A Viewpoint on Christmas

Perhaps there is no season that brings as much contempt, hatred, disgust, and vitriol than the celebration known as Christmas, in the Churches of God. I believe, personally, that that is a very fair and honest statement.

Growing up in Armstrongism - almost every memory I have of Christmas is extraordinarily negative and abundantly fearful.

There was the time I accidentally played the first few notes of a Christmas song on the piano and felt like I had just committed the unpardonable sin.

There were the times I'd walk through the Christmas section at the store and feel like I was in the pits of hell with all of the heathen pagans around me. I would not want to look back in time and see the look of disgust on my face I must have exhibited. Truly, I must have resembled the Grinch.

There were the constant cries and declarations of abject negativity whenever anything even remotely Christmas-y was mentioned in the house. "Bah Humbug" was the response I'd here. Even the songs of Christmas time on the radio were met with sneers of disgust from family members.

There was the one time that the Sabbath fell on December 25th. We were going to Church like everyone else! But not one mention of Jesus Christ in the service. And I jokingly said "Merry Christmas" to an elder's wife - and got the finger wag in the face. Memories.

In our religion, we focused so severely on origins, commercialism, and fear concerning the celebration of Christmas that we never once took the time - or the effort - to look at it in an objective manner. After all, everything about it HAD to be evil! Why? Because of every reason that could possibly be thought of.

Christmas's origins in Saturnalia.

Nimrod.

Ornaments represent testicles.

Santa actually means Satan.

Trees are condemned in Jeremiah. (They weren't.)

I grew up hearing it all, and I grew up believing it all. I was scared that one slip of a Carol coming out of my mouth would offend God eternally. I was scared to admit I really thought the lights were beautiful. I was scared to be around Santa because I was taught Santa meant Satan. Christmas was not pleasant - it was a black cloud of horror and avoidance that couldn't possibly have anything good come from it. It was as evil as Halloween, as dark as the darkest night - a world completely entrapped in paganism worshiping testicles and promoting Satanism in all of it's evil forms.

While the world around us has long abandoned what used to be considered "pagan", we, as a Church and as a people, refused to think of anything differently, or look at anything in a different light. The same mentality that carried over obsolete festivals from the Old Testament also carried over obsolete festivals from paganism. The past, in Armstrongism, is never capable of change. The past, in Armstrongism, can never evolve. The way things were in the past, according to Armstrongism, HAVE to be the way things are now. Nothing is allowed to change, nothing is allowed to evolve, nothing is allowed to evolve. Because God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, the way God was in Old Testament days HAS to be the way God is to us today. And the way Saturnalia WAS thousands of years ago HAS to be the way Christmas is today.

Here's an example of what I am talking about, totally fictitious, but to prove a point. Let's say, 4,500 years ago, that Pancakes were a celebration of the God of Leaven. Anyone who has studied ancient history thousands of years ago knows that the ancients in the Middle East believed in thousands of Gods for everything. The god of thunder, light, fertility - you name it, there was a god for it. This was even prevalent in the Apostle Paul's time while he was evangelizing the Gospel in different regions. We'll just imagine, for the sake of argument, that Pancakes were the God of Leaven. Because they rise, when heated. They're also round, and fluffy. And let's imagine that Pancakes were offered sacrificially to the God of Leaven in heathen ceremonies, where thousands of pagan worshippers threw pancakes to that god in an act of  worship and thanksgiving for food.  If this was the case - would we now think to ourselves that our making pancakes was pagan? Would we be sinning in making pancakes because people abused the use of pancakes 4,000 years ago? Or would we think "That's just silly, I make pancakes because they're food, and they're tasty!"

The traditions of Christmas do include things like Garland, tinsel, lights, and ornaments. Though these traditions many thousands of years ago were steeped in pagan idolatry, I can absolutely guarantee you that not one person idolizes these things in our generation. It is honest, and true, to say that the meanings have changed.

To prove this point, I offer you to think back in your whole life. At any point have you EVER seen people surrounding a Christmas tree, bowing to it in worship, praying to it, asking it for blessings, and treating that tree as a God? I submit to you not one of you ever has. Have any of you EVER heard of a person lighting a Yule Log to ward away evil spirits? I submit to you not one ever has. I submit to you it's a nice way to keep warm, enjoy warm firelight, and spend time with family in a soothing, comfortable environment. Not one family in our generation - save the extremists that are probably out there somewhere - engages in the acts of abject idolatry and paganism with the traditions that surround Christmas that used to be. The meanings have changed, and the acts surrounding them have changed. The purposes have changed, as well - especially for Christians.Now, to the mocking and jeering of hard core Armstrongites, let me explain the common beliefs of most Christians in regards to Christmas.

For a Christian - Christmas is a day of honor and celebration that Jesus Christ was born into the world - and so much more.

1. Christmas is a time to reflect on the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, when God came down to Earth as a humble child and became one of us. A pivotal event in human history that was virtually ignored in Armstrongism by every count. Christmas reflects on the Baby Jesus - and that Holy Night when everything was destined to change - peace on Earth, and goodwill toward men.

