Bob Schwartz

December 23, 2025

Time Stood Still on Christmas?

I’ve posted before about the infancy gospels, Christian texts that fill in missing information about the events surrounding the birth of Jesus. These gospels are apocryphal—they are not included in the biblical canon—but have been influential and interesting for centuries.

The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew includes a fascinating story about dragons and wild beasts worshiping Jesus:

18
Baby Jesus Is Worshiped by Dragons and Other Wild Beasts

1 When they arrived at a certain cave where they wanted to cool themselves off, Mary came off the donkey and sat down, and held Jesus on her lap. There were three male servants with them on the road, and one female servant with Mary. And behold, suddenly many dragons came out of the cave. When the servants saw them they cried out. Then the Lord, even though he was not yet two years old, roused himself, got to his feet, and stood in front of them. And the dragons worshiped him. When they finished worshiping him, they went away. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet in the Psalms, who said, “Praise the Lord from the earth, O dragons and all the places of the abyss.”

2 The Lord Jesus Christ, though just a small child, walked along with them so that he might not be a burden to anyone. Mary and Joseph were saying to one another, “It would be better for those dragons to kill us than to harm the child.” Jesus said to them, “Do not think of me as a young child, for I have always been the perfect man, and am now; and it is necessary for me to tame every kind of wild beast.”

Then there is the Proto-Gospel of James:

Of all the early Christian apocrypha, none played a larger a role in the theology, culture, and popular imagination of late antiquity and the Middle Ages than the Proto-Gospel of James. This is the Gospel “prior to” the Gospel, an account of the events leading up to and immediately following the birth of Jesus.
Bart Ehrman, The Other Gospels: Accounts of Jesus from Outside the New Testament

In this story, time stands still for Joseph:

18
Joseph Watches Time Stand Still

1 He found a cave there and took her into it. Then he gave his sons to her and went out to find a Hebrew midwife in the region of Bethlehem.

2 But I, Joseph, was walking, and I was not walking. I looked up to the vault of the sky, and I saw it standing still, and into the air, and I saw that it was greatly disturbed, and the birds of the sky were at rest. I looked down to the earth and saw a bowl laid out for some workers who were reclining to eat. Their hands were in the bowl, but those who were chewing were not chewing; and those who were taking something from the bowl were not lifting it up; and those who were bringing their hands to their mouths were not bringing them to their mouths. Everyone was looking up. I saw a flock of sheep being herded, but they were standing still. The shepherd raised his hand to strike them, but his hand remained in the air. I looked down at the torrential stream, and I saw some goats whose mouths were over the water, but they were not drinking. Then suddenly everything returned to its normal course.

Bart Ehrman, a leading expert on these gospels, writes that every time he reads this passage, he thinks of the Twilight Zone.

Consider this history, consider this a story. It concerns a profound matter, for believers and non-believers, for philosophers and scientists.

In contracts, the term “time is of the essence” is commonly included. Meaning that it is a primary element of performance.

In the Bible, the story begins with time. The usual first word in translation is “when”, followed by a counting of days.

Time is of the essence. In our lives, we keep time, mark time, use time wisely, foolishly, carefully, carelessly. One thing we know, or think we know, whatever time is, it does not stop. Or can it?

An exceptional book about time: The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli

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December 22, 2025

Experience the 3D First Christmas in 2 easy steps!

1. Go to Comic Book Plus and free download The First Christmas in New Super 3Dimension (1953)!

2. Buy a pack of 3D glasses for $3.95! You can still get them in time for Christmas!

Experience the Christmas story as never before!

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December 22, 2025

The season to be a “better” (your religion here)

A number of religions, not just Christianity and Judaism, have major or minor holidays this time of year. While individuals focus on their own faith, it is also a time to think about following any religion.

The word “better” above is in quotes, because there is not a singular standard for what it means to be a good or better Jew, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, etc. And among the options, I am in a weak position, or no position at all, to suggest what that might be. But I’m softly going to try, given the season.

If your idea of what it means to be a better adherent to your religion involves inflicting suffering, pain, abuse, damage to others, you should think again. Investigate whether there is something in your religion, maybe in the most basic and sacred moments and ideas, that contradicts that. Investigate whether you have been misled or have misled yourself, because they and you are human with all the human tendencies that those higher teachings are trying to change.

