Mountain Views News          Saturday, December 27, 2014

15

OPINION 

Mountain Views-News Saturday, December 27, 2014 


OUT TO PASTOR 

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder

Mountain 
Views

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Susan Henderson

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Dean Lee 

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Joan Schmidt

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CONTRIBUTORS

CoCo Lasalle

Chris Leclerc

Bob Eklund

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Dr. Tina Paul

Rich Johnson

Merri Jill Finstrom

Lori Koop

Rev. James Snyder

Tina Paul

Mary Carney

Katie Hopkins

Deanne Davis

Despina Arouzman

Greg Welborn

Renee Quenell

Ben Show

Sean Kayden

Marc Garlett

RICH Johnson 

NEW YEAR TRADITIONS

 Of course, the advent of the New Year always heralds the often 
failed attempt at making resolutions. Lose weight, stop smoking, 

 I have discovered some resolutions in the ether referred to 
as the internet. However, before we discuss resolutions, let�s 
look at strange traditions. Realbuzz.com offers up rather strange 
traditions.

 If you are in Ecuador and feel like banishing ill fortune, set fire 
to a scarecrow at midnight on New Year�s Eve. While you�re at it 
burn photographs of things that represent last year.

 People in Denmark have a way of venting their frustration 
on New Year�s Eve. Unused plates are saved up during the year 
and then hurled at the front doors of friend and family in what is described as a 
strangely vandalistic display of affection. I wonder if they do that up in Solvang, a 
mostly Danish populated town up the California Coast.

 Well I�ve never been to Spain. But if I�m ever there at midnight on New Year�s Eve 
I am going to do this. When the clock strikes 12 midnight, Spaniards start stuffing 
their faces with 12 grapes, one for every ring of the bell on the clock. If you succeed 
you are guaranteed good luck for the coming year.

 Stay out of Peru this time of year. If you are there you might get caught up in the 
Takanakuy Festival. Sounds pleasant enough. But what Takanakuy entails in facing 
off in a ring for a round of bare-knuckle brawling. It is overseen by local police. Get 
this: It�s all in �good� fun and represents a fresh start for the new year.

 Japan has a Buddhist tradition that takes place at midnight. When the clock 
strikes 12 the bell doesn�t ring 12 times. It rings 108 times. This is believed to banish 
all human sins. I think the ringing bells might be the same sound the Takanakuy 
festival participants experience in Peru. Also, in true eastern mysticism, it is good 
luck to be smiling or laughing as you go into the new year.

 If you want your fortune to be focused in a particular direction, go to South 
America. Do you want to find love? Dress in red underwear on New Year�s. Riches 
require you to wear yellow jockeys or boxers. And if peace is your only goal, show 
up in white knickers. That will do the trick nicely.

 The folks at RealBuzz also had some unusual New Year�s resolutions. They 
include:

� Get your photo taken in five interesting places (geographically that is)
� Learn a decent party trick
� Make a new friend a month
� Learn something you never learned as a child
� Try a new food each week; each month (let�s not go overboard)
� Do something nice for others every day (go overboard)


 

 I will give you an example of the last resolution in action. I was recently in line at 
a Krispy Kreme. What was I doing there? Hmmm. I actually only wanted a drink. 
A young couple were in front of me and very graciously invited me to go ahead of 
them. Later, as I was heading out I passed the couple seated near a window enjoying 
their doughnuts and drinks. Reminded of their good nature I pulled out a $20 bill, 
put it on their table, and said they were so� gracious to me in the line that the 
next box of doughnuts they bought was on me. I know I made their day. Yay! I also 
know that type of giving is contagious. It grows and grows. I think someday when 
we are in heaven we will be given a glimpse of how far reaching simple little acts of 
generosity expand geometrically. See you in 2015! - Orginally Published 2014


DO CHRISTMAS TEMPTATIONS 
REALLY COUNT? 

All my life I have 
been careful about 
succumbing to the 
temptations of life. I have not always been 
successful and have fallen into some. Oscar 
Wilde famously said, �I can resist anything 
except temptation.� We all know the end of 
his life.

 Temptation is the hardest thing in life 
to resist. I have watched myself and in spite 
of watching myself, I have succumbed 
to temptation. Just when I think I have 
overcome everything and have stepped 
beyond temptation, I find myself tempted.

 It is not being tempted that is difficult, 
because everybody is tempted. The hymn 
writer said, �Yield not to temptation, for 
yielding is sin.� So the temptation is not sin, 
it is how I react to that temptation.

