2 Corinthians 7:4:
I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.
We usually think of joy replacing affliction. But for Paul, at least in this case, joy accompanied affliction.
Rich Lowry offers some needed sanity and historical perspective.
Post a link to yours in the comments.
One of those verses you never hear:
Come, Desire of nations, come,
Fix in us thy humble home;
Rise, the woman’s conquering seed,
Bruise in us the serpent’s head!
Now display thy saving power,
Ruined nature now restore,
Now in mystic union join
Thine to ours and ours to thine.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new-born King!”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
There is an alternative holiday for atheists in December: HumanLight.
The first thing I thought of is, if we religious people are so foolish for celebrating the birth of Christ (or even Hanukah), why develop an alternative? I mean, it’s almost like you’re saying people long for certain days with a special meaning or something, like there should be a point to life at all. Which atheists really shouldn’t believe. Why not just skip all the superstition and foolishness altogether and volunteer to work an extra day?
Then I noticed a few other things. You can’t get very far into Humanlight without seeing its inherent inconsistency. For example, Humanlight celebrates “Humanism’s positive secular vision”. But what’s positive? Who’s to say? Seriously, if everything just evolved by pure chance then there is no positive, no negative. What’s there to celebrate?
There’s more. HumanLight celebrates “a Humanist’s vision of a good future.” This good future (again with the value judgments!) includes the following:
And these are the people who think we’re a bunch of drooling idiots. Well, Happy HumanLight, everyone (whatever that may mean). Here’s hoping we can work toward a nice, God-scrubbed society. After all, it’s worked so well every time it’s been tried.
Hebrews 12:25-29:
See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
This passage struck me simply because you hardly ever hear evangelicals (including me) talk like this. When’s the last time you heard a sermon warning you not to refuse to listen to God’s Word, because if the punishment was bad under the Old Covenant it will be worse under the New? When’s the last time you thought about how scary God is, and therefore worshiped him “with reverence and awe”?
God forgive us for making you and your Son seem trivial and cute.
VP Dick Cheney was asked in an ABC News interview whether he had changed during his time in office. His reply:
Have I changed? Well, not in the sense that I’ve gone through some fundamental psychological transition here, but I have been, since [9/11], focused very much on what we needed to do to defend the nation, and I think the policies we’ve recommended, the programs that we’ve undertaken, have been good programs. I think those have been sound decisions, and if that’s what they mean by saying I’ve changed, I’m guilty.
The headline of the story is “Cheney Says He’s Changed.” One of the photo captions reads “when asked if he had changed during his tenure, [Cheney] said ‘I’m guilty’.” Both of which imply, you know, the exact opposite of what he said.
Sometimes reporters toe the line between being biased and being idiots. Then again, other times they just sprint across it.
“Joy to the World” is a great example of a song we shouldn’t just sing at Christmas. My favorite part is the third verse:
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found.
The curse, you’ll recall, is found very, very far: from barren fields to barren wombs, from broken relationships to broken bones. Divorce, natural disaster, cancer, genocide– all part of the curse. All of creation is groaning.
But it will not always be this way. Aslan is on the move. The King is coming; he will wipe every tear from our eyes; he will make all things new. His blessings will flow just as far as the curse. His glory will cover the earth like the water over the sea.
Joy to the world! Come, Lord Jesus.
