Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.12.1995, Page 4

4 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 15. desember 1995
The Reason For The Season
By
Ingthor Isfeld
More Than a
Fairy Tale
The Christmas story,
as recorded in the sec-
ond chapter of St.
Luke’s Gospel, is per-
haps the best known
story in the whole
^world. That beautiful
story of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem is
very familiar to us all and we have
known it since we were children. But
what is the real meaning of that story
and what is its significance for us?
The Prologue, or introduction, to
St. John’s Gospel is not as well known,
but it does put the story told in Luke
into perspective and prevents us from
reading the Christmas story as just a
fairy tale with all the romantic feelings
that surround it. John, in his Gospel,
speaks of the deeper meaning and sig-
nificance of Jesus’ birth.
John speaks of Jesus as being the
WORD, the expression or the revela-
tion of God. He wrote: “And the Word
became flesh and lived among us, and
we have seen his glory, the glory as of
a father’s only son, full of grace and
truth.” (John 1:14).
If we wish to seek an understanding
of the deeper meaning of Christmas we
inevitably come to this question: Who
was this child and what was the signifi-
cance of his birth?
God Finds Us.
I have been told that the Bahai
Religion has built a magnificent tem-
Decorations on Pósthússtræti, Reykjavík
ple in Chicago. This temple is shaped
like a wheel. Several long halls lead to
the centre of the building, like spokes
in a wheel. Each hall is dedicated to a
great prophet or religious teacher: One
to Mohammed, one to Confucius, one
to Jesus of Nazareth etc. All these hall-
ways lead to the hub or the centre of
the temple, where there is a great altar
dedicated to god.
The symbolism in this building is
both powerful and obvious. The mes-
sage is, that all religions lead to the
same end, the same god.
Apparently this temple has made a
great impression and is a popular
place to visit.
But the question arises, who is this
god worshipped at the centre of the
temple in Chicago? Is he like Allah, or
is she like the Hindu deity with many
arms and breasts; is she a fertility god-
dess or a goddess of mother earth; is
this god like Thor, the Norse god of
thunder, or is this a god of war; is he
like Krishna, Rama, Isvara or
Purusha?
To say that all religions lead to one
and the same god does not make
much sense, unless the idea is meant
to be so vague, that anyone can more
or less fill in the blanks and worship a
god they make to their own liking. To
say, that it does not really matter what
you believe as long as you believe in
something, only makes sense if you
Doing Business in Manitoba
Greetings from
J. Timothy Samson
Thor J. Hansell
D. Salin Guttormsson
J. Douglas Sigurdson
Michael E. Guttormson
Helga D. Van Iderstine
Aikins, MacAulay& Thqrvaldson
BARRISTERS and SOLICITORS
30th Floor Commodity Exchange Tower, 360 Main Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3C 4G1
Telephone (204)957-0050 Facsimile (204)957-0840
MESSUBOÐ
Fyrsta Lúterska
Kirkja
Pastor Ingthor I. Isfeld
1030 a.m. The Service followed by
Sunday School & Coffee hour.
First Lutheran Church
S80 Victor St., Winnipeg, MB
R3G 1R2 Ph. 772-7444
Chapel in the hospital.
The stained glass window was done by
Leifur Breiöfjörö.
treat religion as some kind of hobby,
something like collecting stamps or
rare dolls.
From a Christian point of view,
those who designed that Temple in
Chicago have got it all wrong. Any
god that is found by walking through
the halls of that temple is at best going
to be only a composition of human
religious thought, or at worst a god
designed by a committee of religious
gurus.
From a Christian point of view no
human can know God, unless God
makes himself known. We don’t find
God, God fínds us.
How Can We Know God?
The advanced science of our day looks
deeper and deeper into the basic ele-
ments of life and further and further
into space and the further we look the
more new questions arise. How can
we know God the creator of all things,
when we only understand a fraction of
his creation?
Psychologists tell us that we are
aware of only a fraction of what actu-
ally exists in our own mind and soul.
Ninety percent of what we are is
found in the subconscious mind. How
can we know God our creator, if we
Continued on page 5
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112 pages.
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