Merry Christmas.....and I mean Merry Christmas. Not Happy Hanukkah, Seasons Greetings, Happy Holidays, or Merry Kwannzaa. This is the Christmas season. It is the time of year when we celebrate the fact that God was born a man in a manger. We rejoice because, in the words of the heavenly host, "today in the the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11, NASV).
And just to be sure you are not confused by all the interlopers who are trying to drown out the real meaning of Christmas, read the words of Matthew describing the reaction of the Kings from the east concerning this Child: "After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him." We are not talking about just another baby born in Bethlehem. We are talking about the Christ, the one and only Son of the living God, whose birth caused the angels to say, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased" (Luke 2:14, NASV).
I mean no disrespect and I have no wish to conjure up images of the Grinch, but if you see me on the street andn greet me with anything less than "Merry Christmas" you will get an earful of what I think about the all out assault that is being leveled against the real meaning of Christmas. It has been building for several years but this year in particular it seems many people are becoming equal opportunity offenders of the rights of Christians to celebrate the birth of our Savior.
We can't offend Muslims, Jews, or any other group by displaying our nativity scenes (even though, according to a recent Newsweek poll, 67% of American believe in the virgin birth) or Christmas trees but it is perfectly fine for Crescents, Menorah's and every other kind of religious symbol to be displayed for public consumption.
If you think I am exaggerating, consider the following examples. In Denver, Christian groups were banned from the annual Parade of Lights, while other groups including a group supporting American Indian homosexuals (wouldn't that be "native American" homosexuals?) were welcomed.
In South Orange, N.J. even musical scores that have anything to do with religion will not be allowed. That means, ladies and gentlemen, that not only are the lyrics of songs offensive to the PC crowd but also the music which might make them think about the lyrics. Can anybody say, "thought police?"
In Colorado, the Elbert County Charter School is being sued by the ACLU because the principal refuses to censor Christmas. The ACLU alleges, presumably with a straight face, any reference to Christmas during the Christmas season amounts to anti-Semitism.
In Washington state a group of librarians have gotton together and decided to ban the display of Christmas trees because non-Christians might be offended.
Kindergartners at a public school in Oregon were invited to bring cards to a Christmas party, but a teacher barred one student from distributing his holiday greeting because it mentioned the reason for the season, who is Jesus Christ.
A group of Christians have filed a lawsuit against the New York City school system becasue they are allowing displays of Muslim Crescents and Jewish Menorah's but they have banned nativity scenes.
And finally, in Sacremento, California teachers are being told they are not allowed to say the word Christmas or to mention anything in relation to the Christmas season. One of the teachers (who must remain nameless lest the NEA rise up and smite her for exercising her freedom of speech) said, "I don't know if I want to go on teaching. People need to stand up to all these wackos! It's nuts!"
I couldn't have said it any better. In fact, a lot of "somebodies" need to stand up to all these wackos. If enough voices were raised, maybe this madness would come to an end.
It is the very pinnacle of hypocrisy for the PC police to cry foul in the name of not being offensive to Muslims, Jews, and whoever else when Christmas is mentioned and yet not give one whit about the feelings of Christians during one of their most holy times of year. Can you imagine the outcry there would be in the mainstream media if Muslims or Jews were banned from publicly referring to one of their holidays? People would riot in the streets! Yet it is perfectly acceptable to many to marginalize Christians because marginalization happens to be step two in the three step plan of totally removing Christianity from our culture. Step one is to demonize Christians. This has already been accomplished through movies, television, the public school system, and the university system.
Step two is to marginalize Christians by pushing them away out of the public square and away from the table of ideas.
Step three is to criminalize Christian behavior, which is in the works in the form of hate speech legislation. When you outlaw the free expression of a group of people you make them into outlaws when they speak their mind.
I hope you will join me in fighting back against the voices that would join the innkeeper in Bethlehem and force Christ into a cave. You can begin by insisting on expressing your Christian worldview by saying a hearty, "Merry Christmas!"