THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 24, 1994 TAG: 9412230102
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E4 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Issues of Faith
SOURCE: Betsy Mathews Wright
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
MY BOSS was wrong.
He said last week's column - about a reader's Dickensean dream and the meaning of Christmas - was a sleeper.
``You won't get any response,'' Tom Warhover said to me after editing my work. ``Folks will read it and just say to themselves, `That's nice,' then turn the page. No one's gonna call about this one.''
Fooled again! Plenty of responses came in about the column. Most were positive, like that of Tommy Davis of Virginia Beach.
``I read your column regularly and it's real cool,'' said Davis in a call. ``It's great to have something good in there instead of all the other stuff about guns, violence and drugs and all the rotten stuff in the world. This last one was great and it's really going to help me, because I complain too! I hope your column stays in the paper, because it sure inspires me. God bless you.''
Other readers, however, had problems with the column. Two didn't like my line about what God, in the form of the Christ child, first smelled at birth. I said it was the mingled odor of ``urine-soaked hay, fresh dung and the blood of his young mother's womb.''
Michael Shumaker of Norfolk disagreed: ``Mary was a virgin before, during and after our Lord's birth. There was no blood. It was a miraculous birth. . . the difficulty of childbirth, because it was one of the punishments that Eve had to endure for her eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Mary, because she was absolved of original sin at the immaculate conception, did not have to suffer the same things of childbirth that other women have had to suffer. . . . There was no blood to smell.''
Everlyn V. Boling of Norfolk believes the hay was fresh, not soiled.
``God never makes a mistake,'' Boling wrote. ``He knew exactly where he wanted his son to be born: in a clean stable, away from the noisy tavern, where the cries of childbirth would be muffled in the walls of the cave. Mary's bed would be in the soft, clean-smelling hay. . . . Our God provided well for the birth of his son.''
Theresa Lawrence of Chesapeake had a different concern about the column:
``It's a beautiful article, but I didn't understand the part about `God came to Earth?' I thought it was Jesus who came to Earth and that he was the son of God?''
That, Theresa, is one of the mysteries of the Christian faith. Christians believe that Jesus Christ is God. It's part of the doctrine of the Trinity. God is three-in-one. God is God the father, God the son (Jesus Christ) and God the spirit (Holy Ghost).
There's never been a totally satisfying explanation of this mystery of faith, but the best I can do is to liken the Trinity to water. Water can be a flowing thing. It can also be a solid thing: ice; and it may also be something quite airy: steam. Three different forms of the same essential element.
So when I said that God came to Earth, I was speaking about God in the form of his son, Jesus Christ.
Then there was this message from Mark DeMaio of Virginia Beach:
``I believe in Christ so deeply that I wince every time I read your column. What was this last one? A tribute to Shirley MacLaine? . . . Couldn't this woman have watched CNN for five minutes and `snapped out of it'?
``Why do you trivialize faith? And why do you mock the blood of Christ by being so uncommitted to real faith, by being so warm and fuzzy?
``Did Christ not die on the cross? Did we not see him ascend into the heavens? . . . Don't all religions pale and aren't they actually undermined by accepting the Gospel truth? . . . So where do you get off with this warm, fuzzy stuff? It's so New Age! . . .
``I want to let you know that I'm not some kind of kook, but I think you have such an awesome position and you have such an opportunity to get some truths out. . . . I'm asking you to be accountable to our Lord and Savior with some real guts. . . . Who are you winning to Christ?''
My Response: Obviously, some readers don't have a clue as to the purpose of this column. This is not a Christian column out to win souls to Christ. This is a column to challenge folks of all religions to think about their faith.
Nearly every week I get looong, angry messages from a small group of readers telling me how much they hate this column. Do me a favor: Switch to decaf and get a new hobby.
And then finally, from Mikki Perri Jacques of Virginia Beach: ``If we'd quit our grumbling and pray more, then grumbling would cease and there would be peace on Earth at last. We should make this our New Year's resolution.'' MEMO: Every other week, Betsy Mathews Wright publishes responses to her
opinion column. Send responses to Issues of Faith, The Virginian-Pilot,
150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23510; call (804) 446-2273; FAX
(804) 436-2798; or send e-mail to bmw(AT)infi.net. Deadline is Tuesday
before publication. You must include name, city and phone number. by CNB