Gene Edward Veith

St. Patrick and other missionaries

Today is St. Patrick’s Day, so wear green or get pinched.  You may recall my crusade to use this day to honor ALL missionaries. Those of us of European descent had ancestors who also were brought to faith by missionaries no less than our fellow Christians in Africa, Asia, South America, and the rest of the world.  So lift a glass to St. Patrick who brought the faith to Ireland.  And lift a glass to St. Augustine of Canterbury who converted the English.  And lift another glass to St. Boniface who converted the Germans by cutting down the Tree of Thor without getting hammered.  You might get hammered if you lift a glass to all of the missionaries who deserve our thanks.  Those would include St. William Carey of India, St. James Hudson Taylor of China, St. Jim Elliot of Bolivia, and many more, including those who are bringing the gospel to people all over the world today.

Name the missionaries you know and support, and let us all pray for them today.

via St. Patrick and other missionaries | Cranach: The Blog of Veith.

Why Everyone Should Support the Packers

I think this is an excellent rationale for why everyone (outside of residents of Pennsylvania) should support the Green Bay Packers in the Superbowl:

I realize that people who live or have lived in Pittsburgh and in Pennsylvania generally will support the Steelers.

I urge everyone else to support the Packers.   Liberals should like them because they aren’t owned by some rich capitalist; rather, they are publicly owned.  Conservatives should like them because they represent small town America.  Let’s make this a campaign for national unity (except for Pittsburgh).

via Packers and Steelers go to the Superbowl | Cranach: The Blog of Veith.

In defense of Christmas “materialism”

This is one of the most thought-provoking things I’ve read about Christmas in a long time.

[It’s still Christmas. . . .]

I keep reading articles and posts complaining about Christmas being too materialistic, criticizing all of the shopping and gift-giving.  Many Christians are indignant that non-believers have the presumption to celebrate our holiday.  Some are saying that we should just have two separate holidays, a spiritual one for Christians marking Christ’s birth and a materialistic Winter holiday for everyone else.

I reject that!  I take the highest satisfaction when non-believers glorify Christ, even against their knowledge or their will, by celebrating His birthday. They give gifts, which are the sign of the Gospel.  They force themselves to be benevolent.

The so-called commercialization of Christmas does great good, helping the economy considerably (this was apparently a very good year this season) and bringing happiness to millions of children and grownups alike.  People may not fully realize what it means to give and receive gifts, but that gives Christians an opportunity to explain.  God’s grace is a gift. Salvation is a gift, not something you have to earn.  Christ is the gift.  Usually, the person who has the birthday gets the gift.  But on Jesus’s birthday everybody gets a gift.  Because He is the gift.

My fellow Christians, we don’t need to Christianize everything.  Everything is already Christianized!   Christ already reigns.  The secular world itself unwittingly testifies to Him.

That atheists, secularists, followers of other religions, and others not in the fold celebrate Christmas is a profoundly good thing.  It is powerful evidence for the validity of Christianity.

Let’s not separate the spiritual and the material  out of an excess of piety or hyper-spirituality.  That’s the way of Gnosticism.  The very meaning of Christmas is about the spiritual and the material coming together. (emphasis mine)

via In defense of Christmas “materialism” | Cranach: The Blog of Veith.