Merry Christmas - except in the Holy Land

It's very easy to be a Christian. Christianity is unique among the world's major religions. As a Christian, you do not have to perform any tasks to get into heaven. Jesus loved us so much he died for all our sins, including yours. He took the heat for you so you can get into heaven. All you have to do is acknowledge Jesus as your savior, and you're in. Many people (I'm looking at you, Catholics) have the mistaken belief that you can't get into heaven unless you perform good works or jump through certain hoops. That's simply not the case. Your faith in Christ gets you in. We, as Christians, do good works and try to lead a Christ-like life because that's what he'd like us to do. Contrary to popular belief, it is very unlikely that St. Peter is there at the pearly gates with his book to list off all your sins. Jesus has opened the door for you, if you're willing to walk in.

And so we reach Christmas again. We reflect upon the importance of Jesus's birth in light of what he did for us. It's very easy to gather round the tree, in front of the fireplace, and honor his birthday with gifts to each other in our Western world. But for many Christians, all they have this Christmas is Jesus' message. No, I'm not necessarily talking about the poor and homeless, although they certainly deserve our attention. I'm talking about persecuted Christians throughout the world, particularly in the Middle East. Even today, when we get bombarded with media attacks against Christianity or we see our fellow Christians everywhere we go, there are Christians that are clinging very tightly to the message of "peace on earth".

Muslim persecution of Christians goes largely unnoticed by the mainstream media. As you read this, in the Middle East (where Jesus was born and from where his message spread througout the world) Christians are becoming an endangered species. That seems so hard to fathom here, where there is a church on every corner, and we are almost led to feel guilty about how many of us there are and how our religion is pushed on people when we simply say "merry christmas".

But right now some Christians live in fear because of there beliefs. For a brief moment in 2001 this country felt what it is like to be those Christians, but we've quickly forgotten. I highly encourage you to read this article:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NWEwZGJiMDEyOWU0ZWM0YWNmMThmMmQyOWQyZDM1OGI=

and do more research yourself. Let us not forget our brethern in the Holy Land this Christmas. Let us remember them in our prayers this Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Yes, it is very easy to be a Christian...for us.