Michael Smith | On December 15, 2015

With the world going to hell “with gasoline britches on” as my late wife Linda used to say, isn’t it time to say a word about Christmas? I mean, what in the world is Christmas all about? Numerous polls show a majority of Americans still say they are Christian. But do they know much about it? The militantly secularist information class is dead-set against anything except scandal, exaggerated or made up, about Christianity and wishes it would go away.

Without getting into details, let’s accept the numerous accounts of the most important event in the history of man: God’s only begotten Son, Jesus was born amid humble circumstances in a stable as God come to earth to be one of us. In a shatteringly brief moment in time, a mere three years of public life—ending in a horrific, tortured and scandalous death on a wooden cross, and rejected by nearly everybody except His mother and best friend, He showed us a way out of the mess that mankind always creates even since our first parents messed up big time.

Whether you accept, reject, or haven’t heard the Biblical history of creation, the fall of mankind and God’s offer of redemption, know this: Man’s history is replete with sheer brutality, disease and famine, war and threat of war, and even of man getting too “uppity” for his own good just when things are going well. While most men try to be good, others are downright wicked. History is all about good versus evil and starts right at home in our own hearts. In short, man can seldom be trusted! It is a mystery why God created man good knowing he would mess up, even in spite of all that He did for us.

That God created a way out through the birth, death and resurrection of His only Son is rejected by all but the Christian. The rest of the world is downright hostile to such a silly notion, and they demand the entire belief system be stomped out! Yet every culture that ever existed has had some version of the story of creation, the fall, and of redemption. Even Enlightenment philosophers offered their own secular versions.

So why hasn’t Christianity taken over all and fixed the world? Only God can know. I hope I can find out if and when I get to heaven. (Insert self-efacing emoji here!)

Christianity is good for the economy, as too many modern authors have made the case. Christianity and Christianity alone made possible the advances in philosophy and theology, in science and technology, in political liberty and economic progress (Buying power!)– mainly in Europe and North America.

The more merchants try to capitalize on Christianity while at the same time rejecting Christ and God Himself in their “Happy Holidays” the more I refuse to buy from them, not just at Christmas– but the rest of the year as well. I know I am not the only one to boycott them.

Today’s information world has closed off manufacturers, distributors and retailers to any values beyond what flies off the shelves today and what does not. No other customer feedback is accepted, certainly no transcendent values. And they are already starting to pay the price with slipping sales, having rejecting the Price already paid by God for all of us!

Michael Smith

Michael H. Smith writes with a different take on culture, economics, constitutional politics, and the state of the Church from Southside Virginia. As a Catholic convert holding a BA in political science from Franciscan University, he remains in recovery from earlier careers as a general contractor and the insurance business. Present day hobbies include general aviation and never completed little construction projects around the house. Recreation can be found in pickin’ and singin’ old time country and bluegrass music with other senile citizens, pleasant offset to the lingering habit of Republican Party politics.