An excellent article, but I want to give a different perspective on the Jill Biden incident. It shouldn’t be necessary to point out that Christmas isn’t the only traditional religious holiday people are celebrating at this time of the year. Our Jewish friends are celebrating Chanukkah. We attend a messianic synagogue and celebrate both holidays. With no Chanukkah, there would be no Christmas, as the Jewish people would have been wiped out without the Divinely assisted victory that the Maccabees achieved.
So while I am loathe to give a Biden credit for anything, in this one instance Dr. Jill wasn’t wrong, and it’s actually sort of selfish and myopic to insist that “Merry Christmas” is the only appropriate greeting for the season. “Happy holidays” is inclusive, kind, and correct.
John, I agree with you. I don't like Xmas. Keep CHRIST in Christmas! Having said this, and I think there may be one or a few others who have commented, but let me "paste" a short description which might, just might, take just a little bit of the edge off the argument. If I may:
Chi-Rho Cross, One of The Oldest Christograms
Originally a symbol predating Christianity and Jesus Christ, Chi-Rho is one of the most prominent symbols of the early Christian era. It is a Christogram, that is to say, a symbol created by combining letters representing the name of Jesus Christ. The Chi-Rho symbol was created by superimposing the two letters of the Greek alphabet, namely Χ (Chi) and Ρ (Rho), onto each other. The reason these letters were chosen was because they were the first two letters of the Greek word ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ (Christos) meaning “the one who is anointed”.
I would attach an image but not sure that is possible in this comment format [and I think that is a good thing.] But look up CHI-RHO CROSS (use DuckDuckGo, or some search engine other than Google... Not sure why anyone thinking critically- Ha! -still uses Google.)
Merry Christmas to you and your readers. From Kansas
I am delighted that someone else noticed. I live in a first world city in Asia and have always found it easy to pick up these CHRISTMAS cards in my local book sellers. No more. And I totally jibe with your message. How do we bring the sense of spiritual wonder back into Western Civilisation? Whether Jesus' love message or In God We Trust, new generations of Westerners badly need a centerboad. The pendulum has swung widely to the Marxist left but has begun to swing back. Pray that young generations will sense and seek that spiritual center as all humanity has at some point in our past. Meanwhile, Merry Christmas‼️🎄🌟 ✨❤️🙏
Thanks John. As a physics guy you may be familiar with the writing of Amit Goswami, a Quantum Physicist who observes that the deeper we go into quantum physics, the more we cannot ignore the existence of God. The Buddha said, "Just sit" as meditation is the door to the same realization. If we are spiritual beings temporally occupying a physical space, we will eventually find our way back to Christmas✨
Sabre: I confess I am not familiar with Amit. That said I absolutely agree that the more we know about Science that the more the existence of God makes sense.
Indeed, it is not a coincidence that corruption and chaos has gone up while church attendance has gone down. I strongly agree with your following sentiment:
"Since we are experiencing unprecedented threats to our personal freedoms and lives, maybe we ought to re-think our commitment to God. As Americans’ participation in Religion has steadily gone downhill, the evil and incompetence we are seeing on a daily basis has steadily increased. Draw your own Critical Thinking conclusions, but IMO that correlation is not a coincidence."
There is a satire written by J.B. Priestley, "The Festival of Christmas." It is set on the backward island of Niatirb (Britain spelled backward). It humorously critiques how Christmas has turned into Xmas, a frenzy of commercialism and pomp, with no deeper meaning. A serves as a sharp reminder to reflect on what the holiday is truly about!
I ordered mine through Walgreens and they still have religious options thankfully! It's good to know about the others though so I can avoid them! Despite what you say, I see many glimmers of hope on the horizon. Such as the fact that Bible sales were up 22% last year and 40+% since COVID-19. Also, many revivals happening on College campuses all around the Country. I wish you could get your message to the higher-ups at Vista Printing because sometimes it just takes a little pushback to move mountains. We ALL need to continually push back against evil with good!
I think you will find that it is the Jewish globalists that are responsible for the deliberate erasure of Christianity. I hate to say this but Jews hate Christianity. Judaism is the exact opposite of Christianity. In the New Testament Christ actually says "Ye are of the synagogue of Satan!" The only people who have synagogues are Jews.
