Merry Christmas! In celebrity conversion news, Denzel Washington got baptized at his church in Harlem just days before his 70th birthday and became a licensed minister, and New York Times columnist, David Brooks, has written about his surprising journey from agnosticism to Christianity. What do these stories tell us about our culture’s ongoing hunger for God? On the other side, David French explains why some Christians now think cruelty is acceptable. New Testament scholar, Nijay Gupta, is back to talk about what the Gospels actually say about Jesus’ birth, and what our Christmas pageants get right and very wrong about the story. Also this week—an airport in New Zealand bans hugs longer than three minutes.
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Links Mentioned in the News Segment
Is this airport’s 3-minute limit on goodbye hugs ‘inhumane’? https://www.euronews.com/travel/2024/10/22/max-hug-time-three-minutes-new-zealand-airport-goes-viral-for-limiting-goodbyes#:~:text=Three%20minutes%20was%20%22plenty%20of,and%20serotonin%2C%20De%20Bono%20said
Denzel Washington Gets Baptized and Becomes a Minister During Live Streamed Ceremony: 'It Took a While but I'm Here' https://people.com/denzel-washington-gets-baptized-and-becomes-minister-during-live-streamed-ceremony-8765639
Opinion | The Shock of Faith: It’s Nothing Like I Thought It Would Be https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/19/opinion/faith-god-christianity.html
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This episode as well as so many others have been really helpful when learning about Christianity. I’m surprised when speaking about the animals in the manger scene the symbolism of the ox and the ass we’re not mentioned. Merry Christmas!
It really needs to be pointed out that Russell Brand has been accused of various sexual abuses, and as far as I know has not owned up to them. We should be very cautious about holding him up as an example.