Every year there is the ''Football Season'' and everyone just eats, sleeps and dreams of football. They even go to the extent of creating an office pool, a constant barrage of emails and parties to watch every game on TV.
I know very little to nothing about football and have never desired to be a part of it, but my previous co-workers try to pressure me to get involved. They have tried to get me to participate in the office pool, but I insisted that I didn't even know the names of the teams. They assured me that it didn't matter who I bet on, it would be fun to play. They wouldn't take no for an answer. I wasn't trying to spoil their fun, but I wanted to be left alone on this area.
Think of something that you're not interested in but that everybody else seems to be talking about. Maybe it's a sporting event: Thomas Cup, FA Cup, the Olympics, or F1. Maybe it's the latest "reality" TV craze: Survivor, Malaysian/American Idol or The Apprentice. Maybe it's something political: the election, the war in Iraq or the latest political sex scandal. Maybe it's the "trial of the century" du jour: OJ Simpson, Enron or Anwar Ibrahim. You can't get away from it: it's on TV and radio, newspapers and magazines. Everyone is talking about it, and expects you to express an opinion on it. You aren't interested and just wish everyone would leave you alone.
Now magnify that feeling a hundredfold, because there is nothing that permeates our culture as thoroughly as Christmas does. It's on TV news, programs and commercials. It's in radio music, the news, chat and commercials. Some radio stations go to a 24/7 Christmas music program as early as November or even earlier. It's in the mall, in every store. It's in the supermarket. It's on the lampposts along the shopping district. It's in the post office and every other government building. It's in your office. It's on everyone's garden in your neighborhood, and if it's not on your house, the neighbors want to know why it's not.
And that is the worst part of it: no one will respect your desire to skip the holiday. Yeah, sure, you're Bible believing Born-Again (BA) Christian, but Christmas isn't a Christian holiday, they will tell you. It's everybody's holiday, they say, it's a secular holiday, which means you're not allowed to "just say no." And even if you're not going to celebrate Christmas, they say, you can celebrate the holiday season, which in their minds is just an extension of the 12-days of Christmas. After all, it's about peace on Earth, good will towards men, and of course PRESENTS !?!
Judaism have their Chanukkah which is about a struggle for the Jews to maintain their distinctiveness in a culture that tried to force them to do things the way everybody else did. Sound familiar?
In ancient Greece and in the world today, it is the same struggle, and it is a struggle that we lose a little bit every time a Bible believing BA Christian celebrates Christmas, every time we use tinsels, stars and angels as ornaments on a pine tree or hang a wreath on our front door or exchange meaningless gifts just because it's ''Christmas''...
I know very little to nothing about football and have never desired to be a part of it, but my previous co-workers try to pressure me to get involved. They have tried to get me to participate in the office pool, but I insisted that I didn't even know the names of the teams. They assured me that it didn't matter who I bet on, it would be fun to play. They wouldn't take no for an answer. I wasn't trying to spoil their fun, but I wanted to be left alone on this area.
Think of something that you're not interested in but that everybody else seems to be talking about. Maybe it's a sporting event: Thomas Cup, FA Cup, the Olympics, or F1. Maybe it's the latest "reality" TV craze: Survivor, Malaysian/American Idol or The Apprentice. Maybe it's something political: the election, the war in Iraq or the latest political sex scandal. Maybe it's the "trial of the century" du jour: OJ Simpson, Enron or Anwar Ibrahim. You can't get away from it: it's on TV and radio, newspapers and magazines. Everyone is talking about it, and expects you to express an opinion on it. You aren't interested and just wish everyone would leave you alone.
Now magnify that feeling a hundredfold, because there is nothing that permeates our culture as thoroughly as Christmas does. It's on TV news, programs and commercials. It's in radio music, the news, chat and commercials. Some radio stations go to a 24/7 Christmas music program as early as November or even earlier. It's in the mall, in every store. It's in the supermarket. It's on the lampposts along the shopping district. It's in the post office and every other government building. It's in your office. It's on everyone's garden in your neighborhood, and if it's not on your house, the neighbors want to know why it's not.
And that is the worst part of it: no one will respect your desire to skip the holiday. Yeah, sure, you're Bible believing Born-Again (BA) Christian, but Christmas isn't a Christian holiday, they will tell you. It's everybody's holiday, they say, it's a secular holiday, which means you're not allowed to "just say no." And even if you're not going to celebrate Christmas, they say, you can celebrate the holiday season, which in their minds is just an extension of the 12-days of Christmas. After all, it's about peace on Earth, good will towards men, and of course PRESENTS !?!
Judaism have their Chanukkah which is about a struggle for the Jews to maintain their distinctiveness in a culture that tried to force them to do things the way everybody else did. Sound familiar?
In ancient Greece and in the world today, it is the same struggle, and it is a struggle that we lose a little bit every time a Bible believing BA Christian celebrates Christmas, every time we use tinsels, stars and angels as ornaments on a pine tree or hang a wreath on our front door or exchange meaningless gifts just because it's ''Christmas''...
1 comment:
Thank you for this. Does make my brain hurt lesser.
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