 I must say I have had some abundant help 
from the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage 
whose major role in life is to keep me from 
yielding. She has kept me from who knows 
how much yielding I will never know. I do 
know this, I do not want to yield to some 
temptation and then have to face her. Enough 
said.

 But this is the holiday season, celebrating 
Christmas and everything that goes with it. 
One major activity that goes with this kind of 
holiday is eating.

 Now eating is something we do all the 
time; at least I do. It is not the eating; it is what 
I am eating that poses some problems. The 
Christmas holiday offers so many cookies 
and cakes and pies that I cannot eat them all, 
but I try. Oh boy, do I try.

 �Don�t you think you have had enough 
cake?� She always asked me in the middle of 
eating a piece of cake. If my mouth was not 
full with cake, I would like to tell her, �No, I 
don�t think I have had enough cake and when 
I do I�m certainly not going to tell you.�

 You all know where that will get me!

 What I want to know is simply this; how 
much cake or cookie or pie is really too 
much? It is a simple question and I would like 
to have a simple answer.

 Where I get into trouble is when my wife 
and I go to some Christmas party. I feel as a 
responsible partygoer I need to taste all of the 
cake and cookies that the gracious host has 
provided for us. That�s just the way I think 
about it. I believe it would be insulting to go 
to a party and not eat all of the party vittles, 
at least sample them.

 My wife, as you may guess, has an 
altogether different view of it. She has this 
strange notion that when I go to a party, 
particularly when she is accompanying me, 
the less I eat the more I honor the hostess. 
According to her, I should leave a party 
hungry.

 My idea is simply that if it is a holiday 
party with Christmas cakes and cookies the 
calories are on holiday and do not count. 
At least I am not counting them. I think at 
Christmas time bookkeeping should be put 
aside and the enjoyment of the season should 
be foremost. 

 If the host comes to me in the middle of 
a party and asks me how I liked her cake, I 
feel I have the responsibility to give a very 
educated critique of the cake. I owe it to her. 
After all, she took the time to bake it and I 
should take the time to eat it and enjoy it and 
critique it. Giving my honest opinion about 
the Christmas vittles is a very important part 
of who I am.

 It is after the party that I encounter the 
greatest difficulty. That is, explaining to my 
wife why I ate so much cake and cookies and 
pie.

 She does not very much accept the, �I just 
do not want to be rude,� explanation.

 This is one of the few places in life that we 
differ or I should say that I stand up and differ. 
I know that while I am at the party indulging 
in the delicacies all I will get is a poke in the 
rib and one of her �looks.� I can handle that. 
After all, Christmas delicacies are worth it.

 It is when I get home that I have to deal 
with the Christmas temptations I yielded to 
at the party.

 For several years and I plan to use it this 
year, I always respond by saying, �I�m going 
to make a New Year�s resolution not to eat 
cake anymore for the rest of the year.�

 How I get away with this New Year�s 
resolution is that I make it two days before 
the end of the year. And so, for the rest of the 
year, which includes two days, I will eat no 
cake or cookies or pie while the world stands.

 Temptation is not a serious thing unless 
backed into a corner and forced to yield to 
that temptation.

 The Bible Says, �There hath no temptation 
taken you but such as is common to man: but 
God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be 
tempted above that ye are able; but will with 
the temptation also make a way to escape, 
that ye may be able to bear it� (1 Corinthians 
10:13).

 Temptations never count unless for some 
reason I yield to the temptation.

 

 Rev. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family 
of God Fellowship, PO Box 831313, Ocala, FL 
34483. He lives with his wife, Martha, in Silver 
Springs Shores. Call him at 1-866-552-2543 or 
e-mail jamessnyder2@att.net or website www.
jamessnyderministries.com.


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LEFT TURN/RIGHT TURN

HOWARD Hays As I See It

GREG Welborn


A CHRISTMAS 

MESSAGE FOR 2014

�I look to the future 
because that�s where 
I�m going to spend the 
rest of my life.�

- George Burns

Fifteen things I�d like 
to see in 2015 (if not 
sooner):

 1. I�d like to see less reliance on 
euphemisms to soften the horrible. It�s not 
�enhanced interrogation techniques�; it�s 
torture. Waterboarding is not �simulated 
drowning�; it�s drowning - stopped short 
of death. And it�s torture.

