Does Christmas really need to be "saved"?

[ImaginaryDay]

Kirk Cameron thinks so. Part of how he thinks so is:

"(Women), Let your children, your family, see your joy in the way you decorate your home this Christmas, in the food that you cook, the songs you sing, the stories you tell, and the traditions that you keep."

Yep. Time to start cooking, decorating, and singing, ladies....

http://ca.celebrity.yahoo.com/blogs...-by-cooking-decorating-singing-141250143.html

But...
Does Christian Hollywood really need to "save" Christmas, or should Mr. Cameron be confronted on his need to capitalize on faith?

 

[DZoolander]

I don't really care for Kirk Cameron - so let me just ask you - is he taking the "war on Christmas" road (where he's suggesting people are trying to marginalize Christmas) - or is he taking the "Christmas is too secular" road?

 

[ImaginaryDay]

It was interesting watching the trailer. Apparently he's after the Christian "I don't celebrate it because it's a pagan holiday" crowd. But promotional posters suggest he's targeting all the secular money making that goes along with it. I had thought it was a documentary of some sort, but it appears to be a family comedy or whatever. It'll be all over Christian media, I'm sure.

 

[DZoolander]

This is kind of a tangent - but you're up in Canada. Do you guys get the same types of wacky conservative "we're losing....xxxxx" stuff up there that we get down here in the states?

Like - my gut inclination is to say that Christmas needs to be protected in the same way that the pledge of allegiance down here needs to be protected (in other words - it really doesn't).

Down here - all over the place you hear conservatives complaining about how the "liberals" have fought to (and ostensibly succeeded in) removing patriotic things like the pledge of allegiance from the classroom.

However - heck - my daughter is three and a half years old. The other day I asked her if she knew the pledge of allegiance. She had no idea what I was talking about - so I asked her "can you complete this sentence? I pledge allegiance, to the flag..." - and sure enough - she knew it/could recite the rest (with a few mispronunciations mind you).

Apparently she's learning it somewhere - and it wasn't from my wife and I. So we live in a world where even pre-school age kids are saying it and know it by heart - yet we ought to be outraged about it's removal/exclusion from society.

Same thing goes for Christmas. There ain't no shortage on Christmas out there. Go into any home depot before Halloween - and there it is. Go into most stores after Halloween - and there it is. In our house - my daughter is already talking about it. At Walt Disney World - they've already got everything up. Most churches will be following suit pretty soon.

If, however, you're right and the argument is that it's based around a Pagan holiday - well - you can only blame the Christian Church for that. Same goes for Easter, etc. Their zeal to bring all of those other faiths into the fold and give them something familiar ages ago is what created that.

But who really cares? I see plenty of Nativity scenes from the faithful. Nobody who is of faith has forgotten it's about Christ.

But yet - the whole "we're losing it" or "we're under assault" dynamic down here continues.

Do you guys get the same thing up there?

 

[ImaginaryDay]

It's a lot less here. There's not the real cultural 'fight' for or against. I think because there's not the kind of "patriotism" that goes on in the States, even around issues like this, the issue really isn't fought on that kind of level. All the displays and things are already up (too soon for me), but people kind of roll with it. I've only been on Canada for three years, though, so I still get my hackles up about stuff in the OP.

There was a time for me that I'd be behind things like this and stand up for it. But I started to question why. And I had no answers that made sense. Christmas doesn't need to be defended. Christ doesn't need to be defended. He's been doing fine for over 2000 years. And, contrary to popular opinion, the Church isn't dying. It's just reshaping itself. Evangelicals (in America anyway) may be leaving the Evangelical church, but they're not leaving Christ. But guys like Kirk will never admit that.

 

[DZoolander]

Exactly my thoughts as well.

The fact that secular people celebrate Christmas with Santa Claus, like some snowmen on their doorsteps, produce stuff like Rudolf, etc...why does anyone care? Does that somehow diminish how you choose to celebrate the Holiday/Season? Right along side the 8 foot blowup snowmen and waving Santas in Home Depot are a bunch of different nativity scenes as well.

...and I also agree about how people treat their faiths vs. church. They're not synonymous. I can't help but think, also, that people leaving churches in droves is anything but a good thing. Granted, I'm pretty jaded about churches due to my own experience with them, but I can't believe that I'm the unique soul that happened into the one overzealous-to-the-point-it-lost-sight-of-what's-important church out there.

Let it be a personal thing - between the individual and his maker.

 

[seeingeyes]

Won't that guy ever go away?

 

[WalksWithChrist]

Won't that guy ever go away?

That sums up my thought nicely.

He was on a hit show in the 80s and he just won't go away.