2. Christmas is a time for many to assemble together in praise toward God for His coming to Earth to dwell with men, and to save us from our sins. Many of the stories that are told around Christmas time come directly from the Gospels.

3. Christmas is a time of love toward family, friends, and others in a spirit of giving. It's a time to spend with kids, grandkids, aunts, uncles, near and far - and, in honor of the gift of life Christ gave to us, to gift others with a special something. It's a time of joy.

4. The tree is not an idol of worship for the Christian. It's an evergreen - one of God's creations. The lights symbolize the Christians who let their lights shine brightly, illuminating the world around them. The ornaments reflect personal memories or reflections of times near and far - mementos of times past and other beautiful things. Remember: It's all in how you look at it, and it's all in what you do with it. Anything you worship is an idol - no matter what it is. No one worships a tree! (in retrospect, however, WE worshiped an Auditorium - and a man. Think about this. )

5. MOST importantly - Christmas is an OPPORTUNITY to show the love of Jesus Christ to your family, to your friends, to your relatives, to your neighbors, and to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ - the glorious event of Christ's Birth - at a time that many will be receptive, and listen to the miracle of the birth of Jesus Christ. It's an OPPORTUNITY to give of yourself to others. It's an OPPORTUNITY to change lives, an OPPORTUNITY to pray, to be an angel for a needy person - to show Christ to somebody. It's an OPPORTUNITY because it is the one time of year where people might actually hear, listen, and understand. 

 What WE did, in Armstrongism, was to make ourselves jerks, ignoring family, returning cards, acting like snooty, posh better-than-you-are self-righteous pricks, who, in the zeal and fervor of avoiding anything remotely "worldly", treated our family, friends, and co-workers coldly, rudely, and arrogantly. Instead of sharing the love of Christ, we retreated into our doom and gloom selves. When we'd hear songs about Christ's birth, like "Away in a Manger", or "Hark the Herald Angels Sing", we'd excuse ourselves and depart from the room, ashamed. We'd be embarrassed to sing songs like "Silent Night", a beautiful song about the Baby Jesus. We did this thinking we were right - without thinking of how our self-righteousness actually brought shame to the Gospel of Christ. Our zeal snuffed out our lights. Our OPPORTUNITIES were extinguished.

Christmas - like the Feast - can be abused. It can be used as a commercial, worldly, drunken, illicit holiday where no one thinks of these things in the way outlined above. It can used in ill manner. It can be used for selfish, dastardly reasons. It can highlight the worst in people. And it can be used for pagan idolatry - IF one chooses to do so. (Just like certain COG leaders use their Auditoriums and worldly campuses for blatant idolatry.)   These are facts. But the calling of a Christian is not to snuff out our lights and turn our heads. The calling of a Christian is to let your light shine in all situations, and in all circumstances - to show the love of Christ and share the Gospel of Christ by how you act and live. And in the spirit of love, giving, and in the honor and celebration of the Lord Jesus Christ - in love - it can be a fantastic time of joyous celebration. The opportunities are there. How you approach them - as a Christian, as an Ambassador of Christ - whose mission is to let your light shine and show the Gospel of Christ in your life - is completely up to you. You can hide and decry it as pagan - or you can use it as an opportunity to represent Jesus Christ and advance the Kingdom of God - and an opportunity to honor His Birth. What you do with that opportunity - as in all opportunities in life one is presented with - is between you and God and the freedom in Christ through His Spirit that lives in you. (And no, there's no "command" to "keep" it, or not. It's up to you, of course. That's the freedom you have in Christ, according to your conscience.)

Of course, if you believe the whole world is doomed and un-called and you are one of the few called and chosen that God is working with and everyone else is ruled by Satan who Jesus hasn't conquered, and the Kingdom of God isn't working in the lives of people today - then all of this is mute anyway, isn't it, because Jesus was only born as a newsman for a few and a church for the few - and not much else, right? 

Will Armstrong Apologists Ever Accept Reality?

The easy answer is no. 

To the fundamentalist Armstrongite - the serious, hardcore, fully-indoctrinated believer in the methodologies of Herbert Armstrong - looks at reality in an augmented way. A good way to call their worldview is "Augmented Armstong- Based Reality."

Augmented means simply - to make greater than it really is. Which is their view of their role in the world, their vision, their reality, and their God, to be point blank. They have a distorted position from what reality really is. This is very provable - irrefutably provable - based on the track record of their claims vs. what really happened. Their realities, as  claimed, never, not even once, have happened. Every last one of them has been humiliated by the extreme reality of the epic proportions of their failures. Yet, the cling on, in divisive, arrogant, unsubstantiated, ignorant, and uneducated blindness as to the reality of what they are proclaiming as irrefutably false.

