Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Please take the MAS out of Christmas

It is this time of year when I start seeing the slogan "Don't take CHRIST out of Christmas" and "It's not XMAS its CHRISTmas" on social media sites, bumper stickers, signs in yards and other places.
There is also a fight in my area over a nativity scene that is on display on the lawn of a court house, placed there by a nonprofit group and not the government, and some anti-religious organization from a state way up north wants it removed and is threatening legal action. The people of this small community are upset about it as it is attacking their fundamental belief system, years of tradition, and quiet frankly its Yankees sticking their nose in something that doesn't concern them.
We in the South really don't get Yankee thought processes (we actually question if they exist) and I guess Yankees don't get us either. I am constantly amazed with folks who fight so hard against something they don't believe in. A little twisted if you ask me. I don't believe in the Easter Bunny but I really don't care if you do. I'm not going to protest your easter egg hunt.
Their leader was quoted as saying all the normal propaganda about church/state endorsement blah blah blah. I wish these folks would do a little historical fact finding before running with the KoolAide mantra. If someone would take the historical background of what and why the 1st Amend was written, as people should take the historical and cultural climate into consideration when reading the Bible, they would understand this a little better and maybe chill out. Probably not going to happen. What do folks think we are celebrating with the Christmas holidays anyway? It IS a religious holiday. I bet they take the day off for it. It is historically the celebration of the birth of the Christ Child (yes, the church co-opted a pagan holidaybut still), so if that is the case whats the harm of displaying a scene depicting the misrepresented birth nativity story?
I wonder if these folks exchange gifts with people during the holidays. So far it is still known as christmas presents and not yet politically correct terminology of "holiday gifts". Do they know by doing this they are recreating the story of the gifts brought to the christ child?
So I'm starting another movement. Lets take the MAS out of Christmas. The MAS is all that hoopla that goes with the holiday. The tremendous amounts of commercialism. The steady stream of sales papers, tv ads, and newspaper inserts that inundate us with STUFF we MUST have and THINGS they will LOVE. Materialism. Consumerism. An industry based upon a simple story of gift presentations to the Christ Child in the new testament. Lets do away with the buying something for uncle Ralph because we have to. Lets not convince our kids that Christmas is all about THEM and give them the latest gadget that they do not need. Lets do away with the materialism that causes so much sadness for the have nots when flaunted in front of them by the haves. Lets do away with the ridiculously priced items that really says how much you love someone (insert a big diamond ring or the latest Xbox or whatever) when we have people who are wondering how they are going to feed their children, much less give them gifts.
Yes. Lets take the MAS out of Christmas. Lets just have the CHRIST.
Lets see what He would think about all of this ChistMAS stuff.
Oh....who am I kidding. ~npp