A Flyover of Christmas History, Folklore, and Celebrations

Is Christmas based on pagan celebrations? Is there a War On Christmas? Why do we have the decorations we do? What does it even mean to get into the spirit of Christmas? What follows starts 2,000 years ago; meander through the Middle Ages, Puritans, and your local Starbucks; and end up in your heart. I hope you enjoy the journey! 

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The date of Jesus’ birth is not known. Dionysius (1st century) is known for doing the historical math and arriving at a birth year around BC 12.[1] Others disagreed.[2] Generally, Jesus’ birth date is now placed around 4 BC, but there is nothing of theological or spiritual significance that hangs on this date. It was not a priority in the early church, and no writer of Scripture saw fit to include a date. 

The early church associated birthday celebrations with the pagan gods.[3] Early Christian writers (Irenaeus, 130–200; Tertullian, 155–240; Origen of Alexandria, 165–264) mocked Roman celebrations of birth anniversaries, dismissing them as “pagan” practices—a strong indication that Jesus’ birth was not marked with  festivities at that place and time.[4]Origen (c.185-c.254) said it would be wrong to honor Christ in the same way Pharaoh and Herod were honored. Tertullian did not list it as a Christian holiday for sure.

When Jesus’ birthdate was discussed, the date would have been figured out from a tradition that martyrs died on the same date they were conceived. If Jesus died on 14 Nisan (March 25), he was conceived on a March 25, which meant he was born on December 25 if the timing was perfect.

Hippolytus' Commentary on Daniel (AD 200) claimed either March or December 25 as the date for Jesus' birth; Clement thought March 25 as the date of Jesus conception, thus 9 months before his birth and death.[5]

* * * * *

THE ROMAN INTERLUDE: Did Christians Join A Pagan Holiday?

A Response to, "For Christians, Dying From COVID (Or Anything Else) Is A Good Thing"

 I recently read an article at The Federalist called, "For Christians, Dying From COVID (Or Anything Else) Is A Good Thing."  I found myself…unsettled as I read. It’s not that I am bothered by the difference of opinion I have with the author about what churches should do or how cautiously Christians should respond to COVID. I think there is room for good faith disagreements as people genuinely wrestle with what to do. 

I’m bothered by the manner in which the argument is made, especially because it misuses Scripture in the process of making the argument. This is a long post, but there is much to be said.

 

I do not offer the following response to impugn the character of the writer, but to sort through the validity and soundness of the logical and scriptural arguments being made. 

The quotes from the article are in italics; my response follows each quote.

Where Do We Go From Here? (Planting The Wind; Harvesting The Whirlwind, Part 4)

This is the fourth post in a series on the history of slavery and racism in the United States.

In Part One, "1619 To The Civil War: Slavery Before Emancipation," I noted the biblical basis for caring about the history and the legacy of racism in our country before giving an overview beginning in 1609 through the Civil War and Emancipation. Basically, we should care because Jesus cares. If you have not yet read the first post, I encourage you to do so. There is a lot of information that will add context to what you are reading.

"Emancipation To The Great Migration: Jim Crow, Reconstruction and Sundown Towns" continued to look at the sinful impact and harsh legacy from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s. So what can we do as Christians in response to racism and discrimination? I see a response happening in three different ways:  how we respond personally, how we respond in our churches, and how we respond in political policy and governance. 

In From The Red Summer To Today: The Lived Experiences Of This Generation, I ended by quoting Esau McCauley:

Jesus asks us to see the brokenness in society and to articulate an alternative vision for how we might live. This does not mean that we believe that we can establish the kingdom on earth before his second coming. It does mean that we see society for what it is: less than the kingdom. We let the world know that we see the cracks in the facade. Hungering for justice is a hungering for the kingdom. Therefore the work of justice, when understood as direct testimony to God’s kingdom, is evangelistic from start to finish. It is part (not the whole) of God’s work of reconciling all things to himself.  

This is the focus of this post.  

