Cowboy Bob Sorensen

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Hopefully this article will at least prove interesting as well as helpful for people going through the grieving process. Charlene has been gone for just over three months, and this first Christmas in over twenty years without her is brutal. This morning I got up and took a picture of the tree, which is three feet tall and pre-lit, set on an end-table. I added some ornaments. One was a gut punch because it was from her late sister, "New Home 2008" for our new apartment. Now Charlene is celebrating her first Christmas with Jesus in her new home . Using a tripod and the phone camera's night setting, plus I removed clutter Our last Christmas together, we both had the Rona. On Christmas Eve, we watched the 1951  Scrooge  (changed to A Christmas Carol )...just noticed that I wrote "we watched" out of habit. This movie was in our rotation for Christmas Eve and Day viewings. I only made it about halfway though, what with being tired and all — we

Wow, Christmas already? It feels like a year...okay, it happens that way. This post is a follow-up of sorts to " Christmas is More than People Think ", and it would be helpful to read the article linked there before reading this one. Helpful, but not essential. Most professing Christians and some people who give a nod to it celebrate Christmas. Ask them what it means, you will be told that the Son of God was born. There is far more involved than that simple answer provides. Pixabay / Gerd Altmann As a child raised in the Untied Methodist Church (misspelling intentional), I learned my best theology from the hymns and public reading-mumblings of the creeds in the back of the hymnals. My understanding was still very weak, however. I have a vague recollection of getting on the prod when someone said that Jesus is God: "No he isn't! He's the Son  of God!" Later came knowledge of the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Then the phrase, "

Many people around the world celebrate Christmas, whether born-again believers, cultural Christians, or others who simply want to participate. Secularism has raised dust clouds that obscure the true meaning, with movies and television shows emphasizing the "spirit" of Christmas without the Spirit. Some groups such as Jehovah's Witnesses shun Christmas. While they may accurately point out the commercialism, they also complain about Jesus as a baby. Well, that is  how the man Jesus entered his creation. But they certainly dislike expository preaching and Christian hymns that have true theology. Christmas crib, Freeimages / GERAS One objection to celebrating Christmas is that most people get the details wrong. Things have been tacked on by tradition and misunderstanding Scripture. Yes, there is some of that . In addition, some people become sanctimonious in their refusal to celebrate, saying that the Bible does not command us to celebrate Christmas or Easter. While we are no

During tumultuous times, celebrating the birth of Jesus is a stark reminder to Christians that we have hope. This hope is not based in humanity. Instead, we need to focus on how God the Son left Heaven and became the man Jesus for our salvation. Credit: Pixabay / falco He did not come to make everything into our best lives now. In fact, following Jesus involves sacrifice and persecution; it is not a lazy tinhorn's religion like atheism. But we are given eternal salvation, adoption as sons and daughters of the living God, purpose, victory over death, and much more. I'm not going to take much more of your time, unless you have a hankering to see what I've done for this Christmas season. I'd be much obliged if you'd watch the "flash mob" video. Look for how people are awestruck around the 4 min. 23 sec. mark. Okay, the other posts: Why the Genealogies of Jesus are Important Christmas — Relatively Speaking The REAL Mother of Jesus

Yes, we celebrate Christmas. No, we will not be manipulated into feeling guilty about it by Reverend Dourpuss or uninformed, legalistic Christians. Or professing atheists who pass along falsehood. Claims that Christmas is based on plagiarized pagan and mythic figures are false, pilgrim. Credit: Pixabay / RitaE I'll allow that there are some errors in our traditions, such as the Magi visiting Jesus in the stable (their visit was a year or two later, and it was probably a large group, not just three). What if Christmas did have pagan associations? If that was true, then Christians who shun Christmas are inconsistent because several things we know and use today actually do have pagan origins — which are largely forgotten. Those people might want to avoid the days of the week and months of the year if they want to be consistent, for example. December 25? I have read and some interesting arguments that insist that Jesus was indeed born on that date. Then I read others that make

The way I've always understood it, a gift is something that is freely given. If you work to receive something, it is not a gift, but earned like wages or something. Children in many parts of the world are told about a being known by many names, including Father Christmas, Sinterklaas, Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus (see the pattern on the last three names?), and others. Credit: RGBStock / LUSI Way back yonder, Nicholas was a godly man who was also a giver of gifts. Legends built up, and today we have a recluse who lives at the North Pole, flying around the world with in a sleigh drawn by reindeer and giving gifts to all the good little girls and boys. Probably defies the laws of physics, as this internet legend indicates . Like many others, I believed in Santa Claus, but as I grew older, I realized that the storyline was impossible. The myth was shattered when I walked past my parents' bedroom, the door was wide open and a big box of unwrapped gifts was in the middle of

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen The late Greg Lake, most notably of the progressive rock bands King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer had a "Christmas" song that wasn't. The lyrics were written by Peter Sinfield. There are conflicting accounts and misconceptions about "I Believe in Father Christmas", that it is a Christmas song, it was never intended to be such ("...about a loss of innocence and childhood belief"), Vietnam war protest, it's an atheist song, it's not atheist but rather "humanist" (as if there's a difference), and so on. I'll allow that it has excellent music and thought-provoking lyrics. Sinfield wrote lyrics for ELP and King Crimson, and Lake wrote many lyrics himself, including all of those on ELP's Tarkus album . One of these was " The Only Way (Hymn) ", a mocking anti-theistic and anti-Christian song , including the lyrics, "Don't need the word now that you've heard. Don't be