Read Hanne’s The Herland Report.
The evolution of Christmas over the past 150 years reveals a radical transformation in its cultural significance. It has been modified to bolster commercial interests on a global scale. A Coca-Cola version of Santa Claus has substituted Jesus Christ as the primary figure of Christmas.
Obsessive materialism, stress-inducing gift shopping and over-consumption of food and alcohol have replaced the humble tradition of charitable acts toward the impoverished and the weak. The emphasis is now on financial gain to such a degree that it is measured in billions of dollars spent at Christmas. The modern enemies of Christianity have arguably replaced the historic, traditional content of Christmas with the pagan rituals of the Roman winter holiday, Saturnalia. This shift has come at the expense of what was previously valued as the pinnacle of human purpose and spiritual fulfillment: spiritual reconciliation with God, the Creator and the path to peace in the world.
The humble son of Mary, born in a manger in the blessed land of Israel, so far from kings and castles, symbolizes the most remarkable revolution of love in world history. Christmas is the world’s largest celebration of the love between God and man. This existential love story, where God revealed himself to mankind, profoundly impacts human existence. It tells us that human beings are not alone in the universe. By connecting to the light of God, we can liberate ourselves from the chains of spiritual darkness.
Christianity, as explained through the life, deeds and speeches of Jesus, is the path to existential peace. He was called the Prince of Peace, teaching that life is not without hope. God is not dead. The world is a wonderful, meaningful place in which we are to prepare for the afterlife by following him, doing good to others and adhering to God’s commands. We are supposed to help the weak as Christ ordered his followers to do.
The deep philosophical truths found in Christianity became the backbone of Western civilization. One of the world’s most famous historians, Robert Palmer, says that Christian philosophy was revolutionary in its conception of humanity as inclusive of all people. It represented a brand new perspective on the value of human life. He explains in “A History of the Modern World” that the principle of equality, as introduced by Christian thought, was the revolutionary idea that each individual, irrespective of class, gender and race, possesses an intrinsic value. The very concept of human rights is historically a Christian principle. The early Christians worked hard to alleviate human suffering. It was Christian reformers that ended slavery, based on the notion that all individuals share a fraternal bond.
Political economist Dr. Paul Craig Roberts writes in one of his Christmas posts: “The decorations and gifts of Christmas are one of our connections to a Christian culture that has held Western civilization together for 2,000 years. In our culture the individual counts. This permits an individual person to put his or her foot down, to take a stand on principle, to become a reformer and to take on injustice. This empowerment of the individual is unique to Western civilization. It has made the individual a citizen equal in rights to all other citizens, protected from tyrannical government by the rule of law and free speech. These achievements are the products of centuries of struggle, but they all flow from the teaching that God so values the individual’s soul that he sent his son to die so we might live. By so elevating the individual, Christianity gave him a voice.
“Formerly only those with power had a voice. But in Western civilization people with integrity have a voice. So do people with a sense of justice, of honor, of duty, of fair play. Reformers can reform, investors can invest, and entrepreneurs can create commercial enterprises, new products and new occupations.”
The necessity of the birth of Christ for the enlightenment and awakening for the human race is encapsulated by St. Justin Popovic’s words: “In truth God as a man was born on earth! Why? That we might live through him (1 John 4:9). For without the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, human life is wholly and completely a suicidal absurdity. … Your life, O man, can find its only reasonable, rational, logical meaning in God alone. … Through His incarnation, through becoming human, has God in the most manifest way entered into the very womb, into the blood, into the heart, into the center of all existence. … God’s incarnation is the greatest upheaval and the most providential event, both on Earth and in Heaven.” Merry Christmas!