Another year has gone by and it’s Christmas again! It was a cold beautiful day here and we have had a lovely Christmas. First things first, Christmas Eve…we stayed up late, snacking all night and watching holiday features on television. While flipping to a different channel we were excited to find Dr. John MacArthur a guest on the Larry King Live panel. In addition to MacArthur, there were three other prominent religious figures and a Newsweek journalist discussing Christmas and common religious controversies from anti-semitism to capital punishment. The guest from Newsweek had recently written the cover story, “The Birth of Jesus.” It was sad to find under minimal investigation that he didn’t even believe that the Bible was innerant, inspired or sufficient, let alone accurate. This is what the conversation sifted down to. The Word. At one point this journalist said, “Things don’t have to be accurate to be true.” To this MacArthur, in his straight-to-the-point manner, called him out on the mat, “It’s a battle, it’s a war for the integrity, the authority, the veracity, the inerrancy, the inspiration of the Bible. If you believe the Bible is the authoritative, inspired, inerrant word of God, then what it says is absolutely true and binding. If you’re not going to believe that, you are going to have to attack the Bible, because of its longevity in the world, because of its power and its impact, you have got to deal with it religiously. ” Nevertheless, the other guests kept trying to dismiss this critical point by saying that if people simply believe enough something can be true for them. At one point it came down to what people believe and how they act, a common dichotomy in Christians today. The other guests proudly stated that people can try their best but stood by the view that no religion had the right way to God or righteous living. MacArthur spoke up, “Christians act like Christians. I think Christians are transformed people. And lots of people take the label, but don’t know Christ.” I sure appreciated this profoundly valid point, and even stayed up to watch it all over again when it re-aired at midnight.
(Follow this link for a full transcript of the show [1] “Who Was Jesus?” )

This morning we slept in, ate warm apple stroodle for breakfast, and opened a few gifts. I was excited to be the recipient of a Singer sewing machine and some choice GAP apparel. Bobby was very happy to get a CD player alarm clock, he can set to wake him up with favorite songs. The friends we are house-sitting for have a little beagle named Libby, so in the afternoon we took her for a long walk and went to the movies. We saw “Finding Neverland” a sweet drama about the writer of the children’s classic, Peter Pan. Jonny Depp plays playwrite, John Barrie who befriends a widow(Kate Winslet), and her four young boys. The film brilliantly portrays Barrie’s summer-long aquaintance with the Davies family, in images intermixed with fantasy and reality, as their adventures become inspiration for Barrie’s journal and in the end a play about an imaginative boy and his adventures in Neverland. Innocent and tastefully entertaining, this film packs an emotional punch towards the end, so keep the tissues handy.

I’m off to watch “It’s a Wonderful Life.” I can’t think of a better end to such a delightful day…we wish you a very Merry Christmas!