Scrooge You Part 1.

Ahh, the holidays, nothing more brings to mind the smell of roast turkey, the sparkle of lights, throngs of angry shoppers and the debate about the holidays. We all hear the following at least once or twice during this holiday season:

1. You should never say X-MAS, only Christmas!
2. It's not happy holidays, it's Merry Christmas!
3. We make Christmas too secular, it needs to go back to its roots!
4. Jesus is the reason for the season!
   
5. Not everyone is Christian you know, there are other holidays at this time other then Christmas!
6. Bah, the holidays suck it's the worst time of year.

So what do we know about the origins of Christmas? As we all know the NT does not give a solid date for the actual birth of Jesus. We do know he was born sometime between year BC 8 & 6. As to the month, it's anyone's guess. I've personally read differences from May - January. We just really have no way of knowing.I'm not really a historian so any personal views on the actual date do not have any true primary research behind them and would be nothing more then hypothetical guesstimates. In this case, I don't think the actual month & day is that important.

Winter celibrations are nothing new, Hanukkah is mentioned in the Talmud and other sources. Sol Invictus was observed by the Syrians as a way to worship various sun gods during solstice. The ancient Greeks held a celibration of Dionysis (God of wine) in which a festival was held in his honor. Early Romans celibrated Saturnalia which began as a feast day for Saturn

Early Christians really did not practice Christmas until 354 AD which is the first record showing a feast by Christians on December 25th. During the middle ages Christmas was actually very rarely recognized, the importance being placed on the epiphany instead. It wasn't really untill the 1200's or so that Christmas really took off as a celibration. But that lasted only a few hundred years, in 1647 protestants actually banned the celibration of Christmas as "trappings of popery" & "rags of the beast". Through the late 1600's the protestants even had the celibration of Christmas outlawed in Boston. Then, during the American revolution most Americans did not celibrate Christmas because they felt it was an English holiday. Everyone should remember George Washingtons famous attack on the British during Christmas of 1777.

The modern day celibration of Christmas (family, compassion, good will, etc) can really be traced to one man, Charles Dickens. He wrote A Christmas Carol in 1843 and after that book was published, Christmas as we know it today was born.

So the continual evolution of how society celibrates Christmas is farily easy to see I think. We are constantly adding/changing/removing things from how "normal" society celibrates Christmas. The Christmas we celibrate today isn't the same Christmas our great-grandparents celibrated. And, the Christmas our great-grandchildren celibrate will probably be different from ours.


On Friday I will continue this post dicussing the modern day conflict and what if anything in my view needs (or doesn't need) to be done.

Update

So folks, sitting in my lap as I type is the newest member of the Roesler family, Braden James. He was born on Tuesday at 2:30pm weighing 6lbs 11oz and 19 inches long. Mom and baby are doing just fine, still a bit tired though. He's an easy baby, only waking a few times a night to get a little food. He's very alert, spending more then a few hours up and just studying everything around him. It must be pretty neat (and scary) coming into a world you know nothing about, and everything is new to you.
The other two boys have taken to his new brother like ducks to water. Caden is loving his role as a big brother; helping feed, burp and hold his little brother. I'm keeping this post short, as I now have to feed a hungry boy!

A day in the life.

It's been one of those days for me. Due to the emergency patch Microsoft released on Thursday night, we have been working long days to patch all of our servers and systems. We only have a few more to patch, and then the fun starts, waiting for things to break. I started to wonder, why does so many of of Microsoft's patches break after you apply them to your pc. To the right is one of Microsoft's lead programmers Mr. Hairy C. Himp.

The alarm went off at 8, time to get my butt out of bed and get ready for Karate. Why again did I accept Saturday morning classes? Class went pretty uneventful until we started practicing with the Bo Staff (think of a long heavy stick). As I was twirling it in the session, I was feeling pretty good. I just knew I looked like Brue Lee. As I gained in confidence, I twisted the stick into a fighting stance, and drove in for the kill. Unfortunately my head had a different opnion and decided to intercept the path of my backstroke. I think the thud as it struck my melon could be heard from 2 counties over.



After we got home from Karate, it was time to head out to buy the boys some more clothes for winter. One odd thing about children, if you keep feeding them they keep growing. It gets expensive having to continuously buy kids clothes. I tried talking Emma into only feeding the kids once a week. I mean if snakes can do it, so can kids, right? But, I got about as far with that suggestion as a cake goes at a weight watchers convention.


