THE CHRISTMAS MESSAGE: PEACE ON EARTH!

Who doesn’t want peace on earth? Maybe a few, but I’m betting 99% of the people in the world would like to live in peace. Every year we hear the Christmas message, including peace on earth goodwill to men. Along with joy to the world it is a mainstay of the Christmas season. Christians believe that the purpose of God sending Jesus to earth is well expressed in those words. Even if you don’t believe in God or Jesus, I think you would agree that peace and joy are what we are all seeking, individually and collectively. But did Jesus really bring peace? So let’s look a little closer at Jesus’ messages. Never mind if you don’t believe in Him, I think you will agree with the teachings. One of his messages is love and that seems to be the popular one today. We should love everyone regardless of any differences. People like to quote Jesus as loving everyone, even the sinners. That is true, He did love everyone. The problem with the “love only” theology is that it isn’t the whole message Jesus had. His primary message was to repent or to turn away from sin and that is what he told the sinners he met. His love wasn’t an enabling love or a conditional one; His love was to inspire us to change. I think the message of peace on earth goodwill to men and joy is made manifest in love and repentance. Love and repentance will make the world a peaceful place but one without the other can defeat the purpose. If you aren’t a Believer, don’t leave me yet! Much of this Christmas message is just common sense logic We live in a world where there is a lot of wrong doing or sin as the Bible defines it. We don’t all agree on what is sin, but that is another matter. Most of us do agree on some simple concepts of sin, or wrongness. Racism, (both white and black), murder, theft, stealing are just a few things I think we would all agree on. So I pose the question: If we were to turn away from those things wouldn’t we have more peace in the world? So even if you don’t believe in God, embrace the teachings. It’s up to each of us to make it happen. Peace will come if we repent (turn away) from evil and love one another! Like Him or not, He did bring a solution to peace!  The problem is not practicing what we preach; it is practicing what Jesus taught/