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Precisely.There's a head in the sand mentality regarding the War on Christmas as well as the deflection away from reality. I don't know anybody who objects to the Happy Holidays greeting but rather the objection is to be prohibited from saying Merry Christmas
Precisely.
And how ironic is it that we're the ones called "deniers" in other debates by these same people who deny the obvious in this one. Meh - par for the course I guess.
And to you and yours.It's pretty obvious that the War on Christmas isn't waged by people who say Happy Holidays.
Speaking of which...Happy Holidays. Seasons Greetings and whatever!
Just got this in an email today:Precisely.
And how ironic is it that we're the ones called "deniers" in other debates by these same people who deny the obvious in this one. Meh - par for the course I guess.
Nobody is asking them to
One should always remember two truths: There is no such thing as a free lunch, and you can never hire someone to provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself.
And you know what the really tragic part of it is? At each and every step, those who understand the strategy and tactics, those who see what is going on - as it is happening, who raise their voices to let others know - are met with scorn and ridicule.Just got this in an email today:
A thought to remember, Marx said, "Remove one freedom per generation and soon you will have no freedom and no one would have noticed."
There was a chemistry professor in a large college that had some exchange students in the class.
One day while the class was in the lab, the professor noticed one young man, an exchange student, who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt. The professor asked the young man what was the matter.
The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist regime. In the midst of his story, he looked at the professor and asked a strange question.
He asked: "Do you know how to catch wild pigs?"
The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said that it was no joke. "You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come every day to eat the free food.
"When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence.
"They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side .
"The pigs, which are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat that free corn again. You then slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd.
Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity."
The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening in America . The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tax exemptions, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare entitlements, medicine, drugs, etc., while we continually lose our freedoms, just a little at a time.
One should always remember two truths: There is no such thing as a free lunch, and you can never hire someone to provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself.
You know the true flaw in the reasoning here? The government.
See, on one hand, people accuse the government of being incompetent at best, corrupt at worst. And on the other hand, with stories like this one, of machiavellian cunning at the Bond villain level.
I'm sorry if I don't share certain people's paranoia, but I simply don't see the US government enacting so cunning and carefully constructed a plan over generations, from the New Deal on up, to "enslave" people because...
Um....
Okay, you'll have to explain that part.
Now, I know, I know....I'm one of the "sheeple" and I don't see it.....
But it simply doesn't make sense. I frankly don't see anyone benefiting from this carefully constructed decades-long plan.
-- A2SG, I'm guessing that FDR and Obama are in cahoots on this.... somehow.....
It's easy, you have been groomed by the government to be unable to see it. Only the enlightened few can acknowledge the Truth.
Your country is ruled by your corporations, not the government. And the best part is, you wouldn't have it any other way.
Ah, so it's the rich who are behind this vast, cunning machiavellian conspiracy!
Actually, that makes sense. It's the rich who overwhelmingly support welfare programs and free food, and are trying to destroy christmas and....
Um, wait a sec....
-- A2SG, so the conspiracy now involves FDR, Obama and the Koch brothers.....
So while it may hurt when we greet someone with "Merry Christmas" at this time of the year, and they respond intentionally with "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings" - for whatever reason - we shouldn't be offended, per se, but instead reminded why He came in the first place, thankful we at least have responded to His call, prayerful we might be of use to Him in His calling of those who have not yet received His grace and gift of eternal salvation, and mindful at this time of the year of what His incarnation, and subsequent life, death, burial, and resurrection means (or portends) for all humanity.
You know the true flaw in the reasoning here? The government.
See, on one hand, people accuse the government of being incompetent at best, corrupt at worst. And on the other hand, with stories like this one, of machiavellian cunning at the Bond villain level.
I'm sorry if I don't share certain people's paranoia, but I simply don't see the US government enacting so cunning and carefully constructed a plan over generations, from the New Deal on up, to "enslave" people because...
Um....
Okay, you'll have to explain that part.
Now, I know, I know....I'm one of the "sheeple" and I don't see it.....
But it simply doesn't make sense. I frankly don't see anyone benefiting from this carefully constructed decades-long plan.
