Happy Day of Christ's Birth!

Let's face it, Christmas is getting a bad rap and it's our own damned fault.  Google Christmas, if you don't believe me, and look at the roots, definition, and sin surrounding what we Christians hold dear.  Understand here, that I love celebrating the birth of Jesus regardless of the day we choose to do it.  I grew up understanding that Christmas was a celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus, regardless of these alternate definitions and beliefs of origin.  And, isn't what we believe the point, or perhaps, and more importantly, why we believe it?

People label things for a reason and then time buries the reason with forgotten history.  Perhaps Christmas was a Catholic attempt to supersede pagan ritual, or perhaps to lead the righteous down an evil path of idolatry, but the whole point is, up until now, it failed.  The only people concerned about the name of Christmas are the anti-Christians, the Christian extremists and, of course, the League of the Perpetually Offended, whom we all know are probably offending themselves for being offended for any perceived offense.

We could name a celebration of Christ anything.  To quote Hillary Clinton, "What does it, at this point, really matter?"  As long as we know in our heart what we are celebrating, so does God.  I think God would be more offended at "good" Christians passing judgment in his stead, than anyone else's heartfelt attempt at love, forgiveness, caring, understanding, and tolerance. You know, basically everything Jesus stood for.  But, we are just people, and as such will go for the easy low road in any situation.  Evil will win out because it is so much easier to believe ill of our fellow man, to turn them out, than to show any compassion or understanding, and I'm getting damned tired of the "holier than thou" telling me I'm a sinner.  How dare they judge!  But, as always, I'm willing to take the high road despite their efforts to corrupt faith. 

So, I vote we use December the 25th as the day we celebrate the birth of the Christ child.  We can call it... Christ's Birthday!  The night before can be referred to as Christ's Birthday Eve.  Our youth will love it as they can shorten it to CB and CBE, Christ's B-Day, Christ's BE, or Jesus Be, or JCBe.

If Christians really want to celebrate the birth of our Savior, stop making His birth an opportunity to be offended.  Stop worshiping material idols... you know, all that crap we purchase for under the tree to give to those that, half the time, don't really want it much less need it.  If we want a ceremony of giving, let's all try doing it at our local shelter, food bank, or soup kitchen.  We have 364 other days in a year to show friends and family what they mean to us by giving them lots of gifts, or coal.

I guess my word to all of those offended by people wishing everyone a "Merry Christmas" is that it must really suck for you to know we love you anyway, and forgive you; to know that our capacity for tolerance and love seems to outstrip your meager attempt at hypocrisy as we try demonstrating to God, for at least one glorious day per year, that we are actually better than we act the other 364.  But, we can't dwell on any of this because, as any good Christian knows, it isn't our place to judge another's servant.

I have an idea, if you get the urge to judge another, take a step back, take a breath, close your eyes and say to yourself, "Not my circus, not my monkey."  Well, that might not be a good idea for most of us.  We'll be so busy reciting this we'll never get anything else accomplished.

It seems I've run out of rant so, in conclusion...

Remember the year's past events this holiday season. Remember that, unless they’re too stupid to respect the law, all lives matter, regardless of what the naysayers might try to make weak minds believe. All lives matter, regardless of skin color, religion, gender, or sexual preference. Remember that some poor are also incapacitated, mentally or physically, and unable to hold a job. Remember, also, many of the homeless poor really do want to work, if they only had an address to give an employer. And, remember our brave men and women, doing what their country asks of them, putting themselves in harm's way, standing on the fence, patrolling our neighborhoods, fighting our fires, willing to die so you can have the right to be offended at the drop of a hat.

God bless us all, and God bless the United States of America!

Editor's Note 

(re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card) 

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so.

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and then engaging in peaceful, constructive, discussion and debate in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth. After over twenty years as a military intelligence analyst, planner, and briefer, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we do afterward, and what we learn from the experience.

Frank Anthony Villari (aka, Pastor Tony)

Pastor Tony is founder of the Congregation for Religious Tolerance and author/editor of the Congregation's official blog site, "The Path."