Fa la la la la, la la la la… I love the season of Christmas, the giving and receiving of gifts, the awareness in society that things should be different than they are even if many cannot say why. I love spending time with family. I love having time off work. I love the food, mostly baked goodies, around every turn. Most of all I love the reflection of God becoming human in order to redeem me from sin. This descending to the earth = mind blown for me. The first necessary step on the way to Jesus dying on the cross, Bethlehem’s manger has always captured me entirely. Perhaps because I am human I can at least imagine the idea of dying for another. I have run such scenarios over in my mind many times. Perhaps because I know people who have lost children I can at least imagine the pain of having a child die. But, being holy, omnipotent, and distinct from an entire universe I had created, I cannot imagine. Creating a race upon whom I could bestow love and grace then for those beings turn against me, I cannot imagine. Then leaving aside my privilege, my throne, my universal vantage point, my safety, to become one of the created race as an infant, I cannot imagine. There just is no point of reference for it. Think for a moment about that. Unlimited power traded for powerlessness. Eyes that oversaw all of creation, now fuzzy, blurry and unfocused. Hands that could weigh the world, barely large enough to wrap around his mother’s finger. The king of angels born in a nondescript, unknown Jewish stall. The incarnation is the greatest miracle of all. Josh Howerton calls the Incarnation “by far – the most shocking, glorious, mysterious miracle in Redemptive History.” I agree. We are always warned to not lose Christ in the trappings of Christmas. Let that warning sink in deeply. Now allow me to wish you a “merry Christmas.” And, rejoice over what that means. Thank you for your faithful reading of my blog. I will be taking the rest of the year off from writing and doing very little other social media, so Happy New Year as well.
Until the Prince of Peace shall come
War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers Of all the promises of Christmas one seemingly stirs our hearts above all others: that the Prince of Peace has come. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah, in one of the earliest writings about the Advent of the Messiah, indicated He would be “named Wonderful Counselor, Eternal Father, Mighty God, Prince of Peace” (9:6). Most people would readily acknowledge such a hope has yet to be realized. Following the mass murder in Newtown, Connecticut last week our thoughts again turned to violence. Twenty children killed before they could even reach the prime of life, whatever that is. Correlations were made to abortion, and, in the view of this writer, rightfully so. By no measure of divine justice will violence outside the womb outweigh violence inside it. Childhelp.org reports five U.S. children die each day as a direct result of abuse while 6 million are abused and/or neglected annually. That equates to another Sandy Hook every four days. According to the International Center for Assault Prevention more than “40 million children below the age of 15 are subjected to child abuse each year” (2001). In addition the World Health Organization estimates that 150 million girls and 73 million boys under 18 experienced forced sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual violence during 2002. What about war? Statistics on war deaths are varied and cover different periods of time, but this site lists conflicts since the American Civil War: 1860-65: USA civil war (628,000) 1886-1908: Belgium-Congo Free State (8 million) 1898: USA-Spain & Philippines (220,000) 1899-02: British-Boer war (100,000) 1899-03: Colombian civil war (120,000) 1899-02: Philippines vs USA (20,000) 1900-01: Boxer rebels against Russia, Britain, France, Japan, USA against rebels (35,000) 1903: Ottomans vs Macedonian rebels (20,000) 1904: Germany vs Namibia (65,000) 1904-05: Japan vs Russia (150,000) 1910-20: Mexican revolution (250,000) 1911: Chinese Revolution (2.4 million) 1911-12: Italian-Ottoman war (20,000) 1912-13: Balkan wars (150,000) 1915: the Ottoman empire slaughters Armenians (1.2 million) 1915-20: the Ottoman empire slaughters 500,000 Assyrians 1916-23: the Ottoman empire slaughters 350,000 Greek Pontians and 480,000 Anatolian Greeks 1914-18: World War I (20 million) 1916: Kyrgyz revolt against Russia (120,000) 1917-21: Soviet revolution (5 million) 1917-19: Greece vs Turkey (45,000) 1919-21: Poland vs Soviet Union (27,000) 1928-37: Chinese civil war (2 million) 1931: Japanese Manchurian War (1.1 million) 1932-33: Soviet Union vs Ukraine (10 million) 1932: “La Matanza” in El Salvador (30,000) 1932-35: “Guerra del Chaco” between Bolivia and Paraguay (117.500) 1934: Mao’s Long March (170,000) 1936: Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia (200,000) 1936-37: Stalin’s purges (13 million) 1936-39: Spanish civil war (600,000) 1937-45: Japanese invasion of China (500,000) 1939-45: World War II (55 million) including holocaust and Chinese revolution 1946-49: Chinese civil war (1.2 million) 1946-49: Greek civil war (50,000) 1946-54: France-Vietnam war (600,000) 1947: Partition of India and Pakistan (1 million) 1947: Taiwan’s uprising against the Kuomintang (30,000) 1948-1958: Colombian civil war (250,000) 1948-1973: Arab-Israeli wars (70,000) 1949-: Indian Muslims vs Hindus (20,000) 1949-50: Mainland China vs Tibet (1,200,000) 1950-53: Korean war (3 million) 1952-59: Kenya’s Mau Mau insurrection (20,000) 1954-62: French-Algerian war (368,000) 1958-61: Mao’s “Great Leap Forward” (38 million) 1960-96: Guatemala’s civil war (200,000) 1961-98: Indonesia vs West Papua/Irian (100,000) 1961-2003: Kurds vs Iraq (180,000) 1962-75: Mozambique Frelimo vs Portugal (10,000) 1962-75: Angolan FNLA & MPLA vs Portugal (50,000) 1964-73: USA-Vietnam war (3 million) 1965: second India-Pakistan war over Kashmir 1965-66: Indonesian civil war (250,000) 1966-69: Mao’s “Cultural Revolution” (11 million) 1966-: Colombia’s civil war (31,000) 1967-70: Nigeria-Biafra civil war (800,000) 1968-80: Rhodesia’s civil war (?) 1969-: Philippines vs the communist Bagong Hukbong Bayan/ New People’s Army (40,000) 1969-79: Idi Amin, Uganda (300,000) 1969-02: IRA – Norther Ireland’s civil war (2,000) 1969-79: Francisco Macias Nguema, Equatorial Guinea (50,000) 1971: Pakistan-Bangladesh civil war (500,000) 1972-: Philippines vs Muslim separatists (Moro Islamic Liberation Front, etc) (150,000) 1972: Burundi’s civil war (300,000) 1972-79: Rhodesia/Zimbabwe’s civil war (30,000) 1974-91: Ethiopian civil war (1,000,000) 1975-78: Menghitsu, Ethiopia (1.5 million) 1975-79: Khmer Rouge, Cambodia (1.7 million) 1975-89: Boat people, Vietnam (250,000) 1975-87: civil war in Lebanon (130,000) 1975-87: Laos’ civil war (184,000) 1975-2002: Angolan civil war (500,000) 1976-83: Argentina’s military regime (20,000) 1976-93: Mozambique’s civil war (900,000) 1976-98: Indonesia-East Timor civil war (600,000) 1976-2005: Indonesia-Aceh (GAM) civil war (12,000) 1977-92: El Salvador’s civil war (75,000) 1979: Vietnam-China war (30,000) 1979-88: the Soviet Union invades Afghanistan (1.3 million) 1980-88: Iraq-Iran war (435,000) 1980-92: Sendero Luminoso – Peru’s civil war (69,000) 1984-: Kurds vs Turkey (35,000) 1981-90: Nicaragua vs Contras (60,000) 1982-90: Hissene Habre, Chad (40,000) 1983-: Sri Lanka’s civil war (70,000) 1983-2002: Sudanese civil war (2 million) 1986-: Indian Kashmir’s civil war (60,000) 1987-: Palestinian Intifada (4,500) 1988-2001: Afghanistan civil war (400,000) 1988-2004: Somalia’s civil war (550,000) 1989-: Liberian civil war (220,000) 1989-: Uganda vs Lord’s Resistance Army (30,000) 1991: Gulf War – large coalition against Iraq to liberate Kuwait (85,000) 1991-97: Congo’s civil war (800,000) 1991-2000: Sierra Leone’s civil war (200,000) 1991-2009: Russia-Chechnya civil war (200,000) 1991-94: Armenia-Azerbaijan war (35,000) 1992-96: Tajikstan’s civil war war (50,000) 1992-96: Yugoslavian wars (260,000) 1992-99: Algerian civil war (150,000) 1993-97: Congo Brazzaville’s civil war (100,000) 1993-2005: Burundi’s civil war (200,000) 1994: Rwanda’s civil war (900,000) 1995-: Pakistani Sunnis vs Shiites (1,300) 1995-: Maoist rebellion in Nepal (12,000) 1998-: Congo/Zaire’s war – Rwanda and Uganda vs Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia (3.8 million) 1998-2000: Ethiopia-Eritrea war (75,000) 1999: Kosovo’s liberation war – NATO vs Serbia (2,000) 2001-: Afghanistan’s liberation war – USA & UK vs Taliban (40,000) 2002-: Cote d’Ivoire’s civil war (1,000) 2003-11: Second Iraq-USA war – USA, UK and Australia vs Saddam Hussein and subsequent civil war (160,000) 2003-09: Sudan vs JEM/Darfur (300,000) 2004-: Thailand vs Muslim separatists (3,700) 2007-: Pakistan vs PAkistani Taliban (38,000) 2012-: Syria’s civil war (14,000) (Estimates are near 100,000,000 direct war