The Pursuit

Help, I don’t want to go to church and other funny searches

Monday, January 21st, 2008 | Thanksgiving, bible, books, christmas, church, hell, holidays, humor, just for fun, ministry, money, pastor, prayer, teaching, ten commandments, tradition | 1 Comment

I use Google analytics to track what is happening on my blog. I get to see which pages are most popular, how long people spend at my blog, and also what people search for to end up on my blog. Here are the top 11 funniest searches I’ve had in the past 30 days (in no particular order).

01. “what’s a handbasket and why do we got to hell in one?” - Isn’t it obvious?

02. should christians believe in santa claus - Yes.

03. muslim vs. baptist - The fight of the century!

04. i need molds of the ten commandments - Don’t we all.

05. how to have church without programs book - I recommend the Bible.

06. help, i don’t want to go to church - Help?

07. thigs to be thankful to god for - Google, peanut butter, and two-ply toliet paper.

08. notes on how to have to be a good pastor wife - Amen.

09. is it biblical to pay church volunteers? - Volunteer?

10. god bless me just a little - Me too.

11. churches say they will forgive if you pay us money - Me too!

What about Santa Claus? - Part 3

Sunday, December 23rd, 2007 | catholic, christmas, church, holidays, philosophy, tradition | 4 Comments

Yesterday I talked about two posts concerning Christmas. In the second post, Mrs. Black’s post, something caught my eye that made me think about Santa Claus. She wrote:

In many homes, the first act of parental betrayal is the lie of Santa Claus…many children go thru a deep depression & anger when they first realize that everyone in the world know he wasn’t real except them…and their own parents betrayed them.

As I said in my first post, this is not really what happened to me. Because of this, I tend to think that this position is a little more extreme. In fact, of all the people I know, I had never knew anyone who felt this way about finding out Santa wasn’t real. I also sensed that if this was the case there would be more and more people refusing to teach Santa Claus to their children because of the emotional damage done to them. At the same time I do understand that a lot of times our traditions (good or bad) tend to take over any emotional trauma that we may have endured.

As I was thinking through this I went to a very close friend of mine and asked him about his Santa experiences. I trust this friend probably more than any other friend, he is not a believer, but we have spent many hours talking philosophy with one another and I think we are very similar in many of our beliefs… the biggest difference being that I am a follower of Christ, while he is not.

This is a copy of the conversation that I had with Dan:

lew: when you were little, were you encouraged to believe in Santa? and did you?
dan: I did believe in santa. I can only assume my parents told me about it. They certain perpetuated it
lew: when you found out that he was not real… did you think they had lied to you? where you angry or did you feel tricked?
dan: I was upset about it, yeah. And it played a part in my early teen-age years when it caused me to doubt all “knowledge” handed down as truth, including religion
dan: Santa pretty much destroyed faith for me, honestly

To be perfectly honest, I did not expect this reaction from Dan. In fact, I expected one quite the opposite. I asked him if I could use this conversation in this blog, because I sensed that it was extremely important to this conversation. It has really made me think more deeply about teaching Santa as Truth.

What do you all think?

What about Santa Claus? - Part 2

Saturday, December 22nd, 2007 | catholic, christmas, church, holidays, philosophy, tradition | No Comments

Yesterday I wrote a testimony about my history and experiences with Santa Claus. Today I would like to talk about two posts I have read concerning Santa Claus and the celebration of Christmas.

The first post is by Lindsey over at Enjoy the Journey. The post is called For those of you who don’t “do” Santa Claus. This short post basically explained that we should not judge those who do (or don’t do) Santa Claus. And that we should respect each other and make sure our Children know to respect others beliefs about Santa. There were 32 comments, some agreed and some disagreed. Some comments even got to the point of saying that Lindsey (and others who “do” Santa) are bad parents. I think sometimes, we as Christians, take things way too far.

The second post is by Mrs. Black over at Dave Black Online. The post is called Why We No Longer Celebrate Christmas. In this post, Mrs. Black writes about some of the research Dr. Black did a few years ago concerning Christmas and how its history has convinced them to not celebrate the holiday. Some of the reasons for not celebrating was because of the materialistic attitude during the season, but also because of some scriptural mandates that seem to go against celebrating such holidays. Mrs. Black does a very good job explaining her position, but at the same time I never once thought she was attacking people who celebrate it with or without Santa. What is sad is that I am sure there are Christians out there who will persecute the Black family for not celebrating Christmas as there are who choose to celebrate it with Santa Claus.

These two post have revealed a lot to me this season. A lot of Christians believe that you have to celebrate a holiday that is not mandated by God exactly the way they do or they will break fellowship with you. I wonder if this is not a sign of the state of the church in America. Why are we so worried about these things? Doesn’t Paul tell us to hold to our own convictions and not to judge those who are weaker or stronger than us?

What about Santa Claus? - Part 1

Friday, December 21st, 2007 | catholic, christmas, church, holidays, philosophy, tradition | 2 Comments

This post will be broken into a two or three part series.

