Merry Christmas

Laus Deo. 

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Merry Christmas to all..

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Time for a little seasonal spirit.

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Merry Christmas to all..

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What a voice. 

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As the Christmas season rolls in this amazing video from Ace of Spades made me think of the fantastic 'modern' arrangement of Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring by Bach recorded in 1972 (amidst Americans landing on the Moon) by the infamous Apollo 100. 



The video also brings back some turntable memories. 

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Dedicated to Bill O'Reilly..



Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.  

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Here's some Christian Rock, a genre I haven't done much of on here.

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It's that time of year.   Here's an edgy way to start it off..

Christmas

No hint of snow here, but we can't handle it anyway.  Meanwhile, in the spirit of the day, here's CNN exploring how other religions perceive Christmas:

Two days before Christmas, Imam Mohamed Magid, the executive director at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, preached about Jesus at Friday prayers. "We live in a country with a majority of Christians, where Christmas is a major holiday... It's a reminder we do believe in Jesus. Jesus' position in Islam is one of the highest prophets in Islam," Magid said, adding that Muslims view Jesus as a prophet on par with Abraham, Moses, Noah and Mohammad.

Often when he says the name of Mohammad or Jesus in conversation, Magid adds the Islamic honorific "Peace be upon him" after his name. "Jesus is a unifying figure, unifying Muslims and Christians," he said. The Quran, the Islamic scriptures, makes specific mention of Jesus and of his mother Mary. "It's very interesting that there are many places where the prophet (Mohammad) is quoting Jesus."

Which if nothing else seems to suggest AD 700 circa evidence of Christ's existence.  CNN continues...

Magid said Muslims believe many of the same things about Jesus that Christians do: Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, he lived a sinless life, he raised the dead, and he preformed miracles. He also said many Muslim scholars believe that Jesus will one day return to the earth, using the Christian vocabulary of "the Second Coming."

Well sure, if by "same things" they mean everything aside from the very reason we have a "Christianity"--the divinity of Christ.  Muslims believe Christ was just another prophet along the path to the 'one true prophet', Mohammad.   Their view of Jesus would be like a Christian person saying Mohammad was just a man who wrote a book and talked about Jesus, but wasn't the one true prophet chosen by Allah because Christ filled that role 700 years earlier and warned his disciples about false messiahs to come.  One might think the reaction could be a bit extreme.

If CNN really wanted to explore some differences between the faiths they could have explored this story out of modern day Iran in comparison to the Biblical story of the stoning of Mary Magdalene:

Authorities in Iran said Sunday they are again moving ahead with plans to execute a woman sentenced to death by stoning on an adultery conviction in a case that sparked an international outcry, but are considering whether to carry out the punishment by hanging instead.

Yes, Iran stoning this woman under Sha'ria law inspired by the Koran is about punishment, Jesus pardoning Mary was about forgiveness.  But the latter represents the very heart of Christianity.  Jesus was said to have died for the sins of mankind so we might all be saved.  His dying on the cross was to allow our entrance to heaven, even after sin.  On the contrary, forgiveness doesn't seem to be a central theme of Islam, whether they believe in Jesus or not.

And that leaves a chasm of brutal honesty nobody wants to acknowledge.  If indeed Islam does not accept Jesus as divine they are left to believe he was at worst a liar and at best misguided, rendering the entire religion based around his existence as a fraud.  After all, there's only one true prophet.  Nor can Christians believe there was anyone beyond Jesus of any religious significance, since Christ claimed to be 'the way, the truth, and the life', nobody coming to the Father but through Him.  That's fairly absolute.

CNN suggests that by recognizing Christ, Islam is the most ardent believer in monotheism of all religions. Not really.  Most Christians also believe Mohammad existed and formed Islam, they just believe he was at best misguided, or at worst, a liar.   Not somewhere they were likely to go--especially on Christmas--after all let's face it, the rationale behind the Belief Blog was likely not to create fatwas against Anderson Cooper but to create a vehicle for subtle condemnation of conservative Republican Christians on behalf of the one true leader.  But it's not something the Pope would admit either, on Christmas or any other day.   And as long as the divide exists, so will the trouble.  

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I've posted this version before, but it's a favorite..



 And another..

 


 Merry Christmas to all. Thanks for reading.. 

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As the comments section alludes, that's Joel Hoekstra, currently playing with Night Ranger. 

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Getting into the spirit...

Christmas

We wish you a merry one...





There's always hope. And here's hoping we get a little white stuff.. even if the odds are near zero.

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Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Seasons' Greetings to all..

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Here's a clever twist on a couple of classics (in case you haven't seen it yet..)



HT Memphis Morning News

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It's December and time for some Christmas tunes. This year will start out with TSO doing a modified version of Pachelbel's Canon..

Merry Christmas

A yuletide gift has been placed under the national tree this year. Some are happy, some didn't ask for it, some may wonder whether they accept returns.

And some might whimsically ask, "what would Jesus do" (ie, why are the wingnuts against helping the poor). Far be it for me to speak for the deity but it's doubtful the savior of humanity would show as much enthusiasm as Robin Hood Reid and his band of merry socialists, who claim to be saving America. "Render unto Caesar" was more about his role as the son of God as opposed to a rabble-rouser or politician. Jesus didn't levy a tax on Matthew to pay for healing the blind man.

He would probably ask each one of us what we've personally done to help the poor--with our own money. He might care about people being forced to contribute money towards abortion. And He might get a lot us told for letting ourselves get out of shape, which costs everyone. But chances are it would be boiled down to the one-on-one.

In the meantime I'll be taking a short break to celebrate the season with family, so Merry Christmas to all and thanks for dropping by (and putting up with my shoddy writing and bizarre ruminations) this past year..

It's the Holiday Season!

Time for some Chairman Mao Christmas ornaments! And hey, what says Christmas more than transvestites on the tree? Surely there was one with Jesus on it, somewhere.

Boy, some folks really know how to screw up the season. We have Roland Burris making political mincemeat of Clement Moore's famous poem (or was it?); an animated indoctrination film designed to program and scare children into environmentalism--starring Santa Claus; and now this. A rather fitting cap to the year, it would seem.

How about some music? Here's one from way back..



Merry Christmas, comrade!

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Some Christmas cheer. Here's Ritchie Blackmore's Night...



Haggard..



And to all those who've stopped by to read this blog, thanks and...