"Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins."  Whether you believe this statement or not, it has become a cliche in America today.  The significance of the cross has been reduced to a mere piece of jewelry for most people, instead of the most torturous execution device the Romans could devise.

The Passion of the Christ is a docudrama, that depicts the emotional as well as physical suffering Jesus went through.  As is always the case in movie adaptations of books, it is necessarily an exercise in omission.  It would have been much longer than 2 hours had every event and bit of dialogue recorded in the gospels been included.

It doesn't document all of the full agony of crucifixion, such as the medical aspects of slow gangrene in the extremities and death by suffocation, not blood loss (Jesus actually died of heart failure), which is more fully explained in books like The Case for Christ (written by a former atheist law journalist, examining the evidence for Christianity).

It's interesting that Mel Gibson chose not to portray the shame of nakedness on the cross, possibly too much for the audience.  And of course it would be difficult, if not impossible, to portray the spiritual suffering of bearing the sins of the world and the full wrath of God.

Nevertheless, no movie has depicted the significance of Jesus' suffering so realistically.  For atheists, this suffering is "foolishness": needless rehearsal of the tragic, but insignificant end of a great teacher's life.  A recount of the Holocaust would be more relevant today.  For Christians, "it is the power of God": a powerful taste of the enormous sacrifice of Christ, which we as sinners should have suffered ourselves.  It is a vicarious experience of the "stripes [by which we] were healed."

Why is the cross a symbol of Christianity?  As was referred to in the promotional blurbs for the movie, Christ came primarily to die, unlike founders of other religions, who taught a philosophy or way of living.  The crucifixion and resurrection of the Christ are the very foundation of Christianity and therefore a legitimate subject for a movie.

"But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." -Isaiah 53:5

"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." -1 Peter 2:24

There have been many explanations for the ancient custom of playing practical jokes on the first of April, but none agree.  In 1564, in France, when New Year's Day was changed to January 1, those that continued to celebrate it on April 1 were called April fools.

The Bible warns us that the practical joker is the real fool: "It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding hath wisdom." -Proverbs 10:23 KJV.  "Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows and death, so is the man who deceives his neighbor, and says, 'Was I not joking?'" -Proverbs 26:18-19 NASB.

The Egyptians were the first to adapt a 365 day solar calendar.  They didn't account for the extra fourth day, however, so their year drifted gradually into error.

The Romans started out with a year of 10 months beginning with March and ignored the extra 60 days.  They added two more months later.  By the time of Julius Caesar, the accumulated error caused by the incorrect length of the Roman year had made the calendar about three months ahead of the seasons.  Caesar decreed that the year 46 BC would have 445 days, February have an extra day each fourth year, and January 1 would be the beginning of the year instead of March 1.

The Julian calendar worked well but was 11 minutes and 14 seconds longer than the solar year.  By 1580, the calendar had drifted ten days early.  Pope Gregory XIII decreed that October 4, 1582 would be followed by October 15 and that century years that didn't divide by 400 would not be leap years.  The Gregorian calendar was immediately accepted by the Catholic nations and later most of the world.  The Gregorian calendar is so accurate that the difference between the calendar and solar years is now only about 26 seconds.

Chinese New Year

The Chinese year is based on the moon.  Each month begins at new moon and a month is repeated seven times during each 19-year period, so that the calendar stays approximately in line with the seasons.  Chinese New Year is the second full moon after the winter solstice- December 22- and occurs between January 20 and February 20.

Valentine's Day may have been derived from three sources: Lupercalia, two legendary Christian martyrs, and the Old English belief that birds mate on February 14, plus perhaps the belief that spring is a time for lovers.

Lupercalia was a Roman festival held on February 15 in the honor of the god Faunus in order to obtain protection from wolves.  After sacrificing goats and a dog at the top of Palatine hill, young men called Luperci raced around the hill's borders striking those they met with goatskin whips.  Women struck by their blows were ensured of fertility and easy delivery.

There are at least two legendary Christian martyrs named Valentine.  The Roman history of martyrs lists two Saint Valentines as being beheaded on February 14.  One was a Roman priest martyred in Terni; the second was probably a bishop of Terni martyred in Rome.  It is possible that these two legends were based on real people or, as some believe, one person.  In 496, Pope Gelasius declared February 14 to be Saint Valentine's day.  In 1969 the feast day was dropped from the Roman church calendar.

• We believe success is impossible- so we criticize it.
• We believe success is mystical- so we search for it.
• We believe success comes from luck- so we hope for it.
• We believe success is productivity- so we work for it.
• We believe success comes from an opportunity- so we wait for it.
• We believe success comes from leverage- so we power up for it.
• We believe success comes from connections- so we network for it.
• We believe success comes from recognition- so we strive for it.
• We believe success is an event- so we schedule it.

