Peanuts by Charles Schulz for December 17, 2023

I think Sally checked out after “census”.

Give up Linus

Nowadays as many people would probably associate the name ‘Luke’ with Star Wars as with the Gospel of Luke. Of course this strip is from 1976, the year before Star Wars came out

An interesting use of the phrase “gross out”

Cross out? Jesus was a cross maker (Judee Sill)

And to think that Sally was there when Linus quoted from the Bible in A Charlie Brown Christmas.

That’s OK, Linus, I think it’s fascinating.

House of Bread, for Christ is the bread of Life.

And I’m assuming that Linus knows that his name is in the Bible as well…2 Timothy 4:21Make every effort to come before winter. Eubulus greets you, also Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brethren. (NASB 95)

Our present generation learns much and with each learned ‘truth’ slips farther away from spiritual truth. Amos informs us that God will do nothing without first telling His servant: the prophet; yet the 21st Century brushes aside such concepts telling they are too sophisticated to need God. "We have not need of prophets today, we are knowledgable, we are puffed up in our pride, our materialism, our keeping up with the Joneses, our self love …..to need turn to God.

He left out the part about The Great Pumpkin coming out of the pumpkin patch on Halloween.

I’m with Sally on this one.

I like that talk about the inn in the Xmas story. Especially since there were no inns in Bethlehem. What Mary and Joseph were looking for was a relative to put them up. But, Mary, being great with child, ready to deliver, couldn’t make it up to the upper rooms where the humans lived. So they stayed down in the stable section of the home.

Luke who?

I’ve always heard the “…goodwill towards men” version, not the “peace among men with whom he is pleased” version. That would seem to me that divine peace is dependent on human attitudes, however.

Sometimes I think Linus grew up to be Mr Rogers.

The spirit of Mr. Schultz will hopefully never die.

Islam, Judaism and Christianity started out as middle eastern religions. One of the central tenants of middle eastern culture is hospitality: the welcoming of the stranger.

Christianity was kidnapped by the Roman Empire in the 5th century and transformed into the state official religion. It became a white man’s, western European religion. Somewhere along the line, we became fearful of the stranger.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph were strangers to the townsfolk of Bethlehem. They are also strangers to the modern world: beggars at our doors. Who, not knowing who they were, would welcome them today?

Even denizens of the Old Testament have entertained angels and not known it.

Any idea what Linus was saying?

I saw an annotated version of Moby Dick and every page had explanations of what everything really meant.

Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about," said Linus. [Linus walks to center stage.]

“Lights, please.”

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

The True Meaning of Christmas (recited by Linus)

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

[Linus picks up his blanket and shuffles off-stage.]

For thousands of years before the Christ child was born, people lived, loved and died and tried to make sense of the unknown by creating various religions. And the same is still going on today as evidenced by the thousands of religions folks are practicing in our time. Instead of raising children to think their religion is the one true one, and the “others” are all fake, thereby instilling a the foundations of bigotry and prejudice, how about introducing humanity’s apparent needs along with the family’s chosen religion? Seems much more compassionate way to go. After all, the Crusades are over and we no longer need to breed a true believers army to fight the “infidels”.

Hmmm… I’ve always interpreted “with whom he is pleased” to mean that he isn’t necessarily pleased by all men and therefore that peace may be limited to those men who please him. Ah commas. They matter.

“Gross Out”—-I haven’t heard that phrase used since…around the time this comic came out…

The Bible has been translated so many times, only God knows what it originally said.

Not many comics can bring out good theological discussions like this one can. Not too many would come out and say they are Christian or whatever religion they believe in either and that’s too bad. If you believe in something good, no need to hide it. Sports fans don’t. Music fans don’t. I remember back in the 70’s people wore shirts that said “Jesus” on it and today I rarely see anybody wearing one.

Thank you for that very quaint description of Historical events and word meanings. Merry Christmas indeed……

My father often taught us about the historical background of the Nativity Story, including what scholars have learned in recent years regarding the wording of English Bible translations. I like Linus find all of that fascinating. I guess Dad knew his audience better than Linus.

“BC” always brings the Christian viewpoint for Christmas.

Wow… Life before video games was NO.

Same planet, different worlds.

Interestingly, wikipedia confirmed my suspicions about the origin of the name Bethlehem: [“The current name for Bethlehem in local languages is Bayt Laḥmⓘ in Arabic (Arabic: بيت لحم), literally meaning “house of meat”, and Bet Leḥem in Hebrew (Hebrew: בֵּית לֶחֶם), literally “house of bread” or “house of food.”]

It’s not about the gifts, but about the one true gift!Something the little ones do not understand yet, but hopefully will as they grow older.

Linus grew up tp be a famous Biblical scholar.