Article December 19, 2005 Issue

CHRISTMAS—its promise and fulfillment

BY JAMES SPENCER

Joy, family gatherings, gifts, communication with friends, quiet contemplation, religious renewal—these are some of the thoughts and feelings that accompany the approach of Christmas for the Christian world. In fact, in parts of the non-Christian world, Christmas calls forth many of these same images. But the fact is, Christmas commemorates the most momentous event in the history of the world and for all the inhabitants of the world—the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Today, we scan the heavens so that we can find out if there are other beings in the universe. We look for the origin of life, and send space probes to study the planets to understand what formed them, and from what materials. Yet the event that we celebrate at Christmas, which took place over two thousand years ago, probes these very issues. It overturns material concepts and reasoning, and vaporizes the whole theory of solidified matter. And why? Because Jesus was born of a virgin.

That unique experience, which was prophesied centuries before, revises all theories of causation and generation. It brings the forever Christmas message that men and women have a spiritual source; that their true origin is not in egg or sperm; that their human development can transcend limitations of the flesh; and that they can cast off the enslaving shackles of sin, disease, and even of death itself.