Reason for the Season
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Christmas Season is a time when many celebrate a holiday filled with many warm hearted traditions. In America we celebrate with “Christmas Trees” decorated with colorful lights and shiny ornaments. Many give and/or exchange gifts with friends and family. It’s a time when people tend to become more charitable and go out of their way to help those in need. with their time or money. Many songs and movies have been created to help us enjoy and celebrate Christmas.
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Shepherds and Angels
Luke 2:8-12 “That night, some shepherds were out in the fields near Bethlehem watching their sheep. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord was shining around them. The shepherds were very afraid. The angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid. I have some very good news for you—news that will make everyone happy. Today your Savior was born in David’s town. He is the Messiah, the Lord. This is how you will know him: You will find a baby wrapped in pieces of cloth and lying in a feeding box.” (ERV)
So what can we learn from these Shepherds? They were doing their job, taking care of the sheep. They were near Bethlehem. For them it was another ordinary night on the job. Then an angel suddenly appeared! The angel told them not to be afraid. I have very good news. It will make everyone happy. The angel told the shepherds that their Savior was born. He was the Messiah, the Lord. The angel told the shepherds how they can find him. They will find a baby wrapped in pieces of cloth and lying in a feeding box. And then, an army of angels appeared, all praising God. And then these angels went back to Heaven.
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Aitken’s Bible
When War of Independence from England began. America was cutoff from Bibles imports. American printer named Aitken was first American to print Bible in America. Congress approved of Aitken’s Bible. General Washington wanted all discharged soldiers given these Bibles. But, the war was over and too late to give out copies. Aitken acted as a light to his fellow American believers when he undertook the challenge of printing the Bible. Today, for us, that would be like typing an entire Bible translation into a word processor and printing it off. A lot of work, but far easier for us than for Aitken. Whatever we can do to spread the Word of God is part of being a light to the lost and fallen world. Amen!
Christmas Prophecy
Expanding Biblical Verses
What is your favorite Bible translation? For those whose language is English, there is a very wide choice of translations. Does it really matter which one you use? I am only a layperson. I do not know Hebrew nor Greek. I depend on those who study these ancient languages to do a good translation of Bible verses.
Most (not all) translations are faithful. We can say the original Biblical text are a perfect copy of God’s Word. But, as soon as we translate the perfect, original copy into another language we run into the challenge of interpreting the original meaning into another language.
This is because languages have different ways of communicating ideas and thoughts. One Hebrew or Greek word can have many meanings and yet cannot be perfectly translated into one English word. A famous example is the English word “love” that has multiple different words in ancient Greek. I can say I love hamburgers, my wife, my neighbor, and God, but that’s four different words for “love” in Greek. On top of that, any word in any language usually has multiple meanings. And, to make it harder yet, more than one of them can be used and still make sense for a verse within the context of a chapter of a book!
Given all this, what are we do?
Worry
Born Deaf
“As soon as Jesus did this, the man was able to hear. He was able to use his tongue, and he began to speak clearly.” Mark 7:35 (ERV)
Born with a mostly profound hearing loss, one childhood memory is being surprised by feeling thunder while standing at our open front door. Another is playing outdoors in the sandbox with my brother, and he said Mom called us to come eat. (Romans 8:28).
My first hearing aid was bigger than today’s Smart Phone! Mom sewed pockets inside my t-shirts to hold it. The hearing aid help me hear people, but not enough to speak right. My parents hired Miss Knoll, a Speech Therapist, and two times a week she came to our home to work with me. She would show me where my tongue and teeth had to be in my mouth to make specific sounds. It took lots of practice to learn and memorize how to make sounds, some I did not hear. She gave me a children’s history book about Abe Lincoln and had me read the book out loud. I learned more on how to read and make the right sounds. I am forever thankful for her teaching.
From personal experience I understand the depth of Jesus’ healing the Deaf man. From Deaf to Hearing and speaking clearly meant Jesus also gave the man his speech! The Deaf man’s tongue and mouth were fine. He did not speak clearly because, being Deaf, it is very difficult to learn how to speak clearly. For me, it took a strong hearing aid, and much training by a Speech Therapist. I thank God for the opportunity, and give Him all the Glory (Romans 11:36).
This post is a short summary. A longer post is available under “Why Me?”.
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