As a (gentile) member of a MESSIANIC Jewish synagogue, I find your antisemitism deeply offensive and your interpretation of that passage of Scripture completely out of context and inaccurate. It is certainly not speaking of EVERY synagogue.
Most Jews do not hate Christianity - they actually don’t think about it at all. Israel has a large Christian population and if you actually looked into it, you would learn that they are not discriminated against there. There is no lack of Christmas decor throughout the country, and Christian celebrations are welcomed.
Your insane theory about Jewish globalists ruling the world is just ridiculous. Jews don’t run the world now, but soon, one Jew will. And you will be required to explain your obvious hatred of His chosen people, His special treasure, to Him. I pray your eyes and heart will be opened before then.
Thank you Steve for this citation, with which anyone who takes the time to dive into will find glaringly obvious. If Western Civ does not quickly wake up to this reality, we're sunk. Merry Christmas‼️
I think I read this post last year and appreciated it as I did once again. I was one of those people who felt it was sacrilege to use "XMas" in place of "Christmas". I was proud to mention that to my former pastor who then informed me that the "X" was actually used years ago by Christians. I had forgotten exactly where he said it came from until I Googled it and read about it on Wikipedia. Although I have rarely used it and only in the case of needing brevity, I believe we should spell out "Christmas", thereby keeping Christ in the holiday. There are too many people these days (unfortunately) who haven't been exposed to church, the Bible or been taught the real meaning of Christmas. By leaving Christ in Christmas it may at least cause some to investigate further. I find it interesting that many people identify as Christians who probably don't know the real meaning of being a Christian. They know that they aren't Jewish and that they put up a Christmas tree to celebrate the Christmas holiday (albeit in a secular manner) so they feel they must be Christians. Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that. One must believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior, repent of one's sins, and let Him into their heart.
As a child I knew all the Christmas songs...and totally loved the giving message of the season. However, I never joined any religious group. The message I believed in was the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you...and I followed the Ten Commandments without even knowing them. In 1984, Dr Norman Walker sent me a King James Bible...and I started studying it...and also bought many other books on the subject to read, too. As a history buff, I was aware that the Roman Emperor Constantine called a Council at Nicea in 325 AD to promote a religion called Christianity. He got together with rulers of Greece and the Byzantine (in the area where Turkey is located today). These were three pagan countries who worshipped multi-gods. The rulers in the Byzantine kept their old god Appolonious, but the Greeks went along with Constantine. This Roman Emperor's background should have been known..He did not establish the religion for spiritual reasons. He came across scrolls about a very spiritual man who lived 300 years earlier...and used them for his own benefit. His efforts went all the way down to the Vatican...helping to create the richest little municipality in the world. He had his scribes change the original scrolls and add information, which took away from the pure message. The word Christ is a Greek word, which means ...anointed one. It was not the name of the man who lived 2000 years ago. His disciples were Hebrew...not Greek. Constantine changed all the Hebrew names of the disciples to primarily Roman.. They were not the names given in Matthew 10. Then, later on the English anglicized the names in the original Bible, written in the 1450s.. As someone who has been into reading the Bible personally and then looking at further information...I see things which show it was altered. If the true information had been emphasized we would have had world peace by now. Matt 22:35-40 was the essence of the Bible! The message was all about LOVE!
From what I know from my long years as a Christian and reading the Bible (several versions), and about the Bible, the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and very carefully transcribed by Jewish scribes whose duty it was to be meticulous in their copying. The New Testament was written in Greek. When translated, once again there was a great effort to be true to the original languages. Christians believe that the Bible was written by men who were directly inspired by God. It has survived intact through thousands of years. Most discrepancies are of a very minor nature and they do not significantly alter the meaning of the text. I believe this continuity throughout the years is because God's hand is still directing the distribution of his Word as only he can. To the message of love: Yes, it is about love as God is the author of love as he is the Creator of all. As John 3:16 says, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life". As such, the Bible points to God himself. Jesus tells us that being a good person isn't enough. We must have a relationship with God. We must recognize our sinful nature, repent, and believe in Him, Jesus Christ as our Savior. Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." This may be hard for non-believers to hear. Many people want to believe that just by being "good" they will go to heaven. This is not what the Bible/God's Word teaches us. Rather, we, in our sinful nature can never be good enough to enter the Kingdom of Heaven without surrendering our egos , humbling ourselves to God as little children, and believing that Jesus Christ is our Savior.
