Merry Chri... er... "Season's Greetings"?
As I have contemplated this time of the year that we call the "Christmas" season, I have thought about which aspect, if any, to cover in a blog post. We could discuss historical views of Christmas, including its origins and opposition to the holiday by some of our reformed fathers in the faith. We could talk about the "commercialization" of the season and discuss some of the positive and negative aspects of this phenomenon. We could also assess whether Christ's church should acknowledge this day and set aside a special "Christmas Sunday" each year, particularly in light of the "regulative principle of worship."
I have settled on a different topic, at least for this post: Should we actively seek through boycotts and lawsuits to persuade businesses and statist institutions, such as the government schools, to use the word "Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings"? If so, what should be our approach? Should we proclaim victory automatically if a business or other institution relents and chooses to use the word "Christmas" or allows others to use the word (in public schools, for example)?First, let us take a look at the Third Commandment from Exodus 20:7, "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." God's name is holy, and if we use it flippantly or for a purpose other than to bring Him glory and honor, we are breaking this commandment.
In light of this consideration, what is all the fuss about the word "Christmas"? Many Christians would say that "Jesus is the reason for the season," and anyone who acknowledges the season without acknowledging the reason is a hypocrite. Here is the theory: If a retailer such as Target benefits from consumer spending during this time of year, it should acknowledge the (supposedly) "true" reason that so many people are shopping -- to celebrate Christ's birth as they give gifts one to another. Retailers that use the phrases "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings" are taking Christ out of the holiday and should receive negative economic sanctions (boycotts, in other words).Some of you might know where I am going with this, but let me first back up and briefly discuss Roy Moore as an example of following the Third Commandment. Many lawyers and Christian activists have embraced the following line of reasoning for displaying the Ten Commandments in public places: Since our nation was founded on Christian principles and since our founding fathers quoted from the Bible, in addition to other sources such as Locke and Blackstone, we should display the Ten Commandments as "historically significant" reminders, along with other documents and quotations. Additionally, according to these folks, we should use the phrase "One nation, under God" to remember the historical view of our founders. They might even reference Justice Brennan's words in Lynch v. Donnelley that the words "have lost through rote repetition any significant religious content." In short, such people argue that we must play by other people's rules as we attempt to use God's name in public. As long as we don't really mean anything by it, we are fine. And this is the "victory" that many Christians seek. Roy Moore, as we know, chose to affirm the acknowledgment of God by displaying the Ten Commandments. He did not simply settle for "historical reminders" of a bygone era when our unenlightened leaders simply thought we were under God's rule.
I hope I have made my point without really stating it directly. For those who have missed it, here is the conclusion: As Christians seek to persuade or coerce public and private institutions to use "Merry Christmas" -- or at least to allow the use of these words -- they must consider whether they are truly acknowledging God. Very often, it seems we are sanctioning stores with boycotts for not using God's name in vain.
Why do we want them to say "Christmas" when they refuse to acknowledge Christ? To be painfully obvious, these stores are simply trying to lure Christians back to buy their "holiday" offerings. They are not truly acknowledging Christ or using His name in an honoring way. Their philosophy is this: "If we have to include the word 'Christ' as in 'Christmas' in order to get these people to buy from us, so be it."We truly have adopted low standards in deciding which stores to patronize and which to avoid. If a person wants to stay away from Target, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, or other stores for any reason or for no reason at all, that's fine with me. As consumers in a free market, we get to decide which stores to patronize and which to avoid; in some cases, we can think of compelling reasons not to patronize stores. But let us refrain, in all cases, from forcing companies to use Christ's name in vain in order to lure us back into their stores.
The name of the game for these companies is money -- getting as many people as possible to buy as much of their stuff as possible; as it stands now, they are completely uninterested in truly embracing Christ, the "reason for the season." Instead of boycotting stores simply for refusing to use "Christmas" in their marketing campaigns, perhaps we should consider writing letters and petitions to corporate boards and top executives asking them to govern their companies according to biblical law and godly intentions. We should implore them to acknowledge Christ privately and publicly, whether or not they choose to acknowledge the commercialized season known as "Christmas."
That's a cause I could really support.
posted by C.S. Hayden @ 11:55 AM
4 Comments:
"But let us refrain, in all cases, from forcing companies to use Christ's name in vain in order to lure us back into their stores."
That is a new angle for me, which was thought provoking. In our culture (even modern "Christian culture") we are desensitized to taking of the Lord's name in vain.
Jesse and I have been having a lot of discussions about Christmas this year. Insightful post! Part of us wants to avoid it altogether and the other part of us wants to at least seek to use it as a witnessing opportunity. How to reconcile the two, we are still trying to figure out. The question we have been asking is, "Is it possible to celebrate Christmas in a God-glorifying manner?"
One question I have been wondering is (on a tangent): Why do stores/companies feel the need to be so PC and take all mentions of Christmas/Christ away, when people are constantly taking God's name in vain everywhere and that doesn't seem to bother anyone?
Thanks for the comment, Bryce. We certainly are desensitized to this violation of God's Third Commandment.
Crystal, I would say these retailers are taking His name in vain in a different sense than the typical expletive use of God's name. (We have all heard phrases that I will not repeat here that we think of as using His name in vain.) I do not mean they are using His name as a curse word, as you probably discerned. Rather, they are using His name lightly without regard to the reverence, awe, and fear that the words "God" and "Christ" should conjure up in our minds.
Most people think that the word "Christmas" automatically refers to a religious holiday pertaining to Christ's birth. Thus, the "PC" response is to simply remove this word from marketing campaigns, as you have indicated. (I saw a Pepsi Cube that had some references to "Happy Holidays," including a large sticker that used this phrase. There was no mention of "Christmas.") On the other hand, however, many people use the word "Christmas" flippantly to simply refer to a time of the year. From my perspective and hopefully from any Christian's perspective, such uses are vain in that they do not respect the weighty holiness of Christ's name. It is the akin to someone saying, "Happy God Day" when he is referring simply to a day devoted to giving gifts, eating food, and spending time with family. To many people, this is all that "Christmas" means. The typical retailer hears the word "Christmas" and thinks about all the money to be made during this time of the year; most of them are unconcerned with honoring Christ and His incarnation. Certainly we should not encourage these non-Christian businesses to use this word simply to gain our patronage.
I hope this makes sense. I don't want to belabor a useless point, but I believe that when we really assess this and other issues from a biblical perspective, we can pick and choose which battles to fight and which to reject. The battle over the word "Christmas" is not worth our time and effort, in my assessment, and it can easily lead to violations of God's commandments.
Wow! Excellent read!
I too am now looking at this from a different angle.
Yes, sadly we have become desensitized in the use of God's name.
I try not even to exclaim "Gosh" or "Gee whiz", as these are just replacement phrases.
Thanks for writing this!
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home