 2. I�d like to see less reliance on private 
contractors to shield public servants 
from accountability. Even John Woo, 
author of the infamous �torture memos�, 
concedes the acts of these contractors 
went beyond the boundaries approved 
under Justice Department guidelines. I 
hope he sees, as does the rest of the world, 
that the acts were nonetheless committed 
in our name. (What I don�t ever want to 
see again is a former vice president of the 
United States on national TV defending 
something called �rectal feeding�.)

 3. I�d like to see a Supreme Court 
acknowledging that corporations are 
not people, money is not speech, and 
�religious freedom� does not extend to 
allowing employers to deny employees 
benefits they�re otherwise entitled to.

 4. I�d like to see those blaming their 
mayor and their president for the murder 
of two NYPD cops refrain from accusing 
others of incendiary rhetoric.

 5. I�d like to see those now focusing their 
blame on their mayor, their president, 
protesters, Al Sharpton, whomever for 
the murder of two NYPD cops focusing 
instead on Arrowhead Pawn Shop in 
Jonesboro, Georgia - where an individual 
with an extensive felony and mental 
health record bought a semiautomatic 
handgun he�d be unable to legally obtain 
in his home state, brought it north up the 
well-traveled �iron pipeline� and used it to 
kill two NYPD cops. I�d like to see a focus 
on that 1.2% of the nation�s gun dealers 
which, according to the feds, provide 57% 
of the guns recovered from crimes.

 6. I�d like to see Democratic office-
seekers who base their campaigns on 
distancing themselves from President 
Obama refrain from blaming their losses 
on the unpopularity of the president.

 7. I�d like to see more concern about 
the growing wealth gap and destruction 
of the middle class. I�d also like to see 
recognition that those who have no 
concern about the disappearance of 
private-sector unions and employee 
pensions are often those who have none 
at all about the growing wealth gap and 
destruction of the middle class.

 8. I�d like to see Walmart workers 
organized for better wages, rather than 
Walmart managers organizing in-
house food drives and relying on public 
assistance ($6.1 billion in 2013, according 
to Americans for Tax Fairness) so its 
workers can get by on poverty wages.

 9. I�d like to see � with 5% economic 
growth, the Dow at 18,000, 11 million 
jobs created and unemployment getting 
to the low-five-percent � more concern 
about Republicans wanting to return to 
the economic policies that brought us the 
Great Recession in the first place. I�d like 
to see all Americans concerned about 
the provision in the last budget that 
Wall Street again be allowed to engage 
in unregulated derivatives trading, with 
taxpayers once again on the hook to bail 
them out if their bets don�t pay off.

 10. I�d like to see Republican governors 
more concerned with the health of their 
citizens than in sticking it to the president. 
There are still 22 states that have refused 
to expand Medicaid in accordance with 
the Affordable Care Act. In states that 
expanded Medicaid, uninsured among 
those below the poverty line dropped 
from 28% to 17%. In states that haven�t, 
it�s stayed around 36%.

 11. After over fifty failed attempts, 
I�d like to see Congress try actually 
governing rather than trying yet again 
to get rid of the Affordable Care Act � 
which looks soon to pass the 10 million 
enrollees mark. With hearings on the 
IRS �scandal� and Benghazi coming up 
empty, actually trying to pass legislation 
might be the way to go.

 12. I�d like to see school curricula 
guided by educators; not by agenda-
driven local boards who maintain the 
jury�s still out on evolution. I�d like to 
see legislation guided by science; not by 
donor-driven congressmen who maintain 
the jury�s still out on climate change.

 13. I�d like to see recognition of the 
fact that no matter how frustrating and 
time-consuming peace talks and nuclear 
disarmament negotiations can be, they�re 
still better than the alternative.

 14. I�d like to see more realization 
that for immigrants in this country, 
�documented� or not, it�s better that they 
have access to healthcare, are licensed and 
insured when they get behind the wheel, 
can put their kids in school and are paying 
taxes on their income than if they�re not.

 15. On local issues, I�d like to see our 
leaders follow this procedure: When an 
issue comes up, think of the things you 
love about Sierra Madre and the reasons 
you�d rather live here than anywhere else. 
Then think of what impact your decision 
might have on those things and those 
reasons - and act accordingly.

Happy New Year.

Christmas is here once again, and I truly 
hope that all of our readers will be able to 
enjoy time with loved ones and to experience 
the meaning of this special season. How 
uplifting it is to know that during our chaotic 
times we can celebrate and take strength 
from the birth of the One who will be 
called �Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, 
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace�.