My grandmother taught me as a four year old child that God loved me...and it made me feel good to know that I was loved, It made me want to be close to my Source. She taught me "Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die, before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. As a child it was very comforting to know that God was love and I would be with God. All my life I knew that I was not alone...and I was not into the Bible. I learned the Bible, when it came off the printing press was 1286 page and saw my King James Bible, was 1800 pages...I learned that 50 nobles and some members of the Church of England had worked on the Bible for 8 years and added 500 pages.In the 1600s . God's Secretaries by Adam Nicholson was most interesting, I learned about the men who worked on thee KJBible; some were alcoholics and some were into pornography. The nobles were literate, but they were not spiritual men. I am totally into the power of prayer.. I ask for guidance before i read the Bible. Matthew 6: 5. The word synagogue comes from the Greek meaning gathering place. It is not a Hebrew word. This verse says people should not gather in a public place to pray; or stand on street corners preaching; it says "They too shall have their rewards.', but not in a good way. We are to go into our closet (room) snd shut the door and the Father which seeth in secret shall reward you openly. We were to develop a close loving relationship with our Father. Matt 22:35-40 Says on two commandments HANG ALL THE LAW Loving our Creator is # 1 . and #2 is Loving all other .creations of our Father...not just our neighbors.. I believe this is the essence of the Bible.
Christmas cards: Magnificat has some good ones, The Three Kings, by Paul Hey, for instance.
Who owns Vistaprint? Are they Jewish (or Zionist)? If they are, that's one thing, but even if they aren't, is pressure being put on them from above, from a source that is Jewish (or Zionist)? Most people, without examining the question too closely, are prone to assume that the Jewish position on Jesus is the same as the Islamic one, which is, roughly, that Jesus, although not savior and Lord, is nevertheless a good person and an important prophet. But it has long been known, and reiterated in modern times by C.S. Lewis, among others, is that if Jesus's claims about himself are false, then he can't be considered a good person (and is certainly not an important prophet). On the Islamic side they seem not to have thought this through. Jesus's claims are extremely grandiose ("I am the way, the truth, and the life," and other equivalents), so grandiose that if false then he not only is not a good person and not an important prophet, but also is a blasphemer toward God, and deserved what he got (execution). That's the actual Jewish doctrinal position (unless you're messianic, but they are, as yet, few). Of course it is also possible that Jesus was just crazy, but nothing else in his life indicates that was the case, so that possibility can be dispensed with. So abbreviating Christmas to Xmas isn't merely a convenient device, but has meaning in this context: it allows Jews to refer to Christmas without pronouncing the name, in full, of the blasphemer. Everybody has to make up his own mind about who Jesus is, and that primarily rests on one's opinion about all those claims he ended up making about himself.
My sheep hear my voice. They follow me, and I know them. I give eternal life to them and they shall never die, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. The Father, who is above all, has given them to me, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
Wow! I am appalled at this! Yet they card companies wail about declining business. Even the examples of nativity scenes you share are caricatures. Nothing I would buy, being an old traditionalist.
Vistaprint is an official sponsor of my beloved NBA Champion Boston Celtics, so you can be sure they will here from me!
I have been a fan of Vistaprint since I had my first business card printed by them. I am retired now, but I still ordered a box of cards from Vistaprint in order to keep in touch with people I meet. But, perhaps a year or two ago I saw a Vistaprint ad on TV and I was saddened to see that they have gone woke! I don't remember the details, but most likely they were showing a same-sex couple in the ad. So, I am boycotting Vistaprint as I boycotted Target and Dick's Sporting Goods, Harney & Sons Tea, Joann Fabrics, and Bub Light. No company is going to get my business if I am aware of them celebrating ungodly life-styles or disrespecting Christian values. I'm glad you will be contacting Vistaprint, Brad!