Right before we left to go to the clothing store, Caden comes running into the living room screaming like a banshee, holding his hand. He then stars crying, yelling "ouch, ouch, ouch" and running to Emma. After trying to calm him down, she finds out the problem. Emily had her curling iron on the bathroom counter, and for some reason Caden decided he wanted to grab it. Well, it burned him pretty good. After Emily doctored him up with ice, kisses and a bandaid, we finally left the house.

We then stopped by Goodwill to donate some clothes. Pulling up into the donation line there was a truck sitting in front of us. I pulled up behind the truck, and we waited. While we were waiting, 2 cars pulled up behind us and they started waiting. Finally, someone comes out to take our single bag of clothes, then they walk back into the store. Great, I can't move forward because this truck is sitting there, I can't backup either. The other car is pulled up so close to my rear that he could give me a colonoscopy if he wanted too and not get out from his car. We waited there for 10 minutes untill the truck in front pulled out. I guess it's true, no good deed goes unpunished.

For dinner I made a modified version of Melanies Sloppy Jalopies which were very good! Instead of using baking potatoes, I used Red potatoes and served it on mashed potatoes. We then decided to get into a little bit of Halloween spirit. At Wal-Mart the we had purchased some washable paint and we let the boys loose on Emmas tummy. Since it's not going to be here much longer, we wanted to get something recorded for posterity. We all had a lot of fun with it.

After we put the kids to bed, Emma and I watched a little TV. While flipping through the channels we stopped and watched some CNN. They were talking about the mortgage crisis, crisis on wallstreet, yadda yadda yadda. I have no true clue as to what is going on, I just know it's nice having $2 gas again. Makes you stop and think about how the actual price of gas is decided. Yes, I've taken plenty of economic classes, but it's insane gas can flucuate 100% in the space of a few months. I swear, the price of gas has more mood swings then a 14 year old High School girl.

Now, it's late, I can patch 1 more server now that it's done backing up, and I can finish the rest first thing tomorrow morning. All I know, is I had better get to bed as soon as i'm done, i'm not feeling all that intelligent right now.





UPDATE - I finally finished patching all of the servers and none failed, YAY!!! I really feel like this guy now!

A guide to caring for babies, Roesler style.

Wow, time sure flies doesn't it? In just about 2 weeks, we will be greeting the newest member of our little family, Braden. We spent some time with the boys on Sunday going over the do's and don'ts of babies. The first rule I was talking to them about was how to hold a baby. Having a house full of boys, we didn't have any baby dolls so I used Caden's spiderman doll as a substitute. "Caden, show me how you hold a baby". He got down on the floor, crossed his little ankles and held out his arms next to his legs. I placed the spiderman doll in his arms and he held it properly (YAY, score 1 point for us). I did the same with Dylan, and he held it correct as well. During this time Emma is putting up foo-foo in the babies room so I walk over to help her put some stuff down low. Watching her try to bend over with that Baby Gullet is like watching a Rhino try to tap dance. Emma, is usually fairly graceful but with that world champion beer gut the poor thing doesn't move all that well. But, I kind of enjoy it because I can at least make fun of her and run away from her kicks for now. After helping her for a bit, I turn back to the boys. Dylan is making baby crying sounds and Caden is rocking the spiderman singing to him. I thought, wow these two may do pretty good with a baby. Then, Caden holds that baby up at Dylan and makes a peeing sound "D, Braden is peeing on your head". Emma gives me the Mom eyes "I told you to not tell them about that."

After getting everyone settled down we go to show the boys how we will give Braden a bath. I pull out the little tub and I tell Caden "Okay Tater, lets give Braden a bath. Show me how we bathe him." Caden gently takes Braden/Spiderman from my arms and places him upside down in the tub. He then gently prends to scoop water on him. Since he at least tried, we still get the poitnts for that one. Dylan asks Emma "Mom, how is Braden going to get out of your tummy?" Being the loving husband I am, I immediately start giggling like a schoolgirl and helpfully say "Yeah honey, I've always wondered how the babies come out." Emma then leans towards me and whispers "Keep it up and you'll wonder that for the rest of your very short and painful life". She then proceeds to tell the boys that the Dr takes the baby out from her tummy (lifting her shirt to show the boys her belly). Dylan, ever the skeptic says "But Mom, you don't have a scar from us, why is that?" "Because when mommies have babies, the scar goes away as their belly gets back to normal". Caden then asks Emma "Momma, why is daddys belly broken?" Emma and I look at each other quizzically. "What do you mean Caden?" Caden then lifts up his shirt "See, my button out, your button out, D's button out, but Dady's button in". During this, he walks over and lifts up my shirt to show my belly. Emily then gets a gleam in her eye "That's because your Daddy doesn't always listen to Mommy, and when people don't listen to mommy, their belly buttons go into their bellys." Oh, you are a fine foe Mrs. Roesler...

