Best of Biblical Conservatism: It’s Merry Christmas…Get Over It

This week, I'll be away on my annual Christmas Vacation. So today and Thursday, our new publishing days, I'll be posting Best of Biblical Conservatism articles that I feel are pertinent to our current moment in time. Merry Christmas!

Earlier this week, I attended my company’s nondescript “Holiday Party” where we had a nondescript “Holiday Tree.”  I’m officially done with it.  I’m tired of the political correctness, and I don’t just mean the fact that I enjoy getting shocked looks when someone says someone is Indian and I respond “dots or feathers?”  Yes, I do enjoy poking the liberal politically correct machine.  I also enjoy calling homeless people “hobos” but that’s really just because “hobo” is a fun word.  All that aside, there is something I’ve got to say to the liberal politically correct machine, and please, listen carefully:  It’s Merry Christmas.  Get over it.

That’s right, Merry Christmas.  You see, it used to be that “Happy Holidays” was a short way of saying “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.”  Now it’s become this way to not dare to offend someone.  It used to be that you said Merry Christmas to basically everybody, and then if you had Jewish friends you wished them Happy Chanukah.  I’ve got news for you liberals:  95% of Americans celebrate Christmas, according to Gallup.  You got that?  95%...and the other 5% is not being injured in any way by being wished a Merry Christmas. 

For the last few years, I’ve been intentional to wish people Merry Christmas.  Do you know what they say?  They thank me!  They thank me for saying Merry Christmas…they’re tired of “Happy Holidays” too.  That beautifully decorated tree in your living room?  It’s a Christmas tree.  It’s an old German Christian tradition that goes back about five centuries.  Santa Claus?  That tradition comes from Saint Nicholas, a Christian saint who would leave gifts in people’s shoes quietly and without being noticed. 

Most importantly, and this cannot be minimized: Christmas is about Jesus.  Christmas is the day we celebrate God sending His son to Earth to walk amongst us, to live the human condition for 33 years, then to go to the cross and suffer the worst execution man ever devised…for you and me…and then rise from the grave the victorious King!  Christmas is the beginning of the greatest story ever told!  Please hear me when I say this:  Jesus is the reason for the season, and I’m not ashamed to say it!  My savior was made incarnate man, and that’s why we celebrate Christmas. 

I’m tired of hearing Happy Holidays.  It’s Merry Christmas! (To my Jewish friends, Happy Chanukah!) Beyond that, this season is about Jesus!  Jesus is the reason for the season!  Now join me in saying it:  MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Immanuel, God With Us!

Merry Christmas!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, which makes today, as my late Papap would say, Christmas Eve Eve. So today, I wanted to stop and reflect on the meaning of Christmas.  Now I don't mean the secular meaning of Christmas, even the most noble ones.  It's not that I don't think family is an important part of Christmas, but it's secondary.  The real reason is, as the first chapter of the Gospel of John stated, The Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14) and As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13)

My friends, Christmas is, first and foremost, about God Himself in the person of Jesus Christ, came to Earth and walked amongst us for 33 years before going to the cross to pay the penalty for all mankind's sin. Some of us focus on the cross, as we should, and others focus on the empty tomb at Easter, as again we should (for the grave could not keep Jesus down!) but at Christmas it is important to pause and dwell also on the fact of Immanuel:  Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.  Immanuel, of course, means, "God with us." 

While Jesus could have simply come to Earth as an adult, lead his three year ministry, die on the cross and resurrect on the third day, He chose otherwise to live amongst us for thirty-three years.  That means, as a Christian, we have a God who lived the human condition.  Jesus ate food and drank beverages.  He used the bathroom.  He had parents.  He had brothers and sisters.  He had a job, prior to setting out on his ministry, as a carpenter, alongside his foster father Joseph. He had friends, including one of his closest who ultimately betrayed him.  He mourned those who died.  He was rejected. He was an infant.  He was a child.  He was a teenager.  He is an adult.  He died. (He then rose again, hallelujah!)  He lived the human experience.

To those of us who serve Him, we have a God who understands our experiences not only because He created us, but also because He LIVED what we are living!  That is the meaning of Christmas, dear friends.  So as we enjoy family, and friends, and gifts, let us remember the greatest gift of Christmas, the Christ child, Immanuel, God with us!

-----------------------------------------


Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

It’s Merry Christmas…Get Over It

Earlier this week, I attended my company’s nondescript “Holiday Party” where we had a nondescript “Holiday Tree.”  I’m officially done with it.  I’m tired of the political correctness, and I don’t just mean the fact that I enjoy getting shocked looks when someone says someone is Indian and I respond “dots or feathers?”  Yes, I do enjoy poking the liberal politically correct machine.  I also enjoy calling homeless people “hobos” but that’s really just because “hobo” is a fun word.  All that aside, there is something I’ve got to say to the liberal politically correct machine, and please, listen carefully:  It’s Merry Christmas.  Get over it.

That’s right, Merry Christmas.  You see, it used to be that “Happy Holidays” was a short way of saying “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.”  Now it’s become this way to not dare to offend someone.  It used to be that you said Merry Christmas to basically everybody, and then if you had Jewish friends you wished them Happy Chanukah.  I’ve got news for you liberals:  95% of Americans celebrate Christmas, according to Gallup.  You got that?  95%...and the other 5% is not being injured in any way by being wished a Merry Christmas. 

For the last few years, I’ve been intentional to wish people Merry Christmas.  Do you know what they say?  They thank me!  They thank me for saying Merry Christmas…they’re tired of “Happy Holidays” too.  That beautifully decorated tree in your living room?  It’s a Christmas tree.  It’s an old German Christian tradition that goes back about five centuries.  Santa Claus?  That tradition comes from Saint Nicholas, a Christian saint who would leave gifts in people’s shoes quietly and without being noticed. 

Most importantly, and this cannot be minimized: Christmas is about Jesus.  Christmas is the day we celebrate God sending His son to Earth to walk amongst us, to live the human condition for 33 years, then to go to the cross and suffer the worst execution man ever devised…for you and me…and then rise from the grave the victorious King!  Christmas is the beginning of the greatest story ever told!  Please hear me when I say this:  Jesus is the reason for the season, and I’m not ashamed to say it!  My savior was made incarnate man, and that’s why we celebrate Christmas. 

I’m tired of hearing Happy Holidays.  It’s Merry Christmas! (To my Jewish friends, Happy Chanukah!) Beyond that, this season is about Jesus!  Jesus is the reason for the season!  Now join me in saying it:  MERRY CHRISTMAS!