How we respond personally

 

Christians are called to the most basic and most daunting of commands: to love others as Christ has loved us.[1] It really does boil down to this. The book of 1 John is clear that if we don't love others, we don't love God.[2] Paul makes clear in his writing that there is no room for artificial divisions or hierarchies in the church.[3]  To his first century, predominantly Jewish audience, the divisions were male/female, Gentile/Jew, and slave/free.  These kinds of barriers fall once we do life together with Christ as our Lord as God intended. 

 

There is no room whatsoever for judgment or the assigning of worth and value based on irrelevant distinctions. It doesn't mean that we ignore that these differences exist -  I mean, men and women are different -  but it does mean that those differences do not order the attribution of value, worth, or dignity.  So it is with us today in the discussion of shades of melanin. If Paul were writing today, I suspect he would add black/white.

From The Red Summer To Today: The Lived Experiences Of This Generation (Planting The Wind; Harvesting The Whirlwind, Part 3)

This is the third in a series on the history of slavery and racism in the United States

In Part One, "1619 To The Civil War: Slavery Before Emancipation," I noted the biblical basis for caring about the history and the legacy of racism in our country before giving an overview beginning in 1609 through the Civil War and Emancipation. Basically, we should care because Jesus cares. If you have not yet read the first post, I encourage you to do so. There is a lot of information that will add context to what you are reading. 

"Emancipation To The Great Migration: Jim Crow, Reconstruction and Sundown Towns" continued to look at the sinful impact and harsh legacy from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s. 

We pick up our narrative in 1921. Starting now, there are still people alive today who experienced these things. 

Emancipation To the Great Migration: Jim Crow, Reconstruction And Sundown Towns (Planting The Wind; Harvesting the Whirlwind, Part 2)

 This is the second in a series on the history of slavery and racism in the United States.

• From 1619 To Emancipation
• Emancipation To the Great Migration: Jim Crow, Reconstruction And Sundown Towns
• From The Red Summer To Today: The Lived Experience Of This Generation 
• Where Do We Go From Here?

In From 16019 To Emancipation, I started by noting the biblical basis for caring about the history and the legacy of racism in our country before giving an overview beginning in 1609 through the Civil War and Emancipation. Basically, we should care because Jesus cares. If you have not yet read the first post, I encourage you to do so. There is a lot of information that will add context to what you are reading. 

We pick up our narrative right after the Emancipation Proclamation.

From 1619 To Emancipation (Planting The Wind; Harvesting The Whirlwind, Part 1)

We learn some important things about how we, the followers of Jesus, ought to be present in the world simply by looking at how Jesus was present with the people in his time.

·    He “saw” people^[1] (It’s a loaded word - see Matthew 9:36 – but it led to compassionate action.)

·     He listened and thoughtfully responded (See the Rich Young Ruler^[2]; the woman who touched his garment^[3]; the woman caught in adultery.)^[4]

·     He spent time with them (He was that crazy ‘friend of sinners,'^[5] an insult Jesus embraced.) 

·     He invited himself into their homes. (Zaccheus)^[6]

·     He went to their unclean neighborhoods. (Samaria)^[7]

·     He empathized with them (Hebrew 4:15). ^[8] “In our pain; Jesus is pained. In our suffering, he feels the suffering as his own even though it isn’t… his heart is feelingly drawn into our distress.. His human nature engages our troubles comprehensively.”[9]

·     He poured out his life for them. (#crucifixion)

·     He offered them hope. “I have come that you might have life.” (John 10:10)

This is what the love of God looked like expressed through Jesus. We model the loving example of Jesus when we see, listen, spend time together with others, seek to sympathize and empathize, and pour out our lives so that we might faithfully and lovingly re-present Jesus in hope-filled attitudes, actions, and words.  

