Christmas is the most celebrated holiday worldwide and warmly welcomed for a variety of reasons. It is a season to reunite with family and friends, to exchange gifts, to rest from a year of heavy labor, to take holiday, and no doubt, for many industries, to grab hold of wonderful commercial opportunities.
Amidst all the mixture of commotions, of celebrations, laughters and restfulness, the true meaning of Christmas goes deeper still.
The Son of God once left heaven to live with us, to give us hope and eternal life. More excellent than the highest imagination of men, here is the most unforgettable divine visitation that mankind has ever known. Because He came, the ray of hope shines so radiantly in the darkest hours where evil seems to reign and through the thousand of years of cries of injustices, human despair and confusion.
Born in a manger and not in the palace of kings, the King of the Universe humbly began His life on earth. Growing quietly in a poor carpenter’s family, he attended no school, wrote no books and had no teachers, but taught as the greatest Teacher through His life example and teaching that lifted up human civilization to new heights of virtues.
A man of sufferings all his life, He relieved the sufferings of many. Deprived of the most basic human rights, He became the Champion of human rights -- all the human rights we often take for granted and enjoy today. He died at the prime age of man and through His death became the Savior of the world. His resurrection became the sure Promise that all things will be perfected some day.
No great life ever passed so swiftly, so quietly, so humbly, so far removed from the noise and commotion of the world; and no great life after its close excited such universal and lasting interest. In His three brief years of ministry is condensed the deepest meaning of religion and life. While philosophers and religious teachers can only present perfection in abstraction and ideas, the Founder of Christianity demonstrated through His life the perfect harmony of all virtues and graces, acknowledged by both friends and foes.
He is the inspiration of the greatest poets, musicians, philosophers and leaders of every aspect of human life. Today His influence is continually seen from hundreds of thousands of church pulpits, in judiciaries and established systems in society, in universities and schools, in prisons, in charity houses and in happy homes, in learned works and simple tracts in endless succession.
Christmas reminds us that the God of Heaven once came and walked among men. Jesus the Nazarene is the most blessed fact of history. Let us celebrate CHRIST, God’s greatest gift to mankind!
Merry Christmas!
Mejlina
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Note: Some of the content of are adapted and summarized from History of the Christian Church, Volume 1, Chapter 2, by Phillip Schaff. _____________________________________________________________________
Note: Some of the content of are adapted and summarized from History of the Christian Church, Volume 1, Chapter 2, by Phillip Schaff. _____________________________________________________________________
圣诞节又到了 ，在庆祝耶稣基督降生的时候，让我们再一次地来思想这位自称为"人子"的耶稣基督。耶稣基督是谁呢？耶稣基督是至高上帝的儿子，是上帝对人类爱的最高表达。耶稣基督不但为我们降生，他更为我们死和复活。这位"人子"耶稣基督，出身在马槽里，长在很少为人所知的小村落。在世上的时候，他一无所有，被人轻看，被朋友抛弃甚至出卖。他被钉死在一个十字架上，埋在一个借来的坟墓里。可是死亡没有胜过他。耶稣基督的复活给一切信他的人带来了无比的希望和力量。他的复活成为人类真正盼望的开始，成为我们得着新生命的根基。今天，这位最没有享受人权的人子已成为人类认识和追求人权的力量源泉，这位曾经被嘲弄，戏笑的人子已成为人类一切丰富灵感和知识的权威，这位曾被轻看的人子已成为人类的中心和进步的动力，因为耶稣基督改变并更正了我们对宇宙和世界的观念，耶稣基督使我们真正认识到我们本身的尊严，价值，亏欠以及责任。
亲爱的朋友，当上帝给你机会面对他儿子耶稣基督的时候，你珍惜这个机会吗？你愿意听耶稣基督的话吗？你愿意从他的话语里面领受伟大的信仰吗？
当全世界都在记念他诞生的时候，我将这份得胜死亡的祝福，送给你 — 我最特別的朋友。
张锺 (Charles Chang)
December 2007
亲爱的朋友，当上帝给你机会面对他儿子耶稣基督的时候，你珍惜这个机会吗？你愿意听耶稣基督的话吗？你愿意从他的话语里面领受伟大的信仰吗？
当全世界都在记念他诞生的时候，我将这份得胜死亡的祝福，送给你 — 我最特別的朋友。
张锺 (Charles Chang)
December 2007
9 comments:
I don't mean to be critical, but where is it written in the bible that Jesus attended no school and had no teachers. Wasn't he a Jewish rabbi who often quoted from the Old Testament? Even if he had no formal education, he must have learned to read & write from someone. Afterall he was human with all its shortcoming despite being God.
