if not the 25th, then when?

If Jesus wasn't born on December 25th, when was he born? Honestly the date doesn't matter. What solely matters is that God came to earth incarnate in the flesh of Jesus, the Christ.

I do believe all the various studies and historical data indicating that MAYBE the Christ didn't come to us on December 25th. I do believe the date was adopted from the Pagan custom celebrating the winter solstice and the re-birth of the earth.

Said all this, the actual birthday of the Christ could be any day of the year. We've compromised on December 25th and it really doesn't matter as long as we celebrate the coming of the Lord.

the blackest friday, welcoming a god of silver & gold

This Thursday is Thanksgiving, which means that the next day's (the "real") Black Friday (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/11/moving-black-friday.html). This is the official start of the holidays shopping season. This is what this society's become ignoring the only and real God and welcoming a god of silver and gold.

CHRISTMAS - CHRIST = OUR CULTURAL SHAM, PERSONAL SHAME

welcoming new members

Every church needs to be funded (electricity, gas, etc) and everyone working in a church needs to pay rent and bills (salaries, wages, etc). Hence a church relies on funds received from the congregation. This is perhaps the second reason why churches need members -- the main reason being a common faith and doctrine system.

These members are people who go to a particular church practically every Sunday, help cover costs and participate in various areas of the church willingly and expected to (myself included). This interpretation of what it means to be a member of a church might sound a bit harsh for some, but isn't this what it means to be a Christian in the first place?

Working with new members is often a strange and fondly interesting experience. New members sometimes don't know what to expect of the church (building, congregation, ministries, etc). When I've been asked to help welcoming new members, I've had to sit with them during breakfast (the day they're accepted and introduced as new members of the church) and give them a better idea what the church is and especially what it's not. Most importantly, being a member of a Christian congregation means being part of the Church and the household of God.

By the way, I want to point out that I'm fond of being a Christian and being a member of FAPC. I also thank this church for the opportunities it's given me to be part of the Church and be able serve God.

murdered trees, gifts, snow & joy: puppet show in the manger

On a personal note (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/11/murdered-trees-gifts-snow-joy.html), we'll just have the little Nativity set that I've got my little boys last year in church. It consists of a small barn, a finger puppet for Mary and another for Joseph, a plush lamb, a plush camel and baby Jesus swaddled in the manger (picture below). My two-year-old loves to play with it -- most likely not understanding what the Nativity set represents. Maybe this is how children learn and enjoy religion while growing up as "true" children of God.

murdered trees, gifts, snow & joy

Christmas is coming. Many people buy murdered pine trees to put in their homes as some sort of Christmas symbol or decoration of sorts.

Anyone who's studied the Bible or been in a church would know that trees have nothing to do with Christmas. It makes no sense whatsoever to use a tree as a representation of God. It can confuse outsiders making them think that the tree is in fact God. Now this assumption is totally stupid, but it may happen.

Other symbols of the Christmas season such as gifts, snow (White Christmas) and joy most humans feel in a Judeo-Christian society merely represent the weather, goodwill, remembrance of the gifts given to the baby Jesus or the tradition of giving children gifts during Hanukkah. In all this, where's the birth of Christ (the incarnation of God)?

On a personal note, we'll just have the little Nativity set that I've got my little boys last year in church.

moving black friday

As many nowadays know, Black Friday's been the day after Thanksgiving when stores drop prices to have high volume sales -- the start of the Holiday (Christmas) shopping season. Perhaps to push profits, some stores are now starting some time before or after Hallowe'en. The commercialism of Christmas continues to increase and Christ continues to fade -- what a sham, what a shame.

CHRISTMAS - CHRIST = OUR CULTURAL SHAM, PERSONAL SHAME

free Bibles, but the Gospels only

In the Times Square subway station, I sometimes see people preaching the word of God or at least trying to get people to repent talking about the end of times. These same people hand out lots of reading material including free Bibles. The only problem I see in all this is that these Bibles are only the four Gospels (no Old Testament, no other books from the New Testament).

