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Christmas Tree or Holiday Tree?

Doc

Bottoms Up
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
from Dec 2012 but worth sharing none the less:



Apparently the White House referred to Christmas Trees as Holiday Trees for the first time this year, which prompted CBS presenter, Ben Stein, to present this piece which I would like to share with you.

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

Apparently the White House referred to Christmas Trees as Holiday Trees for the first time this year, which prompted CBS presenter, Ben Stein, to present this piece which I would like to share with you. The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary. My confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejewelled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are, Christmas trees. It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a nativity scene, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away. I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat. Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to. In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking. Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Hurricane Katrina). Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?' In light of recent events... terrorist attacks, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK. Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said okay. Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves. Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.' Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace. Are you laughing yet? Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it. Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us. Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not, then just discard it.... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what a bad shape the world is in. My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully, Ben Stein

 

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Uncle Ed

New member
Thank you Doc,

It's just as the wife and I have been saying, you reap what you sow. We need to tell these people that want everyone to be Politically Correct where to stuff it, that if they don't want GOD in their lives thats their choice, it's our holiday! As for me and mine, we will follow the lord.

Ed
 

NorthernRedneck

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
It's always been a christmas tree where I come from and that isn't about to change. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!
 

FrancSevin

Proudly Deplorable
GOLD Site Supporter
Activist Atheism seems to believe they are saving believers from such foolishness. Their proposition is that believers are making a grave mistake. I cannot help but recall a recent comment by Thomas Sowell

"Because many of us make mistakes that can have bad consequences, some intellectual believe that it is the role of government to intervene and make some of our decisions for us. From what galaxy government is going to hire creatures who do not make mistakes is a question they leave unanswered."

This true of so many interventions in the private lives of Americans. But, it is especially painful to those of faith who believe they live in a nation where one's personal free practice of religion is protected to the extreme.

The same government who asks it's citizens to respect the culture of immigrants from the point of annoyance to legal actions also suggest censorship of resident cultural practices. Perhaps, under such wisdom, Menorahs should never be named as such but always referred to as Holiday Candelabras.

Frankly, the renaming of cultural icons by progressives is actually a subtle exercise of their inherent desire to hold ever increasing power over others. An antithetical action in a nation of truly free individuals founded on limited government principles. But they persist because they cannot help themselves. Their nature is Human and inherently narcissistic.

God teaches us to be different, to be selfless and respectful of others. And that annoys them.

BTW Anne Graham's answer was a disappointment to many true believers. As stirring as her combative words may ring in the ears of conservatives and Christians, she missed an opportunity to clarify man's relationship to God by speaking to the choir. God created all that happens. Including that which is bad. We are not placed on the earth to enjoy any kind of Heaven here. And she, of all people, should know better.
 

baldy347

Active member
In this house it's Christmas and Christmas Tree; if the muslims don't like it they need to LEAVE THIS COUNTRY!

wayne
 

FrancSevin

Proudly Deplorable
GOLD Site Supporter
In this house it's Christmas and Christmas Tree; if the muslims don't like it they need to LEAVE THIS COUNTRY!

wayne
It is not the Muslims who have a problem with your Christmas tree. The challenge comes from uber educated Atheist who believe they know better than you and I, about a deity in which they do not believe. Most American Muslims respect Christian and Jewish holiday practices and would appreciate a corresponding respect and protection of theirs.

In a nation founded on the principles of religious freedom, they wish to instruct us about the insensitivity, to them, of our religious practices by making it difficult, or even illegal, to openly practice them.

Obviously, if our nation were to succumb to a Muslim theocracy, such persecution of Christians, Jews and other faiths would also exist. Including that of Atheists who would be required to admit belief. Thus making either one, Atheist Secularism or Islam, pretty much the same as the other.
 

Danang Sailor

nullius in verba
GOLD Site Supporter
Our atheist brethren have a problem that could easily be corrected with a quick Remedial English course. The First
Amendment guarantees "freedom of religion", not "freedom from religion"; they can't seem to understand that the two
phrases are not the same.

I am not a Christian; although raised that way it didn't "take" and I spent many years discovering what I truly do believe,
and how it fit with ours beliefs and religions. However, it does not in any way irritate or upset me when a Christian
friend, or even complete stranger, wishes me a Merry Christmas. It is a statement of solicitude for my life and how
curmudgeonly would I have to be to be offended by that? More, what kind of an ass would it show me to be to protest
against that wish for my health and happiness?

It appears that the rabid atheists - yes, there really are many who are not rabid - are willing to expose themselves as
wholly arrogant asses whose basic attitude can be summed up by the phrase "My way, or the highway!" They are revealed
as sad creatures who are deserving more of our pity than our rancor as they are incapable of empathy with anyone who
does not share their beliefs ... or lack of belief if you will.


 
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