Forums → WEPR → Ben Stein on Christianity

My sensei emailed me this and I think eveybody should read it:



The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning
Commentary.

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 o f like it 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 crïeche, 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.


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 OK.

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.

Are you laughing yet?

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.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think
of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it...
No one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process,
don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,
Ben Stein