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The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on a CBS Sunday Morning commentary.

My confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are, Christmas trees. 

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a nativity scene, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away. 

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat. 

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to. 

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking. 

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Hurricane Katrina). Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?' 

In light of recent events... terrorist attacks, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK. 

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said okay. 

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves. 

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.' 

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell.

Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.

Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.

Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet? 

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it. 

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit. 

If not, then just discard it.... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what a bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein

The Defender

On the Day of Judgment all will stand before the throne, the Accuser stands pointing his finger, ready to spew forth a tale of sin. The eyes of the Accused are cast to the ground; they dare not look up into the face of the Judge, His holy eminence shines forth as a brilliant light. Before the Accuser can voice his accusations, the Defender stands to speak “through thy faith in me and what thou hast done for the least of these, I know thy heart; I have shed my blood to cleanse thee and given my body to spare thee judgment!” The Judge opens the Book of Life, He speaks “your name has been found, you are pardoned, today you will be with Me in Eternity!”

Another step in the right direction…

A short time ago I was at the post office in town, buying stamps and mailing a letter. I used the automated service or the machine, mailed my letter and was on my way out the door when I noticed this older woman walking with a cane. She was heading toward the door and walking with great difficulty. She would take a step, then stop and totter as though she was going to fall. I was ahead of her so I went to hold the door for her. She smiled and thanked me, it took her a very long time to get to the door and then through it with her unsteady gait, but finally she and I were outside. I asked her if she needed me to help her to her car and she took me up on my offer, she held my arm as I lead her to her car.

I told her I knew a little bit about how it felt because I had had total hip replacement surgery a year ago and had to use crutches and canes. She said hers was because of a disease and it wasn’t going to get better. She asked my name and thanked me for all my help.

It was a very simple act of kindness, but it made me feel like I had accomplished something big! I didn’t have to say anything about the love of Christ; I just had to show it!

Popularity, is it worth it?

One of the biggest problems I have with social media web sites like Twitter is “False Followers”. What are they, you ask? Well, they are people who follow you on Twitter one day and then unfollow you the next.The only reason they followed you in the first place was to try and gain more followers for themselves. People think that the more followers they have on Twitter or any social website, the more popular they are. So the idea is, you follow people in the hope they will reciprocate by following you back, when they do, you start to systematically unfollow as many as possible, this makes it look as though you have many followers, but you, yourself are only following a select few. Hence you look and feel more popular then you really are!

This could also be referred to as "dipping", because some people follow those suggested by Twitter in emails, then unfollow or "dip out" within the next day or two. But this is a false conception, because if you were truly popular you would not have to stoop so low as to solicit followers, they would just follow you on their own accord because they had an interest in you. If you have to search through a site, following random people thinking they will return the favor or follow the ones suggested by Twitter emails, you are not popular!

Another thing that really bothers me is when “Christian” people or “Christian” artists engage in this type of practice, because I think being a “false” anything is going against Christ’s teachings. When you see that a "Christian" band has followed you, you might get all excited thinking to yourself “oh here is a cool band and they’re following me! They must like me!”  You feel so honored that they would want to follow you and you weren’t even following them first, so you choose to follow them back, you might even decide to give their music a listen and begin to like it, even tweet about it. Then the next time you check into Twitter, you discover they have gone and unfollwed you, now you feel so dishonored! The lying, cheating fakes! You would expect this type of behavior from secular groups, but not from people calling themselves Christian! How could someone who claims to be a Christian do this to you? It seems so dishonest! So instead of making someone more popular, it only gets them labeled among the deceivers!

What if you have been tweeting about them, telling the world how great their music is? You could always just stop giving them the honor of your tweets and forget about them or you can unfollow them back! I personally hold to the statute of "you follow me, I follow you, you unfollow me, I unfollow you!" I always unfollow people when they unfollow me, since I did not follow them first, because I had never heard of them or just wasn’t interested enough. If they followed me only to unfollow me, then they don't deserve my attention anyway! In the end they loose a follower instead of gaining more! But if you had followed them first and they followed you back, then unfollowed you, I guess then you’d have to decide if you are really offended or not. In all honesty, there may be times when you want to unfollow people or even block them anyway, because their tweets might make you uncomfortable.

An even more annoying aspect of this practice, is when they have the nerve to send you a direct message thanking you for the follow and could you please check out their Facebook page or their music on YouTube or some place. To do this knowing that they will unfollow you soon, is just heartless!

When Jesus walked through the streets and along the shore inviting those around him to “follow me”, He wasn’t doing it to be popular, He had something He had come to share, but He too had “false” followers. Those who just weren’t that interested in Him or what He was offering them, but were more concerned with being a part of the crowd and what they could gain from doing so, which in most cases meant at the very least, a free meal! They were “fans” of Jesus not true followers, when the going got tough they got going, they deserted Christ. But Christ didn’t give up; He kept on calling everyone to follow Him, just as He calls us today. Jesus knew who the true followers were then and He knows who is sincere even now for He knows our hearts.

People today are so insecure, that they will do anything to gain popularity or what they think is popularity and the internet provides a vast web of possibilities and is so easily abused. People can readily conjure up new identities or steal the identities of others, to satisfy their needs. I personally would rather not be popular for the sake of popularity, but have “followers” that are interested in what I have to share, so if I only have a few, that is fine with me! The main reason I’m on Twitter in the first place is to show a little love to the artists I love, so I’m bummed when they don’t show a little love back!

“Christian” or Not?

I recently read a post on Facebook by a Christian radio station which got me thinking about “Christian” music, particularly “Christian Rock/Metal” music. The post basically stated that there were certain bands they were no longer playing on their station and they went on to name them and give reasons as to why they would not be played anymore.