1. Attitude: Choose and display the right attitudes daily.
2. Priorities: Determine and act on important priorities daily.
3. Health: Know and follow healthy guidelines daily.
4. Family: Communicate with and care for my family daily.
5. Thinking: Practice and develop good thinking daily.
6. Commitment: Make and keep proper commitments daily.
7. Finances: Make and properly manage dollars daily.
8. Faith: Deepen and live out my faith daily.
9. Relationships: Inititate and invest in solid relationships daily.
10. Generosity: Plan for and model generosity daily.
11. Values: Embrace and practice good values daily.
12. Growth: Seek and experience improvements daily.

Success is essential in each of these areas of life:

1. Person
2. Proclaimer
3. Provider
4. Partner
5. Parent

History:

Christmas started in Europe as a pagan winter solstice festival.  When the Europeans were converted to Christianity, they refused to give up their pagan festival, so the Catholic Church made it into a day to celebrate the birth of Christ so that at least they would be celebrating a "Christian holy day."  December 25 was the date of the winter solstice.  The mass said on this day was called Christmas.  Jesus could not have been born on that day because shepherds in Palestine only watch their flocks by night (Luke 2:8) in the spring, during lambing season.

During the Protestant Reformation, Christmas was condemned as being idolatrous, popish, and superstitious.  It was forbidden in England by Oliver Cromwell's followers, and gradually grew out of practice.  The Puritans, when they came to the New World, forbade it.  People soon got out of the habit of celebrating Christmas.  Christmas died in the mid-nineteenth century.

Then, in the Victorian era, Charles Dickens wrote his Pickwick Papers and Christmas Carol.  He wrote nostalgically and sentimentally of Christmas traditions he had just made up; this is equivalent to the president of Ford making commercials that reminisced of the mini-van his grandfather used to drive him in!  A Christmas Carol was not an immediate success until Dickens started reading it aloud on tour.  Then his invented nostalgia of newly fabricated traditions swept all of England and America, and the new imitation Christmas was accepted with open arms.

Traditions:

Feasting has agrarian roots.  Herding peoples had to slaughter their livestock during the winter when there was not enough provender- at about the same time the drinks fermented from the summer's crops were ready to drink.  During the winter, farm chores were at their lightest so time could be given to feasting.  Feasting was also done by the Romans, who never knew if the days would stop growing shorter, since they believed that the universe is subject to the whims of the gods.  They lived it up while they could with a time of ecstatic revelry, celebration, eating, and drinking.  While wassailing traditions have faded, drinking is still connected to Christmas.

Evergreens symbolized immortality and the continuity of life to the ancient Europeans because they retain their leaves during the winter.  During the winter, evil spirits were supposed to roam the land (later to be associated with Halloween) and the coniferous plants were used as protection against them.  Ancient Egyptians viewed the evergreen tree as a fertility symbol.  During the winter solstice, they decorated their homes with palm fronds, using them as Romans would later use boughs of fir.  The Germans first experimented with indoor trees, and when Queen Victoria married a German husband, the royal family had a tannenbaum.  When pictures of their family and tree were published, the Christmas tree took England and the New World by storm.

Mistletoe is a tree parasite that spends its whole life in the branches of oaks, sucking their sap.  It has been long associated with magic and fertility.  The Druids used it for pagan ceremonies.

Yule log traditions originated in Northern Europe.  Men would go into the woods, find an immense log, and bring it home with great ceremony.  It would be set alight with a fragment from the past year's Yule log.  A proper log would burn for days and the holiday would last as long as it burned.  A pig would be roasted on its flames.  When it burned out, that would mark the end of the holiday season.  Some people drew a small chalk figure on the log, perhaps a link to dimly-recalled traditions of human sacrifice.

Gift-giving originated in Rome.  Roman subjects used to give strenae of evergreen branches to their rulers.  Gradually these gifts shifted to art objects and finally to gold or currency.  Roman patricians also gave money in little clay boxes to tradespeople and artisans.  This is the origin of the British Boxing Day.

Carols began as medieval rounds that were danced and sung.  In medieval times, most were lewd.  Caroling used to be done with flute accompaniment on all holidays.  It has since become a cappella and only at Christmas.

Should Christians celebrate Christmas?  Christmas is of pagan origin and is permeated with pagan customs.  We are warned not to love the world (1 John 2:15) or its pagan customs.  It was made into a "Christian" holiday by the Catholic Church.  If Christmas is to be celebrated at all, it needs to be the celebration of the birth of Jesus; the pagan traditions must go.

