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December 23, 2005

Killing Christmas? It's Nothing New

Every year, the hubub between the anti-Christmas folks and the pro-Christmas folks gets more heated. This year, it has reached a fever pitch. I wrote a bit about it last year, and I thought I might add a thought this year.

Christmas is the day we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Yes, we celebrate during the wrong time of year. Yes, the date was chosen to pre-empt a pagan celebration. No, everyone does not believe in God, or that Jesus is an aspect of God given an existence of flesh to complete a divine task. Antagonism toward those who do not believe, however, is not the way Jesus would want us to spend the season of celebration.

Jesus was born an outcast. There being a major influx of people into the town of Bethlehem at hs birth, there was no space available for Mary and Joseph to stay, and for Jesus to be born. The inns were full. Private homes, which often had guest rooms, were full. Undoubtedly, the spaces available for travelers were holding far more people than they were designed for.

Word of the impending birth of a messiah-child reached the King, who had no need for an upstart usurper to his crown. He set out to have Jesus killed. If there ever was an attempt to kill Christmas, it was through this act of Satan through the king.

Today, we're merely faced with unbelievers who dislike being asked to acknowledge what they see as a fictional character. Facing the day with incomplete information and a belief that the day is based in fiction, I can't say I blame them for not wanting to say "Merry Christmas." The answer is not to respond with hate, but with love.

I feel pity for those who do not believe. I can see what a personal relationship with Jesus Christ has done in my life, and the lives of my friends and family. It hasn't been easy, as I watched those things I thought I wanted be put aside by my King to be replaced with greater opportunities and benefits. My own wants were leading me nowhere, while God had a greater plan for my life. I must celebrate the birth of the King that has taken me in and given me the benefit of his leadership.

I've had to give up things I thought were great. I thought I had a great opportunity in my business. I thought I had a car I loved. I thought I had some good friends. I've had to give up the business, the car, and some friends. Doing so has resulted in greater benefits. I now have a greater income, with more available time to spend with my family. My car has been replaced by a much more enjoyable one, which requires little daily maintenance. My former friends have been replaced and multiplied, with others who I respect more, and who are not sources of constant opposition. As a result, my work ethic is greater than ever before, I have more time to spend with my friends and family, my income has risen, my respect among my peers has grown, and I have some truly fine friends like none I've known before. I don't begrudge my old business. I don't miss my old car. I pray for my former friends.

When I encounter an anti-Christmas or anti-Christ individual, I don't jump in and argue. I smile, and let it go. I pray for them, that they can come to know the Lord that I know. I pray that they will change in their heart. I pray for their prosperity. One particular former friend has apparently spent a considerable amount of energy wishing me ill. What he might not know is that I've been praying for his success.

That, I believe, is what Jesus wants me to do. Knowing what Jesus has meant in my life, I can do nothing less than celebrate his birth, his life, his death as a sacrificial lamb to absolve me of my sins, and his resurrection that proved his victory over Satan and death.

Merry Christmas.

Posted by Lockjaw at 7:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 22, 2005

China's Early Christian History Proven?

St. Thomas is believed to have travelled to China in his travels Eastward, eventually being killed in India. Little evidence exists for the claims that he visited China, but possible clues may have been discovered that he, or another missionary, made the trek around this same period. Wang Weifan, a 78-year-old scholar of early Christian history in China has found what he believes to be images of Christian stories in stone relief in Eastern China. The images, found in the tomb of an aristocrat from the Han Dynasty (AD 25-220) appear to depict scenes from the creation, Adam and Eve, and even the birth of Jesus.

"There was Christmas. There was Genesis. There was Paradise Lost. They were on display, one by one, on 10 stone bas-reliefs excavated from an aristocrat's tomb in the Han Dynasty," said Wang, a professor of theology at the Jinling Theological Seminary in Nanjing, as he told his story to China Daily

There are critics of his claim, from the government-run antiquities community, who claim that the images look nothing like what Weifan has described. The article's accompanying image sure looks like Christmas to me.