The station starts off by explaining their definition of a “Christian” band first, saying they believe it is a band whose main goal is to win converts to Christ or to encourage believers and sets an example of Christ in their behavior. Their idea is that if you don’t have these goals as a conscious agenda, but still make references to spiritual things, then the band is a “spiritual band” not a “Christian band” which to some extent seems logical.

One of the bands was August Burns Red and the reason was because one of the members had been seen in a video stating that “not to believe in evolution is silly”. Upon viewing the video in question, I find that he is acting kind of goofy and doesn’t really answer any of the questions posed to him. He does not say anything about Darwin’s theory. I believe in evolution myself, but not in that nut case Darwin’s theory! I believe in the evolution of man from man, not a monkey! I believe that Adam and Eve were created by God as early man or “cave man”, in the beginning and we evolved from them into what we are now, although I do struggle with whom Cain, Abel and their little brother Seth could have married, their sisters?

Another was the band As I Lay Dying, which at one point I never thought of as a “Christian” band anyway, but somehow found its way into the genre. After they heard about the lead singer admitting to his dwindling faith and later he was caught trying to have his wife killed instead of just divorcing her! They dropped them and I can understand why.

Next it was P.O.D. who started out on mainstream radio, my son and his friends were really into them when they first came out, had I known at that time that they were really a “Christian” band, I would have gotten behind them too! They were dropped because on one song they had used the F-word.  Unfortunately they have made several songs for movies using explicit language, but again they were never billed as a “Christian” band, although they seem to have cleaned up their act considerably over the years, their music seems to be less tainted these days! I have also heard Sonny, the lead singer, talk about his faith before and it appears to be very genuine.

I was really disappointed when I learned that Derek Webb, of the well known “Christian” band Caedmon’s Call, had gone solo and had used the S-word in a song on one of his albums. I have an earlier album of his that I like, but was really put off when I saw him live at a Christian music festival performing the song in a tent full of adults and young children and he did not omit the word, I had to get up and leave! I don’t believe that those kinds of words belong in any song, Christian or otherwise, so I can see having to preview a song's lyrics and possibly the meaning before playing a song. I don't believe that Christian radio stations should have to "bleep out" or sensor songs to play them on the air, if that is necessary then it shouldn't be played at all!

 

Lastly was Jars of Clay. Jars of Clay! Can you imagine that Jars would not be considered a “Christian” band? Why, you say? All because Dan Haseltine made a comment about “gay” marriage! I’m sure that Dan knows it’s wrong, but he understands that those kinds of people need love too! We are told to love the unlovable. In the Bible it says to set aside our differences and show respect and kindness to others even when we don’t like or agree with the things they do or how they live. We should still be able love them without condoning their lifestyles, how can we disciple them if we shun or ignore them?

I am all for having some kind of filter for the music that gets played on “Christian” radio or any other for that matter; I don’t want to hear foul language on mainstream radio either. To me those days are over, I have moved on. But then again if we filter it by Unchristian like behavior or the fact that everyone in a band isn’t a believer, aren’t we drawing a thin line between Christianity and Legalism? I read an article by Reese Roper of Five Iron Frenzy in which he acknowledged the fact that two people in their current lineup are not believers, does that make their music less relevant? The fact is, I think it’s an amazing thing that they can all work together as a unit; maybe there is a lesson in that!

Then, also what happens when Christian bands cover music by mainstream artists? Does that make them less Christian? So many “Christian” bands have covered mainstream music, when I heard the song “Ordinary World” by Red, I thought it was theirs, but it’s actually by Duran Duran! Reliant K has covered lots of songs by mainstream artists also, like “I’d Like to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears. On the new Seventh Day Slumber album “We Are the Broken”, they covered a song called “Skyscraper” that had been released by mainstream artist Demi Lovato! I told Joseph Rojas, the lead singer, my girls recognized it right away and he said the reason they had chosen it was because the lyrics fit in so perfectly with the rest of the album. The list goes on forever, so many Christian artists have covered so much non-Christian music, but it does not make them believe any less in Christ! Does that mean they shouldn’t be played on Christian stations even if the lyrics are clean and the message is sound?

The Jewish religious leaders in the Bible criticized Jesus for spending all of his time with the lowliest of people and not with those they considered worthwhile, but that is what He came for. There are some musical groups made up of believers who have decided to try to reach the unreachable by going to play in bars and clubs instead of Churches, they also have a podcast show and blog where they get down and dirty, discussing all types of issues, from pornography to homosexuality. Emery is one such band. I believe there are bands that are spurred on by their hope of communicating with the lost generation by getting down on their level, by giving them the kind of music that will appeal to them with a message that is truth in biblical terms.

There are mainstream bands too, like U2 with a similar need to make music that has a purposeful meaning, encouraging and up lifting, another such band is Collective Soul. Their hit song “Shine” is about asking Heaven to shine a light on man! Lead singer, Ed Roland’s father was a preacher and Ed writes music that shows his love for his father and for his father’s faith! Even going so far as to write a song called “Hymn for My Father” in which he states he will follow his father’s teachings, I believe Ed is referring to both his earthly father (now in Heaven) and his Heavenly father.

There might even be such things as “closet Christian” bands that don’t label themselves as Christian, but actually have Christian beliefs that they openly share in their music. I believe its ok to not have to label ones music, just to be honest and make sure whatever music you are presenting, is edifying and glorifying to God or at least presentable to the rest of the world!

So although I will miss hearing August Burns Red, P.O.D and Jars of Clay playing on their station, I will still listen to it along with many others in order to get my fix of “Good Christian” music!