[Note: Updated and revised since 2018.
As Christians, we should still be ashamed.]
The message seems so clear.
Why are so many fervent believers in the Christmas message unable to apply it to today’s world and much of the leadership of our own nation?
From the second chapter of the Book of Matthew:
Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.
And from the Emperor Augustus in 4 BCE:
Melius est Herodis porcum esse quam filium.
It is better to be Herod’s pig than his son.
The ruthlessness was stunning, even to the emperor himself. Decades before, Herod had murdered his wife and had her family killed when he heard rumors that his in-laws were conspiring against him. Twenty years later, he had two of his own sons killed for possible conspiracy.
Now, he had another thought. After he had named Antipater as his heir, he began to suspect this son might also plot against him. Antipater was a victorious General by then. Emperor Augustus had to approve the execution, so he may have said what he is quoted as saying. Herod was the appointed King of Israel, so he would not have killed swine, at least for food. Killing his children was another matter.
About the same time, Herod is said to have ordered the killing of about two dozen children in and around Bethlehem. It is doubtful Augustus even heard about that, or that he would have cared if he did.
Christians cared, years later when there were Christians. We sometimes call it the Massacre of the Innocents. Matthew is applying early scripture from the Book of Jeremiah. When Jerusalem fell to Babylonian conquerors, scripture has Rachel the ancestor crying out in grief for the dead.
The Biblical story has been dramatized ever since. Herod hears through travelers from the East, the three wise men, of a new King born in Bethlehem. Once they find the new King destined to replace him, he wants them to let him know all about it.
If you find this child, bring me word. That I too might worship him.
Claude Rains as Herod in The Greatest Story Ever Told
Then he has all male infants age two and under slaughtered.
Go to Bethlehem and kill this child. To be sure, every newborn boy in Bethlehem must die.
Be certain that none escape.
Well yeah, just to be sure.
Not everything you’ve been taught in Sunday School is gospel, of course. There is only one non-Christian reference to the mass-murders, and that ancient historian has some historical facts a little garbled. Macrobius has Herod’s son included in the Bethlehem slaughter because he is one of the infants under two years of age, which seems unlikely youthfulness for a military officer.
Macrobius is also the ancient source for the remark by Augustus about Herod, his unlucky sons, and his lucky pigs. It’s an ancient play on words, since pig and son sounded a little alike back then. But it would only work if Augustus was speaking Greek.
And it seems a boneheaded move for three allegedly wise men to tell Herod all about the star and Bethlehem, even if they did not know he was a remarkable sociopath. Let’s imagine the recklessness:
Can you help us, your majesty?
We’re looking for the NEW King you don’t know about yet.
The one who will be ready to replace you.
Still, Herod might have known about a future rescuer of Israel that was to come from Bethlehem. There were prophesies.
Augustus might have made a Greek pun or two. Lots of upper class Romans spoke Greek, especially when they were showing off a bit. Greek was the language of education. And the most wealthy families had tutors from Greece.
The ancient attack on infants would have provided a pretty good reason for Mary and Joseph to take their little future king and escape to Egypt.
There is some scholarly skepticism about the mass murder. But no argument involves Herod being incapable of such monstrosity. Someone who would murder so many in his own family would not have much moral objection to killing the children of strangers.
The death of those children and the flight of the family of Jesus to Egypt to escape the massacre, whether true or not, really ought to resonate among today’s Christians. We don’t know how Mary and Joseph were treated when they became foreign migrants looking for sanctuary.
Were these new refugees, escaping from violence, regarded by Egyptians as a danger themselves?
They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.
Were they closed off from others because, as Jews, they did not share the religious beliefs of most Egyptians?
…total and complete shutdown of Muslims…
Or were they welcomed, maybe even helped?
Christians sometimes look for parallels in today’s world as we speak our rituals and read our ancient teachings.
We can be tempted to lose a basic lesson. Immigrants, even those who cross into the United States apart from established points of entry, have the legal right to a hearing. If, after intense investigation, it turns out they are indeed refugees from violence or persecution, they have the right to sanctuary.
But our [former] President still insists he wants more immigration from Europe, and fewer immigrants from the south, whether they are refugees or not.
Why aren’t we letting people in from Europe?
– Donald Trump at CPAC, March 15, 2013
His administration ordered a slowdown at southern border crossings. Manpower was cut, and only slowly has since been rebuilt.
Even that slow restoration of border security has had substantial opposition:
People are still processed at an absurdly slow rate. Those obediently following instructions, staying in line, find themselves waiting along roadways or on bridges for weeks, and sometimes months. They are vulnerable to heat, cold, hunger, and thirst.
And their children share in the danger.
During the Trump years, that danger was deliberately amplified. Border patrols were assigned to seek out supplies left in the wilderness by those of good will to help those desperate to survive. When our agents found those little jugs of water and baskets of food, they were ordered to destroy them.