I do not really like music all too much. But there are some that I do like. My favorite artists include Pink Floyd and David Bowie. The only Christian music I really respect comes from Andrew Peterson - but honestly I don’t listen to Christian music enough to say that there aren’t other decent artists. I do, however, love Christmas music. In fact, you can probably catch me whistling a Christmas tune pretty much any time of the year. Of all the music out there, I think Christmas music is the most fun. This post is about Christmas and my experiences with it.

Although my parents might disagree, I would not say that I was raised in a Christian home. Yes, they are Catholic, and yes, I am a confirmed Catholic (went through all the classes). But the Christian belief system was never really emphasized in my home. With that said, I was raised to believe in Santa Claus. As I grew older I found out that he was not real but it did not make me mistrust my parents - at least, not anymore than I might have already. In fact, when I figured out that Santa wasn’t real, I did not tell my parents. I tried to egg it on in hopes that I would get more presents. In all reality, I probably would have gotten the same amount, but in my mind I figured they had to get me gifts from them and from the fictitious Santa.

When I first became a Christian I decided that it would be a lie to tell my potential children that Santa Claus existed. As far as I can tell there have been disputes about this for ages. Recently, I have became a little more relaxed about the idea of Santa Claus. I am still a little uncomfortable with teaching our children about Santa Claus as if he were a real entity. I think a better solution would be to treat him as a fairy tale. Fairy tales are fun and allow children to use their imagination without having to convince them of a lie.

This year, my wife and I didn’t really do much for Christmas. We bought each other one gift. I got her a DVD (Walk the Line) and she got me a cool little fanny pack designed special for hiking/backpacking. We’ve just been too busy to think about gifts and presents. But in all reality, December 25th really is not a special day to me. I mean, I enjoy the festivities, I enjoy the music, I enjoy giving and receiving gifts, but it’s just a day. Jesus was not born on December 25th and we don’t see any indication in scripture that the early Christians celebrated His birth annually. I’m not saying it is wrong to do so, just that it is not required or commanded.

I am of course very glad that Jesus was born and paid our penalty by dieing a sinless death for us. But I am glad about that everyday.

This post was really just to let everyone know where I am… my next post I think I will talk about what others have written about Christmas/Santa Claus. My last post will be solely dedicated to a recent conversation I had with one of my close friends (an agnostic) about Santa Claus.

Holiday vs. Christmas

Tuesday, December 4th, 2007 | Thanksgiving, boycott, christmas, holidays, just for fun, philosophy, tradition | 2 Comments

I always thought how silly it was that people got so upset at other people who would rather say Happy Holiday instead of Merry Christmas. Until the other day when I was listening to the all Christmas Music station on my way home (some of my favorite music is Christmas music). An ad came on for Home Depot. They wanted you to shop there for your Holiday Gifts, Holiday Tree, Holiday everything. For some reason when I heard the word “Holiday” instead of “Christmas” I realized how completely retarded it sounded. I had never noticed before, and frankly I still don’t care if they decide to use it. But seriously, it just doesn’t “fit.”

The reason why I think it sounds so stupid is because of what the word Holiday actually means and how it is being used. In this case Holiday is being used as the name of a specific day, December 25th. Regardless of it’s origin, December 25th in todays society is traditionally named, Christmas - or at least it was. The word “Holiday,” according to the dictionary means, “a day fixed by law or custom on which ordinary business is suspended in commemoration of some event or in honor of some person.” There are actually nine definitions but they are all pretty much the same. You see the problem I have with people saying Happy Holiday in reference to December 25, is not the fact that they are trying to remove Christmas, its the fact that they want to name a holiday - Holiday.

Basically what they want, is for people to say, “Are you coming over for Holiday?” or “Hey, what are you doing on Holiday?” And then they want people to associate that use with December 25th. Instead of the more specific term “Christmas.” But what about all the other holidays that America celebrates? They celebrate Valentines Day, The 4th of July, Thanksgiving, etc. Should we name them all “Holiday”? How would we know which one we are refering to?

You also have to contend with the etymology of the word of holiday. It is made of two words, Holy and Day. So, in order to not offend all the atheists and non-Christians in America, the big wigs have decided to stop calling December 25 “Christmas” in favor of calling it a “Holy Day.” Granted most of those people probably don’t know the etymology. But isn’t it just as “offensive” to call something Holy for someone who doesn’t believe in Holy things? Or to call a particular day Holy, if the atheist and non-Christian does not think the day is Holy?

I call for all companies who do not want to use the word “Christmas” to pick a new word. I’ll let them decide, but some possibilities might be, Gift Day, Giving Day, and Wonder Day (I think Giving Day would be perfect, since we just celebrated Thanksgiving). I know a lot of you might be thinking, “that’ll never work.” But if you look back in history, you’ll find that the Christmas day did just that. It swooped down and took over a whole different holiday on December 25th.

TPOS: Weekly Update - 11.30.2007

Friday, November 30th, 2007 | Gifts for Christians, Gifts for Thinkers, Shopping, Thanksgiving, The Pursuit Online Store, holidays | No Comments

I know, I know… it’s been two weeks! Gosh, I was on Thanksgiving break! :)

Anywho, only two new designs this week… check ‘em out!

