Meaning of Christmas

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The meaning of Christmas is one of the most debated concepts in American culture. It’s become an annual tradition for atheist activists and left-wing groups like the ACLU and People for the American Way to oppose Christmas displays and seek to have them removed from public places. Other legal advocates like the Alliance Defense Fund and the American Center for Law and Justice defend such displays in the courts. Daily news reports chronicle these disputes throughout the month of December. Some Christian groups even tout the “pagan” origins of Christmas focusing on the dates of ancient festivals which more accurately align with December 25 and the use of trees as a central point of reference to those festivals.

The meaning of Christmas and its place in society and culture is a contentious subject.  Let’s face it, people from all walks of life and from very different religious (and non-religious) perspectives have something to say and/or do to assert their opinion on the subject.

It’s disingenuous that we confuse the meaning of Christmas and this important day in human history with such mundane disputes.  Whatever the actual day of Christ’ birth, the historical fact of His life on this earth is without dispute.  Oh, there is a debate about some aspects of Christ’ life, and verification of the facts is not a precise science.  But there is no disputing that Jesus was born, that He claimed to be God, and that His life greatly impacted the culture of His day and the world for 2000 years since.  It is this broader impact of Jesus life which should attract our attention during the Christmas season.

The meaning of Christmas is primarily a spiritual one.  Jesus’ birth was foretold centuries before His birth and many of the events of  His life were amazingly described by ancient writers.  He was sent to bring mankind back into personal relationship with God who created all that exists.  Mankind was guilty of the sin of Adam who disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden.   The result of that sin was the eternal, spiritual death of all men.  Without hope for life in eternity, man was condemned to eternal suffering instead.  The only hope for life is if a sacrifice could be made for all Mankind.  That Sacrifice was to be Jesus Christ.  His birth was necessary for Him to suffer the pains of this life for us all and then to go to the Cross to take all the world’s sin upon Himself.  This alone makes Christmas a significant day in human history.  For without His birth and His suffering on this earth living a sinless life were absolutely necessary for Him to be a perfect sacrifice to remove the sin of Man.

The meaning of Christmas has a secondary but significant purpose as well.  Throughout history, the innate value of the individual was not accepted.  In marriage, the wife was historically seen as the property of the husband.  No religion or culture in history except Jewish culture placed any value on women as persons (and Jewish culture imperfectly so).  This expressed itself in many different legal and social forms, but women were seen as inferior to men and matters of wealth and property favored men with little or no ownership rights conferred upon females.

Children had an even lower status in almost every culture.  Physical and labor abuses of children were rarely adjudicated in law, and children typically had no rights under the law whatsoever until they became adults or until inheritance–and that was limited to the first born son.

The state in its various forms of government granted no innate legal rights to individuals born under its protection.  Most societies were governed by kings who owned not only the entirety of the land he controlled but also had full rights to dictate law and punish his subjects in whatever manner he deemed appropriate with no recourse.  Even in Ancient Greece and Rome where citizenship gave clear rights to the individual, that privilege was not automatically given based on your country of birth.  It was given primarily to men and to women on a limited basis.  Children were not given the rights of a citizen until adulthood.  And if you were born in Greek or Roman territory without being a citizen, those rights had to be purchased or given through the influence of someone in high position.

It wasn’t until the Reformation that the value of the individual before God and the rightful liberty of the individual was accepted.  Christian teaching had expressed this from the time of Christ.  But it was in the 15th Century and in Western Europe that cultures began to accept the innate value of the individual and governments formed to give these rights.  The Enlightenment carried forth the concept of individual liberty.  Some Enlightenment thinkers would have called themselves Christians but all of them conformed their arguments to reason and not theology.  But it is through the advance of The Gospel in Europe and the Reformation which taught that man can have a personal relationship with God independent of government and religious institutions or social status that individual liberty became a universal concept.

The penultimate expression of this concept is found in the American Declaration of Independence.  These words written by Thomas Jefferson make it abundantly clear what is the origin of human freedom:

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

The Declaration is the ultimate expression of the foundation for individual liberty.  Men receive their liberty directly from God, not by the will of some group of men or any government institution.  Governments formed among men are responsible before God to protect the rights of the individual.  And when governments stop protecting those rights, men have a right before God to alter or abolish that government.

2009 has seen the most significant effort since FDR to expand government intrusion in to the life of individual Americans.  We will depart from this year on the verge of giving the government control over our individual healthcare.  Global warming alarmism over the last three decades may lead to government control through the EPA of every emission of CO2.  This should give us great pause as every individual emits CO2 from their mouths every moment of every day.  But even if the EPA’s regulation of carbon dioxide were limited to the use of fossil fuels, it amounts to significant control over the lives of every American.  And it could easily become as abusive to every American as the laws of ancient times gave domineering husbands and fathers to be to women and children.

Freedom is not free.  It can through neglect be lost over time.  But no matter what state man finds himself in, freedom is the natural state of the individual.  This is an eternal truth to which every human being bears witness in their heart.

The Three Wise Men traveled hundreds of miles on treacherous trade routes in danger of their lives and fortunes to find a the King who would set mankind free.  In awe they presented gifts foretelling his life, death and rule over the earth.  It is no accident that Jesus birth was announced in this manner.  Wisdom from the heavens has come down to earth to enlighten human reason with the innate truth that freedom and liberty are the great gifts given to mankind in this life.  But they are also given in the life to come for those who follow Him.

We are endowed by our Creator with the unalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness because God exists and because He came he bestowed them upon us.  Will we have the courage to maintain them in a world filled with those who would overtake those freedoms.

Oh, Holy Night!  The stars shown then upon the great Savior of mankind who freed us all!

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