What Christmas Means To Me

Like any other holiday, the Christmas season means different things to different people.

For most of my life, I didn’t pay much attention to this simple observation. There was a time when Americans enjoyed the season without picking on each other. We put up Christmas trees, sent greeting cards, took the kids to see Santa Claus, and listened to Christmas music of all kinds. Christians and non-Christians alike joined in the festivities. We all put up with each other. Then something happened.

The anti-Christian crowd didn’t want us to call it “Christmas” anymore. Pressure was brought to bear on sales clerks to say “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas.” Religious displays on public property were outlawed. School programs were emptied of any references to Christmas.

A couple of weeks ago, when the annual dispute over Christmas erupted once more in the public media, I gave it a second thought. It wasn’t the story about the atheist proclamation in the Washington State House that pushed me over the edge. It was the latest survey from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

The survey found that most Christians in America no longer believe Christ is the only way to God. The figures released by the Pew Forum indicate that 75% of “mainline Protestants” and 85% of “non-Hispanic white Catholics” believe salvation can be found elsewhere. Even 34% of “white evangelicals” chose at least one non-Christian religion that could bring peace with God. What do these figures mean?

There are two possibilities. Either Christians do not understand the Christmas story, or they have rejected it as true history. Did Mary receive a message from the angel Gabriel about the birth of Jesus? Did the angel say that her child would be supernaturally conceived and called the Son of God? Did the angels sing to shepherds on the night Jesus was born? Did they call him “Christ, the Lord?” These are words of deity.

The Christmas story tells us that God became a man. He became a man so that he could open a way to God through his flesh, a way that we could not create for ourselves. That’s why the angel said to the shepherds, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” Jesus is not simply one of many ways to God. He is THE way to God. To say otherwise is to either misunderstand or disbelieve the story.

I think professing Christians have rolled over and played dead on this one. In the interest of “tolerance,” many have surrendered the “birth of Christ” meaning of Christmas. They don’t need to do that. In fact, they shouldn’t do that. Toleration has nothing to do with giving up your beliefs. It has to do with accepting those who see things differently.

So I accept other meanings of the Christmas season. Just don’t ask me to give up the meaning that matters most to me.