A Christmas decision

Last year around this time, I didn't post anything (aside from a rant of sorts last November about what I perceive has gone wrong with Christmas) because time had gradually eroded my joy and anticipation for this time of year.  Actually, about the only thing that was still getting me excited about Christmas was the joy and anticipation that I saw in my kids.  For me, it was the growing busyness and over-commercialization year after year during this season of recognition of Christ's birth that caused it to become less important.  In fact, I can state that last Christmas was perhaps the least joyful I had ever experienced.  My lack of posting activity in this blog last December is one form of evidence to support this.

But this year I've decided to post something in the month of December because I've decided to decide that I should be excited about Christmas.  Even though it doesn't mark the actual time of year in which Jesus was born, there has always been the tiniest sense of anticipation for this season in my heart even during the least joyful of Christmas seasons, ones during which I've been under financial or other kinds of personal stress.

What I've always anticipated most is time with extended family.  If Christmas has one lasting virtue in this very anti-Christian culture, it's the fact that Christians and non-Christians alike tend to slow down and take the time to appreciate what's really most important in life:  relationships.  I realize that not all people have them or appreciate them, but I would have to say that this appreciation is what I've observed amongst even many non-Christians.

And so this year I've decided to get excited about the time I'm going to be spending with extended family because they are among God's greatest gifts to me.  Relationships are the true joy in life, one's relationship with God being the most important and joyful and fulfilling of all (at least it was meant to be; religion has warped and distorted the idea of how one is truly supposed to relate to God).  But even among non-believers, the happiest are those that have at least one good relationship with someone else.  And the most miserable of people, Christian and non, are those who've decided not to build relationships with others or to shut themselves off from them.

What will you decide during this Christmas season?  If you're a believer, will you choose to look beyond the busyness and over-commercialization and decide to be excited about the blessings you've been given, relational and otherwise?  If you're a non-believer, will you decide to look into the Christmas story with an open and objective mind instead of assuming it's fiction, and open yourself up to the possibility of entering into the most important and joyful and fulfilling relationship of all?

Whatever you decide, I hope that you can look beyond all that Christmas was never meant to be (all the glitz and hype that we see around us) and instead explore the true Meaning - "the Reason for the season" - and enjoy the blessings of what it is meant to be.

Here comes Santa Claus

Here we are again, only a month or so away from every western developed-nation child's favorite time of year, Christmas.  And no, I'm not calling it "Winter Break" because Jesus Christ is - and will always remain - the reason for the season, even if political correctness and atheism wants us to ignore this fact through, among other things, a name change.

But what started this degeneration in our understanding of Christmas, I argue, was the commercialization of Christmas nearly a century ago.  I won't get into the history of this because it can be found from other sources, but the figurehead of this "new" Christmas was a commercialized rendition of a third-century Christian named Nicholas.  His story can be found at this link, among others.  When the Coca Cola company created the modern rendition of Saint Nicholas, or "Santa Claus", bearing the red-and-white clothing that resembled the colors of the famous soft drink in order to promote sales, it can be argued that the commercialization of Christmas began in earnest.  And with that commercialization began the emphasis away from Christmas being about Jesus and remembering what his birth and time on earth meant for all humanity.

Now the world today is absolutely starving for a hero, craving a savior.  Anyone who doubts this need only consider the worship-like attention and money poured out by the masses into the coffers of media and sports personalities, including fictional personalities like comic book heroes.  Their popularity has grown in direct proportion to people buying into the lies that attempt to discredit the Bible and the historical accounts of humanity's only true hero and savior, Jesus Christ.

And Christmas is no exception.  When watching the animated movie "The Polar Express" for the first - and last - time two years ago with my wife and kids, I was aghast at just how far the deification of Santa Claus in place of Jesus has come.  When these kids finally made it up to the North Pole, it was as though they had reached every materialist's version of heaven.  And when they met face-to-face with its god, Santa Claus, they reacted as though this was akin to meeting face-to-face with God Himself.  As a Christian parent, I was absolutely dumbfounded - even angered - by this portrayal of a fictional character (again, based originally on the factual Nicholas) as though he was god-like.  It was then that I realized just how out of hand and ridiculous the attempt to remove Christ from Christmas had become.

I cannot finish this post without commenting on how too many modern Christians have been seduced by non-Christian influences regarding Christmas.  In particular, I can't believe that ANY so-called Christian parent would even entertain the notion with their child that the modern rendition of Santa Claus is for real.  Yet far too many take their kids to Santa Claus parades and wait in line to sit on his lap at malls and corporate functions.  They get their kids hyped-up on getting rather than giving by asking them what they want for Christmas, and they write "From Santa" on their kids' gifts under the tree.  Then their child enters school and eventually finds out that Santa is a hoax, that their parents fed them the lie in order to give them warm fuzzies so that Christmas could feel all good and nice and special for them - as though telling them the Biblical account of Christ's birth alone wouldn't cut it, nor the memories of special times with family and friends during the Christmas season.

I wonder if any so-called Christian parents have wondered how this might impact their children's trust level in what they they are told and taught by their parents?  I wonder how many kids in such families have secretly wondered whether what they're being fed about Jesus and the Bible are for real if Santa and the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy were not?  Perhaps this is part of the reason why recent statistics show how at least 61% to 90% of all Christian kids (depending upon the study) grow up and leave home only to be indifferent about living out the faith they were taught or to abandon it altogether, especially if they go on to post-secondary studies. (Source:  Focus On Parenting conference, November 14, 2009.)

I am totally convinced that it is the indifference of Christian parents to the influences of the outside world that is causing the decay of Christian influence in the modern world.  And this undiscerning acceptance of Santa Claus into their homes and lives is one such example of how and why this is happening.

I will finish with how my wife and I have approached Christmas since the birth of our first child.  We have told them since they were old enough to understand that Santa Claus is not for real, that he was just made up by people who don't believe in Jesus.  We've also obviously never taken them to see Santa, or if one happened to be there they were perfectly okay with not sitting on his lap.  Rather, we have emphasized that 'Jesus is the reason for the season' and that the gifts we give AND receive symbolize the gift that Jesus was to humanity - of how he gave his life so that those who believe in him will have abundant life here on earth and eternal life after their body dies.

What has been the result of this experiment of taking Santa Claus out of Christmas:  Do our children mope around on Christmas morning wondering why they never got a gift from Santa Claus?  Do they resent us for telling them that Santa isn't for real?  Are they sad that we kept them from sitting on his lap, or writing a gift list for him, or sending a letter to him, or from putting out milk and cookies for him?

You might be surprised to know that our children get just as excited as any others do about Christmas.  They love giving and getting gifts and spending good times with family and friends.  They in absolutely no way have been saddened by the absence of Santa Claus from their Christmases and instead have a joy about the season based upon their good understanding of what Christmas is truly about.  As a Christian parent I am very glad about this.  We have bucked the massive forces of the non-Christian world that try to make us tow the line in this regard, and I believe that we as a family are better off for it.

My hope and prayer is that stories like this will inspire other Christian families to honor God and quit giving in to the ways of the world.  Many non-Christians think that to be a Christian is to be wimpy and spineless, but in reality choosing God's ways in a sea of ungodliness takes more strength than one can imagine, and the growth in godly character is well worth the effort.