Random Thoughts - Christmas

Well it is about time for all of us Christian to celebrate another pagan holiday. I have no problem celebrating Christ birthday, but if we are going to do so then why not do it at a more appropriate time.

Most people know that Christ was not born in December.  It snows in the mountains of Israel in December and no Shepherd would be carrying his sheep to the fields to graze.

There was a priest named Augustine, not Saint Augustine. He was sent on a mission trip and had tried to get Catholic Christians to stop celebrating the pagan holiday that came around December 25th.  He contacted Pope Gregory and said no matter how hard I try I cannot stop them from celebrating the pagan holiday. Pope Gregory replied basically, "If you cannot beat them then join them".

Guess what? A Christian holiday came to be at the same time as the pagan holiday and it was Christ-Mass (get it) Christmas. Now the Christians could celebrate the pagan holiday and it would be a Christian holiday. I am sure they thought they had it all figured out.

The Christmas tree is a carry over from the pagan holiday. They would cut down a large tree and burn the stump and have a bond fire.  The office party is a carry over from the pagan holiday. The people could drink alcohol during that time as much as they wanted. The mistletoe and holly is a carry over from the pagan holiday. During the  time of that pagan holiday they were allowed to have casual sex.

I first really became annoyed about how we celebrate Christmas when I moved to Davao, Philippine. On Christmas morning a priest and some altar boys came carrying a cross and crib with the baby Jesus in it (DOLL). I went to the gate and one of the young boys lifted the baby Jesus (DOLL) out of the crib so delicately and put it right in front of me. He said, "Father, you can kiss baby Jesus and you will be bless next year."  I gave them the donation they came for, but I did not kiss a DOLL!

The Catholic Church teaches against superstition, but out of cultural tradition it is allowed even if it goes against the Bible. Jesus Christ is no longer a baby He was 33 years old when He was crucified. I do not dress up like a baby on my birthday and I doubt if you do. No one pretends I am a baby on my birthday.  Many homes and businesses in the Philippines has statues of they baby Jesus in them and often have a candle burning by it. Folks that is not Jesus in 2016.

The nativity scene we Christians have is not even accurate according to scripture.

By the way the doll they brought to my house on Christmas morning had BLUE eyes and pale, pale skin that is not how Jesus would have looked - He was a Jew.


I have no objection to celebrating a holiday on December 25th. If families want to gather, have a meal, pray, and exchange gifts that is fine with me. I enjoy it myself. But, I think it is time we take CHRIST out of a pagan holiday that has been commercialized.

Random Thoughts - Generosity, Judging, Guilt

Are we generous people? I am not talking about random acts of giving (Salvation Army Christmas Kettle) or giving when you are motivated by someone or a particular cause. That is okay, but I am talking about having a generous heart.

Truly generous people do not give out of guilt.

If you do not give because you are afraid you will need it later you are not a generous giver.

Generosity is not a natural trait. It has to be learned. Children have to be taught to share.

Giving is a cultural thing in the United States because of Christianity.

Generous people are not emotional givers. They plan ahead how much they can give and who they will give it to.

Generous people do not give based on present cash flow.

Generous giving is not about how much you give. I use to get upset when people would talk about how generous Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey are. She has four or five mansions and he has a trust fund setup for his kid worth millions of dollars. What do you have? You may be more generous than either of them.

Generosity is not how many zeroes are at the end of your check it is about sacrifice and giving from the heart. It is not giving for a tax deduction. It is not giving for publicity.

I will give one example to demonstrate generosity. I once new an elderly lady we called Ms Honey. She gave $20 every week to help with our food ministry. She lived on a fixed government check. That $20 would be more generous than what Bill Gates or Ms Winfrey gives.

Truly happy people are generous givers. It is true more joy comes from giving than receiving. Try it and see.
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Have you ever thought "Thank God I am not like them". If you have (and I have) you are a hypocrite. A "holier than them" attitude is not what Christians are suppose to have.

Judging others pushes people away from Christ not to Christ. As Christians we are called to not be self righteous. We condemn ourselves when we judge others.

We should put away our magnifying glass when looking at others.

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We only feel guilty when we care. If we do not care about others we do not feel guilty.

Remember we are not what we did. We have all done things we regretted. But that does not mean we are a bad person.

If we want to stop feeling guilty we have to own what we did (admit it) and stop making excuses for doing it.

Sometimes to fix our wrong all we need do is say "I am sorry".

Our future is not necessarily limited by our past mistakes.

Sometimes we stay angry far too long because of our pride. We need to humble our self and say these three words "I am sorry" and most of the time the anger will leave.

Stop trying to live others life's - live your own!

