Christmas and New Year thoughts from another chaplain

My sister sent me a link to this Facebook post by Chris Bassett, who's Chaplain of the Deputy Joint Forces Headquarters of the Washington National Guard, and also Chaplain to the Bonney Lake Police Department and Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.  Those of you who aren't Christian probably won't find much in it to interest you, but I hope those who are will appreciate his points.

We live in difficult and confusing times. Have you noticed?

We are told that we can have Christmas without Christ, which is like having a breath, only without the air.

We are told that police are racist and evil, while we are shown marches in support of known felons who died while attacking the police.

We are told that a cop killing a black criminal is an atrocity, while a dozen blacks killed over a weekend in the inner city by blacks is utterly ignored.

We are told that we cannot criticize the anger and violence of Islam, for fear that we might make them angry and violent.

We are told not to insult Islam's prophet or even draw a picture of him. But a Crucifix in urine, or a portrait of Mary in feces, is art.

We are told that selling baby body parts after destroying the child in utero is not a problem, but homeschooling a child is extremism.

We are told that Muslim truck drivers don't have to deliver alcohol because of their religious beliefs, but Christian bakers and florists must serve and celebrate a gay wedding, regardless of theirs.

We are told that our long-time ally, Israel, is a terrorist state for trying to defend their nation from imminent suicide bombings and mortar and rocket attacks on their inner cities - all while we bomb nations that MAY pose a threat to us by suicide bombings and mortar and rocket attacks.

We are told that Israel must cede lands that they won by conquest, which give them military advantage against their enemies, while their unrepentant enemies continue to plan and publicly espouse Israel's demise.

We are told that we must treat all religions equally, that they are all paths to the same God, yet we deny the very doctrines of those religions that make them mutually and utterly incompatible, and their gods of such vastly different character that the only remaining understanding of God could be that He has multiple personality disorder.

We are told that men of perverse disposition have the right to shower with women and young girls, if they please. But we are told that if you disagree with this, you have no rights to privacy or safety for your children.

We are told that a man who wants to dress like, and even become, a woman, is a hero, while men who set aside their concerns for sex sacrifice themselves on our streets and in foreign lands for the cowards that embrace immorality.

We are told we have a right to free speech. Unless you disagree with the prevailing, liberal oligarchy. And then you will be shouted down, called names and even assaulted by government institutions.

We are told that we can have sex without consequence, and that if we point out the consequences, such as divorce, disease or dysfunction, we are merely old fashioned, out of touch with the times, and possibly sexually repressed.

We are told that marriages are merely contracts, not covenants, and that they are easily disposed when they become inconvenient - much like our children.

We are told that our rights come from government, not from God, and that we can trust the government to protect those rights. Despite thousands of years of historical evidence to the contrary.

We are told that we can spend money in deficit without end, as a government, but if you do that as an individual you'll quickly come to financial ruin. But don't worry, we are told, it won't happen to us. We're too big to fail.

We are told that corporations are evil and control our lives - by the same people who win political office with corporate money.

We are told that the same government who created many of our existing problems will fix those problems, if only you'll give them more money and more power to do so.

We are told that "affordable" health care means that you will have to pay more to afford it and that if you cannot afford it you'll be charged a "fine" for not being able to afford it.

We are told that pharmaceuticals are the answer, even though pharmaceutical companies' most profitable business practice is to create palliatives that actually keep us from the answers.

We are told that we can have a world of true morality without God. Even though without God there is no true morality.

We are told that we are saved merely by being good people. Even though in a god-free society we have no true way of assessing what is "good".

We are told that Jesus was a good, moral teacher, but that he could not be God. Even though His good, moral teachings included claims to be God, making Him either insane or a liar, but not good.

We are told that we can know more about ancient history than the ancients themselves knew, because we can carbon date, make assumptions from archaeological digs, and read their writings with better understanding than they had.

We are told that God is dead, yet we apparently still have to blame Him for every evil under the sun committed by the hands of men.

We are told that a child in a manger cannot save the world, so like Herod, we lash out at all children, all the while saying that we desire to come worship Him. We're told, "It's for the children."

It is a confusing world. That is why I advocate not being a friend of the world or loving any part of its philosophies. In it our thinking becomes futile and our foolish hearts are darkened. There is no capacity for rational thought, in the end, without God. And there is no access to God without Jesus. And there is no knowing Jesus without celebrating the Truth of who He was and is in the Christmas prophecies and the Christmas story.

2000 years ago, the world did not make sense either. But true, pure rationality, along with pure love, came into the world in the form of a baby. Until we acknowledge Him, we will remain confused. Until we acknowledge Him, not only will love be impossible, but so also will simple, rational, logical thought.

If you get nothing else this Christmas, get Jesus. He is the only reason for the season - the only one that makes sense.

I think that says it very well.  May all of us take heed in this New Year of grace.

Peter