It is not just one lone, isolated, rogue case among Armstrongites. This lies at the very core of their ideology. Every speculation. Every prophetic utterance. Every promise. Every prediction. Every claim, and every date has been proven - yes, proven - to be a lie. A misjudgement. An error. A presumption. They just call it "overzealous" behavior. Or, mistiming. Or, just a "partial revealing", only when fully revealed to be twice as false as the first revealing. They lead their believers on a wild roller coaster that always gets bumpier, and never has an end, an infinite loop of chaos and confusion, while running the meter the full trip. And yet, the hardcore believers seem just fine with it.

Ignored - willfully - is the abuse. Ignored, willfully - is the condemnation. Ignored is the dissonance, the abhorrent behaviors, the greed and the love of money and mammon, the harm it has done to themselves and their families, their income and their well-being. Ignored is the blatant untruths preached from the pulpit - and most ignored, and most obvious - the mind-numbing, unintelligent, theological bull which comes from the pulpit. Rinse and repeat, and settle for it all, like a failed and abusive relationship - which is really, what it is. 

What's behind this? What's the real story? Why, or how - could anyone staunchly defend the indefensible? Why- or how - could anyone be involved in this level of emotional and psychological - and sometimes, physical abuse? How can anyone be duped into literally handing over so much of their income to be mismanaged by Pharisaical idiots whose greatest skill is how to bully, to lie, and to deceive? How does this happen?

It happens because of one word: Fear.

The Pharisaical Idiots have successfully deceived their congregants to believe that their physical organization is the way, the truth, and the life - not Jesus. The Pharisaical Idiots have convinced them that apart from them - whichever organization it is - or Armstrongism as a whole - they are lost. Doomed. Gone. Forsaken. Abandoned. Hopeless. and the dreaded A-Word - "Apostate". The believers believe these Pharisaical Idiots - because of years, upon years of mind-conditioning which is piled on layer after layer after later of the Paint of Fear on the fortress of the mind. They have grown to love the darkness, and have blinded themselves from the light.

Fortunately, this is not the case for everyone.

There is a continuing group of those who drank the Kool-Aid who are slowly coming around and waking up to the reality of what really has happened in their lifetimes. They are slowly awakening to fact, to reason, to reality, and many to the love of Jesus that Armstrongism has robbed them of for so long. They are slowly seeing what was the true story all along. These people - once they see - some, for the first time - are shocked, traumatized, stumbling babes - many of whom have been conditioned to believe the antithesis of reality in so many cases and situations. It's overwhelming. But evidence has shown they are coming to grips of the reality based on three words - Herbert was wrong.

I guess the answer to the question is yes - for some. Regardless of how great or strong the "awakening" may be - there will always be a subset of Armstrongism in the world. My prediction is , however - and this is becoming more sure - that in very little time, it will be as insignificant and unknown as the little church on the corner of your small town that no one's ever heard of but the locals. You all know what that church is in your town - and every town has one.

For those who refuse to accept reality? For those who staunchly defend the indefensible, and excuse the inexcusable? The power of belief is their reality. They have defined their hope, their dreams, and their futures based on their personal faiths. Their personal story will be based on their foundation. What that foundation is? That's only personal to them. My hope is it is built on Jesus Christ. Because any other foundation - according to the very Gospel they claim to know - is sinking sand.

There is a Boat, and his name is Jesus. His nets are drawn. His hands reach out. He urges them to come to Him. He pleads with them with love in his eyes and heart.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy ladened, and I will give you rest."

Thoughts

Today, I watched the funeral of George W. Bush on television. I wasn't able to watch it yesterday because of medical appointments. Today is not going to be a writing on the political part of the story, but on the aspects of the heart and the mind.

I was very moved by the service. The aspects of love were continually expressed. The hope and faith in our Lord were a constant theme throughout the undisputed Christian service. Consistent reminders of the hope and faith of the promises of God were reminded and expounded upon. I found myself nodding in agreement when each writing was expounded upon.

If we have not love. The scriptures from "The Love Chapter" of the Bible were read with emotion, and vibrance - and resonated. If we have the gifts of all prophecy - and the faith to move mountains - but have not love - we are nothing.

After this, I read on a post on another blog of a former minister's heartfelt post on his relationship with his ex-wife who is battling stage four brain cancer. And I was touched by the same thing - that spirit of love that resonated.

This resonating spirit of emotion is something to think about. If all of us could concentrate and embrace - and yes, absorb, the words of the Love Chapter, as read in 1 Corinthians 13(NIV):

13 If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

 It does not matter what language we speak, or how well we can speak them, or what gifts we possess.

It doesn't matter if we claim to be a "prophet", or one who can interpret all "mysteries". And it does not matter how much we give, or how much we labor for others if we are doing so with the wrong mindset. What matters is love.

Love, first. The greatest of the three - Faith and Hope. The three that remain. God IS Love. Christ reconciled us TO love, because God IS Love. The Father IS Love. Those who are in Christ are in the Father, and those who are in Christ will love, because the nature of God is love. Pure and unconditional, unearned, and a free gift. It is this spirit of perfection in the full clarity of the dimension of love that the Spirit of God brings in full power.

Words to think about.