Christmas is just one example. Innocence is born, with the power and potential to do great good. Others are committed to eradicating that potential as soon as possible, and if not at the start, later on. If you think that is just a religious story, it is not. It is the story of history and the story of any day, this day, torn from the headlines.

Which side of the story are you on? Will you use your religion as pretext and excuse for being on the wrong side? Will you use your religion, which has been trying to teach you this, to rise above your natural human limitations and be…better?

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December 21, 2025

The Grinches will not steal our winter solstice

Today is the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere. The shortest daylight of the year, the start of the inexorable amble to…more light!

During difficult times—war, pandemic, etc.—it can be hard to look away from whatever shady public events overwhelm our attention. It has been said this year that like the Grinch, some seem committed to stealing Christmas from us.

“They” haven’t stolen Christmas and “they” will not steal the winter solstice.

If you are in the northern hemisphere (some of you are not, so happy summer solstice), the winter solstice is a little different in different places. Warmer places get a little colder while more moderate places get a lot colder.

Here is the good news. The earth, our home planet, is circling and spinning. The day lights will get longer, the dark nights will get shorter. Spring will arrive in three months. Ever thus.

“They” will not and cannot change that.

Happy Winter Solstice!

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December 21, 2025

The Magi

Journey of the Magi
The magi are for everyone, whatever your beliefs.

These three figures in the Christmas tradition appear in only one of the four Christian gospels, and even that role in Matthew is sketchy. They are foreigners bringing gifts for the infant Jesus and they return home by a different route to evade Herod. That’s it.

Translations and interpretations of what they brought vary, and even less clear is exactly who these foreigners were supposed to be in the story. They may be kings, wise men, astrologers or, as some have it, Zoroastrian priests from Persia.

This is why the particulars don’t matter much at all: the story is so basic and illuminating that it has captured the imagination of millions in its various retellings. Christian faithful have one view of it, and the more literal vision is that of concrete history. But for those who lean away from that, there is much to be gotten out of this compelling story:

Some people of discernment—in terms of wisdom, astrology or otherwise—had a sense that something special was going on outside of their ordinary sphere. Maybe they saw a light.
They travelled a long way to discover what was going on, and having found out, expressed their gratitude humbly and generously.

Again, that’s it. Some may want to think about theology. Others may want to think about other sorts of lights they’ve glimpsed, journeys they’ve made or haven’t made, and about possibilities. Christmas or just winter solstice and New Year, there is no better time to think about possibilities and all the rest.

T.S. Eliot wrote a brief but cinematic poem about the magi. It is written from a believer’s perspective, as the magi suffer twice, once on the journey, once again when they return home and find themselves so spiritually transformed by the experience that they feel like strangers in their own land. This is certainly a Christian view of the holiday, but non-Christians may just as well consider the more general phenomenon of all sorts of enlightenment, sitting between the way you have been and the way you discover you could be or already are. The magi say they would be glad of another death like that.

The Journey of the Magi
T.S. Eliot

‘A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.’
And the camels galled, sorefooted, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
and running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arriving at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you might say) satisfactory.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

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December 21, 2025

The scariest episode of the original Twilight Zone, It’s a Good Life, features a powerful and petulant six-year-old boy who destroys the world and demands that everyone think good thoughts about him.

“A monster had arrived in the village. Just by using his mind, he took away the automobiles, the electricity, the machines, because they displeased him. And he moved an entire community back into the Dark Ages, just by using his mind.”

Rod Serling introduces the Twilight Zone episode It’s a Good Life (Season 3, Episode 8):