Because I want to write about an aspect of life that ought to inspire a motivating sorrow as we see the impact of evil in the world, it’s worth noting that a key way in which is described: “a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.”[10] 

“Twice in the Gospels we are told that Jesus broke down and wept. And in neither case is it sorrow for himself or his own pains. In both cases it is sorrow over another – and in one case, Jerusalem (Luke 19:41), and in the other, his deceased friend, Lazarus (John 11:35). What was his deepest anguish?  The anguish of others. What drew his heart out to the point of tears? The tears of others.”[11]

There is a movement of people leaving white evangelicalism (#leaveloud) because of ongoing frustrations with how the brutal legacy and ongoing painful reality of racism is (or isn’t) being addressed. A recent Barna survey revealed that “more than any segment of the population, white evangelical Christians demonstrate a blindness to the struggle of their African American brothers and sisters.”[12] It doesn’t feel to many non-white evangelicals like the church is a place where the heart of Jesus for those hurt by sin is on display. Their experience is that the church is refusing to see, listen and take seriously the ongoing legacy of the pain of racism. That feels a lot like a refusal to love by a refusal to empathize.[13]

Thinking From Behind A COVID-19 "Veil Of Ignorance"

(a thought experiment inspired by John Rawls)

 

John Rawls (1921-2002) argued that we could determine just ethical principles by seeing what a free and rational people would choose if they attempted to create a just society from behind a ‘veil of ignorance’. 

 

John Rawls proposed a famous thought-experiment in which a group of humans come together and have to devise a set of principles for their society to work by. The imaginary part of this is that the individuals doing the deciding are told that there will be some people of greater and lesser intelligence, greater and lesser degrees of health, greater and lesser pigment in their skin, ability to lead, to follow, to carve wood, to care for babies, etc etc – in other words, these people would represent a reasonable cross-section of the types found in human society. However, the deciding individuals did not know which attributes they themselves possessed...

This ‘veil of ignorance’ Rawls thought would ensure a just distribution of rights and duties in his hypothetical society – just as if you were in charge of cutting up a pizza to share and only knowing that you would get the last piece: you would do your best to cut it equally. (“Deontological Ethics.” http://www.sevenoaksphilosophy.org/ethics/deontology.html)

 

Rawls thought that people would likely agree to things that would benefit the population no matter their situation: freedom of speech; a limited role for a government influenced by or answerable to the people; an equitable social system wherein people have equal opportunity, access to resources; a system that encourages virtue, etc. 

 

This veil of ignorance would make people aware that that they could be among the disadvantaged or marginalized, and they would want to make laws that would protect them if they were one of the weaker members of society and not punish them if they were one of the stronger.  

 

With that foundation in mind, let’s apply that idea to COVID-19.

MemeTalk: Are We Being Conditioned To View Freedom As Selfish?

I've been seeing commentary on freedom during COVID-19 pop up on social media, and why not? Who doesn't love freedom? And who doesn't want to avoid being conditioned by "they"? It got me thinking about how we Christians wrestle with notion of freedom in general, especially our exercise of the freedoms guaranteed to us as citizens of the United States. 

My thoughts are almost certainly incomplete and perhaps misguided, but I really think we need to wrestle more deeply with the broader theme that this meme addresses.

Living In Fear Or Faith? COVID-19 Edition

Person A wears a mask all the time, social distances, and sanitizes because they do not want to get the coronavirus. 

Person B takes Vitamin D, some herbs, essential oils, and works on building their immune system naturally because they do not want to get the coronavirus. 

 

1. A is living in fear.

2. B is living in fear.

3. A and B are both living in fear.

4. Neither A nor B are living in fear.

 

If #1 or #2, what distinguishes the two?

If #4, what word would you use to describe them: “They are living in _______”

The Life, History, and Unparalleled Sufferings of John Jea, The African Preacher. Compiled and Written by Himself (1811)

I recently purchased African American Readings Of Paul: Reception, Resistance, and Transformation, by Lisa M. Bowens, Emerson B. Powery and Beverly Roberts Gaventa. Beginning in the 1700’s, this book draws from personal narratives and historical accounts to uncover the religious dynamics of various eras in American history, focusing on how African Americans have handled the writing of the Apostle Paul in the face of often terrible misuses from the white population around them. 

Today I was reading a section recounting incidents from the life of John Jea as compiled in his narrative The Life, History, and Unparalleled Sufferings of John Jea, The African Preacher. Compiled and Written by Himself (1811). Like all the stores from the slave era, it’s a heartbreaking read. The physical violence, dehumanization and humiliation coupled with purported ministers of the gospel butchering the Bible to enable slavery is really hard (but important) to read. One thing that stands out is how God brought the truth of His Word to life to the enslaved even in the midst of such overwhelming misrepresentation. 

