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, bejeweled 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 creche, 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 as
we understand Him?
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...
terrorists attack, 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
bad shape the world is in.
My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,
Ben Stein