“The Reason for the Season”

It’s strangely interesting to watch Christmas evolve into something nearly unrecognizable. Each year, we as a society seem to take one more step away from the true meaning towards the politically correct atheistic/ agnostic “holiday season”. It has grown to the point where people feel self-conscious about saying “Merry Christmas” to others for fear of offending them. How long will it be until our calendars say “Festive Holiday” on December 25? Many people already refer to it as ‘Xmas’ (which drives me nuts).

Christmas is first and foremost the celebration and remembrance of the birth of Jesus Christ. That’s where it starts and ends.

Personally, I really don’t care that December 25th was once a Roman holiday celebrating the winter solstice and the Festival of Saturnalia. It could’ve been the Buldavian festival of the Holy Hippopotamus for all I care. What is important to me is what it is now, not what it was nearly 1700 years ago (it became Christmas sometime before 336 AD). We get to take one day to stop and think about Christ and what He did for us.

Whether or not you believe in Christ as the Son of God, a prophet, or just a wise teacher is up to you. I don’t believe that celebrating Christmas, or even calling it Christmas, detracts from anyone else’s experience or imposes a set of beliefs on anyone. I don’t feel threatened or that that I am being pressured into changing my beliefs when someone celebrates Hanukka. I’m secure enough in my own faith that I can respect and admire the beliefs and traditions of others.

In remembering the birth of Christ, we also remember His life, teachings, and example. But most of all we remember the sacrifice He made on our behalf in Gethsemane and on the cross. We remember how death is no longer the end, the resurrection of Christ means that we too will live again.

“Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise.” (2 Nephi 2:8)

Do you remember when Christmas used to bring a feeling of goodwill to others? When people would give service to others just because it was Christmas? People wonder why “goodwill to men” is on the decline as the focus of the season moves further away from Christ. . .

Rampant Stupidity

As you probably picked up from my previous posts, I have a "thing" against email hoaxes that get mindlessly forwarded and thrust upon everyone in cyberspace. Now these hoaxes are encroaching into Facebook territory in the form of FunWall posts that can be just as easily forwarded. Great.

Lately, I have taken it upon myself to see what I can do about combating these pesky hoaxes. I started by posting the debunk information on the walls of friends & family who had been hit by the hoaxes (since I can't post to people not on my friends list), hoping the truth would get circulated as far and fast as the hoax. Then I started thinking that I'm just cluttering up the wall of an innocent victim, and it could seem that I was taking it out on them rather than the proliferater of the hoax (there is a point to all of this, try to keep up).

Then I realized that I could send a message to the original poster of the hoax. Sure, they can see my limited profile for a month, but it's a small price to pay. So I started sending information on the hoaxes to whoever had the audacity to put the hoax on my friends'/ family's walls.

I got one reply that reaffirmed my belief in the stupidity of the general public. And I quote:

"Thanks for the heads-up, however, I did figure it was not true. To me it was the thought that counted."

Seriously!?! You pass on a bogus message about some super-articulate 7-year-old with a brain tumor from supposed regular beatings who will get $0.07 from the Make-a-Wish foundation every time someone forwards the message, and it's the thought that counts?!?

Which thought would that be, exactly? The one that involves perpetuating useless and completely fabricated information? Or the thought that creates additional work for people who could otherwise be doing real good? From the Make-a-Wish foundation website:

"The time and expense required to respond to these inquiries distracts the Foundation from its efforts on behalf of children with life-threatening medical conditions, and more importantly, can divulge information that is potentially harmful to a child and his or her family."

I sometimes hold back, trying to give these people the benefit of the doubt. They can't all be maliciously trying to spread junk. I figure many people are well-intentioned and under-informed. But good grief!! You know a story is false but you pass it on anyway, trying to justify your actions with well-meaning intentions?? It's a good thing many of the vital processes in the human body such as breathing and circulation are autonomic (that means your body does them and you don't have to think about it), because some of these people would be wondering why they are turning blue and getting dizzy.