I value nearly all of the comments I receive from readers of these humble ramblings. Occasionally I get a mean-spirited post that promptly finds it’s way into the cyber trash can for all of eternity. We have one basic rule at “Bad Christian” World Headquarters. Verily, verily, all words that proceedeth out of thy posts and thy comments shall be civil…thus saith the one who pays the server bills. King James style rules just sound more authoritative. Some comments that reach this site touch me deeply and that happened today. A reader named John left these comments after reading yesterday’s post about the Time Person of the Year nominations followed by my nominations for people of the year. Here are some of John’s comments. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about these amazing men and women of God. I’ve just stepped through some deep valleys and there were times when i had difficulties in believing that God is good. When a
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Steve Martin closed a comedy CD with this classic bit…. You’ve been great, I’d like to thank each and everyone of you for coming out tonight: Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank
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I love Dave Barry. As long as he is alive I will not have the weirdest brain on the planet. Here is his take on the secularizing of Christmas greetings.       Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious timethat each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of hischoice.     In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christianscalled it “Christmas” and went to church; the Jews called it “Hanukkah” and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say “Merry Christmas!” or “Happy Hanukkah!”or (to the atheists) “Look out for the wall!”     These days, people say “Season’s Greetings,” which, when you thinkabout it, means nothing. It’s like walking up to somebody and saying“Appropriate Remark” in a loud, cheerful voice. But “Season’s Greetings”is safer, because it does not refer to any actual religion. Some day, Iimagine,
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As a public service I am providing a shopping guide for things you can give to Jesus on His upcoming birthday. Let’s be honest…giving the King of Kings and Lord of Lords a unique gift is really tough. Yesterday’s post examined the gifts brought to the young Christ child over 2,000 years by the three wise men, I had hoped that examining what the Magi brought might jump start our gift giving ideas.  By the way, there is a plaque that is available in catalogs this year with the title “What if They Had Been 3 Wise Women?” Here is the conclusion…. They would have asked directions. Brought practical gifts Made a casserole Cleaned the stable‘ Changed the baby And there would be peace on earth. Alert readers from yesterday remember that the first gift was gold. That is always a lovely gift. But now it gets a little tougher. Then they opened their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh. Matt 2:11 (MsgB) The second gift brought out of the luggage by the Magi was frankincense.
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We are twelve days from the hardest day of the year for most men. Many of us men give gifts to our significant others with fear and trembling. Humor writer Dave Barry relates the confusion most men deal with when giving a gift to their wife. He could tell by her reaction to the gift that she had not been dreaming of getting an auto emergency kit, even though it was the deluxe model with booster cables and an air compressor. Clearly, this violated an important rule, but the man had idea what the rule was, and his wife was too upset to tell him. Barry continues his thoughtful treatise… So why is the Christmas season so difficult for men? There are many complex reasons, by which I mean: women. The problem goes back to the very first Christmas. We know from the Bible that the Wise Men showed up in Bethlehem and gave the baby Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Now
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It never surprises me when people get agitated in Seattle. It is by far the most caffeinated city in America and it makes sense that sometimes that coffee buzz leads to silliness. A recent “crisis” in the Emerald City has been averted by the rare combination of communication, common sense, and cooperation. What a concept. If you missed the story a huge uproar occurred when the officials at Seatac International Airport decided to enact the adult version of “taking your football and going home”. When asked by a local rabbi to include a menorah along with the airport holiday decorations the port officials deferred, fearing a precedent would be set that any and all religious or cultural symbols would have to be displayed. Then the rabbi made it known that a lawsuit was a possibility. So the airport authority apparently hired the overnight moving company that spirited the Baltimore Colts to Indianapolis and removed the Christmas trees while we were sleeping. A story in the Seattle
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Today is a revisit of a “Christmas Classic” from last season. How does a blog become a classic? 1) It is your blog, your site, you pay the server charge and you can call it whatever you want2) You have no time to write today So here is a gently read post from Christmas past… One of my contributions with this modest little blog is to continually ask the tough questions. While listening to  “Away in a Manger” at a Christmas program my inquiring mind kicked in. You likely know verse three of the song. The cattle are lowingThe poor Baby wakesBut little Lord JesusNo crying He makes As I listened an important series of difficult and probing inquiries popped into my head. What noise, exactly, were the cattle making when they started lowing? Was this normal cow talk? Did lowing just sound better than mooing in the lyric or is lowing a more spiritual cow sound? And then the most important question came to mind…what is
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