Christmas at Church?

[ACUAlumnus]

When I was a lad, in a small town halfway between DFW and Lubbock, we had a preacher whose sermons around Christmas were about the birth of Christ. His Easter sermon was always about the resurrection, too. He would preface these sermons by saying that of course the Bible doesn't authorize a special celebration in church on these days and that we really didn't know the dates on which these events took place. But as long as our surroundings on TV and in the shopping malls were saturated with these topics, why not take advantage of that and talk about them when people were most receptive to the message. I never heard of anyone complaining. His name was Leslie Mickey, btw.

[Ivy]

Very sensible, IMHO.

[FinallyFree]

After being out of the CofC for eight years and attending a Disciples of Christ church, I have realized that the CofC is really not enriching and its members miss out on a lot. It is just not a good church, but children raised in it are taught a lot of Bible stories and are educated with Biblical knowledge. That is something relatively positive, I guess.

[ACUAlumnus]

It is just not a good church, but children raised in it are taught a lot of Bible stories and are educated with Biblical knowledge. That is something relatively positive, I guess.

I spent a year as a student at Harvard Divinity School in the 1960s. Every year they gave entering students a test on basic Bible knowledge. One day I overheard Helmut Koester, one of the New Testament professors, telling another student that the test was not all that hard, but that they had to throw in a couple of thorny New Testament questions so as to challenge the graduates of Abilene Christian.

[B.H.]

I'm curious what those thorny questions were

[Ivy]

It is just not a good church, but children raised in it are taught a lot of Bible stories and are educated with Biblical knowledge. That is something relatively positive, I guess.

I spent a year as a student at Harvard Divinity School in the 1960s. Every year they gave entering students a test on basic Bible knowledge. One day I overheard Helmut Koester, one of the New Testament professors, telling another student that the test was not all that hard, but that they had to throw in a couple of thorny New Testament questions so as to challenge the graduates of Abilene Christian.

Harvard Divinity School, ACUAlum....impressive!! Why only one year (if you care to share).

HAHA!! Interesting. I don't doubt it. I didn't attend ACU, but did harvest a lot of bible knowledge from my cofc upbringing. We were really drilled in the Bible knowledge. I'm like BH; I'd love to hear those thorny questions. Do you remember any of them, ACUAlum?

[ACUAlumnus]

Harvard Divinity School, ACUAlum....impressive!! Why only one year (if you care to share).

My plan had been to get a degree there and teach at a CoC college. Several of my teachers at ACU were HDS graduates. But after a year at HDS I realized I really wouldn’t fit in with the CoC any more. It wasn’t anything I learned in the classes there that prompted the change. It was more a matter of getting out of the CoC bubble and having a chance to think things through in a neutral environment.

I really met some interesting people there, though. My dorm roommate was a Catholic deacon, next door was a Trappist monk, and a couple of Unitarians were across the hall.

HAHA!! Interesting. I don't doubt it. I didn't attend ACU, but did harvest a lot of bible knowledge from my cofc upbringing. We were really drilled in the Bible knowledge. I'm like BH; I'd love to hear those thorny questions. Do you remember any of them, ACUAlum?

I’m afraid not. That was a really long time ago, and it’s all I can do just to remember how to manage this infernal bbs quotation mechanism!

[longdistancerunner]

Wasn't Halloween also considered devil worship by many, I don't remember at the CoC many people having object ions, but I worked with an evangelical who was solidly opposed to it.

[Ivy]

Wasn't Halloween also considered devil worship by many, I don't remember at the CoC many people having object ions, but I worked with an evangelical who was solidly opposed to it.

The cofc I knew growing up did not object to Halloween. It was one of my favorite holidays growing up (late 50s, early 60s). I think that phobia was introduced later by hard core evangelicals (80s?) Oh, I do have a story about that. Once in a very small "home" church we attended, one of the members who had been a missionary organized a halloween party at the house we rented for church services. Bless her heart, she had fully decorated the house with classic Halloween things: Spiders / spider webs, pumpkins/jack-o-lanterns, etc. She went all out. Well, one very conservative couple with a one cup / no sunday school background was so offended about the halloween party theme that they walked out. That would have been during the 90s, I think. It was very awkward.

[Ivy]

"Out of the...bubble"...I surely do understand that, ACU. You have to get out of that bubble, and all the pressure that comes with it, to determine what you actually believe to be true and what it means to live a genuine life.