John, see my comment to Brad above. I used to give Joann Fabrics a lot of my business as I am a knitter and a crafter, but when they started to celebrate Pride Month in their ads, including featuring children and rainbow colors throughout, I stopped going to them. This wasn't easy as there aren't many places anymore where you can buy yarn and fabric. I also stopped buying Harney & Son Tea online. I was a big customer of theirs. They have all different flavors of tea and I enjoyed trying many of them. But, they took started to celebrate Pride Month and more and so I stopped buying from them. Again, this wasn't easy as they were reasonable, I liked their tea, and I used to purchase their tea as gifts for others. Target is another one. I would get a certain hair color brand from Target that was cheaper than anywhere else. I also would get my inkjet printer inks from Target because of the good price as well as some of their grocery items. But, once again, I stopped when they made the big faux pas of selling children's clothing for trans kids. We have to sometimes endure a little discomfort or inconvenience to be true to ourselves and our values.
An excellent article, but I want to give a different perspective on the Jill Biden incident. It shouldn’t be necessary to point out that Christmas isn’t the only traditional religious holiday people are celebrating at this time of the year. Our Jewish friends are celebrating Chanukkah. We attend a messianic synagogue and celebrate both holidays. With no Chanukkah, there would be no Christmas, as the Jewish people would have been wiped out without the Divinely assisted victory that the Maccabees achieved.
So while I am loathe to give a Biden credit for anything, in this one instance Dr. Jill wasn’t wrong, and it’s actually sort of selfish and myopic to insist that “Merry Christmas” is the only appropriate greeting for the season. “Happy holidays” is inclusive, kind, and correct.
X is the first letter for Christ in Greek.
Dave: Yes, but how many people know that — 1%?
John, I agree with you. I don't like Xmas. Keep CHRIST in Christmas! Having said this, and I think there may be one or a few others who have commented, but let me "paste" a short description which might, just might, take just a little bit of the edge off the argument. If I may:
Chi-Rho Cross, One of The Oldest Christograms
Originally a symbol predating Christianity and Jesus Christ, Chi-Rho is one of the most prominent symbols of the early Christian era. It is a Christogram, that is to say, a symbol created by combining letters representing the name of Jesus Christ. The Chi-Rho symbol was created by superimposing the two letters of the Greek alphabet, namely Χ (Chi) and Ρ (Rho), onto each other. The reason these letters were chosen was because they were the first two letters of the Greek word ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ (Christos) meaning “the one who is anointed”.
I would attach an image but not sure that is possible in this comment format [and I think that is a good thing.] But look up CHI-RHO CROSS (use DuckDuckGo, or some search engine other than Google... Not sure why anyone thinking critically- Ha! -still uses Google.)
Merry Christmas to you and your readers. From Kansas
Martin: Thank you for the interesting historical comment!
Dear John Droz,
I am delighted that someone else noticed. I live in a first world city in Asia and have always found it easy to pick up these CHRISTMAS cards in my local book sellers. No more. And I totally jibe with your message. How do we bring the sense of spiritual wonder back into Western Civilisation? Whether Jesus' love message or In God We Trust, new generations of Westerners badly need a centerboad. The pendulum has swung widely to the Marxist left but has begun to swing back. Pray that young generations will sense and seek that spiritual center as all humanity has at some point in our past. Meanwhile, Merry Christmas‼️🎄🌟 ✨❤️🙏
Sabre: Our society is becoming more secular, as religion has been devalued. The pendulum can change though — and should.
Thanks John. As a physics guy you may be familiar with the writing of Amit Goswami, a Quantum Physicist who observes that the deeper we go into quantum physics, the more we cannot ignore the existence of God. The Buddha said, "Just sit" as meditation is the door to the same realization. If we are spiritual beings temporally occupying a physical space, we will eventually find our way back to Christmas✨
Sabre: I confess I am not familiar with Amit. That said I absolutely agree that the more we know about Science that the more the existence of God makes sense.
https://catholicvote.org/nativity-scene-displayed-at-us-capitol-for-first-time-in-history/
This is great news!
Ginny: Yes, thank you for that piece of good news.
