. In that case, He was probably conceived in late December, and we can celebrate His conception.
This indeed is something to celebrate. The Incarnation (God became flesh) sets the birth of Christ apart from the birth of every other person. As C. S. Lewis pointed out, the Incarnation is the grandest miracle associated with Christ, for this one miracle made all of His other miracles possible. That indeed is something to celebrate!
Now, some will ask if we need to, or if it's right to use some of the trappings of Christmas because of their pagan origins. Well, let's look at something Chirst's earthly ancestor, David, did centuries earlier. Look at the heading of Psalm 8, often regarded as one of David's most beautiful psalms and as a prophetic description of Chirst. You will see a note there in the heading. It's not part of the psalm itself, but it is part of the orginal text. Many psalms have such notes, and they serve either as a despcritpion of the psalm or instructions to the choirmaster in the Temple.
This heading note mentions the Gittith. A Gittith was a musical instrument of the Philistines, the enemies of Israel. David stayed with them for a time when he was hiding from Saul,and he must have heard their music and liked it. He must have acquired a few Gittiths for the Temple music, and wrote some songs to be played on them. So, David the Lord's anointed, a man after God's own heart, appropiated a pagan instrument and pagan music for worship in God's own house, to be used before the Ark of the Covenant where God's Holy Presence would dwell. And we worry about using a few evergreens and such for celebrating the Incarnation.
Of course some will grouse about the commercialism. I don't have any problem with merchants getting commercial with Christmas, because that's just part of our capitalist system. I'd be more surprised if mercahnts didn't get commercial this time of year. What disturbs me more is if Christians don't take advantage of the season to spread the Good News of Jesus.
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Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Christmas Is Coming - Again!
Well, Christmas is coming again. I do have one crochet to get off my chest. Why do Christian radio stations play "Christmas" songs that don't mention the birth of Jesus? Aren't Christian radio stations supposed to glorify Him? Some Christmas songs don't even mention Christmas! "Winter Wonderland" and "Jingle Bells" are more about winter than anything. They fit in the middle of January as much as they do in December. Have these people thought about this?
I guess these stations are just going along with what's popular. And that brings me to the next topic I want to talk about: Why is Christmas so popular in America? Is it just due to commercialism?
Many of the colonists that came to America were Calvinists. They wanted to get away from the practices of the Catholic Church that they saw as corrupt and pagan-influenced, and so they did not celebrate Christmas. At the end of the American Revolution, most of the people that did celebrate Christmas were Catholic or Episcopalian. The Catholics included many in Maryland and the Hessian mercenaries that had fought for the British. The Episcopalians were dominant in Virginia and the Carolinas. Somehow, the observance of Christmas spread and became acceptable to groups that once ignored it or outright shunned the practice. How did this happen?
I attribute the change to 2 factors: immigration and literature. Music, movies, radio and television continued and amplified the influence of literature.
During the 1800's as the country expanded West, aided by the increasing speed of transportation brought by the development of railroads, and the by the increased speed of communications brought by the telegraph, the promise of new lands and new opportunties spurred an increase in immigration. Many of these immigrants were Catholics, coming from Catholic lands such as Ireland, Poland, and Italy. This increased the number of people observing Christmas.
The contribution of literature to the popularity of Christmas comes from two sources.
First is the poem, Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Moore in 1822. You could probably recite most of it from memory from having heard it so much. This one piece of literature has defined so much of the imagery associated with Christmas. Of course, the sentiment and whimsey make it irresistable! For this reason it has become a tradition no only in many families, but in other places as well. One of the local TV stations every Christmas Eve has their staff, both on- and off-camera personnel, read the poem, one line per staffer in a video presentation.
Charles Dickens was known for the other great piece of traditional Christmas literature, A Christmas Carol (1843). He wrote other works on Christmas, and his novel A Tales of Two Cities (1859), has an important scene take place at a Christmas Eve service. The popularity of these works just added to the popularity of Christmas. Because Dickens was a lifelong Anglican, his works helped make Christmas acceptable to Protestants.
