CHRISTMAS: Dropped off and forgotten!

Two women, dressed in their finest, were having lunch in an exclusive restaurant … a friend came to their table and greeted them. “What's the occasion?” she asked.

One of the women said, “We're having a birthday party for our baby. He's 2 years old today.”

“But, where's is he?” She asked.

The mother answered, “Oh, I dropped him off at his grandmother's house until the party's over … it wouldn't have worked with him along.”

How sad … a birthday celebration for a child who isn't welcome at his own party?

Yet, think about it, it's no more foolish than going through the Christmas season, with all of its festivities, absent the One whose birth we are honoring.

But that's exactly the way many people celebrate Christmas anymore; in the midst of the folderol – the partying, the shopping, and the gatherings ... forgotten is the One whose birthday we’re celebrating. [Adapted from an anecdote in Our Daily Bread]

Christianity, Christmas, Illustrations, Religion

PROPHECY: Puppy Tales and Hummingbird Wings!

I’m told the odds of every prophecy concerning the first coming of Christ actually happening are 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000 (one hundred thousand trillion); enough to cover Texas two feet deep in silver dollars.

If that’s true, Texans are going to be up to their chins in gold at the Second Coming.

I’m not one to turn to the end of a book to see how it turns out before I’ve read it, but I did with one book, the Bible. You see, believers get to page forward and see the end of things … the way things turn out. We also get to choose the part we’ll play at the end of the story; like an interactive computer game where the player gets to choose the ending from a list of choices.

Let me tell you, I’m like a little boy at a pet store with a choice between two puppies but whose dad has said, “You can only have one?” One puppy is sleeping; the other, tongue hanging, is standing, front paws on the glass, tail wagging like hummingbird with one wing. Well, like that little boy, I’d want the one with the happy ending. [Puppy story adapted form Illustration Digest, March-April 1994, p.7.]

Christianity, Illustrations,
Prophecy, Religion

APOLOGETICS - I'm sorry but your wrong!

CONFUSING, ISN’T IT? [Genesis 11:1 & 9; Babel]

Back in 1993, the Trenton Times carried a story of “a 46-year-old Massachusetts man who walked away from a car accident with an unexpected problem: He spoke with a French accent.” This, they reported, is an example of “a rare neurological problem” known as Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS), a brain disorder caused by sudden head trauma. The phenomena has been documented “about two dozen times since 1907,” the article continued. [Parade, January 2, 1994]

Isn’t it amazing that the one field of study which continuously and persistently ridicules the faith of Jews and Christians is the same group which discovers and reports on phenomena (such as FAS) which tend to cast light upon the biblical stage? The Bible first says, “Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words.” Shortly thereafter, it says, “Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth.”

MORE THAN A FOOTPRINT! [Isaiah 7:14; advent (both), Christmas, creation, signs (as in seekers of signs)]

Sometime ago someone shared with me that Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe needed just a single footprint in the sand to convince him: 1) that a two-footed human inhabited the island with him, 2) of the direction in which that inhabitant was going, 3) that the inhabitant had come from the opposite direction, 5) that the inhabitant was a man, 6) that he was alive, and 7) that he had recently passed this way.

The Creation as well as Christ's First Advent and His soon Second Coming have more evidence than this ... still, man insists on more evidence. Norman Geisler, a great Christian apologist, was right: "Many people suffer from a terminal case of unfalsifiable bias against the truth."


WHAT A FRIEND I HAVE! [Psalm 119; bible, scripture, word]

I’ve a friend (we’ll call him Jude) who’s been acquainted with another friend of mine (we’ll call him Ward) for about five years. In fact Ward has been my best friend for over twenty years.

Jude talks to me about Ward: he says there’re many things he likes about him but, bottom-line, he couldn’t be trusted. I asked him to explain why. He gave a few vague references to some negative things he had heard from other friends. He also mentioned a few mistakes Ward was supposed to have made which these other people had seen or heard about. I told Jude I didn’t think any of these accusations had any substance. But he countered, “Why would my friends lie to me?”

I also reminded Jude that I’ve known Ward for over twenty years and that he’s never let me down. I explained I’d never known him to be in error about anything unless it was a misunderstanding. I did admit some things he’d said had the appearance of error but they were apparent only. I added I had other friends and acquaintances who had know Ward all their lives and their testimony concerning him was matchless. Jude responded that I felt that way because I’d grown too close to him. He said he preferred to be more cautious.

I challenged him to join me with Ward and go over his concerns, taking them one by one to see what he would say about each of them. “No thanks,” Jude said. “You know Ward, you can make him say anything you want him to say.”

No matter how I reasoned with Jude, I couldn’t get him to see that he possessed a bias against truth which was unfalsifiable.

Many people are very much like my friend Jude, in their approach (or lack thereof) to the Word of God. No matter how you approach them, they are more convinced by rumors, myths, half-truths, and lies … after all, why would anyone lie to them about something as serious as the Bible?

CHRISTMAS: Theft of Jesus – The Sequel!

"Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.

Revelation 22:12

If you recall, a few weeks ago I reported on the theft of Baby Jesus from a South Australian Brewing company’s annual nativity. Well, I’m happy to report that Jesus has been returned; not by the thief but by a benefactor.

Brewing company managing director Mark Powell said despite a reward of six cases of beer for the return of the original Jesus there’ve been no leads.

United Church Minister Lawrie Linggood presided over a simple reinstallation service, offering the new Jesus his blessing. He prayed, “that this little doll will touch people's lives."

Well now, those who live by faith know that Jesus is coming quickly and there will be no need for a benefactor. There will also be no need for Jesus to touch people’s lives at that time … it will be too darn late!

Christianity, Christmas,
Illustrations, Religion