Indeed, it is not a coincidence that corruption and chaos has gone up while church attendance has gone down. I strongly agree with your following sentiment:
"Since we are experiencing unprecedented threats to our personal freedoms and lives, maybe we ought to re-think our commitment to God. As Americans’ participation in Religion has steadily gone downhill, the evil and incompetence we are seeing on a daily basis has steadily increased. Draw your own Critical Thinking conclusions, but IMO that correlation is not a coincidence."
Stephanie: Thank you. Hopefully we can fix that. It starts with educating our children about the importance of religion.
There is a satire written by J.B. Priestley, "The Festival of Christmas." It is set on the backward island of Niatirb (Britain spelled backward). It humorously critiques how Christmas has turned into Xmas, a frenzy of commercialism and pomp, with no deeper meaning. A serves as a sharp reminder to reflect on what the holiday is truly about!
Kimball: TY as I was not familiar with that. Sometimes a good satire will dwrive home a point that has been hard to appreciate.
John,
As usual, you are spot on. and I agree, we need to protect critical thinking, and especially moral agency, as taught by the Lord.
I recently wrote a poem about Christmas, that you might enjoy:
“As a boy, I dreamed of Santa”
By Kimball Rasmussen
As a boy I dreamed of Santa, who comes but once each year;
His sled all full of presents, pulled by eight reindeer.
I wondered, How did Santa get into every home?
And how could Santa’s sled throughout the world roam?
And what about the North Pole: Just why would he live there?
Perhaps he loved the winter, the ice, and polar bears!
And just how many Santa’s could come to every mall?
Some Santa’s short and chubby, while others rather tall.
I wondered, why the elves make some things in Taiwan?
And other things in China? My list goes on and on.
But now I know how Santa can really get things done.
He has a million helpers that make that midnight run!
His helpers always know how to get your favorite toys,
To meet the wants and wishes of all those girls and boys.
And now I see more clearly, the gift that counts the most,
The One that matters dearly, came from the heavenly host.
The purpose of each Christmas comes down to only One,
The Christ child in a manger,
The Gift, God’s only Son.
Kimball: TY for the support and the fine poem!
I ordered mine through Walgreens and they still have religious options thankfully! It's good to know about the others though so I can avoid them! Despite what you say, I see many glimmers of hope on the horizon. Such as the fact that Bible sales were up 22% last year and 40+% since COVID-19. Also, many revivals happening on College campuses all around the Country. I wish you could get your message to the higher-ups at Vista Printing because sometimes it just takes a little pushback to move mountains. We ALL need to continually push back against evil with good!
PLM: TY for your positive perspective. I am trying to do my small part.
John,
I think you will find that it is the Jewish globalists that are responsible for the deliberate erasure of Christianity. I hate to say this but Jews hate Christianity. Judaism is the exact opposite of Christianity. In the New Testament Christ actually says "Ye are of the synagogue of Satan!" The only people who have synagogues are Jews.
As a (gentile) member of a MESSIANIC Jewish synagogue, I find your antisemitism deeply offensive and your interpretation of that passage of Scripture completely out of context and inaccurate. It is certainly not speaking of EVERY synagogue.
Most Jews do not hate Christianity - they actually don’t think about it at all. Israel has a large Christian population and if you actually looked into it, you would learn that they are not discriminated against there. There is no lack of Christmas decor throughout the country, and Christian celebrations are welcomed.
Your insane theory about Jewish globalists ruling the world is just ridiculous. Jews don’t run the world now, but soon, one Jew will. And you will be required to explain your obvious hatred of His chosen people, His special treasure, to Him. I pray your eyes and heart will be opened before then.
Thank you Steve for this citation, with which anyone who takes the time to dive into will find glaringly obvious. If Western Civ does not quickly wake up to this reality, we're sunk. Merry Christmas‼️
Steve: In this case I have no evidence to support that hypothesis. I think a stronger case can be made that such a policy is due to atheists.
