Every year there used to be a time when people sought to make others happy by buying cards, giving gifts, and wishing each other Merry Christmas. There seemed to be a different Spirit abroad…..the stores were alive with Christmas music. Remember?
Silver bells, silver bells, it’s Christmas time in the city,
Hear them sing, ring-a-ling, soon it will be Christmas day.
Well, that was then. More recently, celebrating Christmas has become politically incorrect. Store employees are asked to say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. No more Christmas trees. We have holiday trees and holiday sales. Atheists are “offended” by any reference to God, and, especially, by any reference to Christ, Because they do not believe in God they want to censor any reference to Him, or, at least have “equal time.” Of course they cannot have equal time because you can’t really celebrate NOTHING, Instead they attack our God and our intellect and our crosses and our statues. You’d think they would wonder why so many seemingly smart people fall for the God-myth, You’d think they might look into St. Thomas’ five proofs for the existence of God or wonder if it could possibly be true that some saints have been exhumed incorrupt, if Padre Pio really bore the wounds of Christ (stigmata) for fifty years, whether there have been verifiable cures at Lourdes, how the Shroud of Turin happened to bear a photographic negative of a crucified man before photography was invented. And the appearances of Mary all over the world – ! – how can so many people be hoodwinked into believing such nonsense? Better to call us names and ridicule us. How could it happen that Christians such as Paul and Jan Crouch, Pat Robertson, Mother Angelica, Wendy and Rory Alec not only have millions of followers but actually started TELEVISION NETWORKS? Without funding!
The truth of the matter is that they don’t dare to look into it so they can show us how gullible we are. I think they are afraid of what they might learn. They might say kind things about Jesus because he said we should love one another but don’t really want to know that he said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” They want to do what they want to do and don’t want to believe what they don’t want to believe. Reason, logic, evidence be damned! You could line up hundreds of people who will testify to what God has done in their lives and they will have none of it.
I have to feel sorry for them. They have no loving Father and no purpose in living. “Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale, told by a idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” They believe they are a mindless accidental jumble of molecules and think that is much cooler than being a benighted troglodyte who thinks God actually visited this earth and had things to say.
For them there is no Alleluia, whether Handel’s or Cohen’s, no O Holy Night, no Away in a Manger.. What’s to sing about? Steve Martin tells us why atheists have no songs!
In contrast, Catholics sing Vivo Jesus el Senor with Pope Francis in Rome, June 3, 2014
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Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, l Peter 3:15