Tag: Jesus Christ

Advent Wreath History, Meaning, and Celebration

Advent wreath history
~ MD Harris Institute ~ 1 Comment

Information, celebration, and a devotional on the coming of Jesus Christ for families, Bible study groups, and anyone else who wants to add truth and richness to the Christmas season. Enjoy this foray into advent wreath history.

By Mark D. Harris, MD, MPH, MBA, MDiv, ThM, PhD, DBA

Advent (Latin adventus) refers to the coming of Jesus Christ. On the first Sunday of Advent, we remember God’s love for us, exemplified in the first candle…hope. We also reflect on the symbolism of the wreath itself. On the second Sunday, we think about the peace that He gives us, especially in this season, through His Son. On the third Sunday of Advent, we consider the third candle, joy. On the fourth Sunday, we focus on love. Finally, on Christmas Eve, the Christ candle reminds us of how Jesus Christ is the source of each of these.

Continue reading “Advent Wreath History, Meaning, and Celebration” →

Yes, Virginia, and mankind, there really is a Santa Claus

~ MD Harris Institute ~ Leave a comment

The Western World has largely discarded Christmas as the story of God becoming man to save humanity and all creation. In our historical ignorance, we forget Saint Nicholas, and in our skepticism, we deny Santa Claus. All that is left are warm feelings, decorations, and presents. Isn’t there something more?

By Mark D. Harris, MD, MPH, MBA, MDiv, ThM, PhD, DBA

My father was driving me to Hadley Preschool on a chilly December morning when I declared, “Daddy, there just can’t be a Santa Claus. He couldn’t fly all over all over the world in one night.” My father looked at me, smiled and said, “Your mommy and I knew that you would soon figure it out.” My discovery of the absence of Santa Claus didn’t bother me, it was just a fact, cushioned by the reality that presents kept coming even without Jolly Old Nick.

The Predecessors of Santa Claus

Years later, I discovered Saint Nicholas (AD 270-343), a Christian Bishop in the Eastern Roman Empire city of Myra, in the Antalya province of modern Turkey. Nicholas was born to a wealthy Greek family and was famed for his generosity. One story recounts that St. Nicholas secretly gave gold coins for the dowry of three daughters of a poor man in his parish. He dropped the coins down the chimney, and the coins landed in the girls’ stockings, which had been left to dry by the fire. Had Nicholas not done so, the girls would have been unable to marry and thereafter forced into prostitution to earn their living. Nicolas was reputed to have performed many other acts of great kindness and even miracles.

Continue reading “Yes, Virginia, and mankind, there really is a Santa Claus” →

Invictus at Christmas

~ MD Harris Institute ~ Leave a comment

A Christian look at William Ernest Henley’s famous poem, Invictus.

By Mark D. Harris

Julie fumbled with the lock of her dorm room. Laying her purse, nursing notebook, croissant sandwich, and coffee on the floor in the hall, she finally opened the door. My biology quiz didn’t go well this morning, and my anatomy project is late. At least I’ll get English right. I’ve got 30 minutes before I have to be at work.

Sitting at her desk a few moments later, Julie began reading the poem her English professor was expecting an analysis of on Monday morning.

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley, Britain, 1875

Continue reading “Invictus at Christmas” →

A Witness Carol

~ MD Harris Institute ~ Leave a comment

Christians do not walk alone in the race of life. We run with our contemporaries and are supported by a cloud of witnesses. We live in a web of relationships with other saints, and we love, support, encourage, and often forgive, each other. Thank God, for life is too hard to be lived alone.  

By Mark D. Harris

In his famous work, A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens told the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly businessman who learned the true meaning of Christmas. Three important characters in the transformation of Scrooge from sinner to saint were the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Future.

Continue reading “A Witness Carol” →

The Inevitable Incarnation

~ MD Harris Institute ~ Leave a comment

Many religions tell of God becoming man, because humans sense that we could not know God otherwise. But Jesus is different…divinely different.  

In 1819 using a razor and glue, the former American President Thomas Jefferson, one of the most brilliant men of his age, cut and pasted passages of the New Testament to create The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, popularly known as the Jefferson Bible. Jefferson’s Bible removed all of the miracles of Jesus, most mentions of the supernatural, the Resurrection, and all mentions of His divinity. In a letter to William Short (1820), Jefferson wrote that “Jesus did not mean to impose himself on mankind as the son of God.” Thomas Jefferson clearly regarded the man Jesus as a great moral teacher, but rejected the concept of Jesus as God.

He was not alone. The Koran teaches that Allah has no son, and that those who believe that he does will be destroyed. Many critics throughout history have lauded Jesus for his moral example but lambasted early Christians for making him God. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of Christianity; without Him Christianity could not exist. At the same time, Jesus is the stumbling block of Christianity; the gospel as written in the New Testament is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks (1 Corinthians 1:23).

Continue reading “The Inevitable Incarnation” →

On the Physical Resurrection of Jesus Christ

~ MD Harris Institute ~ Leave a comment

No one on earth or even in mythology defeated Death, except Jesus. Life finally conquered death. Can you feel it?

By Mark D. Harris

Jesus physically rose from the dead.  This statement, if true, is the most radical statement in human history. If there is one thing that seems certain about the human condition, even more so than taxes, it is death.  This event separates Christianity from all other religions, and makes Christ unique among religious leaders. Islam does not claim that Mohammad rose from the dead, nor Judaism for Moses nor Buddhism for Siddhartha Gautama, better known as the Buddha.  Yet the Bible makes that claim for Jesus Christ.  Not only does it make the claim but stakes the truth or falsehood of Christianity, the religion founded by Jesus Christ, on that event (1 Corinthians 15:3, 4).  If Jesus physically rose from the dead, Christianity is true.  If not, it is false.  The most widespread religion in the world is thus founded on the most preposterous claim in the world.

This question is important for people who call themselves Christians as well as for people who do not.  Three acquaintances of mine, calling themselves Christians:

Continue reading “On the Physical Resurrection of Jesus Christ” →