Conservative's Conscience

Who Was This Man?

A.D. - Abbreviation for Anno Domini - Latin for The Year Of Our Lord - used in the Gregorian Calendar to refer to the current era. A date such as 1945 A.D. literally means "the 1945th year of our lord", the lord in question being Jesus Christ ...

B.C. - Before Christ.

When the world decides to measure time according to when you were born, you must have done something right during your lifetime. 

             When the United States, a nation dedicated to the free expression of religion, decided to commemorate your birthday 1,870 years later by making it a national holiday, it becomes apparent that whatever you did had a lasting and a beneficial effect on mankind. 

             And when that holiday continues to be celebrated to some degree in every corner of the globe, reasonable men begin to agree you were a very special person, perhaps the most influential man who ever lived. 

             We are speaking here, of course, of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

             You weren't born in a log cabin, like our beloved President Abraham Lincoln, but the stable in Bethlehem that welcomed your birth qualifies as equivalently humble.  And just as Lincoln's parents are hardly mentioned in his biographies, your father, Joseph, and your mother, Mary, were also un-dramatic people who got up in the morning, did their chores, watched over you and enjoyed whatever friends and simple pleasures that came their way.

             You lived quietly for three decades.  Then, quite abruptly it appears, you left your carpenter's bench, strode into the world, recruited your twelve closest supporters and proceeded to preach a message that was destined to influence kings and cabbies -- that changed the face of the earth and formed a brand new universal moral conscience that continues to guide the affairs of men.

             Whew!  No wonder they tell time according to your birth; no wonder you are remembered.  No wonder your followers bow their heads when your name is spoken, and no wonder your detractors use your name as the ultimate curse.  

             But who were you during your 33 years on this earth?  A preacher?  Yes and an effective one.  But there have been others who are not so revered.  A miracle worker?  So it has been reported.  But others claimed the same powers, and they are forgotten. 

             So what are the unique properties of your life that made you stand out -- that cost you your life for, ironically, preaching a message of love and tolerance? 

             The short answer?  You claimed to be God, you predicted your death and resurrection, and the proofs for the truth of such things were sufficiently powerful to persuade contemporaries who, in turn, spread the word and eventually formed the most influential moral, ethical and religious presence in the world.

             When twelve mature, practical-minded men leave their homes and travel from Ethiopia to Turkey to Rome, during an era that boasted only the most primitive forms of locomotion, in order to spread the message you taught them, and when all but two of those men (John, and Judas, who committed suicide) died a horrible, painful death because they would not renounce you, it's fair to say you made quite an impression on them during your three years together -- they saw and believed the reported miracles -- they believed you were God.

             But God or not, nobody can deny you were special.  And once again we celebrate your birthday, still contemplating with awe the most productive life ever lived by any man during any time. 

             Christmas as a secular holiday honors Jesus as an influential teacher and philosopher.  As such, it can be, and should be, celebrated by all.  But as a religious holiday, it has added meaning.  With His birth, the gateway to heaven was opened, not a small gift from Him to us.