Newsweek's Christmas Cover Article
Vox Blogli VI: What does Newsweek’s Story on Christmas tell us about Main Stream Media (MSM)?
Hugh Hewitt put out the above question after Newsweek’s cover page article titled Religion: The Birth of Jesus by Jon Mercham asking other Bloggers to comment on Mercham’s lack of scholarly background and open bias to the virgin birth of Jesus as supported by history.
This blog will not be long because 1. This writer is NOT a scholar and holds no degrees other than a Bachelor of Science in Management, Marketing, and Biochemistry sufficient to debate accurately Mr. Mercham 2. To call me a “learned man” is inaccurate also although my hobby is books, history, and 3. My current health problems with a disease affecting memory, well, let’s just say that the phrase, “Keep it simple stupid,” is most appropriate in my case.
After reading the Newsweek article not once but three times my personnel conclusion is that, Mr. Mercham sees “Christianity as a scapegoat of the masses “ and by the way, those words come straight out of the old Cold War Communist Manifesto. Writers come in all shapes, sizes as does their work, an author’s bias cannot but help to show in his or her writings, and the best example to date is Jon Mercham’s article on Christianity. Mercham’s bias shows immediately in two statements. First, Merchams states, “This month more than a billion Christians will commemorate their Lord’s Nativity. Amid candlelight, carols and the commingled smells of cedar and incense, the old tale will unfold again… [Emphasis mine] and second to use Dan Brown’s fictional thriller novel, “The Da Vinci Code,” is hardly a scholarly reference. Many critics and readers see the written word as the matter is good, and the words are good; or the author writes many words, but to no purpose; or the writer has neither good words nor good matter. In my layman’s opinion, Mercham’s, “Religion: The Birth of Jesus” falls squarely in the latter. Where is his substantial matter but more so his documentation to support such a heavy assertion as to validity of Jesus Christ’s birth.
You may have realized by now I am a devout Christian and believe in a Supreme Being although lacking in sufficient knowledge to make a good and scholarly answer to the question. But common sense tells me that after reading a previous Times magazine article on the same subject and then Newsweek’s, the MSM is playing the “political correctness” card which is always so far removed from the millions of us but average everyday citizens. Talking of believing in God reminds me of a story told to me many, many years ago but never forgotten – it was at a time when my faith wavered, as is the norm because we would not be human if we failed to ask questions. The story goes something like this, “An elderly woman ventured into a lecture hall where a young man standing before a large crowd of admires began to talk on his atheistical beliefs. He spoke enthusiastically and passionately for several hours. All the while, the elderly woman sat and listened intently to his every word. At the end of his talk came a question and answer session that went on for more than an hour until finally when the young speaker asked if there were any more questions, the elderly woman slowly rose from her seat and said very politely, ‘ May I please ask you a question?’ If there is no heaven and I do not believe in God I’ve lost nothing, is that correct but if I live my life on this earth believing in a God and there is no God what have I lost but if there is a God and a heaven look at what I have gained eternal life with a Savior who loves me.”
Martin Luther in one of his “Table Talks” wrote, “Aristotle is altogether an epicurean; he holds that God heeds not human creatures, nor regards how we live, permitting us to do at our pleasure. According to him, God rules the world as a sleepy maid rocks a child. Cicero got much further. He collected together what he found good in the books of all the Greek writers. ‘Tis a good argument, and has oftened moved me much, where he proves there is a God, in the living creatures, beasts, and mankind engender their own likeness. A cow always produces a cow; a horse, a horse, &c. Therefore it follows that some being exists which rules everything. In God we may acknowledge the unchangeable and certain motion of the stars in heaven; the sun each day rises and sets in his place; certain as time, we have winter and summer, but as this is done regularly, we neither admire nor regard it.”
Excluding the bible as a source of historical reference as is so often the case with many religious writers of the MSM and the few very, very liberal seminarians, we do have extra historical evidence of Jesus and his life but sadly, I’m not the person qualified for this debate. My credentials come as a Christian believing that Jesus Christ is my savior and that he died for my sins so that I may live.