Today I am going to just ramble or vent a bit. I hope you will excuse me for doing so. Last night I met with a child of a friend at their request to talk to her about her attitude. During the conversation I said, "Why is it your teacher gives you a glowing report. She says you are the best student in your grade in the entire school and you are the most respectful child she has ever met. She claims she can only describe you as excellent - perfect", but that is not how your parents describe you.

She replied, "I am not the same at school as I am at home".  The first time I met this child several years ago I told her uncle they are going to have problems with her. She is "intelligent" and she knows it. The things they believe is cute now is not going to be cute in a few years. Well my prophesy was correct.

At home she wants to do things when she wants to do them and not when she is told to do them. If you cross her she yells and walks off.  You get the "whatever" with the hand in the air pointed towards you. If you try and talk to her she plays the I 'am sorry bit' and cries to make THEM feel sorry for her. She has the technique of getting and doing what she wants down pat. She has no problems calling cousins and siblings stupid because they do not excel in school as she does.

I ask her, "Why are you not the same at school as at home? Why are you not the same everywhere? Are you telling me that sometimes you are a phony - fake? Her reply was, "I do not know why I am different at school".

During my 3 a.m. prayer session it hit me like a ton of bricks - Tom why are you not the same everywhere with everyone?

My answer was - I was taught that I am to meet the expectations of those I am accountable to. That is a lesson I wish I had not learned so well. It has at times made my life miserable. I really did not want to be the best at everything I tried. I wanted to do MY best, but not try to be better than everyone else. I did not want to compete. I wanted to be good, fair, just, humble, faithful and loyal, but I personally did not have a need to be perfect all the time and I wasn't no matter how hard I tried.

Many in my family tried to live their life through me. I was the only one to go to college even up to today. I was the only minister. I was the only business owner, except for two uncles and grandfather. I was certainly the only one to graduate cum laud. All I wanted was to be was a minister from age six.

I was told in the seminary (cemetery) that a good minister has to appear to have all the answers. After all that is why they pay you and come to you for advice. I felt inadequate because I did not and do not have all the answers and it took me about ten years to realize I could just tell the people "I do not know". That was hard because I personally felt I had failed them. The authority figures in my life had told me I would be a failure if people thought I did not know it all.

Then came the time when I began not to agree with everything the hierarchy of my denomination handed down for us to teach. Do I tell the people I do not  believe abortion is an unforgivable sin and if it is forgiven the bishop must forgive it? Do I tell them I believe that having children they cannot afford is a bigger sin than using artificial birth control? Do I tell them Christ was not born in the month of December? Do I tell them the Shepherds did not arrive when Christ was a baby in a manger? Do I tell them that infant baptism is a ritual and it is okay, but I really believe it is best to wait until the children can acknowledge their own baptism? Do I tell them that I do not believe once saved always saved? Do I tell them I thing the Church is wrong to deny Communion to divorced and remarried couples or gay and lesbian couples? Will I be honest with myself or meet the expectations others place on me. Eventually, I began to preference things that I really did not support with - "THIS IS WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES" and people in my parish knew that I did not whole heartily agree and then I would say other Christians believe -----.

Oh believe me when I say, it caused a lot of flack for me by some, but the majority supported me and did not want me to change. They were looking for truth and wanted to have the opportunity to pray, study and reason what was the truth. I would say the majority of Christians want to be TOLD what to believe.

Back to the beginning why have I spent my life trying to please others? All I really ever wanted was to please is God and myself. Why do I have to guard what I say so others will not be offended? What right do they have to impose their beliefs on me or what right do I have to impose my beliefs on them?

I sympathize with the gay and lesbian community. Their sexuality is between them and God as long as they obey the laws of the land (and lot of laws need to be changed) and they do not physically or emotional hurt others that is between them and God. What right do I have to judge them?

I do not want to anyone come back and say their actions emotionally offend me because it goes against what I believe God said - you should not be so emotionally weak. You can hold to your beliefs and let others do the same if you are really as faithful as you say you are.

I think a lot of Christians today have confused following God with trying to be God.

I am now getting nearer 80 every week and I frankly no longer care what others think of me and my beliefs if I feel I am right with God. I do not have to conform to anyone else belief system.  You have no right to judge me and I have no right to judge you. I can forgive the offences you did to me, but I cannot forgive the offences you did to others.  Only God and the ones you harmed can do that. By the way no other priest, bishops, cardinal or pope can forgive your sins either.

So in closing, I frankly do not care what you think of my of my political, personal or religious beliefs! I just want to be who God created me to be and please Him.

If you are allowing others to live their life through you or put demands on you to meet their expectations of what you should be or do my advise to you is make your own decisions and make yourself happy.

I just typed and did not worry about grammar or spelling or anything else. Please forgive me and do not nick-pick me. I actually have stupid people come back and say, "You were never a priest you misspell this or that or your grammar is terrible and you do not know where a comma, period or question mark belongs".  Hate to tell you priest are not perfect and they have the same bodily functions you do.