Putting the Christ Back in

Putting the Christ Back in Christmas - D.J. Tice, the only local conservative writing full-time for either of the dailies, has this wonderful defense of the Christianity of Christmas. The motivation is a New Jersey school which cancelled a visit to "A Christmas Carol" because of a complaint about the Dickens story's Christian themes. Cal Thomas denied the theme, Tice upbraids Thomas...well, read the article.

This part stands out:

All religions include beliefs in miraculous events. But in none is the miraculous so central and indispensable as it is in Christianity, a religion founded entirely on faith in the ultimate miracle of Divinity entering the world as a human being.

The Christian emphasis on miracle — on the porous border between the natural and he supernatural — also helps explain why Christmas has more or less contentedly absorbed so many pleasing customs from ancient pagan winter festivals — decorated trees and mistletoe and lights and Yule logs and all the other earthy trappings that make the holiday seem less than fully "Christian" to some.

It's because Christianity believes nature itself was redeemed once for all by the Incarnation that the pagan instinct to detect something spiritual in natural forces, enchanted mountains, and the cycle of the seasons contains a truth Christianity can appreciate.

As for conversion, it is true once again that all religions seek enlightenment and transformation. But the Christian emphasis is special. The gospels are positively full of stories in which righteous people of the time were scandalized by Jesus' spending time with sinners. He set them straight with some of the best-loved Christian parables — the prodigal son, the shepherd who abandons the 99 to go in search of one lost lamb.

So there is nothing about Christmas that is by its nature exclusionary - and likewise nothing that should make Christians in the least bit bashful about proclaiming the festival's purpose and meaning.

Posted by Mitch at December 26, 2002 12:42 PM