Christmastime: How Dareth Thou?

Ahhhhh. It's that time of the year. The time that the leaves are falling from the trees, signaling the arrival of fall, quickly followed by winter and Christmas. But hark, who goes there? Christians celebrating the coming of the Messiah? What? That cannot be! Who dares to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ; the greatest Miracle ever?

The chiding actually started on Facebook around Halloween time. I saw a scattering of posts deriding believers (in name only or actually true Christians) for joining in the celebration and festivities of Halloween, then quickly followed with "Yeah, they are the same ones that celebrate the pagan holiday of Christmas too". I admit, I never heard of the "pagan holiday of Christmas" until I joined Facebook a few years ago and had the privilege of coming across those that thought this way. Never did I know that I was bowing down to a idol when I set up a tree, put decorations around the house or gave gifts to people that I love. I was ignorant of such things being "pagan" and quickly learned that I may not actually be a Christian if I did, indeed, celebrate Christmas.

Wow! I was actually in shock and started doing some research. It seems that the celebration of Christ's birth was celebrated before moving the date to December 25th and was moved to that date to try and dissuade pagans from celebrating a false idol and instead show them who the true God is. So, the argument became "You celebrate a pagan ritual/ celebration of a sun god" and anyone who celebrates Christmas was indeed taking part in worshiping that god and there was no way that they could celebrate the coming of the Savior on that day. I wrote on some of this last year and just recently found out that I was incorrect in something, the celebrations by Christians was not an "alternative" to the sun-god worship. The celebration of Christ's birth was already taking place, only the date was changed to coincide with December 25th's pagan celebration.

I am still in the mindset I was last year: Christmas has been commercialized to a very high degree by the fallen culture we live in. Now, what do Christians do with that? Do they not celebrate Christmas because the lost society has "paganized" it? Or do Christians continue to celebrate the coming of the Savior? I'd say the latter, but with the assumption that everything situated around the holiday is Christ focused and honoring. So, pretty much the same as any other day of the year for a follower of Christ, but with one small bonus- We get the chance to actually tell others and show others what Christmas really is. We get a "free ticket" to be able to interject the story of Christmas and therefor tell why Jesus came to this Earth in the first place - to save sinners like us. We get a chance to tell the Gospel to folks that would normally not give you the time or day to do so.

Now, what about those that want to tell me that I am "participating in pagan sun-god worship"? I say: "Really?" These folks are under some very bad misunderstandings. I would like to know the process that leads someone to this viewpoint. I would like to know why they use pagan ways (Windows/ Bill Gates product or Mac OS/ Steve Jobs product) daily in bible study, work or entertainment and see nothing wrong with that. How can you shop at stores that have pagan owners, have pagan workers and buy pagan products and yet condemn a Christian (true or not) for celebrating Christ's birth? How can you call today Saturday when it is named after Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture? Or even venture out of your house on Sunday since that day was named after the Sun? I am not trying to throw a red-herring or straw-man in the mix, but simply show that many things around us may be "pagan" but that doesn't mean that we are pagan.

Take the Christmas season to show the love of Christ. If you choose not to celebrate Christmas, for whatever reason, then don't. Don't call someone a pagan because they do and I won't call you a Pharisee for trying to impose laws that are not there. Christ came to save us from sin. He lived a sinless and perfect life to atone for our sins. He died and shed His blood to wash us clean and I will tell that in any way I can, as much as I can, to whoever I can....... Even on December 25th.

Thanks For The Memory

Day 293 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

Here's a blast from the past - a 3 1/2" floppy disc. Yes, that can hold a whopping 1.44mb of information. Whew! That's a ton of information, well, it used to be about 15 years ago.

So, 15 years ago was around the time I purchased my first PC. Honestly, I paid a ton for it and my cell phone has twice the memory and probably 100 times the computing power that the PC had. The hard drive in my first PC was 3.1gb. Yep, a monster then, but virtually worthless these days.

Over the years as technology has progressed, file sizes have gotten much larger. A photo from almost any digital camera today could not even fit on one of these floppy discs that I pictured, but back in the day I could fit a hundred or so on there. As a matter of fact, my first digital camera used floppy discs as their storage device. It was a Sony Digital Mavica and cost as much as a used car. Thankfully I realized I had gone off the deep end when I bought it and sold it quickly on ebay for what I gave for it.

Actually, these floppy discs are probably so obsolete that I would have a hard time even finding a drive to read them with. I should probably check into that, because I'm sure there is a file or picture on one of these that I really need to have, but don't remember.

I thank God for technology. Many people believe it's a curse, but I believe it can be used as good or as evil. I have been greatly edified and have resources at my fingertips that one would have to, in days gone by, have attended seminary to have available to them. I can sit in front of my computer and have a face to face chat with anyone in the world in real time, that is if I had a webcam. No other time in history could people hear the Word without the advancements in technology that God has blessed us with. But like most things, the enemy also wants to partake and corrupt the gift. Because of that corruption many people want to steer really clear of any temptations that may arise with that technology. That's fine and I will respect their convictions, but they are really missing out on the wealth of resources available.

I just wonder what the Lord has in store for us in another 15 years.

Day 189: The Demise Of Rental Stores

It's been a long run for movie rental stores. I can remember back when VHS movies were first available for rent. Back then the technology was so new that most people had to rent a bulky VHS VCR/Player just have that fresh technology in their home. This was due to the fact that a player was in the $400+ range, which in the mid 80s was a lot of cash.

The rentals then were usually from a convenience store. Then dedicated rental stores started popping up all over the place. Then came Blockbuster and Hollywood Video and a few other chain rental stores. The VHS gave way to the DVD and the DVD recently has started being overtaken by the popular Blu-Ray disc, which is in High Definition. Also now on the market are 3D Blu-Ray players and who know what is next out there. I am guessing that the next phase will be videos on either jump drives or on flash memory cards, like SD or Compact Flash cards. This will allow for even smaller player units and possibly every TV being equipped with technology to play HD content itself and eventually eliminating the need of additional devices. You are seeing this already with TVs being internet ready with Youtube, Netflix, Pandora and other internet apps/ programs installed.

Right now we are seeing the phasing out of brick and mortar rental businesses in favor of Redbox kiosks. These handy little units have popped up all over the place. The biggest plus? They are cheap at $1.00/ night for DVDs and $1.50/ night for Blu-Rays. Another handy thing is you can rent from one Redbox and return to any other Redbox. I would think that this is very handy for vehicles equipped with DVD units in them on trips. Just stop and rent the kids a movie, when they are finished watching it return it during the next rest stop. Convenience seems key. The only downside I have seen so far is waiting behind people that want to scan the whole catalog of available titles, reading each description, then going back through them all again. Here's an idea for that group of people - rent them online and just swipe your card and take off. Don't take 20 minutes to make a 30 second decision.

But as technology changes almost daily, it is good to know that God and His Word never changes. Technological advances may help to sow the seeds of the Gospel, but the message itself does not change. At no other time in history has it been capable for a person to sit in Paducah KY and talk to someone on the other side of the globe face to face. As long as an internet connection is had then the Gospel can be readily shared. This does not eliminate the need of missionaries though, so don't think that the "hard work" is no longer needed.

God is firmly in control today as He was when He spoke the Universe into existence. It is awesome to think that He knew when He was walking with Adam in the Garden of Eden that He also knew that Blu-Rays and the internet would be used today. Nothing takes God by surprise and nothing happens without His consent. When He used The OT Saints to write His Words down and when He used Paul, John, Luke and the others to write the NT, He knew that those Words would be easily accessible in the year 2011 by the majority of the Earths population. Now that is awesome to dwell on for a few hours.