| JOHN WADDEY, EDITOR
Published by the Church of Christ, 12213 West Bell Road, Surprise, AZ 85374 Volume 1, Number 4
December 1, 2001 |
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Table of Contents: 1. CHRISTMAS: A DIFFERENT VIEW
Around the world folks are busily preparing for Christmas. Most churches devote one day per year to celebrate Christ's birth. That is done with an array of human traditions unknown to Scripture. "The day of Christ's birth cannot be ascertained from the New Testament, or indeed from any other source. "The fathers of the first three centuries do not speak of any special observance of the nativity..." McClintock and Strong, Cyclopedia, Vol. 3, p.276. "Chrysostom in 386 states that the celebration of the birth of Christ's according to the flesh ‘was not inaugurated in Antioch until ten years before that date'" (Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge,
Vol. 3, p.46). December 25th was determined by the decree of Liberious, bishop of the church in Rome, in 354 A.D. The date was widely disputed by others. "The Western Church ordered the feast to be celebrated on the day of the Mithraic rites of the birth of the sun (Americana). "The pagan Saturnalia and Brumalia were too deeply entrenched in popular custom to be set aside by Christian influence. The pagan festival with its riot and merrymaking was so popular that Christians were glad for an excuse to continue its celebration with little change in spirit or in manner. (Schaff-Herzog, Vol 3, p. 48)
Since Churches of Christ are committed to practicing Christianity as it was in the beginning, we do not observe Christmas as a special holy day. God gave his church only one special day, the first day of the week. This is the day of Christ's resurrection and the day of the church's beginning (Mark 16:1-2; Acts 2). Jesus tells us to "observe all things whatsoever (he) commanded" (Matt. 28:20). But he did not command a Christmas observance. Paul warns us "not to go beyond the things which are written" (I Cor. 4:6 ASV). While we enjoy the fellowship, and festivities of the season, we believe that we should remember and be grateful for Christ's birth every day and that our charity and generosity should extend through out the year.
There are many great lessons for daily life in the story of Christ's birth: - We see God's marvelous love. He so loved the us that he gave his only begotten Son (John 3:16).
- That Christ came into the world as "a child born" demonstrates God's love and respect for the innocence of infancy. Children are not born totally depraved with sin. Rather, we must become as little children if we would enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 18:3). This implies their innocence. In a society where one of three children conceived is legally aborted, we are reminded of the sacredness of innocent human life.
- Christ's birth of Mary reminds us of God's concern for woman. Through woman came sin and the fall. God redeemed womanhood by allowing Mary to bring the Savior into the world. In that unique sense, the world is saved through "her childbearing" (I Tim. 2:13-15). Through Christ, woman was saved from the degradation of the pagan world. Before he came, they were little more than the chattel and amusement of men. Now there is no male or female in Christ (Gal. 3:26-28). Now we honor them as "joint heirs of the grace of life" (I Pet. 3:27). We also see God's respect for purity in that he chose a virgin to be the mother of his Son (Lk. 1:34).
- This story teaches us respect for manhood and fatherhood. God gave Joseph the privilege and responsibility of providing for and protecting the infant Savior. We need fathers like him who will nurture their children "in the chastening and admonition of the Lord" (Eph. 6:4).
- The birth of Jesus demonstrates God's respect for and interest in the family. His son was placed in a loving, caring, devout family with a mother, father, and siblings. This sacred concept of family has been seriously eroded in our day, but it is the strength of the church and society and the hope for the future well-being of the race.
- We see in this record, God's respect for the poor of the earth. He could have sent his Son into the home of a rich and noble family, but he chose a poor one in a poor community to receive the blessing. The poor were not neglected in the ministry of Christ (Matt. 11:5).
- God's appreciation for labor and hard work are reflected in his allowing Jesus to grow up as a carpenter with Joseph (Mk. 6:3). There is dignity in labor. Working with one's hands is not shameful (Eph. 4:28), but there is shame in laziness (Prov. 6:6-11).
