On Saturday morning I managed to get my family to donate a total of £300 pounds, £100 of each to the Maidstone Charity for the homeless. We are hoping that the money would be used to feed the homeless that have to struggle with survival.
I did this because as I stated earlier I believe Christmas has become less about celebrating the birth of Jesus (even though I stated earlier that December 25 was not likely the birthday of Jesus) and instead has become a mass marketing and commercialistic season with many shops apparently getting 1/6 of their yearly income from Christmas alone with more money being spent on toys and such rather then the homeless.
However, I feel like I also went the other way making myself feel a little bit hypocritical: I also went to HMV. The purpose was to buy a film I haven't seen in a while. I went in to buy one, I end up buying six. That and Mum and Dad bought three albums that in the end I payed for them. We also went into a bookshop where I discovered a compilation of 4 Percy the Park Keeper episodes in one book at an Oxfam shop. I had a brief nostalgia trip but I didn't buy the book in the end. I regret that decision.
On Sunday I told my fellow church goers and they were very proud of me. It did feel good to tell them among other people. I also talked to my vicar about Jeremiah Chapter 10 and how I believed it was related to the Christmas Tree. He disagreed, believing it to be related to making idols out of trees not necessarily decorating them like we do as tradition. I recently saw a video from Bible Flock Box that also seem to concur with what my Vicar said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuvWd5ddBjo
I still need to write that essay about my understanding of the origins of Christmass as he and I have different opinions and interpretations of how our Christmas traditions came into place.
After telling everyone there was a nagging feeling that while what I did was the right thing I ended up bragging about it. Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith, and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. 9. not of works, lest any man boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Jesus Christ for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in.
My understanding of this is that we need to place our faith in Jesus Christ as our saviour to be saved. We can't earn our salvation ourselves regardless of what we do. Does that mean we should live our lives and just "believe" in the Lord Jesus Christ? No, I believe that it would be in the best interest to live as much of a sinless life as we can and we need to study the Bible and let it guide us.
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