-- A2SG, I'm guessing that FDR and Obama are in cahoots on this.... somehow.....
Why would it hurt if someone replies even intentionally with "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings"? Even "Bah! Humbug!" doesn't phase me. I get that not everyone celebrates or observes Christmas; it has no bearings on my feelings. I honestly don't get why that would hurt you.
Why would it hurt if someone replies even intentionally with "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings"? Even "Bah! Humbug!" doesn't phase me. I get that not everyone celebrates or observes Christmas; it has no bearings on my feelings. I honestly don't get why that would hurt you.
Honestly, the whole thing seems odd to me, as well. It seems like a controversy that someone drummed up for no apparent reason, and now you have to actively care about it to be Christian enough.
In truth though Daisy, the "offense" (if it can be legitimately called that) has nothing to do with the use of any of those. It comes from the much broader cultural attack that's been waged against Christianity in general for a number of decades now (well, ever since day 1).
Personally, I don't think we, as Christians, have any right per se to be "offended" when our faith is being attacked. It is, after all, not we who are being attacked (though it be directed at us), but Christ Himself who is the brunt of such efforts to discredit Him because of who and what He is, and because of what He's done. Moreover, He's told us how we ought to respond under such attacks - and taking "offense" isn't it - quite the opposite, truthfully.
For a period of time there Christianity enjoyed far greater popularity in our culture than it does in today's - and far more people embraced it (in whole or in part) than do today. Such popularity has been steadily eroding though; we see it on practically every front - be it prayer in schools, creationism, the display of the 10 Commandments in our public spaces, our social, political, and philosophical mores, and even in celebrations like Easter and Christmas. The rate of the erosion has been particularly frightening for many of us who have lived long enough to see how marked the changes have been in just half a century's time. That's rapid enough of a change to catch many truly off guard.
We can't argue anymore on the basis of Christian mores - there are too few who accept them, let alone even acknowledge them in today's culture. Many in fact openly disdain and/or deny them. The "golden age" - if it ever was that, of Christianity in our culture is gone - and so we greet one another at this time of the year with "Happy Holidays" and "Season's Greetings" - purposefully and willfully avoiding the [now] culturally unacceptable "Merry Christmas."
Fortunately though, Christ remains who He is and what He is - and we still remain blessed, albeit for awhile, with the freedom in our culture to remember Him at this time of the year as the one who:
Created all things
Is before all things
Is the image of the invisible God
Abides forever
Is with us always
Knows us
Was born of a virgin
Has redeemed us
Is without sin
Cleanses us from our sin
Gives us peace
Gives us joy
Reveals the Father
Offered Himself up, on our behalf
Was crucified, executed on the cross
Was buried
Was raised again
Appeared to over 500 people over many weeks, individually and in groups
Ate with them
Destroyed death
Rendered the devil powerless
Sits now at the Father's right hand
Is the only mediator between God and us
Will judge the world in righteousness
Will come again, for us.
So while it may hurt when we greet someone with "Merry Christmas" at this time of the year, and they respond intentionally with "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings" - for whatever reason - we shouldn't be offended, per se, but instead reminded why He came in the first place, thankful we at least have responded to His call, prayerful we might be of use to Him in His calling of those who have not yet received His grace and gift of eternal salvation, and mindful at this time of the year of what His incarnation, and subsequent life, death, burial, and resurrection means (or portends) for all humanity.
Merry Christmas!
That is the sum of your take-away from that post?Why would it hurt if someone replies even intentionally with "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings"? Even "Bah! Humbug!" doesn't phase me. I get that not everyone celebrates or observes Christmas; it has no bearings on my feelings. I honestly don't get why that would hurt you.
Interesting point.
I don't celebrate Christmas so I could honestly care less. And, I would probably write it off as attention cries also, but eh... little nuances here and there point to intellect in design and display. As in, the person knew exactly what to do to irritate the entire spectrum of those who celebrate Christmas.
That could be a accidental coalescence of symbols, or a intentional display.
*shrugs* whatever it is, it got us talking about it. Bad publicity is still publicity.
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