Tonight’s story on The Twilight Zone is somewhat unique and calls for a different kind of introduction. This, as you may recognize, is a map of the United States, and there’s a little town there called Peaksville. On a given morning not too long ago, the rest of the world disappeared, and Peaksville was left all alone. Its inhabitants were never sure whether the world was destroyed and only Peaksville was left untouched, or whether the village had somehow been taken away. They were, on the other hand, sure of one thing – the cause. A monster had arrived in the village. Just by using his mind, he took away the automobiles, the electricity, the machines, because they displeased him. And he moved an entire community back into the Dark Ages, just by using his mind. Now I’d like to introduce you to some of the people in Peaksville, Ohio. This is Mr. Fremont. It’s in his farmhouse that the monster resides. This is Mrs. Fremont. And this is Aunt Amy, who probably had more control over the monster in the beginning than almost anyone. But one day she forgot. She began to sing aloud. Now the monster doesn’t like singing, so his mind snapped at her, and turned her into the smiling vacant thing you’re looking at now. She sings no more. And you’ll note that the people in Peaksville, Ohio, have to smile. They have to think happy thoughts and say happy things because, once displeased, the monster can wish them into a cornfield, or change them into a grotesque walking horror. This particular monster can read minds, you see. He knows every thought, he can feel every emotion. Oh, yes, I did forget something, didn’t I. I forgot to introduce you to the monster. This is the monster. His name is Anthony Fremont. He’s six years old with a cute little-boy face and blue guileless eyes. But when those eyes look at you, you’d better start thinking happy thoughts. Because the mind behind them is absolutely in charge. This is the Twilight Zone.

Serling closes the episode:

No comment here. No comment at all. We only wanted to introduce you to one of our very special citizens, little Anthony Fremont, age 6, who lives in a village called Peaksville, in a place that used to be Ohio. And if by some strange chance you should run across him, you had best think only good thoughts. Anything less than that is handled at your own risk. Because if you do meet Anthony, you can be sure of one thing: you have entered the Twilight Zone.

Below is a five-minute clip from the episode. If you can and are willing, you will find this episode streaming. It was originally scary, but today you might find it scarier that a man-child with infinite power demands that people have good thoughts about him—or else.

The Twilight Zone.

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December 20, 2025

The Hanukkah Guest: A Story from Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav

“Now, when you bring your thoughts to Paradise, you are there, on that holy mountain. But when your thoughts return to this world, you will find yourself here once again.”

The Hanukkah Guest, a story from Reb Nachman of Bratslav, retold by Howard Schwartz in A Palace of Pearls:

On the first night of Hanukkah, a poor man, who lived alone, chanted the Hanukkah blessings and lit the Hanukkah candle. He gazed at the candle for a long moment, and then there was a knock at the door. When he opened it, he saw a stranger standing there, and he invited him in. They began to discuss things, as people do, and the guest asked the man how he supported himself. The man explained that he spent his days studying Torah, and that he was supported by others, and didn’t have an income of his own. After a while, their talk became more intimate, and the man told the guest that he was striving to reach a higher level of holiness. The guest suggested that they study Torah together. And when the man discovered how profound were the guest’s insights, he started to wonder if he were a human being or an angel. He began to address the guest as Rabbi.

Time flew by, and the man felt as if he had learned more in that one night than in all the other years he had studied. All at once the guest said that he had to leave, and the man asked him how far he should accompany him. The guest replied, “Past the door.” So the man followed the guest out the door, and the guest embraced him, as if to say goodbye, but then he began to fly, with the man clinging to him. The man was shivering, and when the guest saw this, he gave him a garment that not only warmed him, but, as soon as he put it on, he found himself back in his house, seated at the table, enjoying a fine meal. At the same time, he saw that he was flying.

The guest brought him to a valley between two mountains. There he found a book with illustrations of vessels, and inside the vessels there were letters. And the man understood that with those letters it was possible to create new vessels. The man was taken with a powerful desire to study that book. But when he looked up for an instant, he found himself back in his house. Then, when he turned back to the book, he found himself in the valley once more. The guest, whoever he was, was gone. The man, feeling confident, decided to climb up the mountain. When he reached the summit, he saw a golden tree with golden branches. From the branches hung vessels like those illustrated in the book. The man wanted to pick one of those vessels, as one picks fruit from a tree, but as soon as he reached for one, he found himself back in his house, and there was a knock at the door. He opened the door and saw it was the mysterious guest, and he pleaded with him to come in. The guest replied, “I don’t have time, for I am on my way to you.” The man was perplexed, and asked the guest to explain what he meant. The guest said, “When you agreed to accompany me beyond the door, I gave your neshamah, your highest earthly soul, a garment from Paradise. Now, when you bring your thoughts to Paradise, you are there, on that holy mountain. But when your thoughts return to this world, you will find yourself here once again.” And that is how it remained for the rest of that man’s life, and the story has still not come to an end.

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December 18, 2025

Trump said he slashed prices by 600%. I asked AI if that is possible.

