Christmas In America

There seems to be some confusion with the celebration of Christmas in America.  It seems almost like there are two different things being celebrated.  We might classify these into two categories, religious Christmas and secular Christmas.  Some people celebrate secular Christmas while many others try to combine the two of them. 

Religious Christmas focuses on Jesus the Christ or Messiah, the Son of God.  While secular Christmas focuses on Santa Claus, gifts, and shopping.  The problem is that the two of these are in conflict in many ways. 

Children are told to be good because Santa Claus is watching them.  But they should desire to be good because they want to obey and please God.  When the focus goes from the Lord to Santa, then Santa Claus actually becomes a false idol.  It also seems that children are mainly taught to just think about what they are going to get.  This teaches self centeredness instead of teaching them to be selfless and care about others.  It also tends to lead to coveting, and there is a commandment that says "You shall not covet" (Exodus 20). 

Obligatory gift giving that has become part of the tradition is also not the type of giving taught by Jesus. He taught giving to those truly in need and sacrificing for others.  Also giving should not be seen only in terms of material things.  We should not give gifts just to be giving gifts because this is what we have been trained to do.  Some have tried to make the case that the tradition of gift giving came from the Wise Men.  But these people might want to notice that the Wise Men did not exchange gifts with one another. 

Unfortunately the modern Christmas celebration often encourages materialism and consumerism.  It seems to be all about things and shopping for more things.  But this whole mentality is in conflict with the teaching of Jesus.  He taught self denial not self indulgence.  We should love God instead of material things.  We should also figure out that true happiness is found in God and not in the accumulation of material things. 

Also the Bible does not tell us to celebrate Christmas, so it is not binding on us.  But at the same time it is not wrong to celebrate it if our focus is right.  We should all take a step back and ask ourselves what we are celebrating and who we are celebrating.