Peace from the Barber Shop…
Hugh Hewitt put out the above question after Newsweek’s cover page article titled Religion: The Birth of Jesus by Jon Mercham asking other Bloggers to comment on Mercham’s lack of scholarly background and open bias to the virgin birth of Jesus as supported by history.
This blog will not be long because 1. This writer is NOT a scholar and holds no degrees other than a Bachelor of Science in Management, Marketing, and Biochemistry sufficient to debate accurately Mr. Mercham 2. To call me a “learned man” is inaccurate also although my hobby is books, history, and 3. My current health problems with a disease affecting memory, well, let’s just say that the phrase, “Keep it simple stupid,” is most appropriate in my case.
After reading the Newsweek article not once but three times my personnel conclusion is that, Mr. Mercham sees “Christianity as a scapegoat of the masses “ and by the way, those words come straight out of the old Cold War Communist Manifesto. Writers come in all shapes, sizes as does their work, an author’s bias cannot but help to show in his or her writings, and the best example to date is Jon Mercham’s article on Christianity. Mercham’s bias shows immediately in two statements. First, Merchams states, “This month more than a billion Christians will commemorate their Lord’s Nativity. Amid candlelight, carols and the commingled smells of cedar and incense, the old tale will unfold again… [Emphasis mine] and second to use Dan Brown’s fictional thriller novel, “The Da Vinci Code,” is hardly a scholarly reference. Many critics and readers see the written word as the matter is good, and the words are good; or the author writes many words, but to no purpose; or the writer has neither good words nor good matter. In my layman’s opinion, Mercham’s, “Religion: The Birth of Jesus” falls squarely in the latter. Where is his substantial matter but more so his documentation to support such a heavy assertion as to validity of Jesus Christ’s birth.
You may have realized by now I am a devout Christian and believe in a Supreme Being although lacking in sufficient knowledge to make a good and scholarly answer to the question. But common sense tells me that after reading a previous Times magazine article on the same subject and then Newsweek’s, the MSM is playing the “political correctness” card which is always so far removed from the millions of us but average everyday citizens. Talking of believing in God reminds me of a story told to me many, many years ago but never forgotten – it was at a time when my faith wavered, as is the norm because we would not be human if we failed to ask questions. The story goes something like this, “An elderly woman ventured into a lecture hall where a young man standing before a large crowd of admires began to talk on his atheistical beliefs. He spoke enthusiastically and passionately for several hours. All the while, the elderly woman sat and listened intently to his every word. At the end of his talk came a question and answer session that went on for more than an hour until finally when the young speaker asked if there were any more questions, the elderly woman slowly rose from her seat and said very politely, ‘ May I please ask you a question?’ If there is no heaven and I do not believe in God I’ve lost nothing, is that correct but if I live my life on this earth believing in a God and there is no God what have I lost but if there is a God and a heaven look at what I have gained eternal life with a Savior who loves me.”
Martin Luther in one of his “Table Talks” wrote, “Aristotle is altogether an epicurean; he holds that God heeds not human creatures, nor regards how we live, permitting us to do at our pleasure. According to him, God rules the world as a sleepy maid rocks a child. Cicero got much further. He collected together what he found good in the books of all the Greek writers. ‘Tis a good argument, and has oftened moved me much, where he proves there is a God, in the living creatures, beasts, and mankind engender their own likeness. A cow always produces a cow; a horse, a horse, &c. Therefore it follows that some being exists which rules everything. In God we may acknowledge the unchangeable and certain motion of the stars in heaven; the sun each day rises and sets in his place; certain as time, we have winter and summer, but as this is done regularly, we neither admire nor regard it.”
Excluding the bible as a source of historical reference as is so often the case with many religious writers of the MSM and the few very, very liberal seminarians, we do have extra historical evidence of Jesus and his life but sadly, I’m not the person qualified for this debate. My credentials come as a Christian believing that Jesus Christ is my savior and that he died for my sins so that I may live.
Peace from the Barber Shop…
|10:56 AM | Permalink 
