Posts made in December, 2006

A Puritan Christmas

Posted by on Dec 16, 2006 in Blog | 22 comments

Any of you ready for a “Puritan Christmas”? Be careful now, because—some of you already guessed this—a Puritan Christmas is in fact—no Christmas at all. That’s right, as The Globe and Mail notes on its Facts & Arguments page, in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Britain, on Christmas Day the poor customarily went to the home of the richest person in town where they were given food and strong drink, resulting in jolly, though at times a bit tipsy, celebration (citing an article by Jeff Guinn in The Fort-Worth Star-Telegram). The Puritans, however, set out to eliminate... Read More

Christmas According to John

Posted by on Dec 8, 2006 in Blog | 1 comment

NOTE: The following is an actual sermon preached by Dr. Köstenberger at Christ Baptist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. When we think about Christmas and the Bible, we naturally think of Matthew’s account of the virgin birth and the visit of the Magi or Luke’s account of Gabriel’s visit to Mary and of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. We think of the decree going out from Caesar Augustus, of Joseph and Mary going up from Nazareth to Bethlehem, and of Mary giving birth to Jesus in a manger. We think of the shepherds in the field, of the heavenly host announcing peace on earth to those of... Read More