I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day

[The Professor]

One of my favorite Christmas songs is “I Heard the Bells on Christmas day.” The lyrics are from a poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and the story behind the poem is both tragic and inspiring.


Longfellow and his wife Fanny had been married 18 years and had five children when misfortune struck. On July 11, 1861, Fanny had just trimmed their young daughter’s hair and wanted to preserve a few strands in an envelope which she tried to seal by using hot sealing wax. In the process her dress caught fire and she was quickly engulfed in flames. Longfellow bravely extinguished the flames with his own body, but was unable to save his wife. Fanny died the next morning and Longfellow's face arms and hands were severely burned making it impossible for him to attend her funeral.


On Christmas day following his wife's death, Longfellow wrote, “How inexpressibly sad are all holidays.” On the next Christmas (1862), still depressed, Longfellow wrote in his journal, "'A merry Christmas' say the children, but that is no more for me."Almost a year later, Longfellow's oldest son Charles, a lieutenant in the Army of the Potomac was badly wounded; he survived but was crippled. Personal tragedy and the ongoing Civil War had caused Longfellow to doubt his faith. Then, something mysterious and wonderful happened; some force or influence known only to Longfellow intervened and rekindled his spirit and gave him hope. On Christmas Day of 1864, his faith restored, he wrote "Christmas Bells." Here are the three most popular verses:


I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.”

The following rendition of the song is one of my favorites. I hope you guys and gals enjoy it.




Note: I submitted this article around Christmas of last year and thought it should be repeated this year. I thought the song was the perfect Christmas message; the ultimate triumph of faith over doubt and despair.

 

[Mindlight]

Yes there is something incredibly powerful about this testimony. A song of praise born out of years of trial and tribulation. Most Christians have been through such times of trial. The experience shapes us and the grace we are given to overcome defines our lives and echoes in eternity (just like Longfellows bells). I was reminded of John Newtons writing of Amazing Grace by your account. Though his experience was not of finding meaning the other side of immense personal loss. His experience was rather finding the grace to carry on the other side of seeing the entire direction of his life up until that point to have been wasted in the most barbaric and evil of ventures of the slave trade. Longfellow had to leave behind a lover and become the man of God he was born to be. Newton had to leave behind a monster to live instead in the grace of God.

 

[AVG-JOE]

Everyone goes through some version of shit in life. Even us rich Monkeys get more educated with broken hearts and broken promises than we ever will with books and preachers.

It's not the shit you go through, it's the style with which you wade in to it. Whether a Monkeys role in a given tragedy is to be generous, responsible or a Monkey in need, style counts.

 

[Mindlight]

Everyone goes through some version of shit in life. Even us rich Monkeys get more educated with broken hearts and broken promises than we ever will with books and preachers.

It's not the shit you go through, it's the style with which you wade in to it. Whether a Monkeys role in a given tragedy is to be generous, responsible or a Monkey in need, style counts.

Usually wading in is out of our control. Whether or not we make it to the other side is about how we respond. A godless response will just bring later tragedies. The response of Longfellow was to God and the result was a song that is something very special. what you call style I would call character.

 

[jon_berzerk]

my favorite version

 

[AVG-JOE]

Everyone goes through some version of shit in life. Even us rich Monkeys get more educated with broken hearts and broken promises than we ever will with books and preachers.

It's not the shit you go through, it's the style with which you wade in to it. Whether a Monkeys role in a given tragedy is to be generous, responsible or a Monkey in need, style counts.

Usually wading in is out of our control. Whether or not we make it to the other side is about how we respond. A godless response will just bring later tragedies. The response of Longfellow was to God and the result was a song that is something very special. what you call style I would call character.

Tomato - Potato

What is your evidence that a "godless response will just bring later tragedies"?

Perhaps step one would be to define 'God'.......​

 

[Hollie]

Everyone goes through some version of shit in life. Even us rich Monkeys get more educated with broken hearts and broken promises than we ever will with books and preachers.

It's not the shit you go through, it's the style with which you wade in to it. Whether a Monkeys role in a given tragedy is to be generous, responsible or a Monkey in need, style counts.

Usually wading in is out of our control. Whether or not we make it to the other side is about how we respond. A godless response will just bring later tragedies. The response of Longfellow was to God and the result was a song that is something very special. what you call style I would call character.

Really, what is it with you angry, self-indulgent religious zealots?

You can be a good person without giving two hoots about religion, as billions of non-religious people prove every day. Christians think this world was nothing but barbarians before Jeebus-- when in actuality true barbarism sprung up rampantly after Jeebus and his devoted fanatics started hacking at anyone who slightly disagreed with them (even the atrocities of the old testament pale in comparison to the holocausts, pogrom, wars and genocides that the teachings of Jeebus has inspired). You think the Greeks burned old women because they were witches? The greatest library of all time-- the Library at Alexandria --was created by the Greek Ionians-- men who believed in Zeus. It took a Christian to destroy their works and literally set us back 2,000 years. For god. Who, according to the bible, hates knowledge so much he made it the one thing forbidden in Eden-- "ye shall eat of all things but not of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge -- for on that day, ye shall die" (they didn't die, as the serpent pointed out, they lived; God lied, Satan told the truth-- how ironic).

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

“Really, what is it with you angry, self-indulgent religious zealots?”

Arrogance.

The arrogance common to most theists who believe that their religion has a monopoly on morality, when that is clearly not the case.

 

[Avatar4321]

If you can be good without Jesus than prove it.

 

[AVG-JOE]

Define "good".

Did anyone break Federal Law?

Catholic? Sharia?

Does anyone care? Should anyone care?

 

[AVG-JOE]

I've managed to keep my ass out of jail and on speaking terms with my family since I stopped believing that Jesus of Nazareth was my ticket to the presence of God....

Is that 'Good', or just 'Average', for an average American Joe?

 

[AVG-JOE]

I'm actually trying for an 'Excellent' in "Plays well with others", but all I bring to the table is my own acquired sense of right and wrong, which I'll admit includes some book learnin' from The New Testament.

What has been seen cannot be unseen.

 

[guno]

If you can be good without Jesus than prove it.

so all Jews are evil to you christers?

 

[Hollie]

If you can be good without Jesus than prove it.

I prove it every day, and so do most people.

The only "condemning aspect" of my life is the christian based idea that as an imperfect being I am evil and base and I deserve Hell by default. I'm fairly honest, I work hard, I love my friends and family, etc.-- in short, I'm your average person who lives a quiet life dealing with life's challenges. I cannot imagine rating eternal torment because I don't acquiesce to the Christian defined salvation program. I ask myself:
"Which is more likely": That there's really this angry god out there who would actually behave that way, or it's really in the religion’s interest to establish a social dynamic where the threat of eternal torment is the outcome for not joining in that religion and btw supporting it financially. What's more likely, man needs a savior for being human, or the religion, an entity of sweeping power for more than a thousand years, needs to convince me I need them and only them?".

 

[Avatar4321]

You guys are seriously ignorant of the scriptures. No one is good. We have all been corrupted by the Fall and we cannot overcome that flaw without the atonement.

 

[hobelim]

For god. Who, according to the bible, hates knowledge so much he made it the one thing forbidden in Eden-- "ye shall eat of all things but not of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge -- for on that day, ye shall die" (they didn't die, as the serpent pointed out, they lived; God lied, Satan told the truth-- how ironic).

You have just misunderstood the story.

Adam and Eve never had immortality in the first place. Physical death was not the consequence for eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, being barred from the fruit of the tree of life, understanding, was the death consequent. Knowledge of good and evil without understanding and wisdom is like a corpse without life, a tree that bears no edible fruit. They did not physically die, but they became confused and gullible and in the state they were found, confused, they descended to the spiritual realm of low lifes, the dust of the earth, to live out the rest of their days in fruitless labor, the sweat of their brow, symbolic of thinking, producing only thorns and thistles.

They did did not become like God and they certainly died in the day they ate of the fruit. Satan lied just like his descendants lie when they tell people that they will not die if they set aside the divine commands and worship a human being but instead they will become like God and receive eternal life.

I know you have seen and even spoken with those ever elusive talking serpents..For whatever reason you are immune to their poison.

I'm sure you have also seen with your own eyes the direct descendants of Adam and Eve tip toeing around the wilderness east of Eden where the beasts of the field roam, naked and ashamed, incapable of adding two facts together and coming up with an intelligent thought.

 

[Hollie]

You guys are seriously ignorant of the scriptures. No one is good. We have all been corrupted by the Fall and we cannot overcome that flaw without the atonement.

Such self-hate and fear is a prescription for a maladjusted personality.

 

[mudwhistle]

“Really, what is it with you angry, self-indulgent religious zealots?”

Arrogance.

The arrogance common to most theists who believe that their religion has a monopoly on morality, when that is clearly not the case.

 

[Meriweather]

I prove it every day, and so do most people.

The only "condemning aspect" of my life is the christian based idea that as an imperfect being I am evil and base and I deserve Hell by default. I'm fairly honest, I work hard, I love my friends and family, etc.-- in short, I'm your average person who lives a quiet life dealing with life's challenges. I cannot imagine rating eternal torment because I don't acquiesce to the Christian defined salvation program. I ask myself:
"Which is more likely": That there's really this angry god out there who would actually behave that way, or it's really in the religion’s interest to establish a social dynamic where the threat of eternal torment is the outcome for not joining in that religion and btw supporting it financially. What's more likely, man needs a savior for being human, or the religion, an entity of sweeping power for more than a thousand years, needs to convince me I need them and only them?".

Your posts seem to have a foundation that all Christian denominations believe non-believers go to hell. I belong to one of the largest Christian denominations, and we do not teach this. Those who love evil and despise God will not want an eternal life with God. That would be their hell. Those who embrace love and goodness are not wanted in hell.

Through my own experience, I can tell you two things about God. The first is that God is the most magnificent, wondrous entity of love that can ever be experienced. Once that love is experienced there is no doubt if God loves me that much, then that's at least how much He loves everyone else. Gone--erased as if it had never existed--is any thought that God loves us over here--but not them over there. The second thing I can be a witness of is that God respects our free will.

We can choose to immerse ourselves and then project the iota of love we are capable of projecting to others--or not. I think the greatest regret some Christians will have in the next life, is that they bothered non-believers with visions of hell--instead of being a true witness to His massive, awe-inspiring love.

This Christmas season know this: You are loved beyond your greatest imagining. You are not condemned.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

You guys are seriously ignorant of the scriptures. No one is good. We have all been corrupted by the Fall and we cannot overcome that flaw without the atonement.

Nonsense.

There was no 'fall,' there is no 'atonement,' and scriptures were written by men alone; millions are capable of being and doing good absent Jesus and other such myths