The next step in caring for a baby is entertainment. We took our children over to the baby bouncer. The baby bouncer is a chair in a wire frame that you can move up and down to create a rocking motion. "Okay tater, Braden wants to sit in his chair and bounce, show me how you do it". Caden puts spidey in the bouncer and even puts the little seat belt around him. He then proceeds to bounce the holy hell out of the bouncer, by this time the baby would have a serious case of whiplash. Before I can say anything, Dylan yells out "Caden, your doing it too fast, move let me show you how to do it!" Dylan then tries to slow down Cadens speed, in the process Caden looses his balance and falls onto the back of the bouncer (remember, this is basically a catapult waiting to happen) and launches Spidey up into the air and over the upstairs railing and down onto the 1st story. I look at both of them and Caden is the only one to speak "Oops, I torry, I go get Braden".

Oh dear God, what have I helped unleash upon this unsuspecting world? Please, don't be suprised if you see me on T.V one day "Police entered into a house in New Braunfels today on the reports of a infant hanging on a set of fan twirling fan blades with his diaper placed on his head. The father was found spinning around in his underwear yelling "I AM DON QUIXOTE, LET US RIDE SANCHO!" He is being held for psychiatric evaluation."

Who shall inherit the earth again?

We are all familiar with Matthew 5:5 "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth." (emphasis mine) I want to shout it loud and clear THEY GOT IT WRONG. Most authors place the Greek word praos in the scripture, and that would mean roughly meek. I say, the original text is NOT praos but gune. Yes, I know they look different, but hear me out.

Today after karate class I was eating dinner and the boys were taking their baths. All of a sudden I hear a 7 year old scream "CANNON BALL!!!" and then a THUD! SPLASH! and maniacal laugh. I then hear the 4 year old yell "CANNON BALL!!!" and then a thud, no splash and then crying. I get up, go into the bathroom and my naked 4 year old is lying on the tile crying. I notice no blood, no welts and he was awake so I brushed him off and put him in the bathtub. Walking back to finish my dinner, Emma just asks "He missed?" I said yep, and she went back to doing grades.

Later, I went to pull the heathens from the tub. In the doorway between the master bathroom and our room I have a chinup bar I use for exercising. The boys and I were playing around and I told them "Hey guy's watch this!" I then took a running start at the bar, grabbed it held on and flipped myself forward. That part worked well. What I didn't plan on in my little pea brain was the fact the boys had just finished a bath and the bathroom floor was wet. Do you know what the sound of a 260 lb man flying into a bathub makes? After the kids stopped laughing and the stars cleared from my head I got up and went along. My long suffering wife didn't even bother coming in to see if I was okay. She just stated "Did something stupid, huh?" I said yep. She said "Did it hurt?" I said yep. She said "Serves you right ding dong" and went back to doing grades.

Around 8, the boys decided they wanted a snack. I was looking around the cabinet and thought what can I give them? I saw honey in the cabinet and right next to it was a package of marshmallows. I mean marshmallows are good, honey is good so it goes to figure both together would make an uber-snack! The boys then ate the uber-snack with a gusto seen only in nature videos of a pack of hyenas. Thier need for a snack sated I read thier books to them, and then turned on noggin for them to watch tv for a little while. Emily looking up from her grades asks me "Did you feed the boys a snack?" I said yep. She asked "What did you feed them?" I said "Stuff I found in the cabinet". She then gave me the Mommy look "Jason, did you feed them that old bread we had in there!?" The fact that she had to even ask that should give you my gentle reader some insight to my mental decision making abilities. This stems from what I call the "Expirement on eating a grossly expired can of beans and weenies". After a few days of intestinal distress, I have a healthy respect for expiration dates. But, I digress. I replied back to Emma "No hon, I didn't give them moldy bread" If looks could kill, I would be drawn and quartered. "What then, dear husband did you feed our kids?" I knew at that point there was no going back. I had made another mistake. "Well, you see the boys were starving after Karate and playing, so I wanted to give them something to boost their energy. I saw some honey, and poured it over marshmallows for them to eat." My wife made a face that I have only seen in a snake as it swallows a small rodent. "Oh dear God Jason. You just fed the boys concentrated sugar before bed. I ask you to watch the boys 1 night while I do grades. You know they will be wired!"

