Ben stein

***The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.*[FONT=Verdana]

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel discriminated against. That’s what they are, Christmas trees.

It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say, ‘Merry Christmas’ to me. I don’t think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it**[/FONT][FONT=Verdana].[/FONT][FONT=Verdana]** It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn’t bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it’s just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don’t like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don’t think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can’t find it in the Constitution and I don’t like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren’t allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that’s a sign that I’m getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it’s not funny, it’s intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham’s daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her ‘How could God let something like this happen?’ (regarding Hurricane Katrina)… Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, ‘I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?’

In light of recent events… terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O’Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn’t want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock’s son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he’s talking about. And we said okay.

Now we’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with ‘WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.’

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world’s going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send ‘jokes’ through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace. [/FONT][FONT=Verdana]

Are you laughing yet? [/FONT][FONT=Verdana]

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you’re not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it. [/FONT][FONT=Verdana]

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us. **[/FONT]

I liked him on ‘Ben Stein’s Money’.

Very powerful and true words.
I do not agree with his politics , but I do agree with what he said in that powerful passage ,if I may call it such.

Cool. Cause we are having a big online Christmas party here with plenty of door prizes next month.

Ben Stein did call the sub prime problem “a tiny blip” in 2008. Ooops.

One of my favorite clips:

Barney Frank said the subprime wasn’t even a blip–no problem here, he said.

Now I have to go decorate…

Time to put up the old Christmas menorah…or is it the Hanukkah tree???

This dual belief (Judeo-Christian) can be so confusing to me sometimes. Especially when we have an egg hunt on Passover. Or set a place for Elijah at the Easter dinner.

Help me out here Will.

Hunh? Ben Stein is about the most central of all centrists.

Remember Joe, to a liberal that means your are conservative. If you say you are conservative, that makes you a RWNJ… :roll:

Actually, if you can walk and chew gum at the same time, you are a RWNJ.

So ?
Your idea of categorizing has nothing to do with me or what I believe.

If you think you know what I think you would be wrong .

You only know positions I take on a forum that are sometimes not what I actually believe

I have seen Ben Stein make comments that are opposite what I think at the time.
I also change my opinions as I am not one for rigid thinking.

Does that make you a liar, a jerk, or both?

So truth is relative for you? What do you say about absolute truth?

You took the words right out of my mouth.

As long as everyone Celebrates the Winter Solstice in the Druid Tradition by decorating an Evergreen Tree, I am good with it all.
Call it what ever you want, just make sure I get invited to the party/dinner. :smiley:

Happy Thanks Giving Jae. :D:D

Isn’t that what we’ve been doing?

Of course it is Joe. Happy Thanksgiving my friend.:smiley:

And a very happy Thanksgiving to you, too, Brian…:D:D

We do a “Channakah Bush”. :mrgreen: But we still celebrate for 8 days. 8 sets of presents, but smaller.

What is called Easter is actually the capturing of the Pagan feast of Ishtar, the female consort to the Pagan god Ba’al. To pagans, the feast was a fertility festival. It was celebrated by the giving of baby chicks and rabbits, signifying new life and fertility (rabbits, get it ;-)).

Women who had tried to get pregnant, but could not, would enter the festival wearing a floppy hat, with a ribbon tying the hat down. They could then enter the ritualistic orgies and, hopefully, get pregnant. Thus the origin of the “Easter Bonnet”.

When the Roman Empire went Christian (officially, under Constintine) the festival was changed to refect the ressurection of Y’shua. Actually, the first day after the first Shabbat (Saturday) during the 8 days ofd Pasach (Passover) is known as the Feast of First Fruits, when the fistborn children were brought to the Temple for dedication. Y’shua was resurrected on First Fruits. He was the “first fruit” of the new age, the first to defeat death.

Simialrly, “Chirstmas” was a pagan feast of the Winter Solceste, when the days starting getting longer. There was a big party. Actually, Y’shua was born during the Jewish feast of Sukkot (late Sept, early Oct, The Jewish calendar is based upon the moon cycles). But, when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, they co-opted it. Good government NEVER cancels a traditional party, don’t you know.

We just do Passover.

Hope this helps; Jae.

This was not a political piece but the same half dozen right sided idiots turn everything here into a we miss Bush sing along.

Only a Moron can turn a compliment into and argument.

Please reform the Jerk Circle and turn your back to me. (thank you):roll:

I’m surrounded by a mostly Jewish staff and they are putting up a Christmas tree. Banks, P.O. and most businesses are closed on Christmas. I think Christmas has become a world holiday regardless of your religious beliefs.

It has been a Holiday longer than there have been christians, so why not?? :smiley: