Reason for the Season/Why Jesus Came

[Christina]

WHY DID JESUS COME? Coach Dave DaubenmireDecember 28, 2006NewsWithViews.comWell, it looks like we all made it through the Christmas season. I enjoy the time with family and the great memories we share, but I hate what Christmas has become. Like so many things in Christendom we have turned this holiday over to the Humanists. Please don’t write to me about the pagan origins of Christmas. I am aware of all that. But in my family, at least, it has been a special time when we shared with our children the significance of the birth of Jesus and what it truly meant to the world. We have tried hard not make it about Santa, his reindeer, Frosty, or ourselves, but the commercialization has bombarded us so hard that it really is easy to lose the true meaning of the season. As the popular refrain goes: “Jesus is the reason for the season.” Indeed, He is. But what does that mean? If, in fact, He is the reason? Then why is He so very much missing from the celebration? On Christmas Eve, after returning from a family gathering, I happened to turn on Fox News to catch up on the latest news of the day. I sat with great interest as the 10 O’clock hour featured a special, aptly named, “The Purpose of Christmas with Rick Warren.” I watched the show with mixed feelings. I was happy that a major news channel would so directly talk about the reason for Christmas, but I was leery of what the message might be. I’m not here to beat up on Pastor Warren, but I always question why and who the media chooses to highlight. “If Jesus is the reason for the season, why is there so much focus on Rick Warren?” I asked my wife. To my chagrin, this feature was only the tip of the iceberg. The next day Fox ran another special called PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE: CAN RICK WARREN CHANGE THE WORLD? “Hmmm”…I thought to myself. “I thought Jesus came to do that.” On December 22 Larry King Live featured Joel and Victoria Osteen. How can you not like Joel Osteen? He seems like such a great guy, focusing so much of his attention on the “life-enhancement Gospel.” His message of love and acceptance seems so, well, nice. It makes us feel good, especially at Christmas. “Why is it,” my bride Michele wondered aloud, “that the media wants to focus our attention so much on these two guys?” Why indeed, I pondered. What makes these two men the face of American Christianity? Could it be because between them they have sold over 80 million books? If the truth be told, more Christians have read their books than have read the Bible. Remember the old game-show tag line, “it’s not what you say that counts, it’s what you don’t say.” Yep…it is what you don’t say that counts. I carried that thought with me to my radio show the next day. The message of Warren and Osteen lay in my belly all night. I knew something was wrong, but what they said seemed so good. It is hard to argue with someone so…nice. But then I remembered the phrase that started the whole thing, “Jesus is the reason for the season.” “Why did Jesus come?” I asked my radio audience on Saturday. “Did they crucify Him because He was so ‘nice'”? (I just did a Bible search and “nice” does not show up in the Bible. Try it yourself) Why is it that the media wants to focus on Christian leaders who are so accepting of everyone? Is there an agenda at work here? Are they trying to show us that Christian men are tolerant and loving of everyone and everything? WWJT? What would Jesus tolerate? Why did Jesus come? You might be surprised.......morehttp://www.newswithviews.com/Daubenmire/dave53.htm