I then tried to explain to her that the view that sugar makes children wild is a misnomer. I started bringing up all sorts of valid medical studies as to why sugar doesn't make a child crazy. At that point my 4 year old comes streaking out of his room running as fast as his little legs can. On his back is a superman cape and he's wearing a spiderman mask. He stops in the middle of the tv room, does a side-kick, yells "HIYA" and runs off back into his room. My wife just smiles coldly at me (kind of like a lion does before it eats a wildebeest) and says "They are yours tonight dear!" Well, suffice it to say, it's now around 10:00 and the kids still aren't in bed. But, there is a definite slow down in that room. I think the natives are starting to tire, the sugar has now burned it's way through their systems. YAY, here comes the sugar crash. Oh man, am I dead...

And, back to the beginning gune is greek for wife/woman. They have to inherit the earth, because us men are too stupid to do anything without them. If we didn't have women to keep us in check, this world would be a huge mess.

Oh, and guys, don't EVER feed your children honey and marshmallows before bed. It makes your wife angry. And when momma ain't happy, no one is happy.

Hmm, I wonder how much Benadryl it takes to put a 40 lb 7 year old to bed? "EMMA........"

It's the evidence, stupid!

It's something I've heard many times over from people. "Give me hard evidence, hell give me good circumstantial evidence and I will have more belief in YOUR God." After hearing it for the nth time a few years ago I sat down for a few weeks and started crafting my own counter to this often heard argument. Over the years, i've pruned and tightened the argument to where I'm fairly happy with it. Please, feel free to poke holes or add your thoughts to this.

Monday night I ate a healthy choice spaghetti dinner (like that's actually a dinner, but I digress)... Since trash comes on Tuesday the container and all remains from my dinner are gone. I happened to purchase that meal using cash, and I have no idea where the receipt is. My family was in the living room when I scarfed down the food so they did not see me eat the dinner. And, on a more personal and scientific note all traces of the food have either been used or passed through my system. I cannot in any way prove I had that healthy choice for dinner to a skeptical person. Yet, my own personal experience of eating the dinner is the only thing that remains of that food. Since I cannot prove I ate the dinner, does that mean I didn't eat it?

Lets go one further with a related example. Say I am home alone one night watching television when I hear a bang, scream and a shot outside my door. I run out through the door and I find a neighbor laying in a pool of blood on my porch with a still warm gun on his chest. On the side, I see a person running away wearing khaki shorts and a white t-shirt. I toss the gun on the sidewalk, and try to help the man as he is bleeding on my porch to save his life. I try my best, but fail at helping him. By this time, about 10 minutes have passed, I am covered in my neighbors blood and the police come screaming around the corner. Not knowing the situation, they take me aside of the scene and start questioning me.

At the same time other police officers begin canvassing the neighborhood seeing if any of my neighbors may have seen anything. After a marathon of questioning by police, and speaking to all of my surrounding neighbors I am arrested for attempted murder of my neighbor. Preparing for my hearing, I am given the following sheet from the DA outlining why I was arrested for my neighbors murder.

1. Speaking to two sets of my neibhors they find that I have had a few vocal arguments with this neighbor before about his boat in the way of my car and his dogs barking all of the time. I have stated on a few occasions to them in passing that I don't like him at all.
2. A neighbor who was getting home from work saw a man wearing khaki shorts and a white t-shirt shoot my neighbor. When the police found me at the scene, I was wearing khaki shorts and a white t-shirt covered with blood.
3. My fingerprints were found on the gun.
   
4. I have no witnesses placing me inside my home during the time of the shooting.
5. When I found my neighbor on my front porch, I never phoned 911 to report a shooting or an ambulance. The neighbors called 911.

Wow, I'm screwed aren't I? Every piece of evidence shows that I shot and killed my neighbor. The only other people who know I didn't shoot him are my deceased neighbor and the actual killer who is no where to be found. In this case, my recalled memory and experience are correct, even though the evidence says otherwise.

The examples above can usually turn a debate into the question of what truly is Evidence? Many people will then go on the line of stating that for evidence to be true in a rational way then it must be able to be repeated. Ahh, the basis of Science, repeatable experiments and the argument of rationality! Lets take a look at an average human, and "rational" thinking using the Scientific definition of evidence for a minute. Is it rational for me to believe that when I wake up tomorrow (a cloudless day) that when I go outside I will be able to see the sun? According the Scientific rules of evidence in order to make a valid hypothesis I must be able ot repeat the experiment continuously and get the same results. Yet, I have no evidence that the sun will rise tomorrow. I can use Inductive reasoning to assume the sun will rise tomorrow, but I cannot prove it. So I lack evidence for a belief, does that make it irrational?

