I’m not exactly big on holidays. I’m sure that will change when I have children, but I don’t exactly have strong emotional attachments to Easter, Halloween, Christmas, or even birthdays. That being said, I think the birth, life, death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is something worthy of pontification, reflection, and reverence. It’s good for the soul, proper to do for a Hero, and an orienting force in a community.

But one thing that I find very odd is for some Christians being offended by the phrases “xmas” and “happy holidays”.

Now look, I understand the attempt by the powers that be to undermine Christianity, and Christmas is definitely on their hit list. (Granted, churchians do a fine job wreaking havoc on the faith as it is.) Vox Day has talked about this on his blog here and here and here.

However, just on a personal, individual level, I can’t for the life of me understand why there are those who, though understandably are just defending their sacred holy day, lack any emotional regulation and blurt out, either on social media or in real life, that they’re “offended”.

I remember talking to one person who’s boss sent out an email stating “happy holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas”. The boss apparently did this so as to not offend non-Christians. Now this person could’ve responded in a number of different ways. He may have brought up the fact that literally everything in the office space was Christmas-themed, and the timing of the email was getting close to December 25th. He might’ve done, if he had the chops for it, a good rhetorical jest to disarm his boss.

But one of the worst responses he ended up giving was, “But what about me? I’m offended that you didn’t use ‘Merry Christmas’”. He went for the, “You’re being hypocritical if you claim to not want to offend people, but don’t care about the offenses of group you’re occluding” line of argument.

Pointing out hypocrisy might be a valid and effective means of persuading someone, but the way it was said makes the guy out to be no different than an SJW being offended by the improper use of pronouns or any other numerous amounts of micro-aggressions (do they even still use that term anymore?) that can mark you for a struggle session or three.

You get my point. The “What about me?” and related phrases just reek of victimhood status.

“Don’t you see? I’m being a victim here of your supposed attempts at inclusivity and not wanting to offend people. I’m offended!”

I used to think like that in high school. No joke I reasoned in myself that me being “righteously angry” about all the socio-political stuff happening in the world and on social media was good. It was right. It meant that I was really serious about my faith and my love for the Lord.

At a certain point in time, I realized it was pointless to get so worked up about it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating for pacifism or stoicism, and neither am I someone who thinks the use of force is never appropriate. My point also isn’t so much about the societial landscape that I talked about earlier, but rather on the personal level of regulating your emotions.

You getting angry, wanting to claim victimhood status, and correcting people every chance you get–whether you meant to communicate that or not–is not the Way that is Christ. Turning the other cheek? Being like a lamb silent before its shearers? That is Way. To be able to navigate these dark times with warm love and cold shrewdness is the Way. Easier said than done, of course, but better to try and fail and try again than to sink down to the level of a rabid blue-haired ideologue and excuse your behavior by saying, “Well, I actually have good reasons for doing it. I’m doing it to glorify God!”

The same goes for writing out the term “xmas”, mostly seen online as a shorthand. Now I really don’t understand some Christians getting angry over this as the term doesn’t take the “Christ” out of Christmas:

“Christmas,” 1551, X’temmas, wherein the X is an abbreviation for Christ in Christmas, English letter X being identical in form (but not sound signification) to Greek chi, the first letter of Greek Christos “Christ” (see Christ). The earlier way to abbreviate the word in English was Xp- or Xr- (corresponding to the “Chr-” in Greek Χριστος), and the form Xres mæsse for “Christmas” appears in the “Anglo-Saxon Chronicle” (c. 1100). source

I’ve had multiple friends and acquaintances, both Christian and non-Christian, wishing me both a merry Christmas and happy holidays. I can tell you whole-heartedly that I don’t lash out at the non-Christian, claiming he’s part of the sheeple and needs to be woken up and start going on about how all the started with the (insert ancient family name here) and how (insert psy-op here) plotted the West on a downward spiral of decay and degeneracy.

Neither do I wag my finger at my Christian friends and tell them “How dare you! You should know better. You should follow God, not the world! Ugh, unfollowed. Unsubscribed”. I simply tell them “Merry Christmas” and later on thank God that I have people in my life who wish me well.

You don’t have to fight every battle, and when you sober up from your righteous fury, you may come to realize that some of them weren’t even battles to begin with.

Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ

Anger is one hell of a drug, and I wouldn’t put it past the Devil to have a multi-pronged approach in trying to desecrate the day we celebrate the birth of our Savior by first shifting its meaning, and second by getting Christians drunk on anger thereby robbing the holy day of its splendor yet again.

I’m sure most Christians are not like this. They may feel a bit miffed or raise an eyebrow of disappointment, but on the whole, they don’t typically spiral. This post is for the ones who do.

As it is written:

One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.

For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.

Merry Xmas.