Ok to say merry christmas?

   You're not going to believe this! I know I had a had time with it when I first realized it. The bible does not say anything about Christmas! I know! It's crazy! So many Christians get offended when they can't proclaim a holiday that their religion created. The bible mentions a lot of holidays and festivals, but Christmas is not one of them. Now, so that I can cover my tracks and not make too many people mad, let me explain a little. I don't think Christmas is wrong. I don't think it's wrong to say merry Christmas. I don't think it's wrong to decorate for Christmas, or to give gifts. I do however think it's wrong to respond with pride when anyone questions our celebration of a God of love.
   I remember when I used to work at Macy's a few years ago, and they started displaying upside down Christmas trees. I thought it was a clever concept, but one employee disagreed. Her comment was, "What are they going to do next, Hang Jesus upside down at Easter?" She, as well as many Christians, was unaware that many Christmas traditions came from pagan origins. Not to mention she came across as a cocky jerk. Christmas was originally a pagan feast that, thanks to the catholic combining church and state somewhere around 313 AD, began to become integrated into religions celebrations. So it wasn't until a couple of centuries after Jesus and his disciples that Christmas as we know it began to come into the picture. Which I find interesting because there's a billboard near me that says "It's ok to say "Merry Christmas" - Jesus" These billboards annoy me almost as much as the cheesy signs in front of church's do, but I'll blog about that another time.
  So is it wrong to celebrate Christmas the way we do? Are we sinning by doing so? I don't think so. But the big thing is to not lose sight of love though all of these traditions we have. That's the true concept behind Christmas. Jesus come wouldn't be as meaningful if it wasn't for love. People get all worked up about "taking Christ out of Christmas" and degrade those who disagree, and in the process they take love out of Christmas. 1 John 4:8 says that God is love. You can leave Christ in the word Christmas all you want, but when you remove love is when you're truly taking "Christ out of Christmas"


not really related to this blog post exactly, but kinda funny

Ok to say merry christmas?