 As we reflect on that, we must acknowledge 
that our times seem anything but peaceful. 
We sing songs about peace on earth and 
goodwill toward our fellow man, yet it seems 
out of place given all that has happened this 
year. We have seen resurgent and bloody 
conflict in the Middle East and Afghanistan, 
Russian aggression in Ukraine, the outbreak 
of Ebola and its footprint on our shores, 
racial tension in Ferguson and a cold blooded 
revenge murder of two policemen in New 
York. In the midst of all those, there still 
remain thousands of U.S. military personnel 
serving bravely and facing hostility in several 
of the world�s far-flung corners. 

 How do we reconcile the turmoil and 
the suffering with the Christmas message 
of joy and peace? It can seem impossible, 
and yet, Christmas is the story of God 
breaking through turmoil and suffering 
every bit as severe as we have experienced in 
present times. At the time of Jesus� birth in 
Bethlehem, Israel had been suffering under 
the brutal domination of Roman oppression. 
People then were hurting, afraid and weary. 
There was pain, separation, cruelty and death 
� often times in severity we cannot even 
imagine from our 21st Century American 
perspective. Long ago, they longed for a 
savior � a messiah � who had been promised 
them in their most sacred texts and who 
would lift them out of their misery.

 We know the story; an Angel foretells to 
Mary the coming of this savior of man, and 
then just 9 short months later other Angels 
announce to the world through Shepherds 
and a star that the savior had arrived. The 
humble and proud, rich and poor alike, 
traveled to this manger to witness the 
miracle.

 But the miracle was not as they expected. 
A messiah was supposed to be a mighty 
warrior � a great earthly king in the lineage 
of David � who would conquer their 
oppressors. What they found was a �lowly� 
descendent born in a backwater of both the 
Roman Empire and Israel. How could it be 
that such a birth could be foundational to 
our celebration of Christmas except for the 
fact that this birth was the manner in which 
God Himself took on the form of a man 
and thus entered into our chaotic, cruel and 
impersonal world?

 The point of the story is that God kept His 
promise to rescue us, but did it in a different 
and far grander manner than we could ever 
have imagined. A military victory over the 
Romans would have been of short-lived 
significance in history. Other empires had 
come and gone, and the Romans would 
eventually be defeated. We know these 
things to be historical 
realities, but they have 
no significance � other 
than to a handful of 
historians � to our 
everyday lives. Even 
the miracles of Jesus, as 
great as they were for those who received 
them, would surely have faded in historical 
significance were it not for the fact that they 
beautifully foretold of a greatness which 
would be exhaustively spent on our behalf. 

 Jesus came to pay a price we all owe 
but none can fully pay. Without Him, we 
would all be continuously found wanting 
against the righteousness demanded by 
God. Before Him, men offered imperfect 
sacrifices in attempts to atone for sins 
against the perfection of God�s standards. 
No matter how many, how expensive, or 
how ornate the sacrifices, there would always 
be the question, �is it enough?� And there 
would always be the whispered answer in 
the recesses of our conscience, �no, it is not 
enough.�

 So God entered into a world every bit as 
chaotic, cruel, hurting and painful as the one 
in which we now live to save us all from our 
sins. The Jews wanted a savior for their small 
nation. God gave a savior for all mankind!

 The Jews wanted a savior who would 
bind the wounds of physical oppression. 
God gave a savior who binds the wounds 
of spiritual oppression. They wanted 
something inherently temporal and short-
lived. He gave something transcendent and 
everlasting!

 This is why historians � both secular and 
sacred � can say that Jesus of Nazareth has 
had the greatest impact on the world of any 
historical figure, bar none. This is why we 
celebrate Christmas. This is why today, 
in the midst of the chaos, we can reconcile 
turmoil and suffering with joy and peace. 
It is man who causes the suffering, but no 
matter how severe its affliction, it is God who 
offers joy and peace.

 I offer a special prayer for a sense of 
peace and comfort to the families of NYPD 
officers Liu and Ramos, and one as well 
for the families of soldiers who will not be 
home for Christmas, for those who suffer the 
loss of loved ones to more �normative�, but 
nonetheless painful, causes such as disease, 
age and accidents, and lastly to all of us who 
still live in a fallen world. Our realities here 
will never achieve the perfection of heaven, 
but He who lives there came here to comfort 
and console, to save us from our sins, and to 
guide the way to our eventual and eternal 
home. 

 Merry Christmas!

 About the author: Gregory J. Welborn is 
a freelance writer and has spoken to several 
civic and religious organizations on cultural 
and moral issues. He lives in the Los Angeles 
area with his wife and 3 children and is active 
in the community. He can be reached at 
gregwelborn2@gma/5l.com.

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