Bloody Christmas

From the moment Jesus was born people hated Him and wanted to kill Him. The Romans had put in place a puppet king, King Herod of Judea who was jealous of his position and saw the birth of this baby as a threat. Later on, one of Jesus' followers named Matthew wrote down the events which we now have in the Bible, Matthew 2:13-16;

"An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him. When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt."

Herod was unaware that Joseph, Mary and Jesus had escaped into Egypt and so initiated a campaign of infanticide against the baby boys in the region in the hope of killing Jesus.

"He sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under."

Jesus escaped this first attempt on His life, but the very reason He had come into the World was to be killed. His own people, the Jews despised Him, and as another one of Jesus' followers said, "He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him." At the age of 33 He was condemned to death by crucifixion, arguably the most painful, slow and humiliating punishment in the Roman Empire... 2000 years later we just have a picture of the nativity scene in our minds and revved up Christmas carols down at the shopping mall. Christmas is about getting together with the family, giving each other presents and eating too much. If this is all Christmas really is, then it was just a bloody abysmal failure. If Jesus was just a well-intentioned and good man who died on a cross, then Christianity is a false religion and Christmas is a non-event. As another of Jesus' followers - Paul said, "If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile". We can only say "Merry Christmas" if the angel was correct when he said to the shepherds out on the hillside,

"Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord."

What are these good tidings which made the shepherds joyful, and what does it mean that Christ was Saviour and Lord? The angel was speaking on behalf of God and was making reference to the prophecies hundreds of years ago, documented in the Old Testament of the Bible which looked ahead to God sending a Saviour who would save His people from their sins. The prophet Isaiah wrote approximately 700 years before Jesus' birth,

"For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of His government and peace
There will beno end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."

This little baby Jesus was God's solution to our problem of sin. When God made the World, it was perfect, but when Adam and Eve sinned, the World was no longer perfect and people were separated from God by their sin. Because God is absolutely perfect and just, He cannot abide sin - therefore all those who sin must be punished. And the only fair punishment for sinning against an infinitely powerful and holy God is an infinite period of punishment - the Bible calls this Hell and tells us that it lasts forever.

However this is where Amazing Grace kicks in, because God is not only just, He is amazingly gracious and has provided a solution to our problem. We established above, a fair punishment for sinning against God, and now the question is, what is a fair price to pay for us to escape this punishment? Every other religion and faith in the World says that good works can make us right with God, however the Bible teaches that our good works are as filthy rags to God. Sure, it pleases Him when we do good things for the right reason, but good deeds don't serve to pay the price for the sins we've committed. The Bible teaches that God is one God, but in three persons, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Father sent the Son to Earth, miraculously causing Him to be conceived in the womb of a girl called Mary, who had never slept with a man. Since Jesus was the God-man who was immaculately conceived, and never sinned throughout His life, He was acceptable to God as the perfect sacrifice which had the potential to pay for the sins of all the people who ever lived - because again, being God he was infinitely perfect and therefore perfectly suited to be a substitute for us. This isn't all though. In order to truly defeat death, Jesus would need to not only be killed and receive the punishment we deserved, but He must also overcome death and rise from the dead. Jesus did this on a Sunday about 2000 years ago, and we remember it as the Resurrection. If Jesus had not been raised from the dead, I would have just as much faith in Christianity as I do in George Lucas's "The Force".

I think the most common misconception about Christianity is that you have to be a good person to be a Christian, however this couldn't be further from the truth. P.O.D. got it right when they sang, "I'm not perfect, just forgiven, And I might just push back the next time you shove..." Being a Christian isn't about being a good person, instead it's about trusting in Jesus' death as payment for your sins to make you right with God, and then being thankful to God for that, and the outworking is our good works.

Here's what I wrote on the first day of 2009, kind of on a similar subject but in particular focusing on the pointlessness of a life in denial of God. Brendan and Scrubone have also written Christmas posts worth reading.

The Spirit of Christmas

hat-tip: Jill Stanek

A Tradition of Infant Genocide

As we sit around our warm living-rooms this Christmas opening presents, reading letters from distant friends and relatives, and filling ourselves with all kinds of extravagant delicacies, let us be sure not to forget just how privileged we are.  In a society now more than ever conditioned to embracing the culture of death, we must count ourselves fortunate to have survived.

