Why Christmas is Special to me (Dec 2011)

I want to start by wishing all of you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year.

As we approach Christmas this year, I would like to share with you why Christmas is so special to me.

In order to better understand the why, I need to first give some background so the why Christmas is so special to me makes more sense. I hope you will bear with me, it involves some reading, but I think if you read all of it, it will make sense.

So, my starting point I have concluded the following things:

Item 1)

What I observe:

It comes down to this for me, If I walk on a beach and find a working pocket watch, while some mathematician at Harvard tells me there is a statistical possibility over infinite time that this watch could have formed on its own, the odds of that occurring are so remote that you have to have far greater faith to believe that, than I do to believe there was a designer and creator of that watch, and thus that there is a Creator of a vastly more complex universe we observe around us.

What the Bible says:

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Conclusion 1:

The Bible seems correct here, there is no excuse for not understanding there is indeed a Creator that is beyond our complete comprehension

Item 2:

What I observe:

-All of us have unique fingerprints, unique DNA, Unique Retina

Why would a creator take the effort to create so much uniqueness in Creation if it did not signify that we were each personally important to God?

What I have experienced:

September, 11, 2001 was a day that changed our country forever. About a week later in September of 2001, a day came that changed my understanding of God forever. We went up to Michigan. My wife was attending a wedding with her relatives while I was tasked with staying back at the Hotel and babysitting my 2 month old daughter Mercy and 22 month old daughter Faith.

Mercy was wide awake and talking, crying, etc. Faith needed a nap badly. I was unclear how to give both what they needed. I decided to leave Faith in her Pack and Play crib to sleep in the room, figuring she had never gotten out of it before, so if she woke up she would stay in it till I came. I headed down to the Lobby with Mercy to catch some of the 9/11 news we were all interested in. (Yes, I realize every Mother is saying I was an idiot right now for Leaving Faith and you are totally correct!).

On the Elevator I met what appeared to be a Muslim woman and her child. I felt God speaking to me to say I should speak to her and be kind as given the current fear in our country; she may have gotten some hateful responses. So I struck up a conversation with her and then noticed her son was wearing a veggie tales shirt. So despite her appearance, she was not Muslim, the Woman was Christian. Interesting.

We parted ways. I went up in 30 minutes to check on Faith, still asleep. I went back down for 15 minutes, checked on Faith, still asleep. The third time I went to check on her, the elevator door opened, and there stood a hotel maid holding Faiths hand and beside her was the woman from the elevator. I turned pale as fear ran through me. My daughter had been out of my room wandering around. With all the evil predators around, I began to imagine what could have happened.

Well, come to find out, Faith had indeed climbed out of her Pack and Play, opened the door and began going down the hall and pushing on doors. As it turns out, only one door was open on the entire Hall. It was the door of the Woman on the elevator. Earlier she had gone to shut her door, when she felt God was telling her to prop the door open. She had no idea why, seemed like a crazy request, but she obeyed, and because she did obey, my Daughter was rescued. There is no doubt in my mind God did this to proclaim that God cares about us personally. Not just us as 1 of several billion people, but each of us individually.

What the Bible says:

Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Genesis 2:18 And the LORD God said, [It is] not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

Genesis 3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day

Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew you

Mathew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Mathew 22:28 This is the first and great commandment

Mathew 22:29 And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Conclusion 2:

The biblical account matches my observations and experience. The Creator of the Universe is indeed a personal God who helped form each of us in the Womb and gave us each unique gifts. God is a God of relationships, seeking to walk with Adam and Eve in the Garden from the very beginning. The most important commandments to God are that we Love God with all our Heart, Soul and Mind and that We Love others as much as we love ourselves.

Item 3:

What I observe:

The Bible is not a bunch of fairy tales that simple minded fools follow.

It is demonstratably provable to be true. A few examples (I could list thousands)

A).

Isaiah 40:22 [It is] he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth

The above was written somewhere between 700BC and 800BC (Provable as copies found written BC 300 with the Dead Sea Scrolls, but I believe then original actually written when claimed at 800BC).

Most of the intellectuals at our Universities say that Aristotle was the 1st person to say the Earth was round in 400BC, but clearly the Bible said it far before this and far before Science got around to proving it.

B) If you read the dietary restrictions given to the Jews in the book of Leviticus, restrictions such as not having meat with Milk, etc. no one really understood at the time this was written why you should avoid these types of combinations other than the fact they Believed God told them to avoid this. It is only in the modern era nutritionist and Scientists have come to understand Cholesterol and its impacts. Science finally catches up with the Bible.

C) There is vastly more historical evidence outside of the Bible of Jesus life on earth than there is to support the accounts we know about Caesar Augustus.

In addition, it is scientifically provable that the Prophesies about Jesus were written before he was born.

See below:

Here are some of the prophesies about Jesus:

- Virgin birth predicted in Isiah 7:14 800 years before Jesus was born "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."

- Isaiah 53: 1 to 10 describes Jesus death, verse 11 predicts his resurrection 800 yrs before it occurred

Ex. chapter 12 - Passover Lamb is clear picture of Jesus

Leviticus 16 Sacrificial goat and scape goat also clear picture of Jesus

Isa 61

Genesis 22 - Abraham sacrificing Isaac clear picture of John 3:16

Micah 5:2 Predicts Jesus will come from Bethleham, How could he Know a Census would force Joseph and Mary to return there?

other Old Testemant Prophecies about Jesus:

http://www.cynet.com/jesus/prophecy/ntquoted.htm

What I conclude:

So, Why is Christmas Important to me?

If the Biblical account of Jesus is correct, and John 3:16 is not a fairy tale but is true, It means the God of the Universe was so distressed over a broken relationship with us that he sent Jesus to restore that relationship with us. It means that Relationships we have with God and the relationships we have with each other are the very reason and purpose for our existence.

This is very exciting to me. I am encouraged that I can know God better by studying the Bible and that God hears my Prayers. That through knowing God better, I can learn year by year how to Love my Wife, my Children, my family, my friends and even my enemies better. I have a long, long way to go, yet I have hope for the future that each year God will clean me up a little more than the year before and each year I can learn to love better than the year before.

I think that is an exciting prospect for all of us that God does not want religion; God wants a personal relationship with each of us and to help better our relationships with each other.

Merry Christmas everyone, God Loves you......