As December 25 draws near, you will no doubt hear from some of your more "pious" and "holier-than-you" friends about the pagan traditions and customs that are bound up in our modern celebration of the birth of Christ. You may even be accused of worshiping the sun, rather than the Son. Perhaps you've already been informed that your Christmas tree is a pagan practice, condemned in the book of Jeremiah (10:1-5). Maybe you have been told that giving gifts to each other is what the heathen do (Matt. 7:11), and is the response of the unregenerate world to the death of the two witnesses in the book of Revelation (11:9-10). We are further warned that because the Bible condemns these pagan practices and because the Bible nowhere tells believers to observe Christmas (or Easter) as holidays (holy days), we are sinning if we participate in them. In fact, if these "anti-pagan" crusaders had their way, the only acceptable action of "true" Christians would be to boycott the whole affair; acting as if the day has no more significance than the one before or the one after it.
It could be argued that how you view George Washington is a very good indicator of how you view America as a whole. Washington, like Jefferson and Franklin, is a towering figure (literally in Washington's case, he was well over six feet tall) of American history, and his very likeness is as symbolic for America as the flag. It seems that every group wants to claim Washington as one of their own—whether they are on the left, the right or somewhere in between. The real question is: which Washington is the real Washington? The staunch patriot—ready to put everything on the line for his country, or the pragmatic politician—the consummate deal-maker? The committed evangelical Christian—approaching every situation humbly on his knees before Almighty God, or the dedicated Mason—loyal only to the ways and patterns of powerful men and prestigious positions? Was Washington the saint that most Christian biographers want us to believe, or was he ever the statesman, keeping up appearances for the sake of the job?
Today is Black Friday, the start of the Christmas shopping season.
Every year about this time, there rises a hue and cry about the
“commercialization” of Christmas, accompanied by impassioned pleas to
get back to the “real meaning” of the celebration. Too much time and
money, we hear, are spent on the public side of the holiday—the hustle
and bustle of shopping, the lavish decorations, and the often insincere
displays of seasonal piety. Meanwhile, the true spirit of Christmas
gets left behind. Some even argue that all public displays of Christmas
are inappropriate.
On Thursday, September 24, 1789, the First House of Representatives voted to recommend—in its exact wording—the First Amendment to the states for ratification. The next day, Friday, September 25, Congressman Elias Boudinot from New Jersey proposed that the House and Senate jointly request of President Washington to proclaim a day of thanksgiving for “the many signal favors of Almighty God.” Boudinot said that he “could not think of letting the session pass over without offering an opportunity to all the citizens of the United States of joining, with one voice, in returning to Almighty God their sincere thanks for the many blessings he had poured down upon them.” [1]
In the early 1870s, Karl Menger, William Stanley Jevons, and Leon
Walras simultaneously and independently discovered the principle of
marginal utility. Their discovery transformed economic analysis. They observed that value, like beauty, is subjectively determined.
Value is imputed—a familiar Calvinist theological concept—to scarce
resources by the acting individual. Other things remaining equal,
including tastes, the individual imputes less value to each additional
unit of any good that he receives as income. This is the principle of
marginal utility.
O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth
for ever. O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth
for ever. O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth
for ever. (Psalm 136:1–3)
Give thanks, His mercy endureth forever: this phrase appears in many of the psalms, but when you find the
same phrase three times in a row, you can safely conclude that the
writer was trying to make a point, and he thought the point was
important. I know of no passage in the Bible where any other phrase
appears three times in succession.
One of the lesser known facts about the Civil War is that, among all of the bloodshed and brokenness, a great revival of Christianity took place. War has a way of driving atheism out of its participants and the War Between the States was no different. Men of great Christian character fought on both sides of the divide—some wore gray, some wore blue—but the army of northern Virginia seemed to have an unusual wealth in this regard. While the stalwart leadership of Generals Lee and Jackson no doubt had something to do with it, the honor and integrity of the group as a whole was noted by all, friend and foe alike.
The Scopes Trial is one of the seminal moments of the 20th century. Despite the fact that it took place in an obscure Tennessee town more than 80 years ago, the influence of the trial is still being felt to this day. What began as a test case for the ACLU became a major media circus, with two of the most prominent American lawyers of the day arguing opposite sides of the case. Everything about the trial seemed to be suited for a "perfect storm" and it did not disappoint. The trial was the first to ever be broadcast live on the radio, and receivers across the country were tuned in to listen to the proceedings. Those who couldn't listen to the radio broadcasts were able to keep up with the goings-on through the daily front-page articles of the nation's newspapers. For eight long days in July 1925, all eyes (and ears) were fixed on Dayton, Tennessee.
This is Part Two of the letter that George Whitefield wrote to John Wesley in response to his sermon, Free Grace.Click here to read Part One.
WHITEFIELD'S LETTER TO WESLEY (continued)
But the most important objections you have urged against this doctrine
as reasons why you reject it, being seriously considered, and faithfully
tried by the Word of God, will appear to be of no force at all. Let the
matter be humbly and calmly reviewed, as to the following heads:
As promised, here is Part One of the letter written by George Whitefield to John Wesley. Since it is longer than I remembered, I will break it up over two days. This first part has an introductory section added by Whitefield himself when he decided to publish his letter publicly as an "open letter." Notice that even though the theological debate can get heated and rigorous at times, the spirit (as the introduction reminds readers) was meant to be one of love and mutual admiration. Whitefield and Wesley both were opinionated and persuasive men and their personalities often overshadow the theological side of the whole affair. Some readers will get sidetracked by the emotional level of certain sections of the letter, but it should be remembered that the goal was to examine certain doctrines in the light of Scripture, not win a popularity contest.
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