He's omniscient, omnipresent, immortal, dwelling and reigning from on high, coming to judge the world, coming soon, and coming from the heavens.  He loves the children of the world, will reward those who have faith like little children, knows what we need, and will give whatever we ask in his name.  Who is it?

If you answered Jesus Christ... you're wrong.  It's Santa Claus.  Sound blasphemous?  It is, but we'll get to that later.  First, the origin of Santa Claus.

The early Germanics called their chief god Yolnir, who in time lent his name to their new year's festival.  We know it as Yule.  Yule was a twelve night new year's festival that later became associated with the winter solstice.  Over the centuries, Yolnir was renamed Woden, later Odin.  The old Germanics thought him to be a cosmic outlaw who rode the storms on a great white stallion. In Scandinavia, Woden distributed gifts to children.  Woden was often conceived with a hag named Berchta riding the storms at his side.

During the twelve nights of Yule, Berchta was said to visit each house, driving a wagon or riding a pale horse.  She would judge households that pleased her and curse those that did not.  To influence her decision, a meal of fish and dumplings would be left out.  Berchta's arrival later shifted to January 6.  Still later, Berchta gave rise to the kindly witch Befana in Italy, who gave gifts to good children and "tricks" (including coal) to bad children.  If they were very bad, she might carry them away to the underworld.

Not much is known about the real Saint Nicholas; he was a bishop that faced persecution during the reigns of the Roman emperors Diocletian and Maximilian.  He was set free when Constantine converted to Christianity and eventually he rose to the rank of archbishop.  Legend, however, says much more about him.  The most famous legend involved his throwing bags of gold into the house of a poor nobleman so that his three daughters could have dowries and get married.  This legend announced his qualifications to succeed Woden and Berchta as the giver of Yuletide gifts.  Tradition holds that Nicholas died on January 6, which became the date of the feast of Saint Nicholas.

On Saint Nicholas's Day, the mitered saint was said to ride though the air on a pale horse with his sidekick, Black Pete.  If any children needed a whipping, Pete would administer it.  After the Reformation, Protestants in Germany criticized Saint Nicholas's Day as an unwelcome Catholic holdover.  They substituted the saint with the Christkindl, or Christ child.  The baby Jesus was portrayed incongruously as a pint-sized , fast-flying bringer of gifts for good boys and girls.  He already knew if you were good or bad and, since he had the keys of death and hell, had no need of a sinister sidekick.  Naturally, he came on his own feast day- Christmas.  When the Nicholas tradition returned, children had come to expect their gifts on Christmas, and Black Pete never regained the same popularity.

How did Santa become popular in England and America (countries that didn't even celebrate Christmas)?  In 1809, Washington Irving published an enormously popular satirical history of New York under the pseudonym Knickerbocker.  In it, he made it seem like the Dutch founders of New York made Saint Nicholas's Day the pivot around which their whole year revolved.  Starting 1829, A Visit From Saint Nicholas (more commonly known as The Night Before Christmas) became wildly popular.  It replaced the tall, thin, and mitered bishop with a short, rotund, and jolly elf; it replaced the horse and wagon with reindeer and sleigh.  From 1862 to 1886, Thomas Nast drew pictures of Santa for Harper's Weekly magazine that completed the rest of Santa lore.

So what's wrong with Santa?

1. To teach and perpetuate the Santa Claus myth, parents must lie to their children. Lying is sin (Exodus 20:16, Proverbs 12:22, Ephesians 4:25, Colossians 3:9).  Any imagined benefits that come from this myth never make up for the destruction of the trust of children in their parents.
2. Many attributes of God are given to Santa. God makes it clear that He is a jealous God and will not give His glory to any other (Exodus 20:5, Isaiah 42:8).  Isn't it funny that if you put the "n" in "Santa" at the end, it becomes "Satan"?
3. Many parents imbue in their children the fear of Santa.  We are to fear God (Proverbs 16:6, Ecclesiastes 12:13), not Santa.
4. The Santa myth causes children to set their hearts on temporal things, instead of eternal things (Matthew 6:19-21, Colossians 3:1-2, 2 Corinthians 4:18, 1 Timothy 6:10, 1 John 2:15).
5. Children behave to receive gifts, not to honor their parents (Exodus 20:12, Ephesians 6:1-2, Colossians 3:20).
6. Children are ungrateful for their gifts because they believe that they have earned them and deserve them (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

If parents want to introduce their children to Santa at all, they should at least make clear that he does not exist.