“I negotiated directly with the drug companies and foreign nations, which were taken advantage of our country for many decades to slash prices on drugs and pharmaceuticals by as much as 400, 500 and even 600 percent.”
Trump, December 17, 2025 and other times

Your next steps

If they make a simple mistake and own it quickly → consider proceeding but stay alert for other errors
If they can’t admit the error or get defensive → serious credibility problem
Either way, do additional due diligence — verify other claims they’ve made independently

Bottom line: If someone asking for your money, business, or trust can’t get basic facts right (or won’t admit when they’re wrong), that’s your cue to either walk away or scrutinize everything else much more carefully.
Claude AI

Bob:

Someone said he had slashed prices by 600%. Is that possible?

Claude:

No, that’s not mathematically possible in any meaningful way.

When you reduce a price by a percentage, you’re taking away that percentage of the original price. A 100% reduction would bring the price to zero (you’ve reduced it by the entire amount).

If you tried to reduce by 600%, you’d be subtracting 6 times the original price, which would give you a negative price — meaning you’d somehow be paying customers to take the product.

Bob:

What should I say to someone who claims to slash prices by 600%?

Claude:

Here are some approaches depending on the context:

If it’s casual conversation:

Just let it slide — they clearly mean prices are very low, and you understood the point
Make a light joke: “So you’re paying me to buy it?” with a smile
Gently clarify: “You mean 60% off? That’s a great deal!”

If it’s a business/professional setting:

Politely ask for clarification: “Just to make sure I understand — do you mean prices are reduced by 60%, or that they’re now 1/6th of the original?”
Focus on the actual numbers: “What’s the new price compared to the old one?” (sidesteps the percentage issue entirely)

If it’s advertising/marketing:

For a formal complaint: Point out that “reductions over 100% are mathematically impossible” and ask for accurate pricing information
If you’re a colleague: Privately mention “Hey, I think you meant 60% — the ad says 600% which doesn’t work mathematically”

The diplomatic approach:
Give them an easy out: “I think there might be a typo — did you mean 60% off or maybe prices are 1/6th of what they were?”

Most people make this mistake innocently (typo, brain slip, or genuine confusion), so gentle correction or just ignoring it is usually the way to go unless accuracy really matters in that situation.

Bob:

What if it is a business or professional setting, where someone making the claim is asking you to give them something of value—your business, your money, your endorsement, your approval, your trust?

Claude:

In that case, this is a serious red flag and you should address it directly. Here’s why and how:

Why it matters:
This reveals one of three problems, all concerning:

They don’t understand basic math — raises questions about competence
They’re being careless with facts — suggests poor attention to detail
They’re hoping you won’t notice — potential dishonesty

Any of these should make you pause before giving them your money, business, or endorsement.

How to address it:

Be direct but professional:

“I notice you said you’ve reduced prices by 600%. That’s mathematically impossible — you can only reduce by up to 100%. Can you clarify what you actually mean?”
Wait for their response and watch how they handle being corrected

What their response tells you:

Good sign: “Oh! Sorry, I meant 60% — my mistake” (owns it quickly)
Concerning: Defensiveness, doubling down, or vague deflection
Red flag: “Well, you know what I mean” or dismissing your concern

Your next steps:

If they make a simple mistake and own it quickly → consider proceeding but stay alert for other errors
If they can’t admit the error or get defensive → serious credibility problem
Either way, do additional due diligence — verify other claims they’ve made independently

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December 17, 2025

Song of the Season: Thank God It’s Christmas by Queen (1984)

Oh, my love, we live in troubled days
Oh, my friend, we have the strangest ways
All my friends on this one day of days
Thank God it’s Christmas

Oh, my love, we’ve had our share of tears
Oh, my friend, we’ve had our hopes and fears
Oh, my friends, it’s been a long hard year

But now it’s Christmas
Yes, it’s Christmas
Thank God it’s Christmas

The moon and stars seem awful cold and bright
Let’s hope the snow will make this Christmas right
My friend, the world will share this special night

Because it’s Christmas
Yes, it’s Christmas
Thank God it’s Christmas
For one night

Thank God it’s Christmas
Thank God it’s Christmas
Thank God it’s Christmas
Can it be Christmas?
Let it be Christmas
Every day

Oh, my love, we live in troubled days
Oh, my friend, we have the strangest ways
All my friends on this one day of days
Thank God it’s Christmas
Yes it’s Christmas
Thank God it’s Christmas
For one day