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 I've been thinking about this alot lately and it's bothering me more and more. Santa. Let us dissect this nostalgic figment of our childhood. Have we REALLY listened to these songs about him? "He sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake." Why does he only KNOW when children are awake, but sees them when they're sleeping? Strange old men who like to watch kids sleep get locked up. He only travels at night, that right there should tell you he's up to no good! Now you might say, "But J he's giving toys and candy to children!" EXACTLY! How do you think pedifiles get children into their houses or cars? Oh and did I mention the magic? Which is probably a bunch of slight of hand crap and illusions, more tricks to get children to follow him blindly. Or what if it's real? Maybe he struck a deal with Satan, Satan's all for pedifiles right? Then there's these ridiculous claims of elves. Now we know there's no such thing. My explaination? They're children he kidnapped! Those kids that end up missing and no one knows where they went. They go to the store and sit on his lap, not the real guy, just another perv helping the cause, AND THE PARENTS BRING THEM! He's even got them fooled! Because they don't think he's real, that it's all a fantasy thing, BECAUSE HE ERASED THEIR MEMORIES! He has his way with these children, and the ones who don't want to leave mommy and daddy for the north pole get the flashy thing from Men in Black! Some kids don't care though, they want to be with santa, so he kidnaps them and takes them to the north pole! Then he puts them to work in his sweat shop! All these kids, who probably still don't know what's going on because they're all like, "WE'RE WORKING FOR SANTA!", are all stuck in the north pole! THE NORTH POLE! What better place for a pedifile to hide than a location where no one's around to hear you scream. Or if you figure it all out and try to run, how far can you get? You won't even make canada before you die of hypothermia. I'd also like to point out that if you rearrange santa, you get satan! CAN IT BE MORE OBVIOUS?! Something must be done
Christmas freaking rocks! It's the time of year where we celebrate Santa Dying on the cross for our sins... at least according to The Bookdocks... As christmas gets closer I've been getting asked, "What do you want for christmas?" Immediately my mind goes blank. Sure there's stuff I'd like, but nothing within a price range I actually expect someone to spend on anyone. Looking back the best gifts I've gotten, and the most memorable are things that I never specifically asked for. Every thanksgiving all the cousins on one side of my family would draw names and do a gift exchange, and on the paper with our name we would write down things we wanted to cost $50 or under, but I started to wonder... are we missing the point? So often people buy gifts and then feel insulted if they don't receive a gift in return, or don't receive a gift of equal value. And if the gift one receives is far cheaper than the value of a gift that person gives then they feel guilty. Why? According to Wikipedia, "A gift or a present is the transfer of something, without the need for compensation that is involved in trade. A gift is a voluntary act which does not require anything in return. Even though it involves possibly a social expectation of reciprocity, or a return in the form of prestige or power, a gift is meant to be free." There shouldn't be and type of guilt or selfishness associated in gift giving. So often I'm hearing people say things like, "well they only spent $X.XX on me for my b-day so that's all I'm spending on them." or christmas, or whatever. How did we get to that? A gift should be given in love, and purely for the desire to benefit the person the gift is being given to. It bothers me how selfishness has infected something that should be about love and unselfishness.
