Christmas is a popular holiday observed in December by people around the world representing the birth of Christ. No one knows the exact date of His birth, but early theologians placed it somewhere in December around 4-6 BC. Food for thought… If BC means “before Christ”, how could Jesus have been born between 4 and 6 BC? Wouldn’t His birth set the timeline to ground zero? (LOL). Of course, now we don’t really call it BC but rather BCE (before common era). 
 
The word Christmas comes from two words, Christ and mass, the “Mass of Christ”, which was named accordingly by the early Roman church in the 4th century. 
 
Some say Christmas has a pagan background. Actually, when Jesus was born the Roman culture celebrated all kinds of holidays. The following is an excerpt from gotquestions.org 
 
"Saturnalia honored the god Saturn and was celebrated from December 17 to about December 24. Later, the Romans began celebrating Sol Invictus or the “Unconquered Sun,” associated with the winter solstice and observed on December 25. When Rome eventually instituted Christianity as the state religion in the fourth century, the Roman church converted Saturnalia and Sol Invictus to a Christian holiday, the Feast of the Nativity, in order to commemorate Jesus’ birth, thus providing a spiritually positive alternative to a pagan celebration. The sinful customs and debauchery associated with Saturnalia were “cleaned up,” and some of the customs were absorbed into the celebration of Christmas. Christians have “redeemed” December 25 and have celebrated it as the birth of Christ ever since the fourth century."
 
Where did the whole gift giving idea come from? Aren’t we contributing to the commercialization of Christmas? No matter what we do commercialism takes place. It’s a supply and demand concept. What about the sale of Bibles, Christian literature, curriculum and liturgical items? These can fall under commercialism as well. Our lifestyles are filled with commercialistic practice. Just because the markets have capitalized on selling products during the holidays does not mean we can’t participate in gift exchanging during Christmas.
 
The gift giving concept comes from the Christmas story where the wisemen gave gifts of gold, incense and myrrh to baby Jesus. Giving is a foundational concept for Christianity and commanded by God. God gave His Son. Jesus gave His life as a ransom for us. Paul said it is better to give than to receive. We are commanded to give to those who are in need. As Jesus has loved us and gave His life so we too must love others. Giving is a form of love for others and the releasing of idols, such as greed, pride, selfishness and covetousness. Gift giving is not a matter of obligation but always comes from the heart. The celebration of Christmas and gift giving should never be burdensome. How can it be? Christmas represents the greatest gift given and the greatest received, bringing joy to the world. Giving represents joy.
 
So friends, as you celebrate Christmas, be sure to stay focused on the reason for it all. And remember, it’s Jesus’ birthday, what gift are you giving Him? 

​The pillars of the Christian faith build a solid foundation that cannot be shaken. The first pillar is God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The second pillar is scripture (God’s word), which is authoritative, inerrant and infallible. When we understand and believe these first two pillars, everything else will build off of them. The third pillar is man.
 
“God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27) 
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CREATED BEINGS - Scripture tells us that man is a created being. If a person does not believe in the authority and inerrancy of scripture they are left to believe in science and evolution. The battle between creation and evolution has always existed. If man evolved from a single-celled amoeba, then we are able to call the shots; we can make up the rules as we go and ultimately decide what is right and wrong. If we are created, then we have an ultimate authority over us. This also means we were created with a purpose in mind. Throughout history man has been plagued by questions such as: What’s the meaning of life? Why am I here? How did we get here? Where do we go after this life is over? Apart from scripture anyone’s guess is as good as another’s. That’s why we cling to the pillars of our Christian faith. We’re not guessing. We go to scripture and we claim these pillars as our creed.

CREATED IN HIS IMAGE - The verse above tells us that we are created in God’s image. What does that mean? Does God look like us? When I look in the mirror, am I looking at God? Does this mean I am God? Of course not. That’s absurd. Yet many might believe that because of this verse. However, as we keep reading scripture, we are able to see how infinitely more superior God is from man. Created in His image means His likeness. He created us with the ability to reason and make decisions. Genesis 1:26, tells us we are made in His likeness SO THAT we can rule over (govern, manage, care for) His creation. There’s a reason for creating us with intelligence. Just as God is superior to us, we are superior to all other animals. And He has given us the authority and responsibility to care for His creation. Caring for His creation is one of our purposes.

CREATED FOR HIS GLORY – Isaiah 43:7 tells us that we are created for God’s glory. We are not just here for ourselves and for our own pleasures. We are here to honor, respect and obey our master and creator God. When we choose to do something that does not honor God we sin. At creation, man was created perfect and sinless but Satan, who was also present, tempted Eve to eat of the tree of which God told them not to. Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and that brought sin into God’s perfect creation. No other animal had that capability. Only man has the freedom to make choices that will honor or reject God. We will be held accountable for all our decisions. Bringing glory to God is another one of our purposes.

