Please Don't Wish Me a "Happy Holiday"
Simply stated, Christmas was instituted to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ; hence CHRISTmas. It's not about other religions or people who may be offended by the greeting, "Merry Christmas." It's not about Santa Claus, reindeer, or even Christmas trees and gifts. Oh, we put up a tree and give gifts, but we realize that's not the main reason for Christmas. I'm not saying it's wrong to permit little ones the joy of Santa Claus, but as some good parents have said, they should also be taught the real meaning of Christmas. Jesus would like for us to love and serve one another, and to give unselfishly to them the whole year around, not just at one season of the year. I can just imagine what He must think of what has become of the celebration of His birth.
Like many others, I'm sick of the commercialism, the greed, the excuse for people to get drunk, for families to get together and fight among themselves in the name of Jesus. Maybe that's not the way they look at it, but that's the way it is. I wish if they have to do those things, they'd reserve them for Halloween or some other holiday rather than make a mockery of Jesus' birthday celebration.
There are numerous businesses, like Old Navy and associated companies, who refuse to let even the word "Christmas" be used in their stores or in their ads.After receiving notification of that fact, my husband called the company to check on the validity of it. The young man to whom he spoke said "We don't use the word "Christmas" in our stores." He insisted it was not his decision, which of course was not surprising. The company did not want to "offend" anyone. My husband told the man that the company was offending Christians, and after all, Christmas is a Christian holiday.
The man suggested my husband send an email, but my husband had been warned in advance that the company was blocking out any emails pertaining to Christmas. The man to whom he spoke was rather nice, but of course could be of no help. Before hanging up, the man wished my husband "Happy Holidays" to which my husband replied, "You just offended me again, and may you have a "Merry Christmas!"
Last year Target wasn't allowing the Salvation Army volunteers to ring their bells in front of their stores. For that reason, we won't shop with Target at all. While we probably wouldn't be likely, at our age, to shop with Old Navy, we do have kids and grandkids who would. We have encouraged them to shop elsewhere instead.
It infuriates me that the world has stolen our Christian holiday and now won't even allow the mention of the word "Christmas." They don't want to offend anybody else, but it's fine to offend Christians.
As far as I'm concerned, I wish people who don't even believe in Jesus or want Him in their lives would just ignore our Christian holiday. I can just imagine what would happen if Christians tried to take over the holidays of other religions, to contaminate them with greed and commercialism and to forbid the name of their holidays from being mentioned. Can you imagine hearing someone say, "Oh, you can't say Hanukkah here!" or "Ramadan is a bad word. Don't say it here. You might offend somebody!" Sound silly? Can you deny it's what has happened to Christmas?
If anyone wants to celebrate Hanukkah, I'd be happy to wish them "Happy Hanukkah!" If others have holidays relative to their religion, I wouldn't deny them that.But I do resent having my favorite Christian holiday, the birth of our Saviour, turned into a commercial maelstrom and the name of Jesus Christ blacklisted.
I really believe that all Christians who are serious about their belief should stand up and be heard about this issue and all the others where we are being persecuted. And yes, I believe that in America as well as most other places in the world, Christians are the most persecuted group of people today.
So if you want to wish me well, please say "Merry Christmas" or nothing at all. And Merry Christmas to you all!
Published by Pat Burroughs
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18 Comments
Post a CommentI appreciate everything you have said. Could you imagine what it would be like to commercialize Hanukkah instead? 10 days of black fridays and not being able to say the word Hanukkah......That's what we go through now as Christians and it's wrong. This is our religious tradition, our holiday, and for the most part an AMERICAN holiday. We've been saying merry christmas for almost 300 years on this continent. Why is it now all of a sudden it's so wrong to wish others a Merry Christmas, Christian or not?
Nice work, I almost wrote a "who took Christ out of Christmas" article myself.
Thanks, Pat. And to YOU, Merry Christmas.
Happy holidays, Jennifer.
My point is this - on many of your comments on other articles, you tell people "I love you." (which you do to antagonize, I see right through it) but then, you write an article like this, laced with hate. What gives?
I just don't understand why the Christians who are in an uproar about this want to be favored, anyway? How does the checkout girl know you aren't Jewish? How does she know that you aren't an atheist, perhaps? Or a pagan? She doesn't know. The only way that SHOULD be nonoffensive is "Holidays" in lieu of "Christmas." And that is disregarding those who don't celebrate a holiday - and many of those people let it roll off their back anyway. It is a non issue. You know, you need to maybe realize that no one is trying to take your Christmas away...by all means, have it - to each their own - but why do you think that everyone else's holiday needs to be disregarded?
Pat - why do you have to be so nasty about someone choosing to submit an anonymous comment? what's the difference if you know their name or not?
That out of the way - about the article. Why is "Happy Holidays" so bad? You're making a mountain out of a mole hill. That includes YOUR Christmas, another's Chanukkah, someone's Kwanza, and another's Winter Solstace. These are all overlapping "Holidays." That way no one is left out.
If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.John 15:19
Pat, it was as if you & I were commiserating on the 17th. And at the risk of mirroring your comment on my page ;-) you must know I love your article and appreciate your bravery for expressing your views in this crazy world we live in. Bravo to you & your husband for contacting these retailers that are raking in the dough from people shopping for "Christmas" presents. And they don't have the decency to acknowledge their celebration! I will express my view to the same retailers you mentioned in the article. Thank you for this.
A very Merry Christmas to you and yours Pat :-)