Jea was born in 1773 in Old Callabar, Africa. He and his family were stolen, shipped to America, and sold as enslaved Africans in New York to a Dutch couple. The following contains excerpts pulled directly from the book. I am italicizing only Jea’s entries so as not to cause confusion with the book’s additional commentary. 

Three Anti-COVID Vaccination Arguments I Understand (But Don’t Necessarily Agree With), One I Kind of Do, and One I Don’t

THE THREE ARGUMENTS I UNDERSTAND

“The COVID-19 vaccine is morally compromised.” 

Christians (such as myself) have consistently wrestled with whether or not we formally or materially cooperate with evil if we use vaccines developed from the stem cell lines of aborted fetuses harvested in the 1970s and 1980s. Questioning the development (and testing) of COVID-19 vaccines is consistent with this concern. Because I share that concern, I’ve read numerous statements from church leaders and Christian bioethicists concerning the COVID-19 vaccines. Here is a short sampling:

•      From the Vatican

•      From the Charlotte Lozier Institute

•      From The Center For Bioethics And Human Dignity

•      From The Ethics And Religious Liberty Commission

Generally, Pfizer and Moderna get a green light; Johnson and Johnson and AstraZeneca get a yellow light tinged with red.  

So while I understand and appreciate the moral concern associated with COVID-19 vaccines, I believe there are at least two options that avoid the potential for immoral cooperation in a bad thing. 

“The COVID-19 vaccine is unsafe.” 

There has long been concern over the introduction of vaccines into the human body, as there are often side effects.  With the COVID-19 vaccine, there is the additional concern over a) the speed in which the vaccines have been rolled out, b) the use of Emergency Use Authorization by the FDA rather than straight up approval, and c) the lack of time to do long-term studies on side effects. These all deserve serious responses. It’s not like the history of vaccines has been above reproach, and we have only had months instead of years to study the impact of the recent vaccines. 

From what I can tell, the speed in which these vaccines reached the public was the result of a number of things. 

Threads of Victory in Tales of Despair

Esau McCaulley’s book Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope is rightly garnering a lot of attention. It is a thought-provoking and important book. Rather than outlining or reviewing the entire book, I want to provides some excerpts from the second half of chapter six that have landed pretty hard on my heart.

Let this linger. 

It is right that we weep with those who weep, and find hope with those who have found hope. And we all be inspired to do justice and love mercy.

* * * * *

Black bodies enter the laws of this land, not as persons but as an accounting tool to determine the voting rights of white men (the Three-Fifths Compromise). Before that we were mercilessly dragged from our native land and flung to the far ends of the world to be beaten, bred, raped, and degraded. Families were ripped apart and all the doors of opportunity were closed to us. We were despised and rejected by men, seen as cursed and abandoned by God. We were those from whom men hid their faces.

The year 1865 did not signal freedom, but simply the beginning of a different type of struggle. The years of reconstruction saw some expansion of Black opportunity. However Black bodies were again sacrificed at the altar of compromise in 1877 when, in exchange for the presidency, Republicans agreed to remove troops from the south. What followed was a series of ever-increasing Jim Crow laws that robbed Black people of dignity and opportunity.

And what more shall we say? For the time would fail me to tell of the lynching tree, the Red summer, the dogs and the water hoses, the sit-ins, Emmett Till, Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King Jr., the people who defied governors and presidents, braved mobs, and sang victory, people of whom the world was not worthy. The history of Black people in this country is a litany of suffering. Yet we are definitely more than this suffering. There is a thread of victory woven into the tale of despair...

A Reformation Is Overdue

It all started while I was reading Tim Holland’s book Dominion. At one point he quotes one of Neitzsche’s observations about Christianity: “The measure of a man's compassion for the lowly and the suffering comes to be the measure of the loftiness of his soul." 

To be sure, Neitzsche didn’t mean this as a compliment. He hated Christianity. He thought the compassion Christianity drew out of people was despicable, enabling the weak to survive when evolution demanded they die. 