The first American Thanksgiving was celebrated when 39 English settlers arrived at Berkeley Plantation on the James River near what is now Charles City, Virginia on December 4, 1619.  The group's charter required that the day of arrival be celebrated yearly as a day of thanksgiving and prayer to God.  Most of us, however, remember the three days of feasting and prayer celebrated by the Pilgrims as the origin of Thanksgiving.

The Pilgrims

During the reign of King James I, though the people had access to the Bible, they were not allowed to interpret it for themselves.  They were expected to conform to the doctrines and practices of the Established Church of England, some of which were unscriptural.  Up to that time, those that had wanted to reform and purify the Church from the inside were called Puritans.  Those that had left for their consciences' sake were called Separatists.  Once King James made clear his position that dissenting opinions would not be tolerated, the Puritans were forced to separate themselves from the Church.  All ministers that did not conform to official doctrines lost their licenses.Private religious meetings became illegal.

One group of Separatists gathered secretly in the village of Scrooby, led by William Brewster and the Reverend Richard Clifton.  It grew quickly, but the authorities learned of it and persecuted them zealously.  All avenues of appeal had been barred, so the Scrooby believers found it necessary to "obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29).  Both worship apart from the Church and leaving the country were illegal.  After numerous attempts, all the Scrooby separatists managed to get to Holland, where religious freedom was allowed.  Thirteen years later, for fear of losing their children to the corruption and worldliness of Dutch society, they decided to begin their own colony in the New World.

The congregation secured two patents from the London Company authorizing them to settle in the northern part of the company's jurisdiction of Virginia.  They acquired financial support from a group of English businessmen who would receive the colony's first seven years of profits.  They chose the strongest of the group for the initial voyage.  On September 16,1620, 41 members of the congregation sailed for America on the ship Mayflower, along with 61 other Separatists and "Strangers" (non-separatists).

God blew them off their planned course with violent storms which drove them directly to Cape Cod in 65 days.  He used adverse winds to prevent them from going south and the hook-like Cape Cod to snag them into the New England region.  The ship was forced to anchor inside the tip of Cape Cod on November 21.  Because the Pilgrims were in the area without legal authority, they drew up the Mayflower Compact, creating their own government.  They explored the coast of Cape Cod Bay.  God used a snowstorm to drive one of the exploring groups to the shelter of Plymouth Harbor.On December 21, this group found an abandoned Indian settlement, fit for habitation.  The rest of them arrived December 26.

Exhausted from the journey, the Pilgrims now had to face a hideous and desolate wilderness full of wild beasts and wild men.  They also had to face the bitter New England winter: sharp, violent, and subject to cruel and fierce storms, which made travel dangerous or impossible.

Sickness, exposure, and starvation wiped out entire families.  Only five of eighteen wives lived to see the spring thaw.Only fifty-one Pilgrims survived.

Early in March, two Indians entered the struggling settlement.  "I am Samoset," the redman explained to the surprise of the Pilgrims.  "And this is Squanto."

Squanto served as an interpreter between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag chief Massasoit and helped arrange a peace treaty.  He also showed the Pilgrims how and where to hunt, fish, trap, gather nuts and berries, and grow corn and squash.

However, during the spring and summer, they had to remain content with their dwindling supply of food, sometimes eating only six grains of corn for a meal!  Inexperienced hunters and fishermen, they lived almost entirely on shellfish.  In the summer, it looked like their crops would perish for lack of rain.  They set aside a day of fasting and nine hours of continuous prayer.  God answered them with ten days of rain; the crops were saved.

The Pilgrims were so grateful for God's mercy that they set aside a special time of thanksgiving and feasting as in Deuteronomy 26:10.  Ninety Indians came with Chief Massasoit.  The Indians listened as the Bible was read and prayers of thanksgiving were raised to God, as the Pilgrims did in all situations.

The Story of Squanto

In 1605, Squanto had been captured by an English sailing captain and taken to England to be trained as an English-speaking guide.  There he earned the respect of Captain John Smith, who took him home.  But God had not finished preparing Squanto yet.  Soon he was seized by English fishermen and taken to a notorious slave port in Spain.  Slavery was not God's intention for him, though.  Friars from a Spanish monastery rescued him and introduced him to Christ.  Now the English-speaking, Christian Squanto was ready for the Pilgrims.  In 1619, he returned home to find that his tribe had been stricken by smallpox and he was one of the few Patuxet left.  He joined the Wampanoag tribe as the other survivors had.  Neither he nor the Pilgrims had any idea that God had prepared him to save the Pilgrims.

