• Home
  • About This Blog
  • Contact Me
  • Subscribe
  • Comment Policy

Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
Home Christianity and Culture Nativity Battle

Nativity Battle

Posted on December 20, 2010 Written by Mark McIntyre 5 Comments


NativityIt is the middle of December and the time for email notifications lamenting that a community or business does not allow the display of the Nativity scene or other religious symbols.

In the past, I thought that my lack of concern about this was an indication of lack of spiritual fervor. Yet, in spite of trying to dial up my fervor, I still find it difficult to burn calories over these cases.

Last week, I had some windshield time in a car that is not iPod compliant which gave me some time to think. Here are some thoughts on the move to ban religious displays:

  1. The church has always survived persecutions. I’m not sure that I would categorize a ban on religious symbols as persecution, but even so, we will not be hurt by this. As Ravi Zacharias has stated, “the Church has always outlived her pall bearers.” Even in communist states where no religion could be openly practiced, the Church survived.
  2. The trend against display of religious symbols is a symptom of the decline of the organized church, not the cause of it. In other words, the fact that much of the church lost its theological way through the 20th century is the reason for the decline in acceptance of Christianity.
  3. Does the Church (all believers) suffer because the distinction between believers and unbelievers is made more clear? The fact that unbelievers no longer revere religious symbols has no impact on the truth of Jesus Christ.
  4. We still have the freedom to be the Church and to share the good news of Jesus Christ. I question how much value a Nativity Scene in a park has in bringing people to consider the claims of Jesus.

My conclusion is that we should be living Nativity Scenes. We should live our lives in such a way that we demonstrate that God has indeed come among us and brought real change. We should stop whining about the loss of a veneer of respectability and be willing to do the hard work of living out the claims of Christ before a watching (and sometimes hostile) world.

Comments are welcome . . .


Filed Under: Christianity and Culture Tagged With: Religion

About Mark McIntyre

A follower of Jesus Christ who shares observations about how Scripture should impact the church and the world. Mark is the original author and editor of Attempts at Honesty.

Follow Attempts at Honesty

Honesty in your Inbox

Candle

Putting Christ in Christmas? – Do we really need to fight that battle?

I fail to see the importance of some of the “Put Christ back in Christmas” rhetoric. How about we live changed lives instead?

Meatloaf

On the pursuit of pleasure

I am not the first to make the point that idolatry can entail taking good things and making them into ultimate things. Or to put it another way, we should not confuse means and ends. I was thinking about this with reference to physical pleasures. Too often, the response of the church to the danger […]

Strength

Strength Through Him

This is a guest post by Lauren Todd. If you are interested in becoming a guest author, please see the guest post guidelines and use the Attempts At Honesty contact form. You can see Lauren’s biographical detail at the bottom of this post. “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.” – Philippians […]

Anger

Slow to anger

Too often we misrepresent God by being quick to anger rather than slow. Many examples of harsh comments on blog posts and angry rants by those who claim to be Christian can be found on the internet.

Diversity

Division vs. Diversity in the Church

I’ve been thinking about my post of 5 days ago regarding division in the church and feel the need to clarify something. Unity in the church does not equate to uniformity. We should not all look the same inside the church because the people in the culture around us are not all the same. Within the bounds of correct belief and practice is the opportunity for diversity.

Post Series

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
January 2023
SMTWTFS
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031 
« Dec    

Categories

Archives

Blogger Grid
Follow me on Blogarama

Copyright © 2023 · Focus Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in