Sunday Thought - December 15, 2013: Christmas Meaning

 "Glory to God in the highest
And on earth peace, good will toward men"

Luke 2:14     

What does Christmas mean to you? 

This quote from Luke might be one of the lines in the Bible I would be willing to bank history on.  I mean, when I think about it, it seems to be the only line we have consistently ignored, worldwide.  It is in man's nature to ignore that which is not in his nature, so why include it in the Bible?  Of all the books left out of the bible by that council of mortal men with personal agendas, of all the lines of scripture they left cluttering the cutting room floor because it didn't reflect their desire to retain power over the "faithful," recognizing that they would need these faithful to fight numerous battles for the wealth and glory of the church (re: the Church ruling elite), they screwed up and left this line in.  It defies our knowledge of the history of the time.  It certainly would not be in keeping with conquering kings that were trying to unite peoples and religion under one banner.  Would it?

"And on earth peace, good will toward men."  Let's take a moment and review the world around us.  Nothing has changed, and we are still a miserable disappointment to God.  Yes, I mean everybody's God, Islam and Judaism.  No one has exclusive rights to the One, the true God of Abraham, not even Malaysia.  So, what are we left with?

First off, Christmas probably isn't Christ's birthday.  Be real, nobody knows when it was. What we celebrate as Christmas has its roots in paganism.  I'm not demeaning the day, what we now accept as the celebration of Christ's birth, we had to pick a day and this was it.  We seem to go out of our way to pick arbitrary days for holidays as it may suit our business and culture, but let's face it; it really is a holiday tree, not a Christmas tree.  This shows how ignorant the naysayers of Christmas are when they don't even realize it's a pagan ritual.  It isn't entirely their fault, as the Christians will be more than eager to jump with a counter argument showing their ignorance to the facts as well.  I'm not even sure why the Jews get involved except that they want equal time.  The minute a Jew screams foul a boat load of Christians find it necessary to remind them who killed Christ.  Better they just stay out of the Christmas controversy. 

The gift giving is a way of celebrating and remembering (good luck with that) the gifts the Magi brought for the baby Jesus - gold, frankincense and myrrh.  The Magi are the three wise men, not to be confused with the Jinn, or Marid, which Aladdin might find in a magical lamp. 

I have never received gold at Christmas, and what the hell is frankincense or myrrh?  Myrrh, sounds like something out of Lord of the Rings or some other fantasy story.  And, frankincense sounds like an air freshener concocted by a mad scientist or a scent that is just, well, very to the point.  Whatever they are I certainly don't remember ever getting either of them, unless it was back in the 60s, we might have smoked it, not realizing.  That actually might account for some missing time, but that's another story.

As much as I enjoyed getting gifts, it was a big part of the reason I lost track of the true meaning of the day.  We all lost track of it because the material aspect overshadowed the spiritual.  History repeats itself from Sodom to Rome, to any town USA.  Mix money, liquor, food, and gifts, and people will just revert back to worshipping ugly, fat, stone fertility goddesses.  It is what we do.  We get spanked for it, but we still do it.

For many of us, family doesn't even travel to be with family anymore.  The large dinners with prayer and thanks has been relegated to Thanksgiving.  How sad is this?  I, for one, find it appalling.  I have tried to give the bulk of my "gift" money to needy charities during the holidays and have asked that my family all follow suit.  None of us need to be spoiled that much and, besides, what do you buy someone that can buy what they want for themselves.  I send some money so the kids will have a little something, but I hope the spirit of the day will be more important that the selfish materialism.  I would like to see them all out feeding the poor and homeless, adopting a needy family, or visiting a children's cancer ward with toys and smiles so my grandkids understand the spirit of it all.

What does Christmas mean to me? It sounds corny, I know, but I do have a heartfelt wish for peace on earth.  A desire for everyone to be more tolerant of each other and develop feelings of good will.  I wish all of this, and not just for the day or the season, but throughout the year, every year.  Is it a pipe dream?  Obviously, but wouldn't it be nice if violence, war, and hatred were the footnotes found in the back of the news, instead of the leading stories?  If we could just bring the world back into balance, that would be a great stocking stuffer. 

Christmas is a time we have chosen to remember the rebirth of love, that God sent us someone to remind us of who we are and what we could be, and to remind us of things greater than ourselves.  He was born for us, and He died for us.  I think we can give Him one day of honor. 

So, I ask again, what does Christmas mean to you?

“An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.”

-- Mahatma Gandhi