Brandon Holyoak

Why Jesus? Why Christmas? Why celebrate this seemingly obscure man who didn’t live but 30 some odd years? In fact, how did humanity come to fixate its collective consciousness around this man’s life, setting our watches and calendars to his birth, and for 2 millennia see his message spread the world over? Christianity is not the only religion on Earth, hardly the oldest, even some faith systems have arisen and withered before Jesus was born. Christians themselves have long held to their own sub traditions and denominations under the overall umbrella of Christianity, yet the name of this meager carpenter from the Middle East and his message still pierces the hearts of more than a billion people the world over. What is so special about Him anyway? Christianity differs from other religious traditions because of the answer it provides to the question, “Why?” While other faiths around the world pose similar theological beliefs based around self mastery, morality, sacrifice, and gratitude, no other belief system comes close to the supposedly counter intuitive notion of mercy and forgiveness balanced with justice. Whereas deity had heretofore been vengeful, dispassionate, and distant albeit omnipotent, this Jesus figure challenged the religious status quo of the day, striking a chord with his own Judaic lineage and organizing a faith movement that ultimately cost him is mortal life. He did not brandish an army, he did not seek audience with the powerful or the political, rather he dined with tax collectors, fisherman, debated religious scholars, bade the lame, blind, and dumb to follow Him. But again, why was this sprouting well of faith in the Middle Eastern desert different? A commonly known scripture from the New Testament illustrates this answer. “For God so loved the world⁠, that he gave his only begotten Son⁠, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life⁠. “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:16-17, KJV) This set a new precedent apart from other faith traditions: a God previously believed to be distant, “loved” the world? The original Greek word recorded in John 3:16 is “ἠγάπησεν” which in English, describes the kind of selfless, unconditional love we recognize in parental affection today: parents love their Children not because of what the child offers, but because of what the parent has given. God was not dispassionate, cold, or ethereal: Jesus taught that God was in fact our Father, a selfless unconditional loving paternal figure, whom had sent his own son to champion a new paradigm, that mankind ought to love one another selflessly, unconditionally, even if it at times meant “turning the other cheek” or was not to one’s gain or benefit. It is that unconditional love for our fellow man that set the foundation for Christianity. Despite differing traditions and practices throughout Christendom, this universal belief that God loves us unconditionally from the outset of existence continues to confound even the hardest of hearts today. God’s design for the world was/is NOT to condemn, but rather to save. To heal. I believe we are all God’s children, shortsighted and imperfect, be we are His. So why Jesus? Why Christmas? Because as we emulate Him and live His teachings, we come to value unconditional selflessness, mercy, forgiveness, charity, and a love deeper than anything we’ve ever known. Whereas the shortsighted world may long only for cold hard justice, Jesus Christ, the Messiah walked an objectively unfair path none of us could walk, and chose instead to give His life for all of God’s children. I love Him, and His Gospel. Joy to the world, and Merry Christmas!

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Go Cougars from London!

This moment in Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) was when I knew the postmodern deconstruction of our culture was reaching its apex. It’s hard to believe now that this was a real scene.