Christmas Thoughts

Over the past 15 years, my thoughts on the Christmas season have often been a mix of joy and of sadness. The joy centers on the reason we celebrate the holiday, the birth of Jesus. The very fact Jesus would incarnate Himself for our sakes simply overloads my rational thinking. This season of celebration reminds us of the graciousness of God. We have never deserved His kindness nor His sending of His One and Only Son, but His love supersedes our worth.

The other conflicting feeling that comes with the holiday usually flows from the materialistic side of Christmas. The giving of gifts doesn't bother me as much as the attitude in which gifts are sometimes purchased, given, or even received. Christmas should be remembered as a day in which God gave His greatest gift to humankind. This world would be filled with more chaos had it not been for the coming of Jesus. His life and His teachings have changed history and the world as we know it, and continue to change life in this world even today. Perhaps the sadness I have experienced flows from those who don't grasp the joy of giving and receiving.

As I continue in my journey to be a disciple of Jesus, my prayer continues to be, "Make me more like your Son that the world may experience the joy of His presence among us." In the midst of all that goes on during the Christmas season, we must continue in our search to understand the deep mystery of the incarnation of Jesus in our world.

May your hearts be filled with joy as you celebrate His gift to you.

Unveiling the Cult

In my reading of several blogs, I came across the link to a site that lists some of the warning signs of those organizations and people who demonstrate cult-like tendencies. Here is the link with some pretty good indications when you are encountering what might be a cult. Over the years, I have talked with numerous people who have been part of a "cult" and these descriptions fit their experience.

I think that this list is good to keep in mind as we encounter more and more organic churches. People can easily be caught up in a one and not realize that they are in an unhealthy group until it is too late. The list doesn't just apply to small groups but can also be present in large organized groups as well.

Literal 6 Days? How?

Discussing the creation account and then rereading the first chapter of Genesis, I have come to the conclusion that we cannot promote a literal six 24 hour day creation with God resting on the seventh day. In reading the creation account, when does God create the means by which we determine a 24 hour day? The fourth day is the creation of the sun, moon, and stars that exist in our universe. If God created that on the fourth day, the previous three days were not measurable in our time standard. Perhaps it was the same. Perhaps not. Up to day four, we have the formless earth that is given form and vegetation but not any lights that mark our days and seasons. Interesting thoughts this brings about.

Now the question that boggles my mind is this: If God created light but it wasn't our sun and stars, and He was able to separate the two so as to designate day and night, what light did He create? Now that starts to make my brain itch.

Just something to think about.