- The story tells us there is a place for people of all stations in the kingdom, be they lowly shepherds or wise kings. The gospel is for every social and ethnic group (Matt. 28:19). With God's people there can be no respect of persons (Acts 10:35).
- This timeless story reminds us of our desperate plight as sinners before a just God. If we were to be saved, Christ had to come and "die for the ungodly" (Rom. 5:6).
Our commitment to Christ demands all of our love and service 365 days each year. JHW 2. A NEW NAME With this issue you will notice a new name affixed to our masthead. The name First Century Christian had been used before. Back in the 1960s Bros. Roy Hearn and Franklin Camp edited a paper by that name. I had occasional articles published in it. Eventually that paper ceased publication and both of its editors ultimately died. Presuming that the name was no longer in use, I chose it for our fledgling paper.
Just this week I received a note from Bro. Grady Miller of Colorado, informing me that before his death, Bro. Hearn revived his First Century Christian and that Bro. Miller now continues to issue that paper under that name. To avoid confusion, I have selected a new name: Christianity Then and Now. It conveys the same thought as the old name. We advocate Christianity as it was in the days of the apostles. It serves our purpose even better in that it tells readers that we are applying that ancient message to modern life and circumstances. Our purpose, message and direction will remain the same.
We seek only to serve the Cause of Christ which we dearly love. We do not wish to control or dominate. We seek no personal following. We will present the truths of the gospel, long understood and held by those who loved the truth and the Lord's church, to our contemporaries with the prayer that they will embrace, practice and proclaim them. JHW  |
3. UNMITIGATED EVIL Those who read or watch the daily news are bombarded with reports of horrible crimes committed by fellow human beings. Muslim extremists hijacked three planes and killed some 7,000 innocent civilians and inflicted billions of dollars of damage on the nation. A man kidnaped, enslaved and tortured three women. Mothers killed their children. Men murdered their wives and children. Muslims in Sudan capture and sell fellow Sudanese Christians into slavery. Others in Africa chop of the hands of their enemies. A mother and daughter swindled the lifetime earnings of an 82 year old man, by using lies and sex. You may wonder how can people do such horrible things? Although it may be difficult for one whose whole life has been lived under the influence of Christianity to understand, there are people all about us who have no sense of shame or guilt for the evil things they do. The law calls them psychopaths or sociopaths. They are people bereft of moral conscience. Our courts are now flooded with multitudes of these sociopathic criminals, many of them teens and young adults.
No person is born a sociopath. There is no such thing as inherited sin (Ezek. 18:20). It is a state of mind and moral decadence that is learned over a period of time. Some psycho/sociopaths, learned to be evil by growing up in a family of evil people. They absorbed a lifestyle of wickedness from infancy.
In such families evil is considered to be smart and good. Thus, such children never are taught to discern between good and evil. They have no point of reference such as the Bible by which to measure their conduct.
Jeremiah wrote, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt" (17:9). Paul teaches us that sin, long engaged in, can sear the conscience like a hot iron does flesh (I Tim. 4:2). "To them that are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but both their mind and their conscience are defiled" (Tit. 1:15). Even those who do not engage in violent criminal activities can be so full of self-pride and intellectual arrogance that their senseless hearts become darkened (Rom. 1:21) to the higher values of life. Solomon described an adulterous woman who "saith, I have done no wickedness" (Prov. 30:20).
Sin is so powerful and seductive that we cannot afford to tolerate it in our lives for even a moment. Faith gives us the motivation to cast it out. The Holy Spirit gives us the strength to cast it out (Eph. 3:16) and repentance is the act of the will that says be gone. JHW |
4. TWO MEN NAMED JESUS The tragedy of liberal Protestantism is that the spokesmen for those churches holding this philosophy do not believe in nor preach the Jesus of the New Testament. Yes, they do have a person by the name of Jesus of whom they speak, and in whose service they are employed, but the man they represent bears little or no resemblance to the Christ of Scripture.
The Jesus of Scripture believed and taught that people who died in sin could not live with him in eternity (John 8:21). Many liberal preachers don't believe that sin is that serious a matter. When the sinner dies, they assure everyone that he or she is safe in the place of the blessed.