Children died in custody. Trump officials responded:
We’ll continue to look into the situation. But again, I cannot stress how dangerous this journey is, when migrants choose to come here illegally.
Kirstjen Nielsen, Trump Homeland Security Secretary on Fox News
The hardship was not an oversight. It became policy.
Our government adopted a strategy for the new goal of discouraging immigration by those it deemed less desirable than others. Those who gathered their children and ran away from the monstrous violence largely financed by American drug money could be turned away, if only our nation became more monstrous than the conditions from which they fled.
That articulated policy of cruelty has devolved into independent state actions by Texas. Barbed wire is placed in the Rio Grande along the border. The stated intent is to catch and drown everyone daring to cross, even small children.
On the day of the 9/11 attacks we watched, then listened to accounts about bodies hitting the pavement in New York. For years after, we wondered about the evil of bin Laden, until we could celebrate his death. What kind of person would cast innocent people into that situation, giving them that terrible choice: dying by burning or by leaping from a great height.
All too recently, our government worked to provide a terrible choice to parents of vulnerable children. Stay in the conditions we helped to create in your home countries, where your children are threatened with rape, violence and death.
Or discover we are worse than what you seek to escape.
Some of my brothers and sisters in Christ celebrated as we watched parents and children running through teargas.
Years before actual Trump inspired efforts at violent insurrection, news reports told us our then President believed he owed his office to those Christians who celebrated his actions, and that he would face defeat if he did not stoke, then satisfy, their hatreds.
And I remembered the ancient stories with which I was raised:
Stories of a national ruler who tried to keep his hold on power by sending the powerful forces he controlled to attack little children.
Why aren’t we letting people in from Europe?
Why would anybody from Europe as it is nowadays want to come here?
I am totally mystified why everyone thinks it’s wonderful to wish each other a happy easter – as if everyone is christian? xmas I can sorta understand, given how people often exchange gifts, etc, regardless of faith – but easter isn’t even a public holiday since it falls on a sunday! needless to say, I’m not winning any friends when they wish me one lol. tx, Burr, for including me here
Whenever I hear about “RINO’s” from Trump’s evangelical Right and white nationalist base, I find good reason to see “CINO’s”. We know them by their fruit, and it is hate, not love, for their fellow citizens.
We see far more people identifying as the noun “Christian”, but rarely by “Christian” as an adjective that describes their devotion and service to their Savior’s message of love, care for the sick, feeding the poor and welcoming the stranger. They are very un-Christian Christians. Trump Christian is the more fitting term. Hate everyone Trump hates and still receive your eternal “get out of Hell free card”.
And nobody howls about being “persecuted” as much as these followers of their Malevolent Mendacious Messiah, for their leader tells them they are the “real victims” of oppression and only He their Guardian stands between them and the Evil Ones.
They are CINOs, and they are a cult.
More people who embrace the adjective Christian than the noun need to call them out as well.
Thanks for that, Burr.
Trump and his Christian supporters are akin to Herod?
Interesting take, my friend.
Your take on the goodness and altruistic motives of all the people swarming our southern border is a little naive or perhaps polyannish. Granted there are indeed good people legitimately seeking refuge in America for valid reasons. I dare say that most of them fall in that category. But there is an awful lot of single military aged men coming across the border too from many countries that wish America ill, including China and the Middle East.
As our own FBI Director has stated, the consequences of Biden’s catch and release program will be responsible for the death of even more Americans in some future terrorist attack. Not if, but when. I’m curious how the leftist sycophantic media will spin that one to be conservatives’ fault when it occurs. As of right now we do not have border control. We have federal employees processing would-be immigrants and releasing them on their own recognizance to appear at some future hearing on their status. What could go wrong here?
Wow! A comparison between Herod and Trump?
Now that you point it out, I suppose the parallel is obvious.
Thank you for that contribution.
Please let me know if you detect any factual errors in my writing.
And let us pray that Republicans finally agree to the border security funding they previously agreed was necessary.
Burr, not that the left cares, because in their cynicism they see all of these illegal aliens as potential Democrat voters in the future. It isn’t their altruism in wanting to help others that motivates them. It is concentrating more political power. In fact, I dare say that if the cowardly GOP were to agree to giving these MILLIONS of illegal immigrants legal status to remain in the country with the proviso that they would never become citizens with the right to vote, the Democrats would no longer be interested in “helping” them.
As for the fake border funding bill, that is a red herring and you are far too well-read and smart enough to know that, my friend. That bill was to allow for more border patrol and immigration judges to process the massive influx of would-be immigrants. It had very little to do with actually securing the border and reducing the influx.
