Hijacking CHRISTmas Part I: The Root Problem

The Root Problem

I love Christmas. I love Christmas, because the coming of Christ is important. That is what Christmas is all about anyway right? Well, not so much in our culture. What is most associated with Christmas these days? Santa Claus, Reindeer, Elves, maybe even something benign like "family togetherness." I would imagine though that the number one thing that people think about during CHRISTmas time is presents. The fact that on the celebration of our Lord's birthday, we go out and spend ridiculous amounts of money on a bunch of crap that we don't need is an indictment on our culture. Of course it's nothing new, and it's not even confined to Christmas time. We do this all year round. A very good post by my cousin Ashley got me thinking about this.

We have to ask how we got here. Saint Nick was a good guy who went around giving presents to people who were less fortunate. I'm glad he did that, and that is a great testimony to what the Spirit of Christmas really is. God looked on us in our need and gave us the greatest Present in the world. Somehow we have turned Christmas into an opportunity to commit idolatry with the god of consumerism.

Our culture is driven by marketing and advertising which is designed to make you think a certain way. They put a fear in your mind, and then offer the solution to the fear. What does that sound like? Brainwashing? You think that's too strong? I don't. We are bombarded with all kinds of messages about what we need and don't need, all to get you to do one thing, buy a product that will relieve your fears. I am tempted to go off on a tangent here about false hells and false saviors like this dude would do, but I digress.

Our culture is constantly preaching to us, and we listen and conform our lives to it. So, for our families and our children it is not a matter of if they will be taught, but what they will be taught and who will do the teaching. Personally, I think I can teach my children more effectively and with better content than the culture at large. I would much rather be accused of brainwashing my children than allow our consumerist, secular humanist, culture of death to teach my children their values.

What does all this have to do with Christmas? Marketeers have hijacked this holiday, and even used "Christ" to do it. In my next post I'm going to talk about how this "root" has grown into a "tree" and in the final post I'm going to talk about how we can cut the "root" and tear down the "tree."