In two days, Christians around the world will celebrate Christmas, the birthday of Jesus of Nazareth, called the Christ..or as I, a non-Christian sometimes respectfully refer to him, Rav Yussel ben-Yosef. For among other attributes, Jesus was also a learned rabbi.
While historical evidence points towards the actual birthday of Jesus being in the spring, the December 25th date - January 6th for Orthodox Christians - are the traditional days Christians celebrate.
It is a time of year when people in predominantly Christian countries are more expansive, more gentle and more at peace with each other. They smile more, and they let the little things go because it's Christmas, a time of cheer and good will, a time for friends and family.
It is also a time when the secular Left unleashes savage attacks on the very nature of Christ and the holiday itself. Satanists demand the right to set up displays next to manger scenes, smarmy writers mock the traditions of Christmas and Christianity and atheists and Leftists go on the warpath with lawsuits designed to try and stop public religious displays of faith, especially Christian ones.
One writer whom I won't link to even made the point in a very well-known far Left outlet that religion in general is 'rapey' (her word) and Christianity in particular because - wait for it- it teaches that G-d raped the Virgin Mary without her consent, since consent isn't explicitly mentioned in Scripture. So of course, this is just another instance of the 'Patriarchy' in action.
Before I go on, let me point out that all of these attacks are permissible free speech, although there's no doubt in my mind that if we were talking about Islam, they'd be a lot more circumspect.Or perhaps outright cowardly and hypocritical is a more accurate way to put it.
But if we get beyond the secular trapping and look at the real meaning of Christmas, it becomes obvious that all these attacks on Christianity have a distinct motivation.It becomes glaringly apparent why the Left does what it does.
Christmas is above all a time for Christians to celebrate a miracle of their faith, the birth of their Messiah,born in the humblest of surroundings but recognized by the Magi and generations of future Christians as Lord and Savior. To Christians, Jesus is whom they owe ultimate allegiance to, not to government or to secular power, but to heavenly power. If Jesus is their Lord, than no secular lord can be, and if Jesus is the way, the truth and the light, salvation comes from the Lord, not from Moscow, or Peking, or Washington DC, or any other seat of government.
The Founders themselves understood this quite well, that the unalienable rights they sought came from their Creator, not government, or an earthly king.
To the Left, this belief goes against everything they stand for. That's why the Left needs so badly to mock, attack and destroy it. And why all of us, even those of us whom are not Christians need to defend it.
Christmas, like our Constitution is a way of reminding us that government has limits to its power. Hanukkah sends the same message, with its recounting of the Jewish victory of faith and arms over the pagan, Hellenizing Greeks. Is it any wonder that President Barack Obama, in each of his Hanukkah messages has consistently failed to mention that detail?
Just as the Seleucid Empire tried with all its might to destroy Jews and Judaism, the Roman Empire tried to destroy Christianity, and for the same reason...to destroy those inalienable rights our Founders spoke of, and to bring all of their population under government's yoke. Both failed.
And that is a lesson for our times.The light will eventually defeat the darkness, and that is the essence of what we need to believe in, to protect and defend, no matter how dark things may seem.
With that in mind, I wish all of you a Merry and Blessed Christmas. Celebrate it with peace and joy, faith and family, prayer and reverence...because among other things, it is a celebration not only of our freedom, but an acknowledgement of where it derives from.
Selah.