CREATED FOR RELATIONSHIP – You can’t have a relationship with a hammer or a rock. An inanimate object cannot love. As loving as animals can seem, they do not have the intellectual capacity to love either. Only humans were created with the freedom to choose. All other creatures are created to do the will of God. They cannot reason like man can. A dog, bear or lion would maul an innocent little girl just as they would a thief. God created man for a relationship. Genesis 1:26 says, “Let us make man in OUR image…” The Trinity was present during creation (we talked about that in our first pillar). The Trinity illustrates the essence of relationship. The three are inseparable. When God created man, He created us to be like Him (them), inseparable and relationable. Genesis 3:8 illustrates the relationship that God had with Adam and Eve. That is, until sin entered in and split that relationship. Remember what we went over the first day of this series? God is a holy God. Sin separates us from God. We were created to have a relationship with God, but our sins have cut us off from God (Isaiah 59:2). There’s the dilemma. God wants a relationship with us, but we are dead in our sins. So what does God do? He provides a way for our sins to be forgiven so our broken relationship with Him can be restored. Having a relationship with God is another one of our purposes.

There’s more to talk about, such as, created male and female and how God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The creation account of man goes deep. For space purposes I’ll stop here. But hopefully this has given you thoughts and questions to keep you pursuing the truths of scripture. 

The Bible is unique in the fact that it claims to be inspired by God Himself. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
 
ALL SCRIPTURE – Scripture (graphe = writing). Some say Paul is talking about the Old Testament. Paul could not possibly single out only the Torah as God-breathed. All scripture means all the writings they have up to this point. Not just the Old or not just the New… ALL SCRIPTURE.
 
GOD-BREATHED – Written by men but inspired by God. Peter tells us, “No prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:20-21).
 
AUTHORITATIVE – If all scripture is from God then it carries weight. God is the author and every word is supremely authoritative. Paul says that it is “useful”. I would prefer using the term vital. Since all scripture is from God it is vital that we use it to learn about God and His ways and as a standard to know right from wrong. 
 
INERRANT – Because God is the author, we can know that everything in scripture is without error. Yes, it was written by man and man can err. We must understand that God did not place man in a trance and mechanically use the hands of men to write the words. Rather, the same Spirit that has been working in you worked in these men to write God’s word. That’s why there are personality traits and unique perspectives in the different books, because God used men to write it. It’s the same with my writings, your writings and Billy Graham’s writings. We can all write about God, but we will have different versions and experiences. It doesn’t mean we’re lying nor does it contradict but it comes from a different perspective, each led by the same Spirit. All the more it’s a miracle to see how man has written words that not only claim to be the word of God but has proved itself to be reliable, factual and life changing. 
 
INFALLIBLE – Since God is the author, it will never fail us. What God said 2000 years ago still applies today. God never lies and His promises endure forever. 
 
CANON – The canon means the standard or rule. When speaking of the Canon we are referring to the 66 books that make up our Bible. There are thousands of different ancient writings. How do we know which is from God? The OT canon was agreed upon by Jewish Rabbis and leaders before Jesus came on the scene. By the time of Jesus, they already had the 39 books of the Old Testament. These books (scripture) were written by the leaders of the day, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, etc., and also the prophets. Every word proved to be the word of God by its accuracy. These writings became the standard for all other writings. When reading scripture, notice how Jesus, Peter, Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, etc. quote OT and other NT scripture. Throughout the Bible one author will quote another. These are evidences of the canon of scripture. We use the same criteria today… how do you know if something is of God? Well, it has to be found in scripture. How do we know how to interpret scripture? Scripture interprets scripture. Everything we claim to be of God has to come from the established canon of scripture, the 66 books of our Bible. 
 
CREDENTIALS – The Bible is a unique book. Actually, it’s not a book, its 66 books, written by over 40 authors from 40 generations over a period of 1500 years. These writings are written in three different languages from three different continents and are historically and archaeologically accurate. There are over 600 fulfilled prophecies and they speak on hundreds of controversial topics with complete harmony. The Bible is not a book that a person could write if he tried nor is it something a person would write if he could. The bible is unique and stands on its own as the actual inerrant and infallible word of God.
 
I hope this builds your trust and knowledge of scripture, but this only scratches the surface. There’s so much more to learn. Keep digging. Keep growing. Keep learning. Using God’s word to govern our lives and the church is the second pillar of the Christian faith. ​