Indeed, under idiot Trump the Border was under a modicum of control. All Biden had to do was continue to follow EXISTING immigration law already on the books right now and maintain the status quo. Instead, he halted the construction of the border wall, cancelled the remain-in-Mexico policy, and basically incentivized more illegals with his policies and rhetoric.
During the first Trump administration, three of the four years saw illegal immigration at or below around 400K each year. During Biden’s tenure, it has averaged over 2 million a year. And that is just with known cases.
Even the many left of center Americans realize where the blame lies on this one and it is NOT with the GOP. Even that bastion of conservative journalists at the Washington Post agree:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2024/02/11/trump-biden-immigration-border-compared/
A country without borders is not a country. (Which may very well be the motivation behind many leftists.)
Good old Darrell.
Once again HE assumes his ability to understand our thinking is superior and more honest than what our own words reflect. He BELEIVES he KNOWS our thoughts and motives better than WE do. How arrogant is THAT? This is essential for radical Right demonization of the rest of us. We are demeaned and reduced to “baby-killing commies who hate America”. These are the kind of lies they use to justify their hate. As the 1/6 attack on our democracy proved, Trump has a cult willing to KILL and DIE for his lies. People who BELIEVE what Darrell BELIEVES would shoot me if ordered by Trump and promised a pardon. And why wouldn’t they? In their deranged and deluded minds we are evil commies out to destroy America.
“As for the fake border funding bill…”
Darrell will let Trump define reality for him. Anything that Trump dislikes or conveys truth he doesn’t want his cult to know is “fake”. The press is the “enemy of the people”. His opponents and those legally bound to hold him accountable are “vermin” and “communists”. Darrell truly BELIEVES I am a communist, despite my concurrence with Burr on almost every issue. Funny how that works. Despite my pleading with Darrell to quote my words that support communism, and his false accusation, he refuses every request. Funny how that works, too.
Darrell reveres the word of Trump as gospel when it comes to his demonization of the press, demonization of the opposition, election lies, January 6 insurrection. His Trumpian false beliefs must DOMINATE over the will of the majority. This is the nature of the authoritarian personality.
Darrell doesn’t care that a bipartisan majority voted he was GUILTY of insurrection in his second impeachment.
Darrell doesn’t care that a bipartisan majority supported the border bill until their Malevolent Mendacious Messiah ordered his cult to kill it.
Darrell doesn’t care that the bill was supported by the Border Patrol.
Darrell doesn’t care that Brandon Judd, President of the National Border Patrol Council said,
“While not perfect, the Border Act of 2024 is a step in the right direction and is far better than the current status quo. This is why the National Border Patrol Council endorses this bill and hopes for its quick passage.”
As we know immigration surged as the pandemic receded. This would have happened whether Trump or Biden was president.
But Trump, therefore Darrell, knows better.
They don’t want to compromise. They don’t want ANY progress or unity. They are authoritarians. They want absolute POWER wielded by their cult leader alone.
I still hope Darrell will open his eyes and mind to reality. Deep down he is a good person, I’m sure. But BELIEF in hateful lies can induce good people into hating others and committing crimes for Trump.
Here is the truth. Trump lost. Trump lied. Trump criminally tried to overturn and steal the election.
Many good Republicans of conscience understand this reality. Darrell will call them RINOS or worse as he pledges to vote for an indicted CRIMINAL.
I dare say this Trump cult is what truly “poisons the blood” of our country.
“Good old Darrell. Once again HE assumes his ability to understand our thinking is superior and more honest than what our own words reflect. He BELEIVES (sic) he KNOWS our thoughts and motives better than WE do. How arrogant is THAT?”
The hypocrisy and irony here is absolutely without parallel. Do I even need to point out the numerous examples in even the current screed of Dubya’s.
“People who BELIEVE what Darrell BELIEVES would shoot me if ordered by Trump and promised a pardon. And why wouldn’t they?”
Straw man much? For the record, I support Mr. Dubya’s first amendment rights to free speech, even though much of what he says is nothing but really rich fertilizer which often borders on the libelous.
I don’t wish him harm and most of the conservative I know wouldn’t either, other than a thorough beating at the ballot box of ideas.
That said, I need to correct once again the gross mischaracterization (dare I say LIES) that Mr. Dubya has spread regarding me. I despise Trump. I think he is dishonest, arrogant, self-important, and defines his policies often times by what makes him look best. I did not vote for him in the general election the first time nor in the primary this time. Since he is now the GOP nominee, however, and the alternative is a congenitally corrupt and cognitively degraded individual that truly does belong in jail, I have no choice but to vote for the very definition of the lesser of two evils.
Regardless, I am well aware of Trump’s many foibles and shortcomings. I will support Trump’s POLICIES when they are constitutional and advance America’s interests. I will call Trump out when he strays from this and is wrong. JUST LIKE I ALWAYS HAVE!