I think I read this post last year and appreciated it as I did once again. I was one of those people who felt it was sacrilege to use "XMas" in place of "Christmas". I was proud to mention that to my former pastor who then informed me that the "X" was actually used years ago by Christians. I had forgotten exactly where he said it came from until I Googled it and read about it on Wikipedia. Although I have rarely used it and only in the case of needing brevity, I believe we should spell out "Christmas", thereby keeping Christ in the holiday. There are too many people these days (unfortunately) who haven't been exposed to church, the Bible or been taught the real meaning of Christmas. By leaving Christ in Christmas it may at least cause some to investigate further. I find it interesting that many people identify as Christians who probably don't know the real meaning of being a Christian. They know that they aren't Jewish and that they put up a Christmas tree to celebrate the Christmas holiday (albeit in a secular manner) so they feel they must be Christians. Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that. One must believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior, repent of one's sins, and let Him into their heart.
NYB: "Christ" should stay as the essential part of the word "Christmas."
As a child I knew all the Christmas songs...and totally loved the giving message of the season. However, I never joined any religious group. The message I believed in was the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you...and I followed the Ten Commandments without even knowing them. In 1984, Dr Norman Walker sent me a King James Bible...and I started studying it...and also bought many other books on the subject to read, too. As a history buff, I was aware that the Roman Emperor Constantine called a Council at Nicea in 325 AD to promote a religion called Christianity. He got together with rulers of Greece and the Byzantine (in the area where Turkey is located today). These were three pagan countries who worshipped multi-gods. The rulers in the Byzantine kept their old god Appolonious, but the Greeks went along with Constantine. This Roman Emperor's background should have been known..He did not establish the religion for spiritual reasons. He came across scrolls about a very spiritual man who lived 300 years earlier...and used them for his own benefit. His efforts went all the way down to the Vatican...helping to create the richest little municipality in the world. He had his scribes change the original scrolls and add information, which took away from the pure message. The word Christ is a Greek word, which means ...anointed one. It was not the name of the man who lived 2000 years ago. His disciples were Hebrew...not Greek. Constantine changed all the Hebrew names of the disciples to primarily Roman.. They were not the names given in Matthew 10. Then, later on the English anglicized the names in the original Bible, written in the 1450s.. As someone who has been into reading the Bible personally and then looking at further information...I see things which show it was altered. If the true information had been emphasized we would have had world peace by now. Matt 22:35-40 was the essence of the Bible! The message was all about LOVE!
From what I know from my long years as a Christian and reading the Bible (several versions), and about the Bible, the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and very carefully transcribed by Jewish scribes whose duty it was to be meticulous in their copying. The New Testament was written in Greek. When translated, once again there was a great effort to be true to the original languages. Christians believe that the Bible was written by men who were directly inspired by God. It has survived intact through thousands of years. Most discrepancies are of a very minor nature and they do not significantly alter the meaning of the text. I believe this continuity throughout the years is because God's hand is still directing the distribution of his Word as only he can. To the message of love: Yes, it is about love as God is the author of love as he is the Creator of all. As John 3:16 says, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life". As such, the Bible points to God himself. Jesus tells us that being a good person isn't enough. We must have a relationship with God. We must recognize our sinful nature, repent, and believe in Him, Jesus Christ as our Savior. Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." This may be hard for non-believers to hear. Many people want to believe that just by being "good" they will go to heaven. This is not what the Bible/God's Word teaches us. Rather, we, in our sinful nature can never be good enough to enter the Kingdom of Heaven without surrendering our egos , humbling ourselves to God as little children, and believing that Jesus Christ is our Savior.
My grandmother taught me as a four year old child that God loved me...and it made me feel good to know that I was loved, It made me want to be close to my Source. She taught me "Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die, before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. As a child it was very comforting to know that God was love and I would be with God. All my life I knew that I was not alone...and I was not into the Bible. I learned the Bible, when it came off the printing press was 1286 page and saw my King James Bible, was 1800 pages...I learned that 50 nobles and some members of the Church of England had worked on the Bible for 8 years and added 500 pages.In the 1600s . God's Secretaries by Adam Nicholson was most interesting, I learned about the men who worked on thee KJBible; some were alcoholics and some were into pornography. The nobles were literate, but they were not spiritual men. I am totally into the power of prayer.. I ask for guidance before i read the Bible. Matthew 6: 5. The word synagogue comes from the Greek meaning gathering place. It is not a Hebrew word. This verse says people should not gather in a public place to pray; or stand on street corners preaching; it says "They too shall have their rewards.', but not in a good way. We are to go into our closet (room) snd shut the door and the Father which seeth in secret shall reward you openly. We were to develop a close loving relationship with our Father. Matt 22:35-40 Says on two commandments HANG ALL THE LAW Loving our Creator is # 1 . and #2 is Loving all other .creations of our Father...not just our neighbors.. I believe this is the essence of the Bible.