This compassion was one of the first hallmarks of the fledgling movement of Christ-followers in the 1st century. The Romans famously complained about how annoyed they were by the Christians taking care of everybody to the point of showing up the government. When early Christian apologists made a case for why hostile rulers should be lenient, they always highlighted the kindness and love Christians had for all people. It’s hardly surprising that the early church filled with women, orphans and slaves – the marginalized and oppressed of the 1st century.  Historian Rodney Stark noted how this sharing of lives has looked throughout church history:

“Christianity revitalized life in Greek and Roman cities by providing relationships able to cope with urgent problems. To cities filled with the homeless and impoverished, Christianity offered charity as well as hope. To cities filled with newcomers and strangers, Christianity offered an immediate basis for attachments. To cities filled with orphans and widows, Christianity provided a new and expanded sense of family. To cities torn by violent ethnic strife, Christianity offered a new basis for social solidarity. And to cities faced with epidemics, fires, and earthquakes, Christianity offered effective nursing services.”
(The Rise of Christianity)

Justin Martyr wrote to Emperor Antoninus Pius and described the new Christian believers in this way:

"We formerly rejoiced in uncleanness of life, but now love only chastity; before we used the magic arts, but now dedicate ourselves to the true and unbegotten God; before we loved money and possessions more than anything, but now we share what we have and to everyone who is in need; before we hated one another and killed one another and would not eat with those of another race, but now since the manifestation of Christ, we have come to a common life and pray for our enemies and try to win over those who hate us without just cause."

Fast forward 2,000 years.

I posted this quote from Neitzsche on my Facebook page. A couple responses from some long -time friends highlighted a sobering reality for me: the reputation of the church is in trouble. Their comments align with what research is showing, so this is not an anomaly. 

You might think what they have to say is unfair, and you may be right. In fact, I hope your personal experience in evangelicalism makes what follows sounds bizarre. But it still needs to be heard and pondered. No matter what our experiences our with our family, friends and church, we are situated in a huge group in a large nation, and our reputations are intertwined. American Evangelicalism is certainly bigger than us, but surely not unconnected to us.

So I offer this not to say you have to agree, but to beg of you to take seriously how American evangelicalism in increasingly perceived by a watching world. If we want to be part of a church movement whose light shines brightly and compellingly as a blessing to the world, we've got some lamps that need trimming. 

The First Conversation 

Friend: “Oh, I think [Neitzsche] would totally be into American Christianity 2020.” 

Me: “We are overdue a Reformation.”

Friend: “You of all people had me convinced that the awful things people said about conservative Christians were exaggerations that applied to a vocal subset at best. The rallying of white evangelicals behind one of the most corrupt, pernicious, cynical, incompetent, and dishonest administrations in history, I mean... they were right all along, weren’t they?”

Good Words In The Time Of 'The Troubles'

I got this text from my adopted sister this week. She grew up in very different circumstance than I did, and it has given her a perspective that I value. 

It's timely. 

It's important.

 It's truth.  

* * * * *

I wanted to share something with my friends and family that has been heavy on my heart. I want to ask us all to be praying against the violence that is being threatened in this land. I ask people to set aside differences. I am not able to vote, so I have no particular affiliation with any party. I just have a strong belief in the triune God. I'm calling to ask people to pray in that unity – the unity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

I grew up from ages 5 to 11 or so in Northern Ireland during what is known as “The Troubles.” I experienced at it as a Civil War, so I am very sensitive to what is going on right now.  While things are never exactly the same from one place to another or one time to another, there are some similarities that are just bothersome and concerning to me. 

I hear and see various Christian groups of various denominations in this nation seeming to focus on the need for our secular government to support our Christian ideals and faith, almost as if their faith depends on what the secular government says and does. I'd like to encourage us to think about the fact that our faith doesn't depend on what our secular government does or doesn't do; it depends on our relationship with God and each other. 

I have had the privilege (I guess is how I would put it) of being in countries such as Saudi Arabia and the Soviet Union (when it was still a thing) and other places where the secular government did not back up Christian beliefs. And yet I have to tell you with tears in my eyes that the faith I found in Christians in those places was beautiful. You had to worship often times in dark rooms quietly praising God with one another for fear that you would be killed if you were found out. That's persecution. And yet the faith of these people was beautiful, and it was growing despite the government, not because of their government.

