There are wars, and there are “wars”.

The “war” on Christmas is not a war, and if there was a “war”, most of the people up in arms about it would be fighting on the wrong side.

X-Mas

“X” didn’t begin as an “X” it began as Greek Chi which is the first letter of Jesus’ name.

It’s an abbreviation.

Should you have to know this? Yes.

Are there plenty of people out there who don’t know this? Yes.

Should you be obnoxious and tell them all about it? No.

But before you go to “war” you ought to have your facts straight.

“X-Mas” is not taking the Christ out of Christmas. It may mean being ignorant that Christ is *in Christmas* but that’s not what people are really fighting over, are they?

“Happy Holidays”

There are those who object because people don’t say “Merry Christmas” they say “Happy Holidays.”

This objection is also strange, given that even Christians celebrate New Year’s (Eve) which is another holiday. So there is more than one holiday, so what are we supposed to say “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”? Really? Every time you pass someone in the street? The same people you ask “How ya’ doin’?” during the year, never really pausing for an answer and kinda secretly hoping they won’t really answer with anything other than the meaningless “fine”?

Those are the people you’re going to say “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year” to?

“Holiday”

Oh, and if we’re arguing over words, should I point out that you shouldn’t even being saying “holiday” at all? It’s a contraction of “holy” and “day” so you ought to be saying “Happy Holy Days”.

If you think your God is left out of “Happy Holy Days” then you’ve really got some explaining to do.

Merry Christmas

Surely someone will say:

But that PROVES that we shouldn’t say “Happy Holidays” we ought to say “Merry Christmas!”

Yeah, except that “Christmas” is also a contraction of “Christ’s Mass”.

As in the day that you went to Mass to celebrate Jesus’ birth.

Are you going to Mass on December 25th?

If no, then aren’t you violating the “true meaning of Christ’s Mass”?

“Christ’s Mass” didn’t originally mean Protestant services on 24th because it’s more convenient than going to church on Christmas Day, when really you have a lot of things you’d rather do, like stay home, unwrap presents, over-eat and watch football.

If you’re going to go to “war” over the words “Merry Christmas” shouldn’t you know what you are fighting for?

What are you fighting for?

War

There are too many real wars in the world, with real people—men, women, and children—getting really hurt and/or really killed.

Let’s ease off on the fake talk about fake wars until we start talking about the real wars, and what we can do to keep innocents from getting killed 365.25 days a year, rather than some not-really-a-war on words which, at their best, no longer really mean what they once meant anyway.

Not Jesus’ Actual Birthday

No serious scholar believes that Jesus was born anywhere near December 25th. Most likely he wasn’t born on the year “0 a.d.” either.

Some have made the argument that Christmas was located where it is because of its proximity to the winter solstice: the shortest day of the year, when the days have stopped growing shorter and start growing longer.

Or, to put it another way, when the darkness begins to fade and the light begins to grow.

Makes sense, right? We have this religious leader who we talk about in terms of the triumph of “light” over “darkness”. We have this time of year when “light” triumphs over “darkness”–um, except without the “” marks (well, except maybe around the word “triumphs”).

The date was not meant to be exact, it was meant to be symbolic. From the beginning.

Holy Day or Holiday?

Is it a religious holy day or a secular holiday?

Well, the post office is closed. The banks are closed. Public schools are closed. Sounds pretty secular to me. We’ve gotten the two fairly intermingled, haven’t we? Not so easy to say that it’s a purely religious holiday.

If you want it to be a truly counter-cultural religious holy day, why don’t we fight to make sure that it doesn’t appear to be a secular holiday, and have the post office open, banks open, and public schools open.

Then, if you want to show your devotion to your faith, you can make a sacrifice by using a vacation day to take off from work to show that it is important to you. Take your kid out of school to teach her that sometimes our commitment to faith comes before everything else.

Then again, the Sabbath is supposed to be a day of rest, but I see plenty of Christians running around 52 Sundays a year as busy–if not busier–than they are the rest of the week, so maybe we’re not so good about the whole “counter cultural” part of faith any more.

“Do you hate Christmas?”

No, I love Christmas. I love everything about it, especially because I do most of my shopping online and therefore don’t have to fight the crowds.

What I don’t love is this whole fake outrage over a wrong argument with little or no actual substance.

Especially when there’s way too much real stuff going on to get truly upset about.

Like men, women, and children being actually killed in real wars.

Like men, women, and children who are homeless, or don’t have enough food to eat.

Let men and women who are working two jobs to barely keep their heads above water, and who are thankful they’re not one of the many men and women who can’t find even a lousy job (never mind a fulfilling one) to keep food on the table and a roof overhead.

And don’t even get me started on the state of healthcare in this country, or the infant mortality rate, or any of the dozens of other honest-to-God tragedies that go on each and every day.