Christmas cards: Magnificat has some good ones, The Three Kings, by Paul Hey, for instance.
Who owns Vistaprint? Are they Jewish (or Zionist)? If they are, that's one thing, but even if they aren't, is pressure being put on them from above, from a source that is Jewish (or Zionist)? Most people, without examining the question too closely, are prone to assume that the Jewish position on Jesus is the same as the Islamic one, which is, roughly, that Jesus, although not savior and Lord, is nevertheless a good person and an important prophet. But it has long been known, and reiterated in modern times by C.S. Lewis, among others, is that if Jesus's claims about himself are false, then he can't be considered a good person (and is certainly not an important prophet). On the Islamic side they seem not to have thought this through. Jesus's claims are extremely grandiose ("I am the way, the truth, and the life," and other equivalents), so grandiose that if false then he not only is not a good person and not an important prophet, but also is a blasphemer toward God, and deserved what he got (execution). That's the actual Jewish doctrinal position (unless you're messianic, but they are, as yet, few). Of course it is also possible that Jesus was just crazy, but nothing else in his life indicates that was the case, so that possibility can be dispensed with. So abbreviating Christmas to Xmas isn't merely a convenient device, but has meaning in this context: it allows Jews to refer to Christmas without pronouncing the name, in full, of the blasphemer. Everybody has to make up his own mind about who Jesus is, and that primarily rests on one's opinion about all those claims he ended up making about himself.
My sheep hear my voice. They follow me, and I know them. I give eternal life to them and they shall never die, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. The Father, who is above all, has given them to me, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
John: You may be right about that, but I look at this as another example of secularization.
Wow! I am appalled at this! Yet they card companies wail about declining business. Even the examples of nativity scenes you share are caricatures. Nothing I would buy, being an old traditionalist.
Vistaprint is an official sponsor of my beloved NBA Champion Boston Celtics, so you can be sure they will here from me!
As always, John, thank you for all you do!
I have been a fan of Vistaprint since I had my first business card printed by them. I am retired now, but I still ordered a box of cards from Vistaprint in order to keep in touch with people I meet. But, perhaps a year or two ago I saw a Vistaprint ad on TV and I was saddened to see that they have gone woke! I don't remember the details, but most likely they were showing a same-sex couple in the ad. So, I am boycotting Vistaprint as I boycotted Target and Dick's Sporting Goods, Harney & Sons Tea, Joann Fabrics, and Bub Light. No company is going to get my business if I am aware of them celebrating ungodly life-styles or disrespecting Christian values. I'm glad you will be contacting Vistaprint, Brad!
Brad: TY. Regretfully VistaPrint is one of several.
John, see my comment to Brad above. I used to give Joann Fabrics a lot of my business as I am a knitter and a crafter, but when they started to celebrate Pride Month in their ads, including featuring children and rainbow colors throughout, I stopped going to them. This wasn't easy as there aren't many places anymore where you can buy yarn and fabric. I also stopped buying Harney & Son Tea online. I was a big customer of theirs. They have all different flavors of tea and I enjoyed trying many of them. But, they took started to celebrate Pride Month and more and so I stopped buying from them. Again, this wasn't easy as they were reasonable, I liked their tea, and I used to purchase their tea as gifts for others. Target is another one. I would get a certain hair color brand from Target that was cheaper than anywhere else. I also would get my inkjet printer inks from Target because of the good price as well as some of their grocery items. But, once again, I stopped when they made the big faux pas of selling children's clothing for trans kids. We have to sometimes endure a little discomfort or inconvenience to be true to ourselves and our values.
NYB: I applaud that you are taking a prinicpled stand. I hope that the retailers have been made aware of it.