"It strikes me as odd, how quickly the Christmas spirit turns on just after Halloween, and turns off on January 2nd. Perhaps Christmas has just become an excuse to do, once a year, what we should be doing all year round: be charitable, connect with friends, and live life -- have a good time. I guess I'm saying that I do enjoy the fringe benefits of Christmas without participating. The lights are lovely, the music joyous, the giving admirable. But it is nice to come home to the simplicity of the Chanukah candles." (Neilia Sherman, Psychiatric social worker, North York, Ontario, Canada)The holiday might be considered a Jewish thanksgiving festival.
Chances are you are among the massive majority of Christians who rarely or never fast. It’s not because we haven’t read our Bibles or sat under faithful preaching or heard about the power of fasting, or even that we don’t genuinely want to do it. We just never actually get around to putting down the fork.
Did you know that almost six out of ten teens leave the church at some point? Nearly 60% of high school students who grow up going to church will close the doors to a Christian life. And usually, they don't come back (survey by the Barna Group). "Because of people breaking the laws and sin being everywhere, the love in the hearts of many people will become cold." Matthew 24:12
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