When Pharaoh, king of Egypt realised that the enslaved nation of Israel was growing bigger and stronger, he employed two methods - one after the other, in an attempt to cut down on the Israelites' population growth.  Pharaoh said the the Hebrew midwives, When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live."  The midwives trusted God however, and disobeyed Pharaoh, claiming that by the time they got to the women, their babies were already born.  Pharaoh stepped up his assault on the people of God, with an evil command... “Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.” - Exodus 1:15-22
As we know, Moses escaped the fate of so many other baby boys at that time; he was adopted by the Princess of Egypt and later came to lead the people of God out of the land of bondage, and into the Promised Land.

Approximately 1,500 years later when Herod, king of Israel heard of the birth of Jesus Christ, he immediately ordered all boys aged two and under to be put to be killed. He hoped this way to be able to have Jesus killed and thereby destroy Christianity.

[King Herod] sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:
“A voice was heard in Ramah,
Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted,
Because they are no more.”
- Matthew 2:16-18

Again, God ruled over this situation and baby Jesus was rushed off to Egypt until news came of the evil King Herod's death, at which time Joseph, Mary and young Jesus moved back to Galilee.

And today in the country that our National Anthem declares is Our Free Land, more that fifty babies are being systematically murdered everyday.  Worldwide, 120,000 unborn babies have their lives brutally cut short by the machine that is abortion.  It will come as a surprise to most people, to hear that the abortion rate in Russia , for instance, is 60 abortions per 100 pregnancies.  As in the past, so to in our time, it is widely acknowledged that abortion is wrong, that it does indeed take the life of an innocent child.  However, this truth is forcibly ignored for the sake of convenience, and an end which is seen to justify the means - however awful or immoral.

Whether a baby is killed before it is born (abortion), during birth (partial-birth-abortion), or after birth (infanticide), it is unquestionably wrong. I struggle to even put these poor words together; how can my mind even begin to grasp the unbelievable horror of abortion?  You can disagree with abortion, but to leave it at that is unthinkable.  2009 is just around the corner.  I encourage you to make a New Years' resolution to stand up for the helpless innocents , to do whatever is in your power to bring an end to this greatest injustice in the history of the world.

"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." - Albert Einstein

A Christmas Meme

I was tagged by Isabella and the Editrix so I suppose I'll give it a go..

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your family and friends.
Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!!
Change all the answers so that they apply to you.
Then tag a whole bunch of people you know. Tis the Season to be NICE!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Definitely wrapping paper.  If it's a girl, wrap it nicely and put a ribbon on it.  If it's a guy, just mutter something incoherent and shove your gift into their hands.  Newspaper is good too.

2. Real or fake tree? Real trees are best, but perhaps fake ones have a lower long-term carbon-footprint? ;)

3. When do you put up a tree? Sometime in December; and it isn't me, it's the others in the family.

4. When do you take it down? Early January...

5. Do you like eggnog? It's overrated.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? That's going back a bit far... I can't remember.

7. Hardest person to buy for? Dad

8. Easiest person to buy for? Probably Lydie or Si

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Nope.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? You can't beat a good ol' fashioned Christmas card.  I made an eCard for Christmas in 2007 , but as a rule, just say no to eCards as they are usually ridiculously overdone.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I've had bad ones, but I couldn't pin one down in particular - anyway, you might be reading this, and that wouldn't be any good would it!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Those Magnificent Men and their Flying Machines

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? About a week before the first day of Christmas.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Always .

15. Favourite thing to eat at Christmas? Chocolate Santas, ham & mustard sandwiches, cherries.

16. Lights on the tree? Yep.

17. Favourite Christmas song? Oh Holy Night, O Come, O Come Emmanuel, Silent Night and What Child is This (No, I didn't copy you , they are my favourites!)

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Sleep.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Sorry to burst your bubble there, but neither Santa nor his reindeer exist.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? A star of wonder.

21. Open presents on Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning of course.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The many different ways that retailers capitalise on Christmas with cut-throat time prices, to compete at this important time of the year.

23. Favourite Ornament theme or color? Blue stars and silver streamers hung over a nice Christmas tree would look pretty flash.  Or the other way round, maybe a touch of gold too, a gold star at the top would be nice.  Definitely stars, candy-canes and not too much colour.

24. Favourite for Christmas dinner? Sleep off Christmas-lunch.

25. Favourite Decorations? Real holly would be nice!

26. What do you want for Christmas this year? I just want opportunities to speak up for the unborn, and also to share the Gospel with people.  Anything else is yeah, ok...

I don't know anyone I should tag, I think everyone I know who would do it has done it already...

Santa Fail

check out more failures at FailBlog

Companies Cash In on ANZAC Day

What have we become? I was saddened, sickened - to see this advert in the weekend edition of The Press today. "Rally the troops for ANZAC deals" it reads. It goes on to mock the commemeration of the day our brave boys landed on the beach in Gallipoli, many of them losing their lives. "Men can wear flowers" jests the ad.

Please, commercialise Christmas and Easter if you must, but leave ANZAC day alone.

Bond & Bond, along with many other retailers show a disgusting lack of respect for our soldiers. Their ANZAC day motto is surely "Lest we lose a dollar". The advert here encouragers consumers to go into debt, "get what you want, now!", with not even a thought spared for the terrible sacrifices those soldiers made, that ANZAC day is suposed to commemerate.

Click the image for a larger version, if you can stomach it.

Click here to email Bond & Bond, let them know what you think.

Christmas Newsletter 2007

Hi, welcome to my blog if it's your first time here! This is the web, so theoretically I can be a little more informal. I would have posted this newsletter to you - but opted out, and saved about 0.731% of a tree in a sustainable eucalyptus forest somewhere in Australia.

University. As if first-year Statistics wasn't enough to put anyone off going back for more, I found myself highly involved in a political battle, so in January this year I decided not to continue at Canterbury University. In 2006 I had started a BCom, a double major - marketing and computer science. As it turned out, I was ok at marketing, and ok at computer science - I just couldn't write 3 hours worth of java out on paper for them at the exam. I had entered this particular political battle around about September 2006 - and this "diversion" was hardly conducive for good results at the exams. So it was with a sense of duty to God, my country, and the next generation - as well as with a growing disillusionment with the very concept of University that I "dropped out". Who knows... I may go back some time.

Section 59. This year I have spent a lot of time fighting Sue Bradford's anti-smacking bill. In May, the Government went ahead and passed the bill into law - though 83% of New Zealanders were vehemently opposed to the bill. In a word, the new law criminalises parents who choose to discipline their child with a smack - no matter how light, or how naughty the child might have been. In September 06, I started up the Section 59 blog, and towards the end of March I helped organise a protest march against the bill in Christchurch as well as setting up a new lobbying website, www.politik.co.nz. Most recently, I have been working with new group Unity for Liberty, to collect signatures for the petition for a referendum on the anti-smacking law. 300,000 signatures are required for a referendum to be held; currently we have 245,291 signatures.

Equipbiz. Shortly after the anti-smacking bill passed into law, I started up a business. It is called Equipbiz LTD, and our main service is offering websites to small businesses and individuals. I'm working on building the business to a sustainable level of growth. This is proving to take much time, energy and thought. Click here to view the website of our first client. If you are interested at all in getting a website for yourself, get in touch with me!

During the year I have been involved in quite a few different things. Around July I headed down South to Waihola where I helped out as a leader at a boy's camp. I worked for a bit at Toyworld, where my younger brother Simon is the manager. Early in November I went up to Auckland for the Forum on the Family which was put on by Family First. Later on that Month I headed up again to visit Gran who lives in Tauranga, and also to help collect signatures for the petition on the anti-smacking law. Another highlight was heading up to Wellington to touch base with the volunteers up there who were collecting signatures. We also joined in the march against the Electoral Finance bill. Just recently, I've got a job at a computer shop, Affordable Computer - it's part-time at the moment and is a pretty dream job as far as jobs go. It's great just while I establish my business, to have a bit of extra money coming in.

Also in November, a friend Simeon and I started a political blog, nzdebate.blogspot.com. At the end of November, I turned 21 and we had a party at our place. It was fantastic catching up with a whole lot of people, and I was pretty overwhelmed with people's generosity. Our Church, Grace Baptist Church had been without a pastor for just over a year, so it came as great news on the first of December that an Australian man, Rob Harrod had agreed to become our pastor. Mid-December I caught up with a good friend from the US - this was an excellent time of encouragement.

As we remember the true story of Christmas, let's not be content to go along with the World's view that "Christmas is all about giving". Of course, it is a fantastic time to help out poor people, and send goats to people in Africa. However the most important thing is that at Christmas time we remember that God sent His only Son Jesus into the World to pay for the sins of those who put their trust in Him. If you are a Christian yourself - thank God for saving you, and get out there and take the opportunity this Christmas to share the Gospel with others. If you're not a Christian, then you need to stop and think seriously about what it's all about. God made us all, and one day, Jesus is going to come back to earth - but not this time as a cute little baby. The next time He comes it will be to judge everyone who ever lived. People who put their trust in Christ will be with God forever in Heaven. Those who have refused God's free offer of salvation will be justly punished for eternity in hell.

I might be sounding a bit negative - but really, it's great news, so with that, I'll sign out and say...

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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