Later Thanksgiving Days

The custom of Thanksgiving Day spread from Plymouth to other New England colonies.  During the Revolutionary War, eight special days of thanks were observed for victories and for being saved from dangers.  In 1789, President George Washington issued a general proclamation naming November 26 a day of national thanksgiving.  For many years, there was no national Thanksgiving Day, though some states adopted their own.  Then in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as "a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father."  From 1939-1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt set it one week earlier to lengthen the shopping period before Christmas, but it was returned to the original date by Congress in 1941.

Proposition 85, as many of you know, did not pass.  It was defeated about 54% to 46%.  Besides low voter turnout (about 44% of registered voters actually voted), I believe another reason was the misleading TV ad against Prop 85 that Yes on 85 didn't have the money to counter.  I personally talked to some people who were originally going to vote yes, but changed their minds based on the misleading arguments against Prop 85.

Thanks to all who donated on such short notice for the Exhorter Matching Challenge.  The donations totalled $155, which I matched for a total of $310.  Next time, we'll start earlier and plan better.  We'll never give up.

"And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." -Galatians 6:9

You may have seen an ad on TV that says "Prop 85 would force girls to notify an abusive or violent parent that they are pregnant."  This is false.

Proposition 85 allows a minor to petition the juvenile court for a waiver if notifying her parents is not in her best interests.  The court proceeding is free, confidential, and fast (a waiver is granted automatically if the judge fails to rule in time).  The court helps the minor prepare the documents, and she has a right to a court-paid lawyer.  This process is already working in other states.  And of course, abortion providers are more than willing to assist minors in getting waivers (for obvious rea$on$).  For more facts rebutting the false claims of Prop 85's opponents, go to www.yeson85.net.

(g) Notice shall not be required under this Section if waived pursuant to this subdivision and subdivisions (h) or (i) or (j). If the pregnant unemancipated minor elects not to permit notice to be given to a parent or guardian, she may file a petition with the juvenile court. If, pursuant to this subdivision, an unemancipated minor seeks to file a petition, the court shall assist the minor or person designated by the minor in preparing the documents required pursuant to this Section. The petition shall set forth with specificity the minor's reasons for the request. The court shall ensure that the minor's identity be kept confidential and that all court proceedings be sealed. No filing fee shall be required for filing a petition. The unemancipated minor shall appear personally in the proceedings in juvenile court and may appear on her own behalf or with counsel of her own choosing. The court shall, however, advise her that she has a right to court-appointed counsel upon request. The court shall appoint a guardian ad litem for her. The hearing shall be held by 5 p.m. on the second court day after filing the petition unless extended at the written request of the unemancipated minor, her guardian ad litem, or her counsel. If the guardian ad litem requests an extension, that extension may not be granted for more than one court day without the consent of the unemancipated minor or her counsel. The unemancipated minor shall be notified of the date, time, and place of the hearing on the petition. Judgment shall be entered within one court day of submission of the matter. The judge shall order a record of the evidence to be maintained, including the judge's written factual findings and legal conclusions supporting the decision.

(h) (1) If the judge finds, by clear and convincing evidence, that the unemancipated minor is sufficiently mature and well-informed to decide whether to have an abortion, the judge shall authorize a waiver of notice of a parent or guardian.

(2) If the judge finds, by clear and convincing evidence, that notice to a parent or guardian is not in the best interests of the unemancipated minor, the judge shall authorize a waiver of notice. If the finding that notice to a parent or guardian is not in the best interests of the minor is based on evidence of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, the court shall ensure that such evidence is brought to the attention of the appropriate county child protective agency.

(3) If the judge does not make a finding specified in subdivision (h)(1) or (h)(2), the judge shall deny the petition.

(i) If the judge fails to rule within the time period specified in subdivision (g) and no extension was requested and granted, the petition shall be deemed granted and the notice requirement shall be waived.

(j) The unemancipated minor may appeal the judgment of the juvenile court at any time after the entry of judgment. The Judicial Council shall prescribe, by rule, the practice and procedure on appeal and the time and manner in which any record on appeal shall be prepared and filed and may prescribe forms for such proceedings. These procedures shall require that the hearing shall be held within three court days of filing the notice of appeal. The unemancipated minor shall be notified of the date, time, and place of the hearing. Judgment shall be entered within one court day of submission of the matter. The appellate court shall ensure that the unemancipated minor's identity be kept confidential and that all court proceedings be sealed. No filing fee shall be required for filing an appeal. Judgment on appeal shall be entered within one court day of submission of the matter.

Unfortunately, YES on 85 doesn't have the money to spend on a TV ad countering the false TV ad.  There is still time to donate or spread the truth by talking to people, e-mailing them, or posting in your blog.

"A true witness delivereth souls: but a deceitful witness speaketh lies." -Proverbs 14:25