The difference is that Mr. Dubya fails to acknowledge any of the documented failings and illegalities perpetrated by Biden. He goes to great lengths to explain them away or justify them. I will vote for the damnable Trump over the corrupt Biden because I have now seen how both of them have governed. The economy, freedom, and world stability and peace were all far better served under Trump than under this buffoon currently asleep in his ice cream dish in the oval office.
As for the border, illegal immigration was way down under Trump, and despite Dubya’s red herring to the contrary, that PRECEDED the pandemic. Ending the pandemic did not cause the surge of illegals again. If Biden would have simply enforced EXISTING immigration law instead of removing barriers to illegals with his actions and rhetoric, this would be a non-issue for the country. Oh, and frankly what union leadership supports in any situation is always suspect and often times contrary to what many of the rank and file members support when it comes to politics. Most unions these days are little more than Democrat PACs.
Anyway, I suspect my clearing the air is lost in this forum, and I would be better served by continuing to ignore the falsehoods stated against me. The truth is out there to see in the words I have written IN CONTEXT on my own site, myriads of other sites, and even Mr. Dubya’s site in the past.
Our country is in great trouble as we reach $35 TRILLION in national debt while the left thinks that funding more free stuff and bringing in more illegal immigrants as potential future Democrat voters is all that matters. Power is something that both sides struggle to increase. I dare say that those on the left do so with the intention of “fundamentally transforming” our country to something that is antithetical to America, its constitution, and its ideals of liberty.
I wonder to where I should move to live freely if this country somehow manages to re-elect Biden? Freedom really is just one generation away from extinction, as the best president in my lifetime once stated.
Burr,
Like every MAGA Trumpist, Darrell is loaded with assertions and false accusations that have no verifiable supporting evidence. But since he SAYS I’m a “commie” and Biden is a “criminal”, that’s all he really needs. Accusations ARE “evidence’ to the MAGA cult. It is their standard MO.
Note how he summarily dismisses the FACT that the BIPARTISAN border bill was supported by the Border Patrol. They all VOTED for those union officials who supported it. They want SOMETHING done. Trump wants NOTHING done, for his OWN purposes. Darrell will REFLEXIVELY side with Trump and attack the Border Patrol union instead.
Darrell drank Trump’s 1/6 koolade and doesn’t see any evidence that Trump’s thugs committed CRIMES for their lying leader. Darrell BELIEVES Trump, and FEELS he won. Now he cannot even IMAGINE Trump could LIE about the election. Darrell can’t imagine the sentiment, “Hang Mike Pence”, reveals their bloodlust and willingness to KILL and DIE for Trump. How many death threats directed at prosecutors, judges, and their family members will it take to register that something is very wrong with the MAGA cult?
I’m betting Darrell is ignorant or dismissive of the death threats that the terrorized Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss endured because Giuliani and Trump LIED about them cheating. Evidently punching down against Black women is fair game with the Trump cult.
Let’s review Darrell’s conversion to a Trumpist true believer. His major disconnect is exposed when he wrote at my blog.
Jan 8, 2021:
“Dave, Trump was wrong to give encouragement and a wink and a nod to the protestors and delaying any attempt to rein them back. He was complicit. Sadly this ego maniacal narcissist tarnished the myriad of good things he has done for our country with this latest escapade.”
This is what Darrell wrote on May 15, 2021:
“Trump instigates a riot according to the left and the media, but then I repeat myself. (He didn’t.)”
Radicalization complete. A true believer is reborn in Trumpism.
And to Darrell,
Take a deep breath. You are not losing your freedom. Biden will not be seeking “retribution” like your guy is promising. Nobody is coming for your guns, your home, your land, or your religion. That’s what Trump’s pal Putin is doing to Ukraine, but you’re probably OK with that. I’m sure Biden is the tyrant in your eyes and Putin is an ally.
That koolade is quite effective. Learn to refuse it and free your mind and conscience. You don’t have to like or agree with Biden. You don’t even need to vote for Democrats.
All we ask is you make a fair effort to understand why former Republicans and people like Burr and myself KNOW Trump LOST, LIED about it, and criminally tried to overturn and STEAL the 2020 election.
Start by reading the verifiable EVIDENCE in Trump’s indictments. Ethical Republicans, aka “RINOs”, have done it. Why can’t YOU? Ah, but you already have ALL the answers, don’t you? They just happen to come from Trump, his propagandists, and radical Right media, because everything Trump doesn’t want you to know is “fake news”.
Allowing a narcisstic criminal authoritarian to define reality is not only sad, but tragic, and nothing good ever comes of it. But it must FEEL good to tell yourself you are wiser and morally superior to those who KNOW by verifiable EVIDENCE that Trump is a criminal, sociopath, and liar.
Understanding this is the common ground our country desperately needs. It’s not “communism”. It’s reality.