Posted by Lockjaw at 7:49 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

I'm Glad I Don't Live in Democrat America

The economy is horrible. Unemployment is rampant, and jobs are near non-existent. Women are oppressed. Black churches are being burned by racists. If any jobs are available, no black person can get one. Hispanics are being similarly oppressed. Poisons taint our water supplies. For that matter, the water supplies are almost gone. The government is jailing people for speaking out in opposition to it. The unfortunate underclass is being held down by the rich, and corporations. Forests are rare, and becoming rarer every minute. AIDS is killing millions each year. The war front of the past was a failure, and the next war front will require tens of thousands of body bags because of the failure it will become. The military is full of mindless, babykilling drones. Global warming is an impending disaster, and the only explanation for it is that humanity did it.

America starves the poor of other countries. America keeps the poor of other countries poor, and prevents them building an economy of manufacturing and agriculture. America's promotion of free trade is a scheme to exploit the poor of other countries in manufacturing and agriculture jobs. Genetically manipulated crops with higher yields and greater resistance to insects, disease, and drought are bad for the poor of other countries. America is the cause of terrorism. Islam has nothing to do with terrorism. Christianity is the root cause of war, crime, poverty, and general evil in our world. Obesity is McDonald's fault. Government-school good, private school bad. There is no God, so any religion's god is just as valid as any other religion's god.

Welcome to America in the eyes of Democrats, and liberals in general. To liberals, America is a horrible, desolate, evil place which can only change if they are in power. Never mind that they've been in power for much of the past century, and things have only gotten worse in their eyes.

I'm glad I don't live in the same America that the Democrats live in. To me, America is a land of prosperity and good, especially compared to 99% of the rest of the world. Sure, there are some things I'd like to see changed, but I'd rather live here than anywhere else in the world, even if a Democrat is President.

I've lived my entire life thankful that I was born in this country, born in this state, live in this town, and born to the parents I was. I often wonder what country the anti-American liberals wish they were born in.

Posted by Lockjaw at 6:27 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 12, 2005

Stanley Crouch Comments on Flawed Richard Pryor

You can count me among the long list of people who enjoyed Richard Pryor's work. He was an amazingly funny man, and may go down in history as one of the top comedians of the latter part of the 20th Century. That said, I have to agree with Stanley Crouch that Richard Pryor was not someone to look up to as a role model. While he was extremely funny, his was not a humor that looked to the best of society. No, he reached down to the worst as a source of humor, and helped lead the way to a comedy market that relied on shock and raunch as the primary tool to be funny.

"In the dung piles of pimp and gangster rap we hear from slime meisters like Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent, the worst of Pryor's influence has been turned into an aspect of the new minstrelsy in which millions of dollars are made by "normalizing" demeaning imagery and misogyny.

"What is so unfortunate is that the heaviest of Pryor's gifts was largely ignored by so many of those who praised the man when he was alive and are now in the middle of deifying him.

"The pathos and the frailty of the human soul alone in the world or insecure or looking for something of meaning in a chaotic environment was a bit too deep for all of the simpleminded clowns like Andrew Dice Clay or those who thought that mere ethnicity was enough to define one as funny, like the painfully square work of Paul Rodriguez.

"Of course, Russell Simmons' Def Comedy Jam is the ultimate coon show update of human cesspools, where 'cutting edge' has come to mean traveling ever more downward in the sewer."

Like Crouch, I acknowledge Pryor's genius and absolutely funny work. He was a great comedian. It does no one any good, however, to forget that Pryor, along with many who followed, did damage to society with his work. Like Dave Chappelle and South Park, Pryor's work was biting, cutting-edge, and funny. Another thing he has in common with them is that no one should really be watching them.

Even I shouldn't be watching them, but I do.

Posted by Lockjaw at 6:13 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

December 11, 2005

(The Other) Ogre Fisks Code Pink

As some of you may know, I'm not the only Ogre in the blogosphere. You might say we have our own Ogresphere. Of course, I'm the ogre with a name. He's just Ogre.

Anyway, Ogre had a bit of fun fisking Code Pink's anti-war-toy flyer. It's a hoot.

Yeah, I'm semi-anti-toy-gun myself. Instead of buy a kid a toy gun, why not buy them a REAL gun instead? After all, it's hard to teach a kid to never point a gun at anyone unless you plan on killing them dead, while you hand them a harmless piece of plastic or wood. Give them a real gun, and they'll understand WHY you never point it at anyone. At the same time, you get to teach them personal responsibility, firearm safety, personal safety, and self-control (not gun control).

I'd suggest a nice bolt-action .22 rifle as a starter weapon starting somewhere between age 8 and 12. At 13 you can move them up into the semi-automatic or a .420 shotgun. They'll want to have some experience before they get their 12ga at 16 and their very own Glock 9mm at 18 or 21.

