Christians Took Christ Out of Christmas Years Ago So Why All the Crying About XMas?

There is a movie on DVD called Christmas With the Kranks. The movie is based upon a John Grisham novel called ?Skipping Christmas?.

Mr. Krank is the star of the story. He is tired of spending so much money on Christmas and faking good cheer so he hatches what he sees to be a brilliant scheme to ?skip? Christmas; not just skip Christmas but leave for a dream cruise on Christmas Eve. He enlists his wife in this plan which appears to be heading towards success but falls apart on Christmas Eve day.

Tim Allen, who plays Mr. Krank, is sort of a modern day Grinch or Scrooge who is seen as being a Bah! Humbug sort of fellow. Of course, as in all good stories there is redemption in the end as Mr. Krank realizes the true meaning of Christmas is family, friends, and tradition.

The only problem with his realization is that the true meaning of Christmas is the birth of a Baby named Jesus who was born for the sole purpose of being sacrificed and resurrected so the world could be rescued from damnation and live eternally with God.

It is okay, though, that the book and the movie got the meaning of Christmas wrong; most of us Christians who claim the holiday as 'ours' have gotten it wrong for about 100 years.

Yep, as soon as we invited Santa Clause into our homes and lied about the existence of an all powerful, always present, and discerning evil fat man in a red suit into our homes we were on a slippery slope towards wiping Christ out of Christmas.

When we told them about Santa with equal enthusiasm as we told them about God in heaven, Jesus as friend, and the Holy Spirit as Comforter we blew it. When we started celebrating by giving gifts to ourselves and to those who can return gifts to us instead of doing the Christ (ian) thing of giving to those who cannot give in return and loving those who were unlovely and worse yet hated us then we strayed from the path of Christ thinking that made Jesus perfect and true and right.

The crucified Jesus has played second fiddle to Santa for too long but no one has seemed to care enough to notice. Do you children get their picture taken with a fake Santa or with a fake Jesus? Do we say Ho! Ho! Ho! in celebration or Holy! Holy! Holy! in glorification? Do we wrap our gifts in pretty paper with Santa and snow on them or in swaddling clothes or shepherd scenes to remember the Perfect Lamb? During these festive seasons do we party with those we love and feel comfortable with or do we party with the down and outers, the lonely, and those that polite culture has forgotten about (except for throwing them a couple of bucks, a scoop of soup, or a warm blanket)?

Many Christian groups hated Christmas and vehemently opposed it up until the late 1800's because they could find no scriptural support for it. Can you? Neither can I. As a matter of fact there were only 18 of our United States that even recognized it as a holiday in a large part because the Puritans couldn?t stand it (which is odd that they could stand the scratchy wool clothing, the funny hats, and the ban on all card games and almost any entertainment; I think had I lived in that era I? would have to have become an Indian instead of a Puritan and worn some nice moccasins, some feathers, and leather; believe it or not, I look good in feathers and leather!).

I love the Christmas stories and movies and traditions. There are several movies we watch every year and the best of all is You?ll shoot your eye out! as proclaimed by the loving mom in The Christmas Story. I love the idea of snow at Christmas and I'm a sucker for decorative lights, candles, and even red during Christmas. I love a Santa with a real beard and a beer belly covered in red velvet. There is nothing better than the parties at the office, at the church, and in the homes of friends. Yet none of that represents the Christ who was born in order to die for me. None of that shows God?s love for me and for the entire world.

And when it comes to taking the name of Christ off this holiday of insane consumerism and meism I am just not very concerned. In fact, the holiday probably gives God a black eye in that He is so poorly represented in a holiday with His name on it.

So, what is the deal with Xmas? It really should be $mas! And let us not fool ourselves into thinking that we celebrate the holidays much differently than non-Christian families. We may not drink the egg nog that makes you happy and we may not give cigars or R-rated games and DVD's for gifts but do if we were really wanting to keep Christ in Christmas then we would be giving gifts of eternal value instead of highly valuing gifts that will last such a short time.

And I hate to keep saying this but it is straight up Jesus' words; you do not reflect God's love when you give to yourself or to others who already love you! Jesus said that even the dirty, dark hearted sinners do that. The love of Christ gives to those who cannot give in return. The love of God reached out and sought me even while I was yet in my sin and continues to draw me into His heart.

Another thing is this: I feel forced to take offense at non-believers who use Xmas but fellow Christians (and yes, I am saved!) look at me like I am insane when I am not indignant enough or offended at the same thing that offends them. Well, I refuse to be offended or upset (you can't make me!) at what non-believers do. Was Jesus? It seems He was an offense to the religious and a Savior to the lost; choosing to circumvent political and moral dilemmas in order to offer them an eternal intimacy.

This year my heart has changed in the middle of the Christmas debate. Instead of jumping on the side of the guys who know everything Jesus would do and tossing hand grenades at the liberals, I am saddened by the fact that it is just a holiday for them to receive worldly trinkets of no value in the long run.

I am also horribly convicted that I don?t care any more about them then that they entered into my world and used a 4-letter word, drank a beer, or placed an X where I think Christ should be.

So, Christians, just stop worrying about losing this holiday to the dastardly heathens in the retail industry and begin to feel convicted about losing your light and your saltiness. The holiday was lost years ago to the gospel of self and the retail industry is just riding the wave to financial victory; and I think that we are just figuring this out.