Remember Christ, at Christmas

To the Editor:

With each passing Christmas season, it seems that the Christian holiday is further stripped of any semblance of Christianity and is instead replaced with secular platitudes and commercialism. The season continues to be commercialized and mined for all its worth, while relegating the birth of Christ to the manger, for a second time.

I am not the first to lament how the message of Christ is ignored during this season. Amazingly, the mention of any religious theme in Christmas is now a cultural taboo. Instead of singing “O Come All Ye Faithful,” we are told to sing “Jingle Bells.” Instead of celebrating the gift of the newborn King, we are told to celebrate Santa’s sleigh ride, and of course, to buy the new $2,000 Peloton bike for our spouse. In short, what should be considered a religious holiday for people of the Christian Faith has been tainted by commercialism and political correctness.

This has been a long-running trend, fueled by leftist political correctness, like when small towns are forced to remove their nativity scenes.

As a firm believer in the true reason for the season — that the Savior was born unto us — I am appalled by just how much one of the holiest days of the year has been dirtied.

I think that Christians and non-Christian alike should recognize that the sincere religious faith of millions of Americans is not a plaything. It is not a shameful thing to say that Christmas is about the birth of Christ, because we believe that the birth of Christ was for the world. All this talk about the “spirit of Christmas,” of peace on Earth and goodwill toward men, is because the Son of God was born of a virgin, to walk among and with us, and to eventually die for us, so that we could personally know the love of God.

The left says that “another person’s culture should not be a costume.” I can understand the sentiment. And our faith is not a marketing gimmick or a secular holiday. Christmas would be better as a whole if believer and non-believer alike recognizes that Christ is the reason we celebrate Christmas.

Eddy Justice

Poplar Bluff