Posted by Lockjaw at 4:03 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

December 10, 2005

Chronicles of Narnia - Movie Review (Minor Spoilers)

At the end of my sixth grade year, my school had a book fair. My Mother and I walked through the school's library, looking at the selection of books available. Not twenty feet through the door, my eyes landed on a box set of "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S. Lewis. After walking through the whole fair, I came back to that box set. I had made my decision. My Mother, not a fan of fantasy and science-fiction, was a bit reluctant to spend the extra money for the box set, but I insisted that I had made my decision and was determined to read the whole set. She bought the books. That turned out to be one of the best book purchases in my life.

The following week, my Mother and I went to Ridgecrest Baptist Conference Center for (I believe) Music Week. In amongst all of the activities, the choir rehearsals, mountain climbs, and performances, I found time to read. Before the five days were up, I had read all seven of the "Chronicles of Narnia" and begun to re-read.

For years, I've known that "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" would have made a great movie. Imagine my joy several years ago, when I discovered that Walden Media was working on a screen adaptation. The long wait began, and yesterday it ended. The family and I went to the 4:15 showing at Sanford's new multi-plex.

One review I read of the movie called it the most adult-friendly kid's movie in years. That's a good way to explain it. I spent the entire movie absolutely enchanted by the scenery, the animals, and the story itself. Though it has been a few years since I've read the book last, nearly everything was as I remembered it.

When I say everything was as I remembered it, I don't mean just the story. When Lucy first walked into the room containing the Wardrobe, she walked into the room of my memories. The wardrobe, aside from some top detail, was the wardrobe she walked into in my mind. As she slid by the coats, they were the same coats, hanging the same way, that I saw in my own personal movie so many years ago. She walked into MY Narnia, and met the same Tumnus. It was almost as if the director had read my own mind when planning the movie, as so many details directly mirrored what I had come to expect of Narnia as a kid.

The casting was expertly done for this movie. The children were perfectly chosen for their roles. Liam Neeson's vocal work for Aslan was excellent. Every role, from the White Witch to Tumnus to the voices of each animal led to an intensified sense of being in a story, rather than a movie. By staying away from the typical Disney bad-idea of using star voices for the animals, they instead chose the right voices. There's a whole rant out there waiting to be made against using huge stars to voice animation, when you have qualified and extraordinary voice-talents who can do the jobs better and cheaper. I'll leave the whole rant for later.

As with the voices, the special effects were very well done. By combining live-action and special effects in an expert manner, the viewer rarely had the chance to discover where reality ended and special effects began. This is very important, as the slightest error could have broken the spell. If the beavers hadn't been believable, the the movie wouldn't have been believable. It really is that simple.

Lewis, the author of the books, was a contemporary of Tolkein. The Narnia books have often been compared to the "Lord of the Rings" books for many reasons. Having grown up re-reading the Narnia series, but not the Rings books, I had no point of comparison. As an adult, I finally read the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and was struck by one major detail. Much of the major story in Lord of the Rings happens in the past tense, almost as an aside to the rest of the story. The first book, because of its use of this technique, wasn't nearly as good as I had thought it would be. As a reader, I found that the Narnia books were superior to those of Middle Earth in simple storytelling. Given the choice of taking either set with me as the only reading material on the ubiquitous desert island, I'd choose Lewis in a heartbeat.

One thing to remember when watching this movie is that it is, at its core, a kid's movie. You won't find gushing blood, impalings, or severed limbs in the combat scenes as you did in "Braveheart" or the "Lord of the Rings" movies. This took little from the battle scenes, which were handled quite well. The only time my son was bothered was during the buildup to the scene on the stone table (I won't overly spoil the movie in this review) which he knew was coming. I'd say this is a more kid-safe movie than most kids movies of recent years.

The Christian symbolism was more obvious on-screen than I remember from the book, as well. A major part of that is that I am far more familiar with the details of the Christ biographies now than I was as a child. That Aslan represented Jesus was obvious. So much more was lost on me at the time. I'm sure my next reading will solidify the symbolism in my mind further.

