Which of the above greetings is correct? To be quite honest,
I really don't care what your choice is, but then again, I don't care much
about being politically correct either. I realize that as a Christian I can
call it whatever I want. Is December 25th the actual birthday of
Christ Jesus? Most likely not! Does it matter? No!
There are many that want to celebrate December 25th
as the birth of Christ, yet some who just enjoy the "holiday season"
with all of the sights and sounds of Christmas, feasts with the family and
exchanging presents, with no thought of Christ. That's OK by me; I really don't
care what you do with the day.
Now before you get on your religious high horse, let me
again say; that first, December 25th is most likely not the time of
Christ's birth. Second, no where in the scripture are we given instruction to
or example of celebrating Jesus' birthday. Third, like most of the world, I
really don't care what you do; I have the freedom to choose to celebrate the
birth of Christ or just to have a "happy holiday".
You might think, "How can you as a mister say such a
thing?" It's really rather simple. Again, there is no command or example
in the bible to do so, but there is a scripture that deals with our freedom to
choose to do so if we wish. In Romans
14:5-6 Paul writes, “One man considers one day more sacred than
another; another man considers every day alike. Each should be fully convinced
in his own mind.” Should Christmas then be an official church holiday?
In my way of thinking, no. It is not in the Bible and all of us don’t even have
the same opinion about it. Do we have the right to celebrate it if we want to?
Yes!
Yet Paul cautions us in Romans
14:22, “Blessed is the man that does not condemn himself by what he approves
(or says is good)”. You see
Romans the 14th chapter deals with problems between brethren who are having
faith problems. The brother with the weak faith had not yet grown to the point
where he understood that everything we do is to the glory of God, therefore
doing certain things, such as "keeping holy days", would cause him to
stumble in his faith.
So, even though I don't care what you do or say about this
holiday, because it will not affect my faith, yet for some it may. So, be
careful of what you "approve," so you "do not condemn
yourself". Do I have a problem with our world, our schools, our town
counsels, and our federal government telling us that we cannot remember Christ
in any way or even mention his name in certain places? You bet I do!
I've made my choice, but you are responsible for your own
choices. For me, I'll just close this by saying that I wish each of you a Merry
Christmas!
