The Christmas Tradition

Christmas is admitted to be a tradition by most people, who confess that they really do not know the date. When I run up against this tradition, I am not very hasty to criticize it unless asked or directly confronted with it by its ardent advocates. The reason is, I know they really don’t understand. What they don’t understand is not how wrong Christmas is, but what the truth actually is. It doesn’t matter what the lie is. The purpose of the lie is to replace the truth. In order to overcome the lie we have to tell the truth more than we point out the lie. The lie will be self evidently so when the truth is known. A lie can be anything. But there is only one truth.

The truth should not rest on just one witness. One witness can be easily doubted. Especially if that witness comes from a human source that is not Scripture. Every witness confirms the truth a bit more. False witnesses contradict each other. A witness does not have to prove the matter absolutely. A witness just has to be credible. Confidence is built upon many witnesses.

Now consider this time line. That nine average lunar months equals human gestation from conception to birth on the average is remarkable coincidence. What is still more remarkable is that going back from Sept. 1, 2 BC actually fits with a statement that says Miryam reached term at birth and allows five months for her cousin before she gets the message on the first day of the sixth month. They could so I am making this up. But I did not make up the record in Seder Olam that synchronizes the divisions. So it is when you put all the witnesses together there is a unique solution. Is it the truth? Well I think so. Commitment will always be a matter of faith, but I do think that the Almighty is in the business of giving us just enough information and then seeing if we do the reasonable thing with it. If he were in the business of proving things until his people were beat black and blue then I think it might tend to make rebels of some people.

Now Christmas is what most Christians call it. I call it the birth of Messiah. Really Christmas refers to a Christ Mass, and a Mass is what Rome calls its Eucharistic sacrifice. Now a lot of Christians don’t know this, or they know this but don’t mean this when they say the word, but it is what the word was intended to mean by those who invented it. When someone says, “Have a Merry Christmas,” I say “You too,” or “Have a happy holiday.” But I simply don’t feel right about uttering that word Christmas in a positive way. And it is not the Christ part that bothers me. It is the the mass part. We dont’t believe in masses or almost all of what goes with it. The mass suggests that one first has to go to a priest to confess and get forgiven. They also suggest that getting forgiven requires penance instead of repentance. Well that isn’t the good news. So this mass thing is really a false gospel.

There is a true good news. How can we have more confidence in the true good news? We may feel we are loyal and committed, but what about those on the edge of belief? Are we representing it rightly when he substitute tradition for the best Scriptural explanation? I say Have a happy holiday, but I’m thinking the real truth is much happier because the real truth really does inspire fealty to the Word. And that’s what’s missing.

People have been trained to smile and greet the season with special joy or to wish others special joy. But really is this an appointed time in Scripture that the Almighty takes special joy in? No. The truth is more joyful. But the first thing someone who perceives that you oppose the lie they believe is that you are trying to take away what makes them feel good. But we should keep in mind that whenever we perpetuate a lie because it makes us feel good that it is going to eventually do harm to someone else. Maybe not right away.

I think the reason we were given the Revelation passage is that after all the fogging of facts intended to point us in the right direction something more direct is needed. But remember that the other facts need to be restored also to make the big picture.

The community has created its season of joy, full of expectations. People want to be happy. But the sad thing is that if you stand for the truth it will cause you suffering! I really don’t like causing other people suffering. So it is a catch 22. To speak or not to speak. If you speak then others let you know they are suffering your words and they make me suffer for it. But if you don’t speak then they suffer the loss of the truth. And who knows. If you don’t love the truth enough and adopt enough lying traditions but love them anyway, then maybe your kids or your grandkids won’t love them and they will choose something worse to believe in. Just a thought. Truth does prick hard hearts.