Yay! The normal debate on this board for this time of year has always been "Santa is evil vs Santa is ok". This is a nice change of pace this year, so I'll throw in my two cents. I've waited FIVE YEARS for a new December argument!
(maybe I spoke too soon and the Santa topic is still gonna come around again, EKE!)
It was in December of 2004 that I quit following the news. Until that point in time I followed it intently. Any visitors to my home were barraged with questions as to their political viewpoints and their knowledge of current events was tested while the voices of news anchors hummed in the background.
One day it struck me that the news never changed, only the names and places of events, so I turned off the television, abandoned writing about current events, and quit participating in the politics forum on one of my favorite online message boards. My life since then has been amazingly peaceful.
Until now.
I accidentally listened to part of a news report while in my car. It happened because I had forgotten to bring my favorite cd along for the ride, and decided to see if I could find some Christmas music on the radio. Joy to the World was playing, immediately followed by a forlorn voice announcing that the White House was putting up a Holiday Tree instead of a Christmas tree. I didn't really think that much of it. I have no high expectations of government officials that claim Christianity. Zealous Christians in government offices almost never fail to become politically correct and abandon all direct mention of anything that can be tied to one certain belief system. I still haven't figured out why it is politically correct to not be direct about one's beliefs. I personally find that offensive, and believe that in the name of TRUE political correctness, one should not give the appearance of believing someone's beliefs that may or not be that person's belief, because if that person finds out that it isn't correct, they will suffer from feelings of distrust and need to visit a therapist. While we're at it, perhaps we shouldn't say people suffer. It makes them sound like victims.
What was I talking about? Oh yes, the dreaded Holiday Tree. Much to my surprise, I found that Christians everywhere are throwing up their hands in disbelief, convinced that Jesus Christ himself is under attack by people who call those decorated evergreens by the name of "Holiday Tree". I was a bit amused by that. Somehow, I can't get an image in my mind of Jesus needing us to vigorously defend Him by being outraged over the phrase "Holiday Tree".
I do wonder what Holiday this is though, for those that are refusing to call it Christmas. Is this to be a generic day of the year, known only as "Holiday"? That sounds like it would zap the fun right out of it. Why is it called Happy Holidays? The only other one around it is New Years, but if we take Christmas out, it's just a holiday. There aren't any other holidays that I celebrate between November 29th and January 29th. Plus, what should I replace my manger scene with?
Ok, so I can give up the manger scene. I never thought God was too impressed with the dried lump of plaster that was supposed to represent his newborn son anyhow, especially since the specks of blue paint that are supposed to be eyes are slightly uneven, even though it is cute when put with the rest of the scene. The rest of it has to stay though, apart from calling it Christmas. I can give that up too, and call it Holiday. It still works. It really does! Try it.
We celebrate the birth of Christ on Holiday.
Merry Holiday, and a happy new year!
Holiday is a time of giving.
Let's open our Holiday presents!
I have to quit listening to the news, because this is what happens when I do. You're stuck reading this garbage I write about it, and I'm stuck trying to figure out the world.
I just don't understand it. Why are my fellow Christians in an uproar about this? We have had an awful lot of freedom with our Christianity, but never seemed to have truly appreciated it. Now we demand it as a civil right and act suprised when people refuse to acknowledge or accept Christ, or when they don't appreciate any mention of His name.
I don't blame the unbelievers. I blame the us, the Christians. For years we've depended on stupid things like the names of holidays and public displays of biblical passages to do our witnessing for us. It makes us feel good, like everyone's saved and we're living in a Christian nation because we have all the right outward signs of it. Now those signs are being taken away, and Christians are panicking.
Pharisees, all of us!
It's the same as believing that wearing certain items of clothing, using a certain bible version, and going to church every Sunday makes a person a decent Christian.
Christianity was never about all that.
WE are the witnesses. WE are the ones who are to be spreading the word of God, and it's not done by cutting down an evergreen and calling it a Christmas tree. It's done by teaching and preaching the fact that Jesus Christ was born for us, died for us, and raised again for us.
The majority of people will not accept this. Deal with it. They do not owe it to us to pretend that they do accept it. In fact, I'd appreciate the honesty if everyone who doesn't believe in Christ will quit using the word Christmas for their Holiday celebration. They should stop using it now, today, this very second, because it's using the name in vain.
This is how it aught to be.
The anti-Christians are not taking Christ out of Christmas. They are not taking Christ out of our public schools. They are not taking Christ out of our nation. For unbelievers, the name of Christ was never in anything.
Christians are the only ones capable of removing the name of Christ from anything, and we do it every time we remove it from our choose to be politically correct and keep our mouths shut for the sake of not offending someone who doesn't believe the same way we do, or more often, because we don't have the nerve to speak up and talk to the unsaved. That HAS to change. Let your mouth and the way you live your life do the witnessing, not a tree, and certainly not a plastic baby Jesus that was mass-manufactured in the sweat-shops of some far away land.