When Pope John Paul II grew up in Poland during World War II, Poland was being pushed on one side by part of the Third Reich and on the other side by the Soviet Union. He was a young priest, but he didn't dress as you would think a priest would dress because it would've been deadly for him and his followers, but nonetheless their faith grew and grew. Eventually he became Pope John Paul II. That was not because he had a government that was so Christian and supported all Christian ideals; it was because he had a personal faith and a personal relationship with God. 

So many times I hear Christians talk about what Jesus would do. I'd like us to think about what he did do. He never encouraged his followers or disciples to overthrow Rome and take over the Caesar; instead, his focus was on the church or synagogue at the time and its leaders who we're not teaching their people the right thing. They seemed to be more out for themselves and their own power and glory. 

Jesus himself seem more concerned about those who had faith or said they had faith rather than the immoral government that they all lived under. Anyone who knows about Roman history knows that Rome was highly immoral and didn’t follow what we would now consider Christian ideals (at the time Jewish ideals). He focused on relationships with people and confronting church leaders who were misguiding their people. He met with sinners and ate with them, helping them to see they could be different. 

That's what Jesus did. He never stormed the government or complained about how immoral it was. That was to be expected in some ways - it was a secular government, not a church organization. I'd like us just to think about that for a minute. 

The real weapon we have as Christians is not guns or other things that could cause harm - even words that cause harm. It is our prayers, our ability to have communication with God and ask him to look on the church and other Christians and help them wake up and realize that their faith doesn't depend on the government being righteous, holy or not immoral. It depends on us how we relate to one another. Jesus calls us to love our enemies as well as our friends and our neighbors. It seems to me we have no ground to ever be violent, hateful or ugly to others, be they friend or foe. 

God says we can have all kinds of gifts of knowledge but if we don't have love, it’s as annoying and unhelpful and banging a gong or cymbal. And friends, I feel like I hear a lot of gongs going off. God says he is our ultimate judge, and he will judge us in the end for how we behave now. He kind of makes it clear.

But at this point, it's not the time to separate the bad from the good lest we lose the good along with bad. He lets us know that in the end we may be surprised, because we will claim that we said, “Lord. Lord,” and he will say, “I don't know you. I came to you when I was sick and in prison and other such things, and you turned me away.”

We don't need to let people walk all over us, but in our attempts to be right or holy we shouldn't walk all over others either. We are not responsible for how others believe; we are responsible to bear witness of God by how we act, by our language, by our actions, by our love, compassion, and mercy, and by holding people accountable for their own behaviors. 

So let's pray together for this to end because God's already made it clear for generations and generations that is what he wants. 

2020 Conspiracies That We Can Finally Retire

A Christian cold case detective, J. Warner Wallace, posted an excellent podcast detailing how he evaluates conspiracies, something he does consistently in his line of work. I highly encourage you to listen to it. I will also point you toward a video (with notes) that I recorded this past year on Christians and conspiracies. 

In a world awash in lies, innuendo and rumor, people of truth are in short supply.  Let's work hard to build that number. If you see that a news source on which you relied promoted or defended these conspiracies, I encourage you to find a new source of news. 

#1. COVID-19 will go away when the election is over. 

It’s actually gotten far worse. I’ve been compiling info for a while. While I have no doubt politicians on both sides of the aisle were trying to turn this pandemic to their advantage, COVID-19 was never merely a political game. It’s always been very, very real, as experienced by the entire world.  

#2. COVID-19 lockdowns are an excuse to arrest pedophiles / trafficked children will be rescued on the hospital ships Comfort and Mercy / kept safe in COVID-19 field hospitals.  

While I appreciate the renewed concern over the horror that is human trafficking, COVID-19 was never a ploy to disrupt a pedophile cabal. It was a real pandemic that has swept the globe and has so far killed over 1.8 million people. The ships left with no rescued kids on them because that is not why they were sent. Same with the Samaritan's Purse field hospital set up in Central Park. It was not there to rescue children being held in underground tunnels.