Tag: christmas

A Secular Christmas

Christmastime is near

When kids in grade school pageants

Pray for Santa’s toys!

“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.”

Norman Vincent Peale

I was asked one time, “How do non-Christians celebrate Christmas?” I said that we buy gifts for each other, put our gifts under a Christmas tree, put out lights on our houses and maybe some reindeer on the lawns, bake cookies, have family dinners, and celebrate love and community.” They pretty much agreed that we all get into the Secular Christmas Spirit.

His Infinite Awareness

Omniscient being

The one who knows all our needs…

And talks to reindeer

“Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see.”

The Conductor from The Polar Express

Am I the first to call Santa Claus an omniscient being? Think about it, though. He knows if we’ve been bad or good. He sees us when we’re sleeping, and he knows when we’re awake. And he knows where we live!

Playing Chess With An Ape

Mysterious ways

Theists favorite phrase when…

God doesn’t answer

Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan his work in vain; God is his own interpreter, And he will make it plain.

William Cowper

The phrase “God works in mysterious ways” is not found in the Bible.

God, if there is one, is unknowable. We humans cannot know God. We will never know God’s will. Praying is one of those rituals that has never worked for me. A prayer for my dying child went unanswered even though the entire congregation prayed for him. My pastor, who was an intelligent man, had a set of cliched answers such as, “God works in mysterious ways,” or “God has other plans that we just don’t know about.” Jesus says that as long as we believe, our prayers will be answered. No qualifications, except to believe (and maybe locking yourself in your room and not babbling). Maybe I didn’t believe correctly. Maybe God didn’t want to answer my prayer, which makes him a cruel God in my mind. Unanswered questions. Unanswered prayers. He is indeed mysterious.

Image by Reinhold Silbermann from Pixabay

Gold, Frankincense, and Toys

Christmas is the most

Secular time of the year

An ironic twist

My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?

Bob Hope

The Washington Post Poll

The Pew Research Center in a recent poll says that self-identified Christians make up 63% of the U.S. population in 2021, which is down from 75% ten years ago.

Image by moerschy from Pixabay

No Confusion in Mother Goose

Can we truly know

Jack sees black where Jill sees white

Confusing Bible

Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God and each invokes His aid against the other.

Abe Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address

I worked with a friend at Lowe’s who happened to be a Pastor of a local church. He caught me reading a book in the breakroom about one of the books of the Bible. His response was, “Why don’t you just read the Bible?” I had another Pastor friend who told me that I could not understand the Bible unless I was truly saved. I asked him how one is truly saved and he said, “It’s all right there in the Bible.” But, if I can’t understand the Bible until I’m saved…? Nevermind! Ever wonder why there are so many books out there that are titled, “What the Bible Really Says About ________?” And why are there so many Christian denominations (45,000 plus) in the world? And let’s not forget that there are hundreds of different versions of the Bible itself. No confusion that I can see!

Image by John Hain from Pixabay

Let’s End This Forever War On Christmas!

The war on Christmas

Condemn Happy Holidays!

End this war, Starbucks!

 I am a veteran of the War on Christmas. I am just emerging from a battlefield strewn with dead trees and torn shreds of brightly colored wrapping paper.

Henry Rollins

Politico War on Christmas Article

My haiku for today is a bit sarcastic. I have never believed that there was ever a war on Christmas. Most of my Christian friends celebrate a secular holiday as much and maybe even more than it is a religious holiday. Enough said about that.

Image from Flickr