He can either do like Alan Thiche and contribute something meaningful in the way of awesome theme songs or have the common decency to just fade into obscurity.

 

[Autumnleaf]

He lives his faith. I respect him for that. He's also a decent actor as seen in Fireproof.

As for saving Christmas, I think its too tied with commercialism. The battle to be fought and won is not there. Its closer to home.

 

[HannahT]

I suppose you will always have those that complain about the commercialism, or the pagan roots, etc. Yes, they always see the worse it seems. Its sad really.

lol the fact of the matter is? No matter HOW you do Christmas with your food, decorations, traditions and all that jazz someone is going to complain.

None of those people can take the joy out of it for me, and no matter how much people want to preach on and on about how they COULD....I just have to pray for the negative nellies that they can find their joy. What else can you do?

I find the spirit of the holiday is so contagious at times, and if people only want to see the negative its because they choose too.

The year my father died, and I was unpacking decorations I felt a little blue. My father made many of the decorations I had over the years, because he loved it - and crafts was a DEstressor for him. So, you shed some tears...and move on.

Mother passed in June, and I'm sure I will have that moment again this year. Its part of the mourning process, but my joy will overcome it.

To me people worry to much about what they seem to feel is a lack of faith, and to me they are the ones that are guilty of it most of the time. They feel the world's commercialism and 'pagan' aspects are more powerful. What a sad view.

Granted, I'm pretty jaded about churches due to my own experience with them, but I can't believe that I'm the unique soul that happened into the one overzealous-to-the-point-it-lost-sight-of-what's-important church out there.

Let it be a personal thing - between the individual and his maker.

Your not the only one! Their complaints about the holiday just cements the very good point you made.

My personal thing is no one can remove my joy, and YES it can be contagious! Some people have forgotten on that joy can move mountains.

 

[Hetta]

Oh, it's the war against Christmas 2014. I get so tired of this stuff. Last year when someone brought this topic up, another poster went and found all kinds of links showing that "happy holidays" has been used as a greeting for 60 years or more so that's hardly a new thing.

I guess that Kirk Cameron hasn't been in a movie for a while and thinks he needs to remind us of his existence or something. "Hey, I'm over here and I'm a Christian."

I love the way the emphasis is placed on women. Because, hey, it's our job to 'save' Christmas.

OTOH, you have Christians who rant that Christmas is a pagan tradition. And another group who eschew any outward signs of the 'season', and yet others who call it all commercialism.

My advice is that people do what feels best to them, because if they're doing it (whatever 'it' is) with a heart for the birth of Christ, then I don't see how they can fall short.

 

[Hetta]

Won't that guy ever go away?

We can just hope. Maybe pray.

 

[ImaginaryDay]

I posted on a conservative site that just loves Mr. Cameron ('Crosswalk') on Facebook about the movie, and the reasons not to buy into his commercialism. I almost got hung by my toenails by the responses I got!

 

[Hetta]

Hey, I even have a merry Christmas avatar. I totally forgot, lol.

 

[seeingeyes]

Hey, I even have a merry Christmas avatar. I totally forgot, lol.

That's simply your duty as a woman.

 

[mkgal1]

That's simply your duty as a woman.

Good thing she's in her proper boundaries ....

 

[Hetta]

I'm celebrating my celebrity boyfriend and a white cat .. evidently .. very much a Christmas theme.

 

[Inkachu]

When he's been a working wife and mom with a bunch of kids, and he's managed to decorate a house and buy gifts and wrap them and cook all the snacks, goodies, and huge holiday meals, dress nicely, smell good, smile all the time and never once complain, ALL the while maintaining his job and caring for his children and his spouse, keeping up with the chores, etc... THEN he can (maybe) tell us women how to handle the holidays.

In all seriousness, his comments make me laugh as well as roll my eyes. I will not be singing my way around the house in an apron with perfectly rolled 1950's hair while holding a platter of star-shaped sugar cookies this Christmas. And you know what? Christmas will still be awesome. Guess who'll be cooking dinner? My husband. *gasp!* Can it be? The heresy!! I can feel the moral fabric of society unraveling as I type this!

 

[Inkachu]

That's simply your duty as a woman.

Good thing she's in her proper boundaries ....

Remember, ladies. Every time you don't sing "Silent Night" while basting a turkey and wearing heels and a poodle skirt, baby Jesus cries in the manger.

 

[PixieSunbelle]

What I see is a problem is that employers will tell employees not to say Merry Christmas and to say Happy Holidays instead and I've heard people saying that Christmas trees are called Holiday Trees instead. I feel like if that's happening then there is a problem...