For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world:
and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
--1 John 5:4 (KJV)

My administrative assistant’s grandson paid a visit to the Union County Board of Education today. He was not the only visitor, but he was undoubtedly the most special.
What made him so special? Probably the fact that he was the youngest visitor, and he will be celebrating his first birthday in a matter of days. He is also one of the happiest babies I’ve ever seen. He even smiled repeatedly at me, as opposed to many adults I know, who laugh outright. In his case, I detected only sweetness, no malice whatsoever.
It’s amazing what a joy it can be to be in the presence of a baby, even a child of no relation. Everything the young Mr. Henderlight did was a thing of wonder to watch.
The day will soon come when he will learn to talk. I can’t wait to hear the stories. I’ve heard of parents who said that they were so excited when their children said the first word. It was amazing how that later many were wondering how to get those same children to be silent.
One thing that intelligent young children do is ask questions. This is natural, as they are curious about this world and trying to figure out their place in it. I have always been fascinated with the question “Why”.
With a child, this question is never satisfactorily answered. At least when the pastor of a church is asked endless questions of his congregation he has the ace of a showstopper for an answer: “God give me a vision.” Who can argue with that?
A child, of course. A young child would ask, “Why did God give you a vision?” Wonder how many pastors would be stopped in their tracks with that one?
There is nothing wrong with asking questions. Many years ago, my grandfather was admitted to Claiborne County Hospital for prostate surgery. Papaw was in his eighties, and had never once been hospitalized. I was not allowed to visit his room, as I was probably about seven years old, but he would come to the window and I would get to talk to him for a few minutes each day.
I had a lot of free time on my hands, and I was bored. There was a young doctor who came outside one day to sit for a few minutes. I struck up a conversation with him. I was most interested in how he became a doctor, where he went to school, how long he had to go to school to be one, did he like being a doctor, etc. My father, who was fifty-one when I was born, was born in the days when children should be seen and not heard. Dad told me to quit bothering the doctor by being so nosey. The young doctor replied, “Let him ask all the questions he wants, sir. That’s the only way he’ll learn what he needs to know.”
Many adults grow up to continually question everything. This is fine, to an extent. No inventions, discoveries, advancements, medicines or electronic devices were ever produced without innumerable questions being asked and the answers discovered. This would be the scientific method that we were taught in school.
The problem develops when people argue over things that are probably not possible to answer. For example, was December 25 the actual date of the birth of Jesus Christ? During one of the eight years I spent as a Union County elementary school principal, I received a phone call from a parent around Christmas time. She asked me, “Mr. Mincey, what kind of church does [my child’s teacher] attend? I gave the parent the name of the church, which was Baptist. The lady replied, “You’re kidding!” I told her that I knew this for a fact, as I had attended that very church on invitation from the teacher in question.
The lady then asked, “Then where does [my child’s teacher] get off telling kids that Christmas is not Jesus’ birthday?” I explained to the lady that what I believed the teacher meant was that there was no way of knowing for sure that what we now call Christmas Day, December 25, was the exact day of the year in which Jesus was born.
The lady replied, “[My child’s teacher] ought to keep [. . .] opinions to [---]self!”
How important is it to know if December 25 is the actual day of Jesus’ birth? I think the more important thing is to know that he was born.
A skeptic one expressed surprise to see Abraham Lincoln reading the Bible. In the ensuing discussion, Lincoln is quoted as saying, “Take all that you can of this book upon reason, and the balance on faith, and you will live and die a happier man.” (Source: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/74898-take-all-that-you-can-of-this-bo… Retrieved December 16, 2024)
Personally, I don't believe that what we call December 25 is the actual day of Jesus' birth. Too many years and the lack of viable means of recordkeeping would seem to make it highly unlikely. There are sources that agree with my conclusion (https://www.ucg.org/learn/bible-study-tools/bible-questions-and-answers… Retrieved December 16, 2024; https://www.livescience.com/42976-when-was-jesus-born.html Retrieved December 16, 2024). I was born on July 8, but if someone wanted to celebrate my birthday on another day I'd not object, especially if I was allowed to eat the cake! Conversely, if no one wanted to celebrate my birthday at all, not even on the known date of July 8, how would the continuum of time be different?
It is difficult for we mere mortals to accept that fact that we are not entitled to know the answers to everything. Knowledge is growing at an astonishing rate, and we know far more than our ancestors could have imagined.
And our descendants will know more than we know, but I’m pretty certain they will not know everything.
Many times, new knowledge leads to even more questions.
As Lincoln said, accept with reason what you can, then take the balance on faith. Faith is the victory, as the old hymn says, that overcomes the world. It is faith that keeps us from being weighed in the balance and found wanting (Daniel 5:27).
Dear Reader, as you celebrate this season, my wish is that you find the peace of God through your faith, and in so doing that you have the best Christmas you have yet experienced.
If you would like to read more about celebrating Christmas, you will find a very interesting article at this link:

https://creation.com/celebrating-christmas

ANSWER TO QUESTION OF THE WEEK # 42
What did the neighbor’s kids say they wanted for Christmas? (ANSWER: My neighbor’s kids say they want a cat for Christmas. Normally my neighbor serves turkey, but, hey, if they’d rather have cat . . .)

QUESTION OF THE WEEK # 43
Why is there no need for politicians to trace their family trees? (See next week’s article in historicunioncounty.com for the answer.)