Of course, the popularity of a practice doesn't necessarily justify it. In the case of Christmas, I believe that what you celebrate has more to do with it than anything. Are you celebrating a day, or an event? The Bible doesn't tell us to celebrate Christ's birth, but it doesn't forbid it either. If you're not celebrating His birth, what are you celebrating? Aren't you glad Jesus was born?
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Merry CHRISTmas, everyone!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Bible Translations
I use the New American Standard. I know that makes me an oddball amongst most Christians. Many still use the King James Version, and I still have quite a number of copies of that on hand. Most of the people that use a modern English translation use the New International Version.
The KJV was the best translation of its time, but was mostly the latest in a series of updates to William Tyndale's translation. Since then, not only has the English language changed, but manuscripts in the original languages that are older than those available to the KJV translators have been found. Plus many more manuscripts have been found, giving the translators more texts for comparison to consolidate into a standard text to translate from. This contributes to the literal accuracy of the NASB. As a matter of fact the biggest criticism of the NASB is that it was too literal and not easy to read. Because of that, the Lockman Foundation, the translators of the NASB issued an update in 1995 to make it more readable without compromising its accuracy.
And speaking of accuracy, the KJV translators got it wrong a couple of times. For example, in Romans 4: 19, the King James says, "And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead," while the New American Standard says,"Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old..." I used boldface to highlight the contrast between the translations. I won't expound on this passage here, because I want to show that the KJV committee introduced a word or thought that is not in the original.
Now about changes in the English language: At times I hear preachers read or quote a passage from the King James, and then they have to stop and explain in modern terms what the Elizabethan words meant. If they used the NASB, they wouldn't have to do that. Why waste preaching time to give an update? Besides that, the preacher wouldn't know the update was necessary unless he studied it out, maybe by consulting the NASB. Why waste study time?
On a related note, preachers all the time use words or terms from the KJV without explaining what they mean. One passage in the KJV says the Holy Spirit distributes the gifts "severally" as He wills. What does "severally" mean? I could explain it, but I want you to look it up for yourself. Do you some good to do a little digging. Proverbs 25: 2 says, "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter."
Why don't I use the NIV? Well, it's a thought-by-thought translation, and it loses some of the accuracy.
Don't take this as a criticism of preachers that use the KJV. I do wish they used the NASB, but I recognize that some of them have a closer relationship to God than I have, and it is not my place to get them to change the translation they use. If they ask why I use the NASB, I will explain and let them decide for themselves if they wish to stay with the translation they are using.
The KJV was the best translation of its time, but was mostly the latest in a series of updates to William Tyndale's translation. Since then, not only has the English language changed, but manuscripts in the original languages that are older than those available to the KJV translators have been found. Plus many more manuscripts have been found, giving the translators more texts for comparison to consolidate into a standard text to translate from. This contributes to the literal accuracy of the NASB. As a matter of fact the biggest criticism of the NASB is that it was too literal and not easy to read. Because of that, the Lockman Foundation, the translators of the NASB issued an update in 1995 to make it more readable without compromising its accuracy.
And speaking of accuracy, the KJV translators got it wrong a couple of times. For example, in Romans 4: 19, the King James says, "And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead," while the New American Standard says,"Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old..." I used boldface to highlight the contrast between the translations. I won't expound on this passage here, because I want to show that the KJV committee introduced a word or thought that is not in the original.
Now about changes in the English language: At times I hear preachers read or quote a passage from the King James, and then they have to stop and explain in modern terms what the Elizabethan words meant. If they used the NASB, they wouldn't have to do that. Why waste preaching time to give an update? Besides that, the preacher wouldn't know the update was necessary unless he studied it out, maybe by consulting the NASB. Why waste study time?
