I Did not Take Your Christmas Away.

I wrote this this weekend, but it may some some errors it in, I do not have a proofer, so be KIND....


The modern evangelical Christians that are running amuck in our nation today are great at manufacturing crisis where there is none. Right now, there is a claim that there is a war on Christmas, but I am not sure who they are fighting it with.

As the sun rose this Friday alarms went off in the wee hours of the morning, not to get the kids ready for school, or start the commute to work, but instead to make it to the Wal-Mart or Best Buy to start the “Christmas consumer fest” known in the retail market as “Black Friday”.

The war on Christmas was fought yesterday, and Christmas lost. It lost to the millions of swipes of the VISA. With ever check torn from the checkbook Christmas took a blow. Finally Christmas took a MASTERCARD to the heart today, and as of now, it is dead. Who killed it? Well if you did go out yesterday you were in good company, because almost every one of those that were out feeding at the buffet of the “Holiday Season” identify themselves as “Christians”. The season that was originally a celebration of the pagan festival of Yule, later hijacked by the Catholic Church to celebrate the birth of Christ has been hijacked again by corporate America, to celebrate consumption.

So why do you look to the evil left or the secular Christians as the killer Christmas. Where in the bible will I find the holy $39 MP3 player, or the scripture that says, "Thou shall shop till Thou droppith”.

Before you scream that the liberals are wedging a war on Christmas, look around and see all the secular trapping that you have drenched yourself in. You’re beloved Christmas tree, a purely pagan invention, those lights on your roof, not mention in the bible, that cute Santa on the door, pure make-believe. The fact is, the very “Christians” that claim that there is a war on Christmas have only themselves to blame. They have spent the last 30 plus years relegating Jesus to the back burner of Christmas, and now that people are rejecting the holiday that Christmas has evolved into, they want to cry foul.

Christians, not the pagans or the left or the space aliens, have turned Christmas into the pile of corporate dreck it is today. War on Christmas, no, it has long since been dead.

And use "Thou shalt shop till thou dropst". "Thy" is possesive, like "your".

Sorry, I'm a 17th century grammar nazi.

Clean up the few typos and and it will be a very powerful piece indeed. :thumbsup:

An excellent jab at the hypocrisy of the rightwing fundy dickfops!

Only change - "Thou shall shop til thou drop" ("thy" is possessive, and "till" is to dig up earth or a place to hold money)

You could get even more poetic, thou I don't know if it's correct, and say "Thou shalt shop til thou droppeth".

But I'm not in expert in old english - that last one might be more correct; it might be more wrong than my first option.

But I know for sure that "thy" is not correct. :-)

But, gods man, beautiful rant - and you are totally correct. it ain't the gays or the Jews or the secular humanists who have destroyed Christmas. It's the Christians (and I blame myself).

in another thread that a decade or so ago the fundies started saying "happy holiday's" because of all the commercilism that we see today. So aren't they the one's waging the war on themselves? *snort* Oh and it's not even the communist aliens from Mars. ;)

They do it with amazing frequency.

:applause:

And no where in my Bible does it tell me to remember the birth of the savior. Jesus didn't tell me to celebrate a holiday where I remember his birth. Sure, it's important to Christian's (a big "duh" there) but he only said in the Bible to remember his death and resserrection once a week around the Lord's Supper (aka Communion to a lot of churches). I have brought up time and time again this and have challenged other Christians who are going along with this nonsense "war" to prove to me from the Bible where it states to remember Jesus' birth and that he was born on December 25th. Biblical scholars believe he was born in or around APRIL not December. It's kind of hard to graze sheep in the fields when there is frost and/or snow on the ground at night isn't it? And don't census' usually happen around that time? My grandfather helped with our countries last census and I believe it was more-so in the spring. Christmas is a pagan holiday and I have even told other Christians we stole it from the pagans. It's purely a pagan holiday and should be made it what each individual person makes it out to be. Oh and on this Christian board I used to go on there was someone who even said they never celebrated Christmas. I was pretty shocked at that. She said her family didn't see a reason to.

it is easier for the spiritually bankrupt phony Christians to get themselves in an uproar over something that isn't even in the Bible, than to practice what is...such as peace, giving sacrificially to the poor, loving one's enemies, and forgiveness.

You are right, they throw a fit for the made-up stuff, and ignore the stuff it really does say.

Yep, more concerned with protecting the "sanctity" of a made up formerly pagan holiday than to actually, God forbid, follow the words of the man whose birthday they are ostensibly celebrating.

this is also where the fundies and many others misunderstand. He didn't say to remember his death and resurrection once a week around the Lord's Supper when they have communion with their churches. That is also a distortion of what he was trying to say. He said, in essence, to think of him whenever they do "this" and the "this" was take sustenance. He was trying to illustrate to them that his teachings, his life (his body-the bread) and the memory of his sacrifice (his blood-the wine) would be the sustenance for their lives.

It was another of his parables or illustrations that many are still too one dimensional to understand and feel the need to make into a contained ceremony in order to feel they have done their duty rather than live as if he meant anything to them through the week.

Just one of my pet peeves with the "practice" of communion. :hi:

I posted it on my blog as well, thank you for the kind words.

http://www.bushsamerica.com/index.php/2005/11/29/i_did_not_take_your_christmas_away

now let's not talk about it anymore

However, Christmas isn't dead to me,...that is, the underlying premise of it: gratitude and giving and, most of all, loving. Heck, I shopped on "Black Friday" but only because I am a person of modest means who wants to give a little token of my love and gratitude to all those I hold dear.

Gratitude, giving and love. No one can take those away from anyone.

we should change the greeting to Merry Consumermas?

on the whole 'stealing Christmas' thing. I'm reading this now: "How the Republicans Stole Christmas," by Bill Press. Great book.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385516053/103-5497281-9016640?v=glance&n=283155&v=glance

You rock, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

it's a red meat issue for the basest of the base

GREAT LETTER

Interesting cognitive dissonance they've got going there, eh?

I've practiced Adbusters Buy Nothing Day for years now. This is one of the few years that I haven't joined in the silent protests at Walmart. I love doing those.

I'm trying to convince my family that the child doesn't need 400 presents this Christmas and that the extended family can do with our love and well wishes and don't necessarily need new socks or ties.

The left is trying to take away Christmas. These people need to pull their heads out of their asses.

The name is irrelevant because the holiday, regardless of the fundies contentious shouting, is solely about retailing. Jesus would be apalled at what is done in His name. And the fundies are as much to fault as any straw man they create. Until such times as the fundies practice what they screech, let the party continue, les bon temps roullez.