Dear Mr Johnson

I am not in "Advent" I am in Australia.

Many Australians are not Christians and may find your article somewhat presumptuous if not downright offensive to their own beliefs.

What your articles smashes is any respect for people of different or no faiths. There is no evidence of the birth of Jesus, the story that surrounds him is a mash-up of pre-existing mythologies that include Mithras and the like.

Religion should be like sex, private and personal.

"In lock step with the "secular" delight in order"

What secular delight in order? Please point it out to me.

Secularists delight in individuality as opposed to the conformity of religion.

Dear Johnny... so speaks one who's 'order' is threatened by the incarnation.

"Within our hearts we know; the Incarnation still speaks, and order has been undone."

You may have closed your heart to the word of the eternal WORD, but closing the heart does not alter the reality of His voice and what has been spoken to the world, and you.

"The Word...became flesh, and dwelt among us" This is history.

How we respond to the spoken or written word about that incarnation is our own business. We are blessed with a most generous Creator.

If you wonder just HOW blessed, how patient He is with you, and all of us, how longsuffering He is with persistant and stubborn denial of eternal truth made manifest...you need only look at how Jesus Himself 'stopped' quoting from Isaiah when he read these words of his own mission:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Fortunately for you, and all of us, he stopped before uttering the words .."And the day of VENGENCE of our God"

The Incarnation is 'opportunity', but not unlimited. We have a chance for salvation and redemption in this life, because it is the day of 'The Lords favor'....but just because Jesus stopped at the point He did, does not mean the day unquoted will never come.

His second coming is as sure as His first... let's hope we are all living in His true favor when that occurs, or..that if we die before it, we have died "in Christ".

Boazy

You do as the author, doth presume too much.

My order is workin' just fine mate.

Remember the Jesus myth is just a rehash of earlier ones. That must hurt - guess you practice turning a blind eye more than your cheek, eh?

I'd turn my cheek to you, except right now I'm sitting on it.

*

I get the strong impression you are describing yourself, Mr Johnson.

"We extend and inflate our need for order and resemblance to other people. We accept others according to how they look to us, according to their social position, their occupation, their income, their education, their success, or their sporting allegiance. Our perfected heroes and celebrities are those who reinforce our fantasies of order."

As Tonto once observed, sagely, "What do you mean 'we', Kemo Sabe"

Pericles,

try having a comment about the content of the article rather than seelctive and out of context point scoring, and irrelevant ad hominem.

Johny Rotten,

We may be in Australia, but if we are going to celebrate Christmas then we are also in the season which precedes it: Advent.