When that is the world we live in and you’re blathering on about some fake “war on Christmas” I look at you the way that I would look at a clown dancing around the parents of a dead child in the emergency room: a ridiculous distraction with absolutely no common sense or common decency.

Enough already.

Post Script (2008-12-17)

I was reading Henry Sloan Coffin’s _Some Christian Convictions_ today and came across this near the end of chapter 2 (page 49 in my copy):

To found a Bible Defense League is as unbelieving as to inaugurate a society for the protection of the sun. Like the sun, the Bible defends itself by proving a light to the path of all who walk by it. The only defence it needs is to be used; and the only attack it dreads is to be left unread.

Seems to me that thinking that Christmas could be defeated is a sign of disbelief in God.

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

~ Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude, Part 2, Chapter 2

This prayer, commonly referred to as The Merton Prayer is referenced by Posse Comitatus the finale of Season 3 of The West Wing where Leo makes an off-hand comment asking who the monk was who said “I don’t always know the right thing to do, Lord, but I think the fact that I want to please you, pleases you.” (The scene begins around 35 minutes into the episode on the DVD.)

Leo didn’t get the word precisely right, but he nailed the spirit and the heart of the prayer.

This might be the best and truest prayer ever uttered by Man. Or maybe it’s just one which speaks to me especially strongly.

I used to have a copy of it printed out and hung on my wall. I realized tonight that I don’t, and I should, so I turned it into a PDF formatted in the way that I liked it, suitable for printing. I post it here in case you want to print it out too.

Elsewhere

• Merton Institute
• Thomas Merton at Wikipedia
• Merton Center

To be clear: the Bible doesn’t say one way or the other. There’s no way to make a case except by making an “argument from silence” (AFS). An AFS can be dangerous. You could make the following AFS: “The Bible never records Jesus going to the bathroom, therefore he must not have gone to the bathroom.” Well of course the Bible never mentions a lot of things, and we are meant to draw conclusions from what we know about the character of God and God’s nature. Then there are other times when we can adhere to the letter of the law, such as “Do Not Murder” and think we’re doing just fine even if we go through life “killing” people in a lot of symbolic ways: emotional abuse, extreme sarcasm, manipulation, etc.

So, given that we don’t have a clear answer from the Bible, how might we think through this issue?

What is God like?

The idea that animals cannot go to heaven seems to indicate a belief that the default state in which God exists is that God wills for hell to be fuller than heaven. Such a theory is difficult to defend against the idea of a loving and merciful God who is routinely compared to a loving Father. (Assuming the Scriptures we are talking about include the so-called Old and New Testaments common to the Christian Bible)

It also seems to miss the fact that animals were an important part of the creation process, showing up before humans (and then being named and cared for by Adam). Before “The Fall” of humankind, God had created perfection, and it included animals. So why should we assume that God would exclude them from heaven?

Let us also remember that in the story of Noah and the flood, it is not only Noah and his family who are saved, but also the animals. Were those animals saved because the other animals are sinful? No, it was a purely logistical issue: building an ark large enough to fit all of the animals would be impossible.

What is the purpose of hell?

The belief in the existence of hell is certainly no longer a given in today’s society, even in many churches. My point here is not to argue for or against hell, but presumes, at least for the sake of this discussion, whether or not there even is a hell.

If there is a hell, why would animals be sent to it?

Animals are incapable of sin. They are commonly understood to lack a “soul” — which is not to say that they lack something we might call “intelligence” or even emotion or even such higher-level abilities such as “compassion”.

“Soul” might not be the proper word, I’m not sure if “self-awareness” would be better or worse. Could we even say that animals have “free-will” or are their actions guided more by instincts and preferences?

(Even though it is outside the scope of this article, I should also like to pause to mention that even if we agree that animals do not have souls, that does not give us the freedom to do whatever we want to them because they are “just animals” — we will say more about this below.)

Regardless of what term we use, I have never heard anyone claim that animals can somehow understand the will of God (such as the Ten Commandments, as just one example). If they cannot understand the will of God, if they lack anything we might commonly refer to as a “soul” how could they be held accountable for breaking the law? And if they are not capable of understanding their actions in light of the will of God, how could God be said to be just if God sent them to die in hell when they had no chance for salvation? That is not a “Just” God, that would be a cruel God which would seem 100% at odds with the model of God as a loving parent.

Some Possible Counter-Arguments

The counter-argument might be made that they also cannot demonstrate faith and/or receive salvation. However, since they are not capable of sinning, what need do they have of redemption or forgiveness?

In the 4th chapter of Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, he wrote “For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation” (verse 15). If the animals cannot understand the law, they cannot sin, if they cannot sin, it would be unjust for God to send them to hell.

Again this goes back to the “default state” - do we believe in a God who prefers to send living beings to hell but only lets some escape, or do we believe in a God who prefers eternal life for as many as possible? Most religious scholars in any major theological university would say, I believe, that God would prefer salvation.

The main counter-argument here would likely be that heaven is just for humans, but what is that based on if we believe that God was involved in the creation of animals and their rescue as part of Noah’s Ark? Why were there animals in Eden if God did envision them as an important part of a perfect life?

Let us also not overlook or forget the plain and simple fact that animals are mentioned prominently in the prophet Isaiah as having a part in what we commonly understand as the coming kingdom. Their transformation is an indicator of the peace that is intended between animals and humanity (and animals and one another):

The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11)

These animals did nothing to “deserve” or “earn” this transformation, it appears to just be a de facto part of God’s order.

Notice that the violent animals, the predators, the carnivores, are seen as having been changed into herbivores. In fact, in this picture of the “holy mountain” of God’s perfection, humanity is barely mentioned at all!

Q: Are there verses in the Bible which might suggest that animals cannot go to heaven?

As part of the vision of the end-times in the Revelation to St. John, we read Revelation 22:15: “Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.”

Sounds like dogs are excluded, but the obvious question is “Are these literal dogs?” If so, why are dogs being singled out? Are dogs somehow innately evil?

Isaiah 66:3 says:

Whoever slaughters an ox is like one who kills a human being; whoever sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck; whoever presents a grain offering, like one who offers swine’s blood; whoever makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol. These have chosen their own ways, and in their abominations they take delight…

There can be no debate that God is referring to actual animals, and it is said that killing an ox is as bad as killing a human being. Killing a lamb is as bad as killing a dog. That sounds like something God is saying we should avoid. So dogs are apparently not somehow innately evil.

Even without the reference in Isaiah 66, it would be difficult to argue for any interpretation of Revelation 22:15 which considered “dogs” to mean literal “dogs”. Instead it would make much more sense to read it as we read Philippians 3:2: “Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh!”

We do this even today, right? When we say “it’s a ‘dog eat dog’ world” or the “dogs of war” we aren’t talking about literal dogs. Neither is the Bible in Revelation.

Beyond the Bible

I began by confessing that all of these arguments can not be settled definitively from the Bible itself as we have it. There are some questions the Bible was never intended to answer. “Where should I go to college? Should I marry this person? What kind of job should I consider?” are all good questions that you are unlikely to find an answer for in the Bible.

Can animals go to heaven? At the core of my belief, at a place beyond intellectual debate, it makes no sense to me to think that God, the creator of life, would throw away all the animals God created, simply because they were not human. Especially knowing the benefit that many animals give to humanity, it would seem entirely unjust and unfair of God to toss them all into the fire.

That’s simply not a God I could believe in.

That sound is not sweet at all.

Goes well with my recent Jesus Wetp too.

His introduction grabbed my attention (as if the sub-title wasn’t enough):

I have always been a proud Jew, but never a terribly observant one. Several weeks ago, I made a rare visit to synagogue for a cousin’s bat mitzvah and, as usual, found myself confused (and bored) by a Hebrew service I couldn’t understand. During the second hour of what would be a ceremony of NFL-game-plus-overtime-length, I picked up the Torah in the pew-back, opened it at random, and started reading (the English translation, that is). I was soon engrossed in a story I didn’t know, Genesis Chapter 34. It begins with the rape of Jacob’s daughter Dinah by Shechem, the son of a local chief named Hamor. Shechem and Hamor visit Jacob and his brothers to resolve the mess. Hamor begs on Shechem’s behalf: Shechem loves Dinah, he says, and yearns to marry her. Hamor and Shechem offer to share their land with Jacob’s family and pay any bride price if only Dinah would be Shechem’s wife.

If you don’t know the story, you should, and what happens next is one of my favorite stories of the Bible. I knew I’d like his approach.

Slate offer a nice summary page of all the entries but I made my own of the printer friendly versions so I can read them as I have time. And what better place to store that list than on my website?