The Biblical Jesus clearly said that unless we believe in him as God's Messiah, we would die in our sins (John 8:24). Many liberal spokesmen believe that everyone will be saved, even if they don't believe in Jesus.
Others are sure that adherents of all religions, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, etc. are equally pleasing to God. This is modern "pluralism" and "multi-culturalism".
The Biblical Jesus is presented as a divine being, of eternal existence. (John 1:1-3, 14). He is the "I Am" of the Exodus (John 8:58). He is God, incarnated in human flesh (John 1:1; 14). He is the divine creator (Col. 1:13-16). Liberal preachers and professors preach a Jesus who was a good man and a great teacher but certainly not a God-man.
The Christ of Scripture performed mighty signs and wonders. Miracles such as walking on water, raising the dead and healing all manner of illness are attributed to him. Liberals spokesmen do not believe in miracles. Their Jesus did not actually do these things. His disciples are said to have invented those stories.
The Jesus of Christianity was born of a virgin (Matt. 1:18-23). Luke, a medical doctor, reports this after extensive investigation (Luke 1:1; 34-35).
Liberal Protestant spokesmen do no believe that such a birth occurred. Their Jesus was either the biological son of Joseph or some unknown man.
The Jesus of the Gospels shed his blood for the remission of our sins (Matt. 26:28). These poor religionists represent a Jesus whose death had no meritorious value to take away sins. It was only an inspirational, motivational death. The Jesus of the apostles was resurrected from the grave and ascended back to heaven (Matt. 28:6-7; Acts. 1:9). But the Jesus of most liberal churches finished his life at Calvary and still sleeps in the dust of Palestine. They don't believe in a resurrection.
The Jesus of the Gospels has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18). He is head over all things to the church (Eph. 1:22). His New Testament is the exclusive standard of his kingdom (II John 9-11). In liberal theology men head up their churches and their decisions determine the beliefs and practices of their bodies.
So what we have is two different men named Jesus: the one of history, described in Scriptures and the pseudo Jesus of liberal Protestantism. He wears the same name but many of them, admit he never lived. The real Jesus is God's mighty Son, our Lord and Savior. The other is but a hollow shell, a counterfeit of no redeeming value. Only those who confess the real Jesus as their Lord can hope to be saved (Rom. 10:9-10). JHW |
5. CHRISTIANS AND HOME SCHOOLING
Many Christian parents have chosen to educate their children at home. This movement away from public education is not based on a whim. There valid reasons why responsible parents don't want their kids in public schools: * School violence; * The universal problem of drugs in middle and high schools; *The unwholesome moral environment common in upper grades; - Uncontrolled bullying;
- The poor quality of education received;
- Lack of discipline;
- Emphasis on social molding according to a liberal templet rather than on basic educational skills;
- A curriculum that has become a vehicle for destroying traditional moral, religious, family, social and patriotic values and replacing them with contemporary liberal views;
- Teachers with poor teaching skills,
- Teachers whose personal conduct and life style are detrimental to the moral and social values of their students;
- The liberal political control that has turned public education into a sounding board for the promotion of their world view and political agenda;
- The anti-Christian bias evident in all public education; * Racial tensions and conflicts common in middle and high schools.
The available results indicate that home-schooled kids do as well if not better than those educated in public schools.
I commend those Christian parents who educate their children at home. The likelihood of their sons and daughters maintaining their faith and moral integrity and of success in life and usefulness to society will be increased y that decision. JHW "Be thou faithful unto death" (Rev. 2:10). "Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable than fidelity.
Faithfulness and truth are the most sacred excellences and endowments of the human mind."
(Cicero). "It is impossible to enslave, mentally or socially, a Bible-reading people.
The principles of the Bible are the groundwork of human freedom"
(Horace Greeley). "All the distinctive features and superiority of our republican institutions
are derived from the teachings of Scripture"
(Everett). Christianity: Then and Now
Church of Christ
12213 W. Bell Rd. Ste. 211
Surprise, AZ 85374 |
