Christmas without Christ

Christmas without Christ                                                                                                      Written by Richard Auciello

Tonight, I watched a movie with a negative twist to it. Let me explain, it started out as a 3 or a 4 on a scale of 1-10; I thought I saw a glimmer of hope or chance that it may turn or twist into something worthwhile—so I kept watching, after all the main theme was that a particular family was looking for “the true meaning of Christmas.” However, to my chagrin and disappointment the quality didn’t change and the #3 movie rating ended with a 1 or a 2 on my scale.

I thought, wrongly, that the movie would turn towards Christ, Bethlehem, the Birth of Jesus—the true meaning of Christmas; instead, the motif, the target was a shift from “I can do it all on my own” to “I need my family.” The movie was not Christocentric in any sense; it was 100% anthropocentric , man centered or good old fashioned human secularism—Who needs God, especially at Christmas time?

The movie depicted an upper middle-class neighborhood near Los Angeles. A whole neighborhood in a “contest” for the best decorated house. There was an extreme show of Lights, elves, little Santa

Clauses, lots of candy canes and reindeer. When someone mentioned the name of Jesus, he was quickly, neatly and permanently removed from the movie with the glib remark that “Jesus was Jewish” the implication is clear, Jews as a rule, don’t celebrate Christmas with the Jesus the Christ, Jesus the Messiah, therefore it is perfectly OK to have a Christmas without Jesus and without  God—they were not part of this movie, or this mind-set.

My disappointment was compounded because one of my favorite actors was the main attraction, without him the movie would have very little public appeal. He was the magnate; he was the ticket and he was a devastating disappointment.

My problem is that I disallowed my filter mechanism, I let the movie into my mind. I feel like I’m part of the parable of the wheat and the weeds (Matthew 13:24-43), and I’ve allowed the enemy to plant weeds to destroy the Goodness of God or the wheat as the foundation of my soul.

But what about other people? What about children? What about atheist families? My worst fear is that there may very well be people with the mind set to not only accept the values of this movie but also promote it? Is there a merging demonic mentality eroding the “the meaning of Christmas”? I fear that there very well could be. I fear that the movie which places man where Jesus should be is a “popular” one, and we are experiencing this dichotomy in two very well-known expressions: which are: “Happy Holidays,” or “Merry Christmas.” What do you see? What do you see and hear in the public sector, the stores, shopping centers, government offices, etc.  Do you think that you’ll ever hear “Silent Night, Holy Night” sung in any of our shopping malls, do you think that you’ll ever see anything even resembling a “nativity scene” in a public place? Is something missing ? Is someone missing? Is Christ Missing?