• This means that we only have the storied of Christ's life, three-year public ministry, crucifixion, death, resurrection and Word (Gospels only).
• Therefore the the prophets, the people of God (Old Testament), the coming of Christ and the letters of the early Church (New Testament) are missing.

Of course, the distribution of at least part of the Good News remains a good idea.

Christ-less Christmas

It's time for another CHRISTMAS shopping spree. This is what the birth of the CHRIST's become. Actually the political correct term's HOLIDAYS (plural, generic term to include Hanukkah).

In their desperate attempt to take CHRIST out of CHRISTMAS, the idiots who prefer to use the word HOLIDAY fail to understand the definition of their preferred word. HOLIDAY means HOLY DAY.

CHRISTMAS - CHRIST = HOLIDAYS

Wish a Jew a HAPPY HANUKKAH and spin a dreidel.

Wish a Christian (me too) a MERRY CHRISTMAS and forget about Santa and the tree.

By the way, don't kill and buy pine trees. It's a waste of nature to satisfy your stupid ego.

Gott ist NEIN tot! (part 3): death and resurrection of the incarnation of God

One major argument that many people have (non-Christians especially) is the death and resurrection of Jesus (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/06/god-vs-crucifix.html). These people (some friends of mine included here) ask how God could have died. They fail to understand that the incarnation (body) died and came back to life. In other words, Jesus never died (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/05/gott-ist-nein-tot-revisited.html).

This of course brings the argument of Christology. Is Jesus son of man (fully human) or son of God (fully God)? Give me a break! Jesus was fully human and fully God. Maybe this last concept is hard to understand for some people, but to me it's simple and clear.

God vs the crucifix

Many people have items to identify themselves as part of a group or society. In the case of Christians, some use the Bible or a crucifix or other objects. The question now is if faith and symbolism can exist hand in hand.

The Bible can easily be considered an item that identifies ourselves as Christians. The Bible is the WORD of God and only the SACRED WORD of God. At the end of the day, the Bible is merely a book.

An object like a crucifix is a symbol, which should only be a reminder and/or representation of the death and resurrection of the incarnation of God (Jesus, the Christ). In other words, an object can have a meaning and/or idea related to them (in our case, faith in God), but is NOT the meaning and/or the idea (not God). Nonetheless some treat symbols as if they were God and/or image/personification of God. This is a practice and/or belief that many groups of Christians criticize and condemn.

Going back to my question, faith and symbolism can exist together within Christianity. A person can wear a shirt saying, "God is love," as a symbol of his/her faith. Of course, that same person won't pray to the shirt. That person would pray to God -- while wearing the "God is love" shirt or not.

Case for Jesus (revisited)

I'm looking into other works by Lee Strobel (http://www.leestrobel.com/) in Netflix. I watched 'Case for Jesus' (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/04/case-for-christ-documentary-on-gospels.html), which I liked a lot. Now this is strange after reading lots of material written by Friedrich Nietzsche (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche).

a joke as such...

I normally write here and promote what I write on Twitter (http://twitter.com/project05952381). This time I did it backwards (in chronological order).

"so uptight for nothing, JC (#Jesus #Christ) on @ComedyCentral, good idea http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=1850 @CatholicLeague"

"how about the #Jesus #Christ character in Tripping the Rift http://www.trippingtherift.tv/ @Syfy"

"#Jesus #Christ as a cartoon merely a way to remind people of the Son of #Jesus #God with some humor -- thanks for understanding @CatholicLeague"

So take a joke as such. Laughing is good for you.

Case for Christ (a documentary on the Gospels)

'Case for Christ' (http://www.hulu.com/case-for-christ) is a movie to check out from the skeptical/atheist to believer. The movie looks at the Gospels as a historical accounts to prove the existence of God.

always good to laugh

It's always good to laugh at ourselves while blaming The Onion (http://www.theonion.com/).

lots of information on Christianity

lots of information on Christianity in Wikipedia...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Christianity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_denominations