arted as a celebration of Jesus Christ's birth. See here.) many liberals (think ACLU) are fighting to get it out of the public sector. Many believe (or is it only some?) that any mention of Christmas is in violation of the sacred "separation of Church and State" doctrine (found no where in the Constitution I might add). If a town hall puts up a tree with lights on it and calls it a Christmas tree, they are "pushing" religion on the masses. Because of this growing political correctness, many business' have begun to ask their employees to stop saying "Merry Christmas" and start saying "Happy Holidays", as to not offend any Jew or Muslim or Hindu or whoever. Many business' have replaced "Merry Christmas" with "Happy Holidays" in their ads and flyers for the same reasons. Stores such as Target (see article here) have also denied groups like the Salvation Army for example, from ringing their bells in front of their stores because they say "Merry Christmas" and are a Christian organization.Many Christians are decrying the "Happy Holidays" ads and signs, and the banning of the Salvation Army and the likes. While I agree that these actions by companies are stupid and sad, I do not feel that yelling at the companies is going to do much. Business has one goal: Make money. They will do whatever they can do to get as many people to come into their stores as possible. If this means that they stop saying "Merry Christmas" so they don't offend anyone, thinking this will draw more people into their stores, than that is what they will do. I am not convinced that these businesses hate Christianity - they just love money.
I think that the deeper problem is the growing political correctness that has gotten way out of control. This political correctness takes on the facade of trying to protect everyone's rights, but really it is a pointed and specific attack against religion and Christianity specifically. Groups such as the ACLU are to blame for the increasing appearance (not fact) that many people are offended by "Christmas break" as opposed to "Winter break" for example. I work at a retail store and try hard to say Merry Christmas to every customer when they leave the store. Not once have I ever seen anyone take offense at my comment and on several occasions people have stopped, turned around, and thanked me for saying "Merry Christmas" and not "Happy Holidays". I think that the "fact" pushed by the liberals that many people are offended by "Christmas" is not a fact but is just myth. They are making it up.
Of course there are some who will get offended when I say "Merry Christmas". However, people get offended by all sorts of things - I would say everything could offend someone. But you can't please everybody all the time, and for us Christians we are not called to. We are called only to please one Person, all the time. And that Person is our God. He is our sole audience and if we are doing what is right in His sight, it doesn't matter what the world thinks of us. In fact God says that the world will hate us if we follow Him. And be sure: the world does hate us. We stand for absolute truth, something that they cannot stand. They stand for "tolerance" (which just means acceptance of all people's beliefs - they are all equal) and relativity. However the Bible clearly denounces these viewpoints, giving us absolute truth that is not subjective. The Truth of the Gospel is light that exposes their sin; it judges them. Therefore they "hate the Light" and hate all those who proclaim the Truth.
So this whole issue is much deeper than just "Christmas vs Holiday trees". At the heart of this is an attack on Truth, or the very notion of absolute Truth.
So this season proudly proclaim "Merry Christmas!"....and then share the Truth of the Gospel because you are glorifying your God when you do so!
6 comments:
Write a sermon and preach it!
you said it brother! preach on!
Awesome entry Matt. I couldn't agree more.
Oh brother! What a huge distraction. Such a non issue. Especially when Christmas Trees are a pagan ritual. Nothing Christian about it. Christmas is not about the rhetoric - and all you people who are so focused on the rhetoric are not spending time on the meaning. Satan wins.
Sounds like "anonymous" is missing the whole point...and the point is that we are entitled to religious freedom in this country, according to the Bill of Rights. Period.
I will proudly embrace this freedom and declare with my whole heart and my big mouth..."a happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night."
Blessings from the bayou!
Oh, I completely agree. Christmas is not about trees or lights or presents or Santa etc. Like I said however, I believe that the liberal attack on Christianity is not really about the trees... At it's root it is an attack on Christianity. There is no reason to stop calling a Christmas tree a Christmas tree (even if it did come from some pagan ritual). And it's not even the tree that is the issue...it is the ommission of "Christmas". I do not believe that it is merely unimportant rhetoric. This "political correctness" can be seen in many areas of our lives now-a-days; it is not just Christmas. I think that it is just the surface of a much deeper and serious attack; an attack not on Christmas but on Christianity.
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