I had to laugh the other day when an acquaintance questioned whether or not there really was an attack on Christmas. My response was to mention the many politically correct (scared and confused) modifications to this time of year such as the Christmas tree now being referred to as a holiday tree, schools banning/restricting traditional hymns in school programs, store clerks saying “happy holidays” in place of “Merry Christmas” …just to name a few. Even he had to agree it is blatantly obvious that Christmas has actually been under attack for some time, but the real question is “why” is Christmas under attack?
Answering this question can be a little tricky. One reason is that the actual “holiday” does not seem to be under attack. Oh, we want all of the decorating, present buying, gift-giving madness that has always been around….last year over $400 billion of that madness. But just what is it that some don’t want? Santa seems to be OK. Heck, even the old Christmas movies like Rudolph and Frosty are apparently not a major threat to the nation. But then there are those blasted nativity scenes….for some reason they seem to be a problem if we ever display them on public property for the general public to see.
The whole Christmas tree hunt whether at the local parking lot or on the mountain tree farm is still fun….but it is a “holiday tree” now you know. Going to see Santa and having the obligatory mall picture on his lap still seems to be a healthy tradition. My goodness, we even have NORAD tracking his travels on Christmas Eve….I wonder if anyone ever pays attention to the journey the Wise Men took?
When you look up the definition of Christmas….the actual holiday in question, the message is pretty clear. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ….the Incarnation….God becoming one of us to reclaim his children. Yet, we have attempted to strip Christ out of the mix. We have added a bunch of fun traditions and pulled off a little sleight of hand to obscure the real intent, but in the end this process is an attack not on Christmas, but on Christ.
The reason Christ is attacked in this way is that it is impossible to attack Him directly. Consider a few things: The Romans would have loved to have silenced the early church. The problem was they could not produce a dead body. They couldn’t even make up a convincing story because unlike the detached digital world of today, the risen Christ himself was personally witnessed and interacted with.
It is hard to tell a person they don’t know what they are talking about when they actually had fish sandwiches with Christ on the beach. That would be like Roanoke City telling us there is no star on Mill Mountain….when we are looking right at it. There also is no coherent answer for why most of the Disciples died as martyrs after hiding in the upper room trying to get out of town….except that they saw the risen Christ. To this day, historical record supports these events.
Well, if we can’t attack with facts, because they are not available, we must attack the language, the traditions, any of the reminders of the person of Christ. The theory is that if we don’t hear about Him too much, maybe we won’t think about Him either. Just why is Christ such a problem? Are some fearful that they would have to actually live a moral life…..well, that is correct. God does call us to live as He has designed us and yes that might mean that we live as willing servants with humility. Wouldn’t it make more sense to live as we were created to live? Maybe we should be putting aside our own selfish desires and pursuing what brings honor to Him. God actually does call us to work hard, be kind, hold others accountable, train our children to be of good moral character, etc.
I am still not sure what is so bad about that? Based on much that we see around us today, I would think that would be a welcome trend. I remember hearing years ago that whenever there is an attack on Christ, it always has a root in attempting to justify immoral behavior….I wonder if there is any truth to that.
This Christmas, let’s honor Christ in the process. When someone says “happy holidays”, ask them which holiday? Talk a little less about Santa and a little more of Christ. Buy a few things for a local angel tree and go see a live nativity. These types of things keep the Truth of Christ in front of us which of course makes it easier to ponder on the things of God, rather than the things of this world. If by chance any of this messes a little bit with the PC crowd…..well just tell them “Merry Christmas” and invite them to your church Christmas service.
– Keith McCurdy