Hello Kaiye, thanks for your comment. Yeah, that statement has to be qualified. Jesus grew up with the company of nature and the Holy Scriptures (the Old Testament). The statement that He attended no school & had no teachers would be generally intuitive to Christians (but perhaps not the non-Christians) that what is meant here is that He had no rabbis to teach Him. Also, Christians take the Scripture as the Word of God, so that is different from all other books. Furthermore, He came as the fulfilment of the Old Testament - the Book that wrote about Him. So Jesus did not receive any direct teaching from men. Hope that clarifies. =)
Thanks for the clarification, but allow me to be a persistent for a while. Sola Scriptura isn't it? What if the Bible said nothing about a particular subject, which in this case is the historical nature of Jesus's childhood and education (except for the fact that Jesus was blessed with intelligence and wise beyond his age when he was left at the temple at age 12). How much freedom is there in Reformed Theology to interpret or make assumption of the Word of God when there is no Word of God? Can you rely on sources outside the Bible?
Hi again,
Thought through your question a bit. "Jesus attended no school & had no teachers" should be essentially treated as a statement of contrast to bring out an important point. Generally every successful man can pride in their good background, teachers, network, education, etc. In comparison, Jesus Christ had none of such to attribute to, but His influence surpasses the influence of all great men in the history combined together. So it's not meant to be read from the angle you look at.
Sola Scriptura means that Scripture is the highest and only infallible authority. But this does not mean Scripture is to be treated like a manual book. Both the teaching of the Scripture and the historical facts are inseparable in interpretation.
Mejlina said: "Both the teaching of the Scripture and the historical facts are inseparable in interpretation."
Interesting, so what if during a certain period of time, the historians/scientists were wrong in their so call 'historical facts', or worse they lied for certain personal benefits (to survive, maybe).
[ e.g. ask 400 scientists ]
Based on your statement, then our interpretation would be wrong too.
As we should combine:
Scripture (perfect) + 'questionable historical facts'
Well, if that was the intention, that is to highlight Jesus' remarkable influence on humanity despite His humble background. Would it not suffice to simply say He grew up quietly in a poor carpenter's family, but became the greatest teacher... etc.? Without making any statement based on speculative facts about His life? My point is, why bend the truth to get a message across?
The Bible is among other things a manual. It's a manual of Christian conducts in life, is it not? And since it is the highest and only infallable authority, we can assume that other sources are lower and are not infallable. Going back to my earlier question, can we then rely on those sources outside the Bible that are obviously prone to error, when the Bible said nothing on a subject?
It's not bending the truth. Truth is not the same as facts, involve facts, but is above facts.
Language has its limitation and every expression can be improved. It is always possible to find loophole in any expression.
Other sources can be used whenever we talk about history, but they are not that important and not to be treated the same way as the Bible. We are not relying on them as though they are infallible, but they have some value as well. The non-Christians particularly can relate and see that Jesus Christ is no usual man in history.
Having said that, every expression fails to describe the greatness of Jesus Christ.
The Bible is not a manual for Christian conduct. It does reveal God's requirement of us, but it is above all God's Revelation of His creation, salvation through Jesus Christ, His providence, and judgement through the vehicle of history.
To anonymous: You misunderstand my point. The point is that the Scripture is written as a history as well, not thrown from the sky as a manual from heaven. The meaning and teaching of the Bible are above history, but they cannot be separated from history.
But you used potentially flawed facts to tell your message of truth. Did that not make the truth you told flawed as well?
A manual is by definition a reference book or a source of reference. Do we not (as Christians) refer to the Bible for guidance in matters of Christian conducts? Of course the Bible isn't just a manual. I said that earlier.
OK, this is getting a bit silly. I don't mean to undermine your wonderful Christmas greeting and the message you're conveying. It just bothers me when I read something that I think I know is incorrect. So forgive me.
I found your blogs by accident and I am glad I did. It's useful reading. I hope you continue your great work. God bless you and happy new year!
Thanks for your reply.
Just some final comments on that statement. I acknowledge that my writing is not perfect and there are definitely a lot more loopholes than just this one. But it's not intentionally flawed and the statement itself is also not totally groundless (although it is not mentioned in the Bible). I did not invent it, but simply ride on the labor of many good historians who wrote that statement based on some research, although they never claim to be infallible. In this world of relativity, it is inevitable that we use many fallible (but try to use more reliable ones) sources/heritage in whatever areas of knowledge we work on.
Furthermore, this message is not written for academic publication, but it is just a Christmas thought written after some moments of personal reflection. =)
Thanks very much for dropping by my blog. Glad you find it a useful reading & look forward to your regular visits. =)
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