Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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SEC. A—PAGE 16—The Newberry Sun, Newberry, S. €., Thursday, December 20, 1967 At Christmas The Bible Has 4 Special Meaning Like so many things really im portant to us, we too often take the Bible for granted. Even at Christmas, one of the year’s most sacred times, the Bible—our sole source for the story of the birth of Jesus Christ — is often ig nored, so intent are we on the more material aspects of the holi day. Yet, there are millions of people all over the world, to whom the Bible is a dynamic force. Ask the American Bible Society, which distributes more than 34 million scriptures a year and hopes eventually to put a Bible in every Christian’s home. As they can tell you, the de mand for Bibles and Scriptures in different languages and dia lects is ever mounting. So far, translations have been made in 1200 languages—including Uduk, Bicol, Lugbara, Amahuaca, Hanu- noo, Kerewe, and Esperanto. Yet hundreds of other languages exist in which translations must still be done. To millions of Christians, the Bible is such a powerful book, they will even endanger them selves to get a copy. Just re cently, for example, it was re ported that Watusi refugees came out of hiding to get supplies of salt, medicine, hymn books, and Bibles. The Bible is important to many people’s lives and work. To arch eologists, it is a prime source of information as to where to un earth artifacts of Biblical civili zations. To historians, it presents the best picture yet of the 4,500 years of ancient history embraced by the Old and New Testaments. And the Bible is also the best source of information about the beginnings of Christianity. Life Work Scholars find in the Bible a life-time work. One famous schol ar of modern times — Dr. Albert Schweitzer — spent years writing his monumental “The Quest of Historical Jesus.” which put Jesus into historical perspective. From the Bible comes practi cally all our rules of basic be havior as does our most repeated prayer—the Lord’s Prayer. Also literally hundreds of famous quo tations, “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” “The wages of sin is death,” “Cet thee behind me Satan,” and “God is love.” 57. i KAN CIS St. Francis of Assisi is gener ally credited with popularizing Christmas carols. St. Francis is responsible for staging the first manger scene with real people and animals. Legend has it that the onlookers were, so delighted with the pageant that they burst into spontaneous song. Caroling then became as important to St. Francis’ Christmas celebration as Christmas music is to us in these modern times. Dangerous Decorations Holiday decorations espe cially hazardous to children in clude Christmas Tree Light Bubbling Fluid, which contains the poison methylene blue; and Fireplace Colors made of toxic metalic salts. Snow Sprays contain highly poisonous pro pellants, which may be in haled. Even Metallic Icicles— if ingested by a youngster — can cause serious lead poi soning. Best Card The most popular Christmas card is neither sick nor slick, but rather informal. These cards underplay sentiment and have whimsical, sometimes lightly tender cover drawings. Small informal cards appeared in 1962. Larger ones are avail able this year for senders who want to write their own newsy note to each recipient. Vacation Good Christmas Gift Some women want minks . . . others want new kitchen sinks ... but there’s one gift all the gals appreciate because they all need it — a rest, a change of pace, a holiday! Ever try to figure out how many miles the little woman walks while walloping rugs, quiet ing wailing kids and getting the meals and marketing done? About 1,825 miles a year! The daily grind deserves a reward — and what’s better than letting others do the cooking for the little woman? Holiday Observance Aided Washington An important step was taken towards colonial freedom when George Washington used his knowledge of Christmas celebra tions as an aid in planning his attack on the Hessian soldiers under the employ of George III. At that time (1776) many if not all puritan settlers in the new world disapproved of Christ mas festivities. Not true for the mercenary Hessians fighting for King George against the colonists. They made the fatal mistake of observing Christmas just as they had done at home. The result was, much of the credit due to Washington’s knowledge of Christmas customs throughout the world, that on December 25-6, 1776, American troops crossed the Delaware, attacked and put to rout the surprised Hessians who were obviously sleeping off the effects of their holiday “cheer.” WHY? Dr. Clement Clarke Moore was ashamed of his poem, very famous, "Night Before Christmas" and would not acknowledge that he wrote it for more than twenty years. WI5HIN6 'r©u 4^1 MAY CHRISTMAS MAKE MUSIC IN YOUR HEART! FROM YOUR FRIENDS AT 1109 Caldwell St. THE HAT BOX Myrtle M. Long, Newberry, S. C. There is no better way than the good old- fashioned way of extending our sincere good wishes at this joyous holiday than to say: Hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas Dayl KEMPER CHEVROLET COMPANY COLLEGE STREET EXT NEWBERRY, S. C.