THEY Didn't Think It Was a Charade: Christian Refugees Celebrate Christmas

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(h/t Netmilsmom)

These pictures, from a December, 2014 Daily Mail article, were taken at a refugee camp built around the Mazar Mar Eillia Catholic Church in Ankawa, Iraq. It is a suburb of Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, and is thus relatively safe.

A few days ago, Pope Francis declared:

Christmas is approaching: there will be lights, parties, Christmas trees and nativity scenes ... it's all a charade. The world continues to go to war. The world has not chosen a peaceful path.

That was, of course, a bizarre statement from a man who seems increasingly unhinged. There have been wars, persecutions and human suffering from the beginning of recorded history, or if you prefer, since the Fall. And, though Christ hates injustice, He didn't promise to save the world from it, or from suffering or even from war. He did promise to save it from sin.

That is the traditional Christian view. I do not think this hollow, hateful man—this parody of a Christian and yes, of a pope—either believes it or even comprehends it.

2,000 years ago, not that far from Erbil, God was born, lived and died as a man. His resurrection foreshadows what we can hope for.

Most Christians have always celebrated the birth of Christ—sometimes with lights, trees and nativity scenes—not despite the suffering in the world, but in a way, almost because of it. Christ's offer to us is a contrast worth celebrating.

So we celebrate Him and His promise. We don't gnash our teeth and moan that the United World Utopia has not yet been declared. It was never about that.

Francis doesn't understand.

These Christians do.