Make-believe and celebrations: Christmas message ignored

However, there were many promotions for Santa, tinsel, lights and Christmas trees. Some may read my emphasis as being that of a party pooper who throws a wet blanket over genuine celebrations.

To the contrary, this expose is designed to reveal …

The charade that covers up these truths

Is the biblical Christmas story wrapped in history or myth? That's for another article, 'Christmas truth or fiction'.

In this season, lost is the realisation that Christmas is first of all a celebration of the birth of the Saviour. He is all but forgotten – thoughtlessly smothered in the haste, commotion, partying and flamboyant commercialism of this season.

Please don't get me wrong. I am not suggesting that this season should be only solemn, sombre, grim religious observances without any cheer. It should be a time of real joy and gladness as exemplified in the Christmas carol with words by Isaac Watts and music by George Frederick Handel:

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

This is not manufactured sentiment and wild revelry that characterises the way the community celebrates Christmas.

What do Santa, reindeers, lights and Christmas trees disguise?

(1) The virgin birth, including its prophetic fulfillment

Even from within the church, former Roman Catholic priest, John Dominic Crossan objected: 'The stories of Jesus' birth are religious fiction, or parable, if you prefer…. This does not mean that they have no value, but … they are not to be read as literal history' (Crossan & Watts 1999:10).

Objections are at the core of the Christmas story. Even Mary was a doubter herself about the virgin conception. The angel Gabriel appeared to a virgin in Nazareth who was pledged to marry Joseph. Gabriel's message was that Mary was 'highly favoured. The Lord is with you'. Those words disturbed Mary and she was 'greatly troubled' by what the words meant.

The angel told her that she would conceive and give birth to a son to be called Jesus. He will be 'the Son of the Most High', given the throne of his father David, and reign over Jacob's descendants forever. This kingdom will never end (Luke 1).