Dr Paul Allen

1914 Santa Claus in japan (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) 1. Jesus is the reason for the season. The primary purpose for observing Christmas is remembering Jesus’s birth. At Christmas, we celebrate Jesus’s birthday, not the little drummer boy or Santa Claus ! 2. Jesus preexisted with God in the beginning before the world began. Jesus’s birth as a baby in a Bethlehem manger doesn’t mark the beginning of his existence. Rather, as John’s Gospel teaches explicitly ( John 1:1 , 14) and the other Gospels imply, Jesus took on human flesh in addition to existing eternally as part of the Godhead. 3. Jesus’s birth was the culmination of centuries of messianic expectations. Jesus’s coming occurred in fulfillment of messianic expectations including his birthplace, virgin birth, and other details surrounding his advent. Later, during his earthly ministry and particularly in his death on the cross, Jesus fulfilled many more messianic patterns and predictions. 4. We should distinguish between ...

Santa Claus.  What should Christian parents do with Santa Claus ? What should we do with old St. Nick? As you know, there’s a fourth century Greek historical figure named Saint Nicholas . But most parents are concerned about the mythic, white-bearded, red-suited, reindeer-flying Santa Claus — that guy.  What do you think about Christian parents who allow their children to believe Santa Claus is bringing them gifts on Christmas ?  After Easter , Christmas should be the happiest day of the year in Christian worship. The reason I say “after Easter” is that Good Friday and Easter is the goal of Christmas. The death and resurrection, the salvation of sinners through the death and resurrection of Jesus , is the goal of Christmas. Christmas is not the goal of Easter. Christmas is a means. The salvation of sinners on Good Friday and Easter is the goal. “The salvation of sinners on Good Friday and Easter is the goal of the incarnation on Christmas.” Jesus came at ...

Did Christians Steal Christmas? (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) First, let us just concede that Christians do not have to celebrate or even acknowledge Christmas…or Easter , or Pentecost , or Australia Day , or MLK’s birthday, or ANZAC Day or Sabbath (Col 2:16), or Thursdays (named for the Nordic god of thunder). Rom 14:4-6 “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God , while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.” Christians are not obligated to revere any day above another including their own birthdays, though for some reason several Christmas...

The Holy Spirit depicted as a dove, surrounded by angels, by Giaquinto, 1750s. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) When I was a child in Sunday school, I would ask searching questions like ''Angels can fly up in heaven, but how do clouds hold up pianos?'' and get the same puzzling response about how that was not important, what was important was that Jesus died for our sins and if we accepted him as our savior, when we died, we would go to heaven, where we'd get everything we wanted. Some children in my class wondered why anyone would hang on a cross with nails stuck through his hands to help anyone else; I wondered how Santa Claus knew what I wanted for Christmas, even though I never wrote him a letter. Maybe he had a tape recorder hidden in every chimney in the world. This literal-mindedness has stuck with me; one result of it is that I am unable to believe in God. Most of the other atheists I know seem to feel freed or proud of their unbelief, as if they've cleve...

1914 Santa Claus in japan (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The salvation of sinners through the death and resurrection of Jesus is the goal of Christmas . Jesus came at Christmas to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). Jesus came at Christmas to save sinners ( 1 Timothy 1:15). Jesus came at Christmas to give his life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). Jesus came at Christmas not to call the righteous, but sinners (Matthew9:13). Jesus came at Christmas to destroy the works of the devil ( 1 John 3:8). Jesus came at Christmas that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death ( Hebrews 2:14). So the birth of the Son of God , the very God, very man, is simply stunning and glorious and infinitely serious, an overflow of the happy news. The angel called it “good news of great joy” — great joy, not small joy, not a little bit of joy, but great joy (Luke 2:10). It is mindboggling to me that any Christian would even contemplate such a trade, that we would divert attention ...

Scrooge's third visitor, from Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas. With Illustrations by John Leech. London: Chapman & Hall, 1843. First edition. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Bah! Humbug!” These two words are instantly associated with Charles Dickens ’ immortal fictional anti-hero, Ebenezer Scrooge . Scrooge was the prototype of the Grinch who stole Christmas , the paradigm of all men cynical. We all recognize that Ebenezer Scrooge was a mean person - stingy, insensitive, selfish, and unkind. What we often miss in our understanding of his character is that he was preeminently profane. “Bah! Humbug!” was his Victorian use of profanity . Not that any modern editor would feel the need to delete Scrooge’s expletives. His language is not the standard currency of cursing. But it was profane in that Scrooge demeaned what was holy. He trampled on the sanctity of Christmas. He despised the sacred. He was cynical toward the sublime. Christmas...

Santa Jesus (Photo credit: agitprop ) In Dr. Sinclair Ferguson 's book, In Christ Alone , he shares the sad reality that many Christians have a Christology that is more informed by Santa Claus than Scripture. For them, the message of the incarnation has been so twisted or diluted that they have in fact created for themselves a savior who is nothing more than a Santa Christ. As you prayerfully read Dr. Ferguson's words, ask yourself the following question this Christmas season: "Do I believe in a Santa Christ?" 1. A Pelagian Jesus is a Santa Christ Santa Christ is sometimes a Pelagian Jesus. Like Santa, he simply asks us whether we have been good. More exactly, since the assumption is that we are all naturally good, Santa Christ asks us whether we have been "good enough." So just as Christmas dinner is simply the better dinner we really deserve, Jesus becomes a kind of added bonus who makes a good life even better. He is not seen as the Savior of h...

English: Santa Claus with a little girl Esperanto: Patro Kristnasko kaj malgranda knabino Suomi: Joulupukki ja pieni tyttö (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Santa Claus was a fourth-century pastor named Nicholas of Myra who was later considered a saint by the medieval Roman Catholic Church . He was a favorite of Dutch sailors who called him, “ Sinter Klaas ” (or “Saint Nicholas”) which then came into English as “Santa Claus.” The modern version of Saint Nicholas bears absolutely no resemblance to the fourth-century pastor from Asia Minor. The real Nicholas did not live in the North Pole. He was not Scandinavian. He did not drive a team of magical caribou. He did not work with elves. Nor did he travel the world every Christmas Eve exchanging presents for milk and cookies. He was a pastor. He worshipped the Lord Jesus Christ . And he would have been appalled at the way his legacy has been used to obscure the true meaning of Christmas. There are several historically-based legends about Ni...

An evangelical Protestant Baptism by submersion in a river (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Every Christian parent longs for his children to trust in Christ and to make this profession public. In Baptist churches such a profession is made public through baptism. One of the ongoing discussions among Baptists relates to the age at which children can or should be baptized. Many children raised in a Christian home—perhaps even most of them—profess faith at a young age. Many parents then ask, Should my child be immediately baptized? Here is my attempt to answer this question. Defining  Baptism Baptism is an ordinance of God given to the New Testament church . It symbolizes that the recipient has been buried and resurrected with Christ and serves as public profession of faith and admission into the local church community. It precedes both membership and partaking of the Lord’s Supper , and as such, is the gateway to full participation in the life of the church. T...