Every Christmas, Americans spend over $450 billion on gifts. Yes, that's right $45o billion. Instead of buying that ugly she won't wear or investing in the newest electronic of the year, how about blessing someone with a gift that reaches out to those in need? Many great non-profits put out gift catalogs every year that help you give back to the poorest of the poor. Buy your friend a goat, a share for a deep well, malaria nets, a cow for a whole family (so they can also earn an income), etc. etc. You can even buy a gift in honor of your friend or family member.
Here are a few great organizations to check out:
World Vision
World Concern
International Justice Mission
Oxfam
Christmas shopping just became fun again!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Sunday, December 7, 2008
For goodness sake!
Today as I was walking home I saw a bus go by with an ad that caught my eye:
This was the first time I'd seen this ad that has hit the DC area so I went home and looked it up and found several news articles as well as the actual website dedicated to this campaign. The First Amendment assures people the right to post advertisements like this and everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, but that's beside the point. The reason why this makes me both angry and sad is not because the American Humanist Association has embraced their right to exercise the First Amendment, but because of its timing and thrust behind it.
In many DC-based news articles, Fred Edwords, spokesman for the humanist group was quoted as saying,"Our reason for doing [the ad campaign] during the holidays is there are an awful lot of agnostics, atheists and other types of non-theists who feel a little alone during the holidays because of its association with traditional religion."
Wow. When did our society become so obsessed with making sure people aren't offended during a sacred time for celebrating the birth of Christ? I'm sick of the double standards society throws at Christians and I'm tired of Christians apologizing for their right to exercise their faith (and even the belief that many Christians have that this is okay because we deserve it given the Church's history). I know the Church hasn't always done it's best representing Christ, but that doesn't mean Christianity should be the target of jabs from non-theists. It's not acceptable or just for Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, or any other religious groups to be ones that everyone loves to criticize, so why should it be any different for Christians? Christmas is the celebration of the incarnation of God through the birth of a child- our hope, the Word becoming flesh, Emmanuel, God with us. But of course AHA even misses the boat on the reason behind Christmas, describing on its website that the holiday is centered around winter solstice, not the birth of Christ. I find it incredibly sad that so many people are hungry to point to anything else but God.
Edwords goes on to say that the purpose of the ad campaign isn't to argue that God doesn't exist or change minds about a deity, although "we are trying to plant a seed of rational thought and critical thinking and questioning in people's minds." The group defines humanism as "a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism, affirms our responsibility to lead ethical lives of value to self and humanity." I have a few thoughts on that Mr. Edwords and company. Have you thought about the fact that God might just transcend rational thought? God cannot be put in a box. Logical reason cannot keep Him. Look at the Biblical narrative and you will see reversal after reversal! He never chooses what seems rational. He constantly shows us this. He uses poor speakers (Moses), prostitutes (Rabab), the weaker underdog (David), the most well-known persecutor of Christians in the early church (Paul), the one that denied Christ three times (Peter), and of course, the reason we celebrate Christmas, God chooses to make His glory incarnate through a baby in a stable. The way down is up. Weak is strong. Poor is rich. It is one of the greatest common threads in the Bible. Why? Because it teaches us time and time again that He works best in our weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:9) so let us become less as He becomes more (John 3:30).
AHA's basis of "doing your best for the sake of being good," not only disregards what God has already laid out in Scripture as to what is right and wrong (because let's be honest, if you're all defining what's good in this world, we're in for a deep mess), it also puts all the weight on an individual to make sense of every question and situation before them. Why are people so afraid to let go of their logic card and embrace the desire for something more that has been in our hearts all along as human beings (Ecclesiastes 3:11)? This doesn't mean dumbing yourself down (trust me, as a Fuller grad I can hook you up with more intellectual and academic resources than you'll know what to do with), but it does mean letting go of ourselves and recognizing that God's ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:9). Leaning into Christ and depending on God instead of ourselves is the beginning of freedom and celebration.
This was the first time I'd seen this ad that has hit the DC area so I went home and looked it up and found several news articles as well as the actual website dedicated to this campaign. The First Amendment assures people the right to post advertisements like this and everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, but that's beside the point. The reason why this makes me both angry and sad is not because the American Humanist Association has embraced their right to exercise the First Amendment, but because of its timing and thrust behind it.In many DC-based news articles, Fred Edwords, spokesman for the humanist group was quoted as saying,"Our reason for doing [the ad campaign] during the holidays is there are an awful lot of agnostics, atheists and other types of non-theists who feel a little alone during the holidays because of its association with traditional religion."
Wow. When did our society become so obsessed with making sure people aren't offended during a sacred time for celebrating the birth of Christ? I'm sick of the double standards society throws at Christians and I'm tired of Christians apologizing for their right to exercise their faith (and even the belief that many Christians have that this is okay because we deserve it given the Church's history). I know the Church hasn't always done it's best representing Christ, but that doesn't mean Christianity should be the target of jabs from non-theists. It's not acceptable or just for Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, or any other religious groups to be ones that everyone loves to criticize, so why should it be any different for Christians? Christmas is the celebration of the incarnation of God through the birth of a child- our hope, the Word becoming flesh, Emmanuel, God with us. But of course AHA even misses the boat on the reason behind Christmas, describing on its website that the holiday is centered around winter solstice, not the birth of Christ. I find it incredibly sad that so many people are hungry to point to anything else but God.
Edwords goes on to say that the purpose of the ad campaign isn't to argue that God doesn't exist or change minds about a deity, although "we are trying to plant a seed of rational thought and critical thinking and questioning in people's minds." The group defines humanism as "a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism, affirms our responsibility to lead ethical lives of value to self and humanity." I have a few thoughts on that Mr. Edwords and company. Have you thought about the fact that God might just transcend rational thought? God cannot be put in a box. Logical reason cannot keep Him. Look at the Biblical narrative and you will see reversal after reversal! He never chooses what seems rational. He constantly shows us this. He uses poor speakers (Moses), prostitutes (Rabab), the weaker underdog (David), the most well-known persecutor of Christians in the early church (Paul), the one that denied Christ three times (Peter), and of course, the reason we celebrate Christmas, God chooses to make His glory incarnate through a baby in a stable. The way down is up. Weak is strong. Poor is rich. It is one of the greatest common threads in the Bible. Why? Because it teaches us time and time again that He works best in our weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:9) so let us become less as He becomes more (John 3:30).
AHA's basis of "doing your best for the sake of being good," not only disregards what God has already laid out in Scripture as to what is right and wrong (because let's be honest, if you're all defining what's good in this world, we're in for a deep mess), it also puts all the weight on an individual to make sense of every question and situation before them. Why are people so afraid to let go of their logic card and embrace the desire for something more that has been in our hearts all along as human beings (Ecclesiastes 3:11)? This doesn't mean dumbing yourself down (trust me, as a Fuller grad I can hook you up with more intellectual and academic resources than you'll know what to do with), but it does mean letting go of ourselves and recognizing that God's ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:9). Leaning into Christ and depending on God instead of ourselves is the beginning of freedom and celebration.
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