The people that have walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. Though hast multiplied the nation and not increased the joy; they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For though hast broken the yolk of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. For every battle with the warrior is confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of the hosts will perform this.

- Isaiah 9:2-7

This month has been going well so far, at least better then the previous ones have gone, that’s for sure. I didn’t make it to church last Sunday, as I was up until five in the morning writing a paper, and didn’t really wake up in time to make it. Sara made it though, she said it was nice and that familiar hymns were sung. The sermon was about modern persecution of Christians, and how one should react when you are say, passed over for a promotion because of your Christian religion. Frankly it seems like an odd thing to say. Are we really that secular here? Are Christians, members of the predominant faith in Canada and North America, really so persecuted? I never really thought about it, and it certainly seems possible. It’s just not something you’d expect to hear coming from the majority. It would be something to keep in mind, a good question to discuss with the Christian community.

A new friend of mine gave me a copy of Mere Christianity by CS Lewis to peruse this month, and I’m excited to read it. It has been recommended by a few people now, and I should be able to finish it within the month. That is if I don’t spend all my newly acquired free time playing video games. It is mighty tempting.

The one thing that has so far really struck me is a small, internal conflict that I have noticed while at services and amongst Christians. I realized that for a long time now, in many of my philosophy papers and during philosophical discussions, Christian ideas have been my antagonist. Now most of the time I’m speaking against faith-based belief and dogma in general, but the readily available example is always Christianity and ideas of redemption, salvation, the afterlife, and God that some people take a bit too seriously.

I realize that many Christians aren’t as rabid in their beliefs as my past discourse may have suggested. I usually qualify myself when attacking religious beliefs, to make it apparent that I am attacking the more extreme interpretations and denominations of these ideas, and not in fact many of the believers that I have met so far this month. All of the Christians I have met and held conversations with have seemed like perfectly reasonable and decent people. They have even made fun of the extremists and fundamentalists who have been the brunt of my philosophical arguments. I keep expecting to see this dogmatic and unreasonable bogey man to leap out at me and try to convert me on the spot. But it hasn’t happened yet, and I realize that this was probably an unreasonable thing to expect of your normal church goer.

The quote above was read during a candlelit service on the first Sunday of advent at Christ Church Cathedral. It was a very calming and beautiful service, where I got to take part in some caroling and heard bits of scripture that told of the coming of Jesus. This section of Isaiah I think captures an overall theme that runs through many religions, and a valid reason why people do turn to religion. In our normal lives our joy consists in the pleasures and toils of the everyday grind. Our pleasures are fleeting by nature and so we are ceaselessly pursue that which makes us happy, all while trying to provide for ourselves and the burdens which that may carry. But with the coming of Christ there is the coming of eternal bliss, of happiness that does not require one’s favourite food or to have one’s friends and family easily at hand. There comes a light, shining brilliantly in the darkness of the ordinary, something to fall back on and look forward to. It’s a kind of symbolism that I will be coming back to in the future. (Bits of this were paraphrased from Sam Harris’ talk at the last AAI convention, which is brilliant)

All in all, a pleasant experience so far. More to come.