When it comes to evidence, we all filter the available information through our own life experiences and personal biases. Two people can see the same thing, yet get have a totally different perspective on the event. Lets imagine a scene in which a white haired gentleman is walking in the park holding the hand of a little girl. If I were to see this scene, my internal biases would assume that man is her Grandfather. But, what do you think someone who was raised by a prematurely grey haired father to think? We both saw the same scene, and were given the same evidence but we came to difference conlusions due to our biases. It could be one of us is right, and the other is wrong. Yet, maybe if we asked the man we would find out he's actually her great-uncle, or a day-care worker.

If someone's mind is made up on any subject, it doesn't matter what "Evidence" you give that person. If their own internal biases are very strong, they will reject any evidence that threatens their world view. I am one who takes my own medicine though, and I try my best to look at evidence or a situaiton with as open mind as I can. I'm sure I fail quite often, i'm only human. Look at Thomas. He was there during Jesus's walk on earth, he saw many miracles. Yet, he still needed more proof after the resurection when others didn't. We all too often treat God like a sideshow pony, asking him to do tricks to prove himself to us.

Oh God, i'd believe in you if you'd only make this chair levitate in the air. If your God was real, he'd heal every blind persons sight, etc, ad-nauseum. For some, even if God came down and wiggled on their face they'd find a way to rationalize thier way out of it. If your open, and if you truly want the truth, you will find it. God has it there for all to see, you just have to want to see it.

Sophia, Aletheia & Theognosia (wisdom, truth & knowing God)

Tonight's post comes courtesy of Dylan. While watching a commercial for some new toy Caden told Emily and I that is the toy he wanted from Santa for Christmas (along with every OTHER toy advertised on Television). Dylan then pipes up "Just ask Mom and Dad, they are the ones who get stuff". That comment made Emily and I pause and take a second look at each other and Dylan. For better or worse, we let our kids believe in Santa Claus. I pulled Dylan aside and started asking him questions. "What do you mean we buy the presents? Do you mean we buy them for Santa to give you?" I asked him. "No, Santa isn't real Dad". I asked him if anyone had told him that at school, or where he got that idea. He told me it makes sense, that he has been thinking about it and he doesn't see how Santa can be real. No one told him about it, he thought about it on his own. I then asked him what he thought about the tooth fairy, Easter bunny, etc. His response was the same "Those are you and mommy, they aren't real".

There are times in which as a parent you don't really quite know what to say or do. I didn't push the subject any futher and I told him to keep thinking about it. As a parent, you know the day will come in which your child starts to question the world around them, the why's, how's and what's of life. We have already had the talk of why some people are poor and suffer, while others don't. He wasn't satisfied with my answer on that one, and responded with the type of knowledge only a child can have. "Well Dad, if we all are rich, and they are poor why don't we go and give our things to them so they can have more and not be so poor?" At that point, a good retort wasn't coming up to my mind. I couldn't use "Well, would you be willing to give up your toys to others?" Because he doesn't like toys. He doesn't collect Gi-Joes, or transformers, etc. Besides, how do you respond to a child's retort when in the end they are correct?

I see so much of my thought process in him, and in many ways it swells my chest with pride. But, in others it kind of makes me a bit scared and sad. I'll be honest here folks, I am not a person in which faith comes to easily. It's something I have to work hard, day by day to keep and grow. I have more then my share of doubts, I will freely admit it. I strive to one day have the kind of faith that I no longer question it. I don't know if I will ever get there, but I won't stop trying.

I do have my days in which I wonder if I am kidding myself about faith. Trying to shoehorn myself into a belief of God in order to blind myself to the inevitability of life. Why follow a God that I have no concrete proof in? But, like all other things I don't let thoughts in my mind go unanswered. Whenever I do question, I then work out WHY do I believe and WHY do I have faith. I always end up answering my questions and I keep on trucking. I am finding as time goes on the frequency of those questions are diminishing. One good thing about my constant questioning is it allows me a clearer view into WHY I have faith.

I try to keep most questions like those to myself because i've found that many times me asking those questions make people uneasy. I guess either the same questions don't come up for them or they have the ability to shut those questions out of their mind. I don't have the ability to do either. I wish I could duck those hard questions, because I still struggle with many even today (and I feel I will be struggling with them for a long time to come). I think the fact that I question my faith so much is why I love the field of apologetics. Since i've been on the other side of the "fence" and I even deal with those questions now makes it a little easier for me to answer those harder questions from people when they ask them.

Over the next week I am going to be posting my thoughts on some of the harder questions that I have either asked myself or been asked by others. Please feel free to add your thoughts and comments on the topics.

I will close the post as I opened it, with a bit of Greek.

ho de anexetastos bios ou biôtos anthrôpôi - Socrates

The life which is unexamined is not worth living.