The Cross at Christmas

It is impossible for me to separate Christmas from Easter. Jesus CAME to DIE. And the following quote from theologian John Stott explains this connection better than I ever could. It also shows that the beauty of Christmas can be found in the contrast between the Christian and Buddhist worldviews:

"I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of the Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. But each time, after a while I have had to turn away. And in my imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wretched, brow bleeding from thorn pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in God-forsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside His immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death."

~John Stott