December 20, 2011

7 Questions from Christmas Haters

by Jesse Johnson

Occupy Christmas

Every year, Grace Church gets a handful of letters from people asking why our church celebrates Christmas. In fact, it is not unusual for some people to actually picket our church’s Christmas concerts (picture a hippi-esque anti-war ensemble replete with protest signs), and those people would probably keel over if they saw the giant Christmas trees we have in our plaza.

Today, for the Christian haters of Christmas, I give as my gift my answers to the most common questions from those that object to the celebration of Christmas:

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in Evangelicalism with 56 Comments
December 19, 2011

Why Lie to Your Kids about Santa?

by Clint Archer

I’m no Scrooge. I lodge no objections to celebrating Christmas or singing inane jingles, like Jingle Bells. My family understands that, pagan roots aside, the plastic conifer in our living room is not a subtle mark of our allegiance to the forces of darkness. It’s a tree (model).

We do, however, prefer singing “Hark the Herald Angel Sings” over the misdirected praise of “Oh Christmas Tree,” though I’m not even fanatic about enforcing that.

We tolerate the poetic inaccuracy of “We three kings of Orient are” because it rolls off the tongue better than “We indeterminable number of Gentile scholars of Persia are.”

But… I am nervous about the potential confusion which may cloud a 4 year old’s faith in my honesty. 

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in Shepherding with 202 Comments
December 16, 2011

The Controversy of Christmas

by Nathan Busenitz

Mention “Christmas” and “controversy” together in the same sentence, and most evangelicals will assume you’re talking about Santa Claus, Christmas trees, or the secularization of the winter holiday season.

But, from a historical perspective, a much more significant controversy surrounded Christmas for the first five centuries of church history; and its effects still linger in some circles today. It centered on the very essence of Jesus’ birth  – the doctrine of His incarnation.

There is, of course, an element of mystery in the incarnation. After all, how can one person be both fully God and fully man at the same time? Yet, that is precisely the miraculous truth that the Scriptures affirm regarding the Person of Jesus Christ.

Nonetheless, despite the clarity of biblical revelation, the doctrine of Christ’s incarnation came under attack from the very beginning. Continue Reading…

in History with 6 Comments
December 15, 2011

Christmas: God’s Glory Returns

by Mike Riccardi

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory…”
- John 1:14 -

Last Friday, we looked at the significance of John’s use of the word “dwelt” in John 1:14. I argued that by using the peculiar word for to pitch a tent, John was calling our attention to the Tabernacle of Israel, where God condescended to reveal Himself to Israel for worship and communion. The climax of the story of the Tabernacle comes in Exodus 40:34–38, where Yahweh’s glory fills the Tabernacle, signifying that He will dwell—that He will take up residence—with His people.

That scene sheds light on the relationship between the two phrases in John 1:14: “and [He] dwelt among us,” fits perfectly with “and we saw His glory.” There is an inseparable connection between the (a) dwelling place of God, and (b) His glory that fills that place. The dwelling of God is inseparable from the glory of God.

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in Devotional with 4 Comments
December 14, 2011

The Word Became Fresh

by Jesse Johnson

In the same way that a chef does not want to give away his recipe, I hesitate to write this post.

Over the past few years, I have preached through Judges (2xs), Ruth (3xs), 1 and 2 Samuel (2xs), 1 and 2 Kings, and Ezra/Nehemiah. By far the most difficult of those books was Ezra/Nehemiah, for the simple reason that Dale Ralph Davis has not written a commentary on it.

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in Book Review, Preaching with 10 Comments
December 13, 2011

An Alternative to Cold Evangelism

by Jesse Johnson

The practice of going out to evangelize people you meet at random is sometimes called “cold evangelism,” and it must be admitted that this is not a very inviting phrase (I gave an overview of this kind of evangelism here). When many Christians think of this approach to evangelism, they think of obnoxious people, Jehovah’s Witnesses, or the sinner’s prayer. The idea of “cold evangelism” can produce feelings of guilt—for not doing it—or of inadequacy—for not being able to do it well.

And I want to make a clear statement at the beginning of this post: not all Christians are called to do this kind of evangelism. Don’t misunderstand me; I am in favor of evangelism, and I know that some people get saved from cold evangelism. But I also note that while this form of evangelism may be seen in the New Testament, it is by no means normative.

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in Evangelism with 11 Comments
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