I’m very excited to be part of the #waronchristmas book blog tour. The War on Christmas by Bodie Hodge is an excellent resource book for every Christian Sunday School teacher, pastor, and parent.
The two chapters I’m assigned to review are Chapter 6: “Timeline of Events Surrounding Christ’s Birth” and Chapter 7: “Making the Christmas Sermon Relevant for Today’s Culture.”
These were great chapters for me to have since I’m a historian and a pastor (and a pastor’s wife). I slurped them up with great enthusiasm and will be keeping this book among my collection of Christmas books. I know I’ll be reaching for it often as I teach all ages about this wonderful story of Christ.
In Chapter 6, we travel back through time to immediately after Jesus’ birth. We stop at circa 4 B.C., eight days, 41 days after the birth, and the time during Christ’s first year of life on earth to early 3 B.C. There is a brief discussion of the magi and Christ’s family returning to Bethlehem from Egypt after King Herod’s death. These little tidbits of trivia are great for including in your next advent presentation.
In Chapter 7, the writer encourages pastors and teachers to share the message of Christ via the story of Genesis, the fallen state of man, and the issues of sin and death. Today’s culture touts a faulty view of God. If those listening will hear that God is the maker of all things good (he did not declare sin to be good or part of his creation), it would help them develop an accurate picture of God and one very different from the world’s secular view of Him.
The foundation of the birth of Christ is found in Genesis. From Genesis 3:15 God had a plan to reconcile us to Him. In Genesis 26:4, Christ is a descendant of Jacob. It is in Genesis that the Christmas season begins.
The author of this book believes that people don’t listen to the Good News because they don’t understand the bad news. If people know why they need Jesus, they will understand their need for Him.
What do you think of his point of view? Leave a comment below and I’ll enter your name in a drawing to win your very own copy of The War on Christmas: Battles in Faith, Tradition, and Religious Expression plus a free t-shirt! Giveaway ends December 10.
Comments 6
I fully agree with this point of view. The reason for Christmas is directly related to the historical fall of Adam and plunging the human race into sin. The Second Adam, or Last Adam, had to come (thus Christmas) to bring life to those who are dead in the First Adam.
Author
Thanks for stopping by and reading, Benjamin!
I would love to read this book with my teen daughters. I am a homeschooling mom, and after watching the video, I am very intrigued. It is hard to find this point of view in a lot of churches. Thank you for showing us this point of view! I could not agree more!
ninigossett at gmail dot com
Author
Thanks for stopping by! I’ll be posting the winner soon!
I pray that more people would read this book. I’ve already purchased one for a friend and learned so much more than I already knew about this HOLYday!! Love your post!
Author
So glad you’ve learned something new! And very happy that you stopped by to share!