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\u201cYou know me, I am no fan of the term X-mas or X anything.<\/em> Technically this could be a very short post because I say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas because I couldn\u2019t care less what people celebrate or don\u2019t celebrate. Also, I like to remain holiday-agnostic so I can get invited to ALL<\/strong> the holiday parties and not just some of them. I like parties, what can I say.<\/p>\n But to make this post longer let me make a bigger point: insisting that people say \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d seems counterproductive to the whole Evangelical goal.<\/p>\n On the one hand, evangelicals often believe that one of the (if not the) most important part of the Christian faith is to win people to the Christian faith.<\/p>\n On the other hand, some Christians emphasize trying to \u201ckeep America<\/a> a Christian nation\u201d by protesting things like people saying \u201cXmas\u201d or \u201cHappy Holidays\u201d instead of \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d or by wanting to keep \u201cIn God we Trust\u201d on our money.<\/p>\n First of all, if you don\u2019t like \u201cXmas,\u201d you\u2019ve learned with the advent (pun intended) of the internet that \u201cXmas\u201d isn\u2019t \u201ccrossing out\u201d Christ but \u201cX\u201d is what \u201cChrist\u201d starts with in Greek: \u03a7\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03cc\u03c2.<\/p>\n Note to angry atheists: given this knowledge, if you <\/em>did<\/strong> intend on kicking Christ out of Christmas \u201cXmas\u201d is probably not your best attempt. Might I suggest \u201c-Mas\u201d or \u201cAtheistmas\u201d or maybe just celebrate Festivus? <\/em><\/p>\n But secondly, I am no psychologist but it seems unproductive to try to win someone over to your side<\/a> by telling them you\u2019re an enemy of your faith. If my goal is to make my country a place where everyone says \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d instead of \u201cHappy Holidays\u201d I, either on purpose or implicitly, make everyone who says \u201cHappy Holidays\u201d an enemy.<\/p>\n After all, when people say \u201cTHEY\u201d are taking Christ out of Christmas, who are people talking about? Probably just other people. There is a group of people who say \u201cHappy Holidays\u201d instead of \u201cMerry Christmas.\u201d And they are the enemy. They are \u201cin the way\u201d of accomplishing my mission of \u201cKeeping Christ in Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n Once someone thinks you have made them an enemy, the defenses go up. It becomes extremely hard for them to hear anything you have to say as a positive step in the relationship, no matter how well-intentioned it is. And so, Christians are increasingly perceived to be judgmental and intolerant, which is not a helpful moniker when you are trying to convert others to your position.<\/p>\n More specifically, I think insisting on people saying \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d rests on three bad assumptions:<\/p>\n To deal with these succinctly:<\/p>\n In fact, this is part of my life mission, to \u201cconcede\u201d people into the Kingdom of God. This seems to be how Jesus reacted much of the time (see point #2).<\/p>\n When Peter declared that it was finally time to \u201cstand up for what we believe,\u201d Jesus rebuked him and healed the person Peter lashed out against.<\/p>\n The point of Jesus\u2019 mission in the world was to lose, not to win. It was in losing the argument about who he was that won people to follow him. But that is often difficult for us to swallow.<\/p>\n Because of our need to win, we stop people before they ever get to Jesus. We stop them at whether or not they say \u201cChristmas,\u201d we stop them at whether they celebrate Halloween. We stop them at whether or not evolution is true. We stop them at whether or not the government should let gay couples marry.<\/p>\n In a world where Christians are labeled as being against everything in our culture<\/a>, what a powerful argument for God when we confound their expectations, when we come to battle with a towel and basin full of water instead of a sword.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
I make my kids play Christ-box 360.<\/em>
And if they break a bone they get Christ-rays.\u201d<\/em>
-Stephen Colbert<\/em><\/p>\nSo, saying \u201cXmas\u201d is actually keeping Christ in Christmas, just shorter.<\/h2>\n
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It was his unwillingness<\/em><\/strong> to fight that was often the most powerful weapon in his arsenal (except for the religious leaders of course. He had no problem standing up to them).<\/h2>\n
There are so many check-points, no wonder so many people give up before they ever get to Jesus.<\/h2>\n