Editor's Note: Don't miss the video at the bottom of this piece!
Well, it's that time of year when Fox drums up outrage about the alleged "war on Christmas." This time around they are declaring victory because as they report,
"Walgreens is the latest store to return to explicit references to Christmas, switching its position a day after some Christian groups threatened to boycott over its generic holiday wording."
What I'd like to remind these "Christian groups" is that Christmas isn't actually supposed to be about shopping at all. We Christians don't need to fight to have Christmas associated with shopping, we need to fight for it not to be. You're fighting the wrong war guys.
So let's take a moment to remember what Christmas is really about: Christmas celebrates the story of God coming among us in the most humble of circumstances. Christ was born in a manger to a homeless teenage girl named Mary. These humble beginnings are in keeping with the ministry of Jesus which was focused on the poor, the sick, and the outcast. Jesus teaches us that the way we treat "the least of these" is how we treat him. It's a story about God coming among us, meeting us in the middle of our need.
With that backdrop in mind, let's also remember who the real Santa Claus was. Yes, Virginia, there really was a Santa Claus, but he didn't live on the North Pole, he lived in Asia Minor. Saint Nicholas was known for his love for children, and his generosity to the those in need, often given in secret. For example, one story tells of a poor father who was unable to provide a dowry for his daughters. At the time that meant that they could not marry, and so were destined to be sold into slavery. As legend has it, Nicholas secretly placed bags of gold in the girl's shoes and stockings, hung by the fire to dry. So those Christmas stockings you hang by the chimney are symbols of liberating the poor from the bondage of slavery.
The moral of all this is that the original Christmas story and the story of Saint Nick are both focused on caring for the least and on compassion. So what if we remembered that this Christmas, and spent a little less money shopping for all those gifts we don't really need. Then instead of standing in line at the mall or stuck in traffic, we could spent more time with people we love. And what if we took all that money we saved, and gave some of it away to people who are really in need? To the poor, the hungry, the hurting, the lonely, the sick? That's what the folks at Advent Conspiracy are asking.
So maybe the way we really should be celebrating Christmas is by caring for the least, rather than shopping til we drop. Maybe we should be teaching our kids lessons about compassion and giving, instead of about getting more and more stuff. And... just maybe... Christmas should be about showing "peace on earth and good will towards all mankind," rather than on getting mad at people who say "happy holidays" to us.
Follow Derek Flood on Twitter: www.twitter.com/therebelgod
Christmas controversy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Non-Existent 'War On Christmas' Is Apparently Being Won By The ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu4bbm8Cd94
On several occasions the church tried to ban the festivities, particularly decorations and traditions rooted in the earlier pagan traditions. The public wouldn't have it. they held clandestine decorating raids, set up blockades around public places where they were celebrating to keep the authorities out., etc...
Even more recently, 1950's, a Danish bishop refered to santa as a "pagan troll". Here in the U.S., here in the U.S., we have evangelicals conducted the modern era's version of witch hunts, trying to root-out traditions and symbols they believe are artifacts of paganism.
Yes... there's a war.... and it's been going on for a long time.
throughout history... the holiday spirit has been all about partying. Eating. Drinking... excess... plurality... the more the merrier. GO NUTS!!!
And... Throughout much of this history, Christians have been trying to redefine it and make it all about their Baby Jebuz. Christians have been, and continue to be, the real war against Christmas.... talking smack about material excesses, brow-beating check-out clerks for generalized well wishing.....
The holidays have always been a party, and that's what it's about. The Christians have and will continue to be the party poopers... wanting to force everyone to their knees crying for salvation rather than having a good time..
Like the media hyped War on Christmas, Derek's got it backwards too.
There is in a fact a War on Christmas, but the roles of defenders and attackers is reversed.
If you start with the fact that virtually every culture, throughout history, has been celebrating the season, in and around the solstice... be it saturnalia, or whatever....
It's always been a period of feasting, drinking, gift giving, and whooping-it-up to the point of excess.
then the Christians crashed the party, and the pious curmudgeons have been doing their best to spoil it for everyone else ever since.
the early stick-in-mud christians didn't even believe in celebrating birthdays...so when Augustus arbitrarily usurped the festivities as supposedly being about the messiahs birthday, it must have been blasphemous pill to swallow from the start.
throughout the middle ages, christian authorities repeatedly tried to reign in the rowdy parties of the season, turning the period into a mandatory and protracted church service (the Mass part of christmas).
It would be like the Southern Baptists trying to stop SEC tail-gaiting by making everyone come to church on game day, and stay in church, prostrate, all day.... to keep them from drinking and what not.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/meansofproduction/higher-power
Clearly, the birth of Christ was a historic event. The fact that angels heralded it as a harbinger of “peace among men of goodwill” clearly testifies to its significance.
Nevertheless, “in the early days of Christianity, the Nativity was not celebrated as a festival,” points out Spanish journalist Juan Arias. If this is the case, where did the Christmas celebration come from? What is the best way to remember the birth and life of Jesus? In the following article, you will find the answers to those questions.]]
A Birth to Be Remembered
http://www.watchtower.org/e/20041215/article_01.htm
you watch it play out every day .... right before your eyes ....
Like it or not.
Personally I hate this fact , but it is true.
Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Jesus is actually in our midst. So he is right here already, supposedly. Yet when we pray to him
It is trivial for Jesus to materialize
There would be many benefits if Jesus did materialize
Jesus has supposedly materialized to other human beings
Jesus has promised to answer our prayer that he materialize
But he did not tell you the truth
Christmas is really about the changing of the seasons. For many years the xian church wanted nothing to do with this pagan holiday. The refusal of the people to give up this celebration finally turned it into a 'religious' holiday.
Christmas is more about Mithras than Jebus.