1. What happens when an ignoramus reads the Good Book?
2. The Complete Book of Genesis: Why Joseph is my hero.
3. Reading the First Few Chapters of the Bible
4. The Complete Book of Exodus: There are 10 other commandments?
5. The Complete Book of Leviticus: Plus, page after page of divine vengeance!
6. The Complete Book of Numbers: The Bible’s most hideous war crime.
7. The Complete Book of Deuteronomy: Did Jesus crib from Moses?
8. The Complete Book of Joshua: Will the Book of Joshua make you stop believing in God?
9. The Complete Book of Judges: He’s strong, hairy, mean, and dumber than a sack of bricks.
10. The Complete Book of 1 Samuel: What the mafia learned from God’s favorite king.
11. The Complete Book of 2 Samuel: Plus, King David’s last words.
12. The Complete Book of 1 Kings: Why God loves Elijah and his mean mouth. Plus, all the miracles Jesus
13. The Complete Book of 2 Kings: God gives up on His chosen people. Do they deserve it?
14. The Complete Book of Isaiah: Plus, the toughest question in the Bible.
15. The Complete Book of Jeremiah: The first, and only, divine apology.
16. The Complete Book of Ezekiel: A fond farewell to God’s nicest prophet.
17. The Complete Book of Hosea: It’s a mixed marriage. He’s a prophet. She’s a prostitute.
18. The Complete Books of Joel, Amos, and Obadiah: Three great prophets for one low, low price!
19. The Complete Books of Jonah, Micah, and Nahum: Jonah and the whale is the Bible’s perfect story.
20. The Last Five Minor Prophets: Satan makes his Bible debut!
21. The Complete Book of Psalms: Does God believe in free will?
22. The Complete Book of Proverbs: Meet the Bible’s most extraordinary woman.
23. The Complete Book of Job: The Book of Job’s enthralling, baffling conclusion.
24. The Song of Songs: The Bible’s sexiest book.
25. The Book of Ruth: Why women love it.
26. The Complete Book of Ecclesiastes: It’s godless, weird, and beautiful.
27. The Complete Book of Esther: The first Miss Universe pageant!
28. The Complete Book of Daniel: Uh, that lion’s-den story doesn’t end how you think it does.
29. The Complete Book of Ezra: Its all-out assault on mixed marriages.
30. The Complete Book of Nehemiah: Meet the Bible’s only Arab. Guess what he and the Jews think of each
31. The Complete Book of 1 Chronicles: Meet the Bible’s Delta Force.
32. The Complete Blogging the Bible: I began a year ago with “In the beginning …” and I’m finally done.

(*) Oh and in case anyone didn’t get the joke or just thinks I’m an idiot, Mr. Plotz is Jewish, so his “Bible” of course doesn’t have an Old/New Testament, it’s just “The Bible” and Judaism has a different order to the books than Christianity’s so-called Old Testament.

1. Gay couples have the same marriage rights as heterosexual couples under the New Jersey state constitution, the state Supreme Court rules.The U.S. Forest Service says three firefighters have been killed and two critically injured battling a wildfire near Palm Springs, California, The Associated Press reports.
2. A wildfire which has killed four firefighters near Palm Springs, California, was “a deliberately set arson fire,” a fire department spokesman says.
3. A Nigerian airliner has crashed near the country’s capital city of Abuja, Nigerian government officials say.
4. China’s Foreign Ministry says North Korea has agreed to rejoin six-nation nuclear disarmament talks, wire services report.
5. Sen. John Kerry issues a statement saying: “I personally apologize to any service member, family member, or American who was offended” by comments he made about being “stuck in Iraq.”
6. Murder and arson charges have been recommended against 36-year-old Raymond Lee Oyler in the fire that killed five U.S. Forest Service firefighters in Southern California, Sheriff Neil Lingle said.
7. The National Transportation Safety Board blames a stiff wind for the plane crash in New York last month that killed Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle, The Associated Press reports.
8. Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein sentenced to death by hanging for crimes against humanity.
9. Britney Spears files for divorce from her husband Kevin Federline, citing irreconcilable differences.

Initial responses:

1. “Hrm…. which bothers me less: 8 or 9? Hrm…”
2. “Hrm… which surprises me less: 8 or 9? Hrm…”
3. In what world does Britney Spears filing for divorce rate as “Breaking News”? The only rational response one can have is either: “Who Cares?” or “I’m shocked it took so long.”
4. Why don’t the same people who get up in arms about “gay marriage” also get upset about rampant divorce among heterosexuals? After all, Jesus said no divorce except on the ground of unchastity not once but twice, at least if you go with Matthew… Mark’s gospel (generally considered older and one might think more reliable) recounts Jesus saying no divorce and if you divorce and remarry you commit adultery which is one of those 10 Commandments some people want to keep sticking up everywhere… I wonder which version of Jesus’ “No Divorce” law they want lifted up?

Oh, and Jesus words about gay/lesbians? I can sum that up right here: “ ”

I know, I know… they find the idea of “gay sex” is “icky” but find “Britney Spears sex”… well, let’s just say that they’ve been looking for it on The Internets. A lot.

So heterosexuals can continue to practice serial monogamy, or not, but no gay/lesbian couples should ever ever ever be able to have a public ceremony where they express their intentions to do their best to love each other for the rest of their lives.

Of course. That seems completely logical. Right?