In Christian designs under The Journey:

In Seasonal designed under Christmas:

Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving ‘07

Thursday, November 22nd, 2007 | Thanksgiving, holidays | 1 Comment

Hey everyone, I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving.

Lew

Halloween: My experiences - SynchroBlog

Wednesday, October 24th, 2007 | halloween, holidays, synchroblog, tradition | 10 Comments

This post is part of a SynchroBlog with the theme, A
Christian Response to Halloween. More details at the bottom of this post.

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As a child, Halloween was one of my favorite holidays. The bad part about living in Maine during Halloween was that pretty much everyone’s Halloween costume looked like this:

It was always way too cold out to only wear a Halloween costume. The secret trick to get around this was the heated car - jump in the car and move house to house. My Halloweens were always a little different. I did a little trick or treating, just enough to get some candy, but then my parents and I would go to my grandparents house for their Halloween party. My grandfather loved to decorate his house. Every holiday was his time to shine. During Halloween he would get somewhere up to 700 children visiting his house (he counted them). People would drive from all around to visit his house. I’m still not sure what his neighbors though about that :). I remember one year, I went to a haunted house run by the local Catholic church, it was o.k. fun, but not scary enough. Other than that deviation, it was always the same routine from what I remember.

That was pretty much what I did for Halloween as a child and before I was saved.

After I was saved I was much older and had less interest in Halloween. My grandparents were too old to do anything with their house for Halloween so I pretty much did nothing. The church I was apart of did some sort of Halloween party but I did not attend, I think I was too busy or just didn’t care. Since moving to North Carolina I can only remember what one group of Christians did for Halloween, they had some sort of Trunk or Treat thing. It was there as both a way to advertise the Church and to give children a safer place to get candy. I thought about going, but we decided to hang home and hand out candy ourselves. We got a total of zero children. More candy for me!

I have also heard of some places who run Fall Festivals instead of Halloween parties. From what I understand about Halloween, this is basically an attempt to Christianize a non-pagan holiday with pagan roots. Honestly, I have no experience with these either. I have heard hypocritical things about them.

I think I have also heard of a Reformation party in lieu of a Halloween party… but that’s not so much a cover-up as it is a coincidence (since the reformation started on Oct. 31 when Martin Luther nailed his 95-Thesis on the Wittenberg Door).

I told you all of this basically to say this. I had a lot of fun as a child dressing up for Halloween, getting all sorts of candy, going to my grandparents house and seeing all the other neat costumes. If you want to call it a Fall Festival, that’s fine, a rose by any other name smells just as sweet. If you want to provide a safe haven for the local children by doing Trunk-or-Treat, that’s great too. If you want to have a Reformation party… well frankly your a nerd ;). Just don’t get all legalistic! Here’s the thing, Halloween has no pagan significance, not to anyone with any sense. It is about being a fun little kid, imagining your are something else for the day while your parents cart you around to get you some valuable loot. Some people want to dress up like zombies, vampires, werewolves, etc. that’s fine… guess what - those things aren’t real, they are pretend. Others want to dress up as cowboys, ninjas, and police officers, that’s fine too. Maybe you want to dress up your dog like spiderman… well you’re a nerd too, but it’s still probably pretty cute. Decorate your home or not, just do whatever you are convicted of - but don’t try to make other people live by your rules.

Most of all, remember these words, “Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this–not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way.”

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The October 24th SynchroBlog includes 26 people sharing their
thoughts, their experiences, and their expertise on the subject of “A
Christian Response to Halloween” (or at least something remotely
connected to that idea.) Perhaps not all the writers are Christian,
and that is actually even cooler. Please check out these offerings
of love, and gore…uh, I mean lore.

The Christians and the Pagans Meet for Samhain at Phil Wyman’s Square No More
Our Own Private Zombie: Death and the Spirit of Fear by Lainie Petersen
Julie Clawson at One Hand Clapping
John Morehead at John Morehead’s Musings
Vampire Protection by Sonja Andrews
What’s So Bad About Halloween? at Igneous Quill
H-A-double-L-O-double-U-double-E-N Erin Word
Halloween….why all the madness? by Reba Baskett
Steve Hayes at Who stole Halloween
KW Leslie at The Evening of Kent
Hallmark Halloween by John Smulo
Mike Bursell at Mike’s Musings
Sam Norton at Elizaphanian
Removing Christendom from Halloween at On Earth as in Heaven
Vampires or Leeches: A conversation about making the Day of the Dead meaningful by David Fisher
Encountering hallow-tide creatively by Sally Coleman
Kay at Chaotic Spirit
Apples and Razorblades at Johnny Beloved
Fall Festivals and Scary Masks at The Assembling of the Church
Why Christians don’t like Zombies at Hollow Again
Peering through the negatives of mission Paul Walker
Sea Raven at Gaia Rising
Halloween: My experiences by Lew A
Timothy Victor at Tim Victor’s Musings
Making Space for Halloween by Nic Paton