On a related note, preachers all the time use words or terms from the KJV without explaining what they mean. One passage in the KJV says the Holy Spirit distributes the gifts "severally" as He wills. What does "severally" mean? I could explain it, but I want you to look it up for yourself. Do you some good to do a little digging. Proverbs 25: 2 says, "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter."
Why don't I use the NIV? Well, it's a thought-by-thought translation, and it loses some of the accuracy.
Don't take this as a criticism of preachers that use the KJV. I do wish they used the NASB, but I recognize that some of them have a closer relationship to God than I have, and it is not my place to get them to change the translation they use. If they ask why I use the NASB, I will explain and let them decide for themselves if they wish to stay with the translation they are using.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Welcome
Welcome to LightseekerOK.
For some time I have had a general blog, Random Contact, here on Blogger. Earlier this year, I signed up for a membership at IktusNetwork.org, and so I gained a blog there as well. IktusNetwork and Iktus.net are two websites connected to my church, The Family Prayer Center in Tulsa OK. My blog on IktusNetwork is a blog with a Christian theme, but they do have some limitations that Blogger does not have. That's fine, for they started the website for a particular purpose, and without the limitations, the blogs there could change into something that works against the purpose of the website.
So, I am starting this blog to do what I can't do on IktusNetwork. This is a Christian blog, in the sense that this blog has a Christian theme.
I have posted some Christian-themed items on Random Contact, and I'll probably post them here as well. I'll add my posts from IktusNetwork, and I'll post some items here that won't appear on the other sites. As I said above, Random Contact is a general blog, and it covers a variety of subjects. Because it covers my interests, it wil include Christianity, but only those items I wish to put out for everyone to see. Not everyone who visits Random Contact will be interested in what I have to say on here or IktusNetwork.
Why the name "LightseekerOK" ? My first name is Douglas, a Scots Gaelic name that means "black water" or "one who dwells by the black waters." By extension, one who dwells by black waters seeks the light. I added the OK because "Lightseeker" was taken, and I live in Oklahoma.
Again, welcome to LightseekerOK, and I hope you enjoy the site. Feel free to leave comments, unless you are going to be disagreeable. If you do disagree with something I say, briefly say why, and leave some links where I can check things out for myself.
I must warn you about 2 things. First, my sense of humor is wierd, and it will show up here at times. Second, I often look at things with a different perspective.
For some time I have had a general blog, Random Contact, here on Blogger. Earlier this year, I signed up for a membership at IktusNetwork.org, and so I gained a blog there as well. IktusNetwork and Iktus.net are two websites connected to my church, The Family Prayer Center in Tulsa OK. My blog on IktusNetwork is a blog with a Christian theme, but they do have some limitations that Blogger does not have. That's fine, for they started the website for a particular purpose, and without the limitations, the blogs there could change into something that works against the purpose of the website.
So, I am starting this blog to do what I can't do on IktusNetwork. This is a Christian blog, in the sense that this blog has a Christian theme.
I have posted some Christian-themed items on Random Contact, and I'll probably post them here as well. I'll add my posts from IktusNetwork, and I'll post some items here that won't appear on the other sites. As I said above, Random Contact is a general blog, and it covers a variety of subjects. Because it covers my interests, it wil include Christianity, but only those items I wish to put out for everyone to see. Not everyone who visits Random Contact will be interested in what I have to say on here or IktusNetwork.
Why the name "LightseekerOK" ? My first name is Douglas, a Scots Gaelic name that means "black water" or "one who dwells by the black waters." By extension, one who dwells by black waters seeks the light. I added the OK because "Lightseeker" was taken, and I live in Oklahoma.
Again, welcome to LightseekerOK, and I hope you enjoy the site. Feel free to leave comments, unless you are going to be disagreeable. If you do disagree with something I say, briefly say why, and leave some links where I can check things out for myself.
I must warn you about 2 things. First, my sense of humor is wierd, and it will show up here at times. Second, I often look at things with a different perspective.
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