The Kiss

Image
  “Ryabovitch pulled the bed-clothes over his head, curled himself up in bed, and tried to gather together the floating images in his mind and to combine them into one whole. But nothing came of it. He soon fell asleep, and his last thought was that someone had caressed him and made him happy—that something extraordinary, foolish, but joyful and delightful, had come into his life. The thought did not leave him even in his sleep. When he woke up the sensations of oil on his neck and the chill of peppermint about his lips had gone, but joy flooded his heart just as the day before.” The Kiss By Anton Chekhov (1860–1904)

"You shouldn't celebrate Christmas."

Objection: Christmas is a pagan holiday. There is nothing in the Bible that says we must observe Jesus birthday.

Answer: 

Our culture is pagan saturated so unless we change everything, why select this one day above all? Should we revert to the Puritan system and identify the days of the week by their number (First day, Second day, etc) instead of using pagan names? For example, today is named "Torsdag" or "Thor's day" (Norse) while the Romans called it "deis Jovis" or Jove's day.

Why do we use solar months to measure time when the Hebrew calendar is lunar? Why do we name the 12th month on our calendar December when "decem" is Latin for 10 and what should we do when January rolls around (named after Janus, god of endings and beginnings)?

The Bible is silent about a number of things. You know, there is nothing in the Bible that says Jesus took a bath, nor does He instruct his disciples to take one. Yes, he does wash their feet--once . . .

There are plenty of commands and instructions about giving Him one day out of seven. How are you doing with that?

The main reason our family celebrates Christmas is out of gratitude. In the same way I wish other family and friends "happy birthday" (out of love), we want to acknowledge what our God and Savior did for us, by stepping in to time and space in order to save the repentant from sin.

Popular posts from this blog

Rock Me, Epictetus!

The Smooth-flowing Life