- It used to be that many Americans would deplore the commercialization
of the Christmas holidays (or, originally, "holy days"). Not
today. Many stores are starting to display "Merry Krissmas" signs.
-
- With so many people focusing most of their attention
on buying and selling, and the giving and receiving of gifts, materialism
seemed destined to displace the original Christian "reason for the
season."
-
- But in recent years, those misfits among us who are most
hostile to the things of God have moved from merely ignoring the Biblical
basis for our mid-winter holiday celebration to actively opposing its spiritual
roots.
-
- We now confront, therefore, not only the aforementioned
commercialization of Christmas, but also the secularization and politicization
of the sacred holiday as well.
-
- Every winter, all across America, we have another big
fight right around Christmas time. Thatís when the liberal, atheistic
ACLU types always launch their annual campaign to expel God from the public
schools and banish Jesus Christ from the public square.
-
- Santa Claus and his flying reindeer may be OK, but the
God-sent, Virgin-born Babe in the Manger is clearly unacceptable to these
self-proclaimed, "free-thinking" guardians of humanistic heathenism.
-
- It never ceases to amaze me how some of these folks manage
to twist the Constitution continually to mean something it plainly doesnít
say. They grossly misinterpret the First Amendment into a pagan prohibition
of any public display of religious faith ó rather than a blessed
guarantee of the right to freely exercise that faith, both in public and
in private.
-
- The very idea of an alleged right to "freedom from
religion" is antithetical to everything the Founding Fathers fought
for and believed in. Even an unregenerate old Deist like the worldly Benjamin
Franklin supported the public exercise of Christianity as being beneficial
to the general morality and common good of the populace.
-
- These seeming contradictions in modern life served to
set me thinking óimprobable as this may sound ó about the
inherent interrelationship between Christmas and . . . politics, of all
things.
-
- That is a very odd combination. There is absolutely no
way the two have anything to do with each other. One is about the birth
of Jesus Christ, and the other is about human government and public policy.
-
- When you look at the facts, though, you will see something
different.
-
- Why were Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem when Jesus was
born? They had to pay taxes to Caesar. There were no rooms in the inn because
so many people came to pay taxes. This meant that the Lamb of God came
into the world in a lowly manger, among the farm animals that were used
as sacrificial offerings in the Jewish religion.
-
- Government is about human institutions taking care of
the people who live in this world. The legitimate goal of government is
to set up an ordered society that is free and safe, where one and all can
live and prosper in peace.
-
- God established human government through the Noahic Covenant
that protected the sanctity of all human life created in the image of God.
God then established through the Ten Commandments the basic moral parameters
that have bounded Western Civilization for more than three millennia.
-
- The birth of Jesus Christ, which is what Christmas (or
Christís Mass) really commemorates, is about our Christ coming from
Heaven to Earth to die on the Cross of Calvary. Why? So that redeemed men
can live for all eternity with Him.
-
- Isaiah the prophet describes Jesus as our Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace . . . "and the
government shall be upon his shoulders."
-
- Human government is about providing physical services
for mankindís temporal needs.
-
- Jesus Christ is about providing spiritual blessings for
mankindís eternal needs.
-
- Christmas today is STILL about remembering Godís
unspeakable gift to us through the birth of Jesus. It is also about being
generous to others ó a time to give clothing to the poor, a time
to share food with a needy neighbor, a time to help out a friend who has
fallen on hard times and is struggling to get by.
-
- Most importantly, Christmas should be a time of blessed
family fellowship and worship toward God, with prayerful meditation and
joyful thanksgiving.
-
- Jesus gave to all of us needy humans the greatest gift
of all: Himself.
-
- _____
-
- Copyright © 2004 by Nathan Tabor
-
- Nathan Tabor is a conservative political activist based
in Kernersville, North Carolina. He has his BA in Psychology and his Masterís
Degree in Public Policy. He is a contributing editor at www.theconservativevoice.com.
Contact him at Nathan@nathantabor.com.
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