Don’t let the $ grinch steal Christmas

by George E. Newton                                                                            Vol. XVIII, No. 10, Nov/Dec 2005

[Introduction: George Newton lives in Bristol, VA, and sent me the following in November 2004, too late for the Nov/Dec 2004 Banner. His points are well taken. TCP]

Being a person of considerable years, I can truthfully say that I have never heard anyone of the Jewish or Muslim faith complain about Christmas, just as Christians do not complain about Hanukkah or Ramadan. Only liberals complain about Christmas, and they complain about everything, probably because they are brilliant and so much smarter than we are. They blame all of their disgruntledness on people of any faith other than their own ... which is best described as lack thereof.

Last year I bought what I thought was a Christmas tree from Lowes, only to learn from their sign erected a few days later that they were “holiday trees.” Recently I received a catalogue from Lowes in which they show several beautifully decorated, artificial Christmas trees, only Lowes calls them “theme trees.” I called Lowes corporate headquarters in North Wilkesboro, NC, to complain and was read a prepared, canned message about serving a diverse crowd and not wanting to offend anyone.

As a Christian, I am offended!

A few days ago I noticed in the entryway of Hallmark Cards in Bristol Mall, a large display – five boxes high and eight boxes wide – of beautiful, ornate, and obviously expensive cards ... only none said Christmas, only “Happy Holidays” and “Seasons Greetings.” When I questioned the clerk about this, I was told, “Oh, we have Christmas cards. They are on a display in the back of the store.”

Christians spend millions of dollars each Christmas for gifts for their children, friends, and family to try to make everyone happy, as well they should in celebrating the birth of our Lord. Unfortunately, the people we make the happiest are the merchants.

As Christians, we should not do business with merchants who cannot use or say the word “Christmas.” All of them are willing to stick their hands in our pockets and get as much Christmas money as they can, but do not want to acknowledge it is the most important religious holiday there is. We should all be very vocal about this and tell these people we will spend our money elsewhere. This is called voting with your pocket book. And this gets attention faster than any other strategy.

Jesus charges us with this responsibility in Mark 8:38 in which He plainly tells us that if we are ashamed of Him, then He will be ashamed of us before the Father. Don’t be afraid of being one person challenging a large corporation. They do listen – mostly to the sound of the cash register. We should avoid buying from these money-grubbing merchants. We should buy only cards that say “Merry Christmas” in the greeting. If Hallmark and the others have all of their “Seasons Greetings” and “Happy Holiday” cards left, next year they won’t order any.

Please point all of this out to your friends and get them involved. With some effort on our part, we will get back to having Christmas as we used to have it. May God bless everyone who undertakes this In His name.