This movie has been on my must-see list for years. Now it's on my must-see-again list. Ideally, I'll be able to get my Mother to see it with me, so she can see what those books looked like in my mind so many years ago.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe - A+

Posted by Lockjaw at 8:39 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

December 7, 2005

Car Troubles

Well, the Saturn finally bit the dust. When my wife and I married, she had a 1991 Saturn SL. Over the years, minor issues have cropped up with the car. The first big issue was back in the mid 1990s, when a valve roller went bad, resulting in replacement of a couple valves, rollers, rocker arms, and the camshaft. Since then, the car hasn't quite been the same. Over the years, the car has been hit while parked in the rear, rear-ended at a stoplight, hit by two deer (in one night), collided with a bad driver, and driven many, MANY miles. All of the accidents were caused by outside factors (ie. other drivers and deer), and bad driving on my own part would have resulted in much worse damage. On top of this, the car was burning oil, revving too high, leaking the occasional fluid, and making me worry each day that I wouldn't make it home from work.

Yesterday, the Saturn gave up its ghost. I am 90% sure that the engine has seized. It has had a long and glorious life, but now it's no more. All that remains is to empty it of all its contents, unmount the radio equipment, and have it hauled away. I can't wait.

So, after the mile and a half walk back home from the dead car, I had to take some sort of action. A visit to the bank verified that I could qualify for a small loan. A short shopping trip was then underway. I am now the proud owner of a 1997 Ford Mustang. For the first time in my life, I'm driving a car of my own with cruise control. I've got the CD changer in the trunk. I've got the alarm system. It's an automatic, freeing my right hand for ham radio. I don't even know what to think about the fact that my car has alloy wheels. The most important thing of all, though, is that I will be able to drive to and from work every day without worry that I won't make it, getting better gas mileage, without clouds of smoke behind me, and with an engine running under 4000 rpm at the stoplight.

Now, all I have to do is take steps to pay it off early, and we can get a car for the wife, too.

Posted by Lockjaw at 8:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 6, 2005

Dean Says US Won't Win In Iraq

Seemingly intent on destroying the Democrats from inside, Howard Dean is off running his mouth again. This time, he says that the US will not win in Iraq.

"I've seen this before in my life. This is the same situation we had in Vietnam. Everybody then kept saying, 'just another year, just stay the course, we'll have a victory.' Well, we didn't have a victory, and this policy cost the lives of an additional 25,000 troops because we were too stubborn to recognize what was happening."

Of course, this ignores some simple facts about Vietnam, as well. We WERE winning in Vietnam. Once we reached a point where US forces could be pulled out, because the South Vietnamese forces were capable of winning with only our financial help, we came home. Soon after, the Democrats in Congress removed the support for South Vietnam, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. They had so much political capital invested in the idea that we were losing that they had to take moves to ensure we lost.

That's where we are in Iraq. The left has so much political capital invested in the idea that Iraq is a failure that they cannot acknowledge the successes, and must ensure that the US does not succeed. They were wrong about our chances for success in Afghanistan. They were wrong about the number of bodybags needed there. They were wrong about the successful creations of a constitution and government. They were wrong about the timeline in the Iraq invasion. They were wrong about the death toll in the Iraq invasion. They were wrong about the timeline for the creation of a constitution in Iraq. They were wrong about the creation of a government in Iraq. They were wrong about whether the Iraqis could carry out a vote. They were wrong about the rebuilding of schools, hospitals, police stations, and communities. They were wrong about the rebuilding of the Iraqi Army. They're constantly wrong about the support in Iraq for the actions the US has taken.

If they have gone all this time, and spent all this political capital on the idea that we're losing a war we've already won, and then we go and succeed in the rebuilding process as well, somebody might just notice. That's why it is vitally important that the left, and the Democrats in particular, succeed in defeating the United States in time of war. They've invested their own success in their country's defeat. Sadly, the goals of the Democrats and the United States are at odds like never before in the history of our country.

Michael Reagan calls Dean's words treasonous. I agree, but if the government under George Bush won't prosecute treason in the cases of people who actually went to Iraq to serve as human shields at strategic targets, then I have no faith it will prosecute Dean. I don't even think Dean's speech SHOULD be prosecuted, mind you, but the chances are nil.

Dean is counting on Bush being weak in his response to this statement. That's because Bush has a history of weak responses. That doesn't make Dean right in any sense. He's not right factually, morally, ethically, or at all.

He's also counting on his supporters being too ignorant to know he's lying. On that, he's been proven correct many times.

Posted by Lockjaw at 5:29 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack