Darrow Miller and Friends

Vishal Reflects on Christmas

This is quoted from Vishal Mangalwadi‘s Christmas Newsletter:

A year ago a great many Americans saw Candidate Obama as a Savior, so much so that he was prompted to humorously issue this clarification: “Contrary to the rumors you may have heard, I was not born in a manger.” Today his supporters are disappointed that he cannot save our planet from man-made warming; instead of bringing the Olympics to Illinois, he is bringing them terrorists from Guantanamo Bay; and, he has to bribe his own Senators to “reform” health care!

Given that the world’s mightiest leaders are so powerless, Christmas gives us reason to rejoice: Archangel Gabriel announced to a bewildered Mary, “Nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37)

The very same week I graduated from High School, a Christian minister earned an M. A. in Philosophy. After our joint celebration we bicycled for half-an-hour while he argued that “scientifically it was impossible for a virgin to conceive a baby.” In other words, God had to be bound by the laws of science as we understood them those four decades ago! One of these days I hope to discover what my philosopher friend thought when he heard that a virgin sheep named Dolly had given birth to a (cloned) baby. Six years after that conversation, I too earned an M. A. in Philosophy. No one at the University told me that Modern Science was born because some medieval European philosophers believed Gabriel’s word that proclaimed that nothing was impossible with God.

Thirteenth century Europe was confronted by an aggressive Islam which asserted that logically it was impossible for God to become man: “God is great: man is miserable: Can God become a dog?”

In order to know truth, we have to go out and observe what God has actually done. Human logic must be submitted to observation. In other words, the issue is not whether or not God can become man: the real question is whether or not God did become man. And, what if He did?

The Church believed that Logic is valid because the babe of Bethlehem is the eternal Logos. However, God’s ‘Absolute Freedom’ means that our logic must follow facts, not some First Principles, “self-evident” to philosophers. Our logic cannot pre-determine truth or facts. Islam had Greek logic as well as Greek “science.” It could not produce Modern Science because without the Bible it could not break free from the grip of Greek Rationalism. European Christianity gave birth to Science because it was able to reconcile empirical observation (required by the Freedom of God) with Mathematical logic (required by the Word of God).

What are some of the “logical” implications of the fact that God did become man? Christian Humanists of the Renaissance concluded that Incarnation means that man is qualitatively different than a dog and other animals. God could become man, because man is, in fact, made in God’s image . . . bestowed with unique dignity, honor and human rights . . . as Psalm 8:5-6 asserts:

“You have made them a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned them with glory [dignitas, grandeur] and honor. . . You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet:

Christmas is about a child, but it is not childish or frivolous. Secular Humanism is killing pre-born children by the millions because, without Incarnation it is no better than Islam, lacking intellectual foundation for affirming that human beings are like God, different than animals.

If God did come to this earth to save us, then Christmas is the greatest event in history. It defines human beings. It calls for celebration. But the momentous nature of this event should motivate us also to meditate on its meaning . . . as did Mary (Luke 2:19). I, therefore, invite you to take some time in the midst of the season’s festivities to investigate these grave and foundational matters by visiting our new website www.RevelationMovement.com, which should be up and running fully soon.

-Vishal Mangalwadi, DNA Ideas Shaper

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Vishal Mangalwadi is an international lecturer, social reformer, cultural & political columnist and author of seventeen books, including The Legacy of William Carey and Truth and Transformation: A Manifesto for Ailing Nations. Vishal is also the founder of Revelation Movement, a ministry to help groups and individuals around the world join together to disciple nations through church and Internet-based education and use the media to present truth.
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