SHOULD WE SAY “HAPPY HOLIDAYS?”

by Shawn Brasseaux

Lest they “sound religious” (or, Scriptural truth convict them!), secularists try their hardest to avoid saying “Merry Christmas.” The mere mention of “Christ” is most repulsive to them. Unfortunately, silly superstitions and vain works-religion—parading as “Christianity”—have “burned” or gravely disappointed these souls and their contempt could not be more apparent. Moreover, when they declare “Happy Holidays” for fear of using the “religious” phrase “Merry Christmas,” they have not helped their cause, for “holiday” is actually derived from “holy day” (another religious term!). In recent years, “Happy Holidays” has become increasingly prevalent, for it is also more favorable to those who wish to accommodate other December holidays (Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year’s Eve, et cetera). “Season’s Greetings” is another phrase employed not to “exclude” or offend non-Christians. What should we say as Bible-believing Christians?

Personally, this writer has never used “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings”—and he has no intention of ever articulating such sentiments. To him, these words sound craven or weak, like we believers in Christ have compromised, too afraid to express our beliefs because we might be labeled “narrow-minded,” “intolerant,” “ethnocentric,” “racist,” “xenophobic.” (Such ad hominem or personal attacks bypass an actual, intelligent discussion of the convictions to which we hold. We should always be open to meaningful dialog, not cheap confrontations.) Due to political correctness, we have been accustomed to refrain from common phrases just because they offend people (who enjoy playing the victim because it feeds their egotism). The media—the so-called “news” (read that, propaganda) organizations—are most blameworthy for disseminating those ideas. In addition, those who mindlessly absorb that information proceed to carelessly repeat it, incorporating it into our culture.

If this writer could be blunt, we in the United States have allowed pagan religions to infiltrate our society. Plus, we have not held on to the truths of Scripture, so there is no sound Bible doctrine to counterbalance the error. With every passing generation, we are being indoctrinated with the ideas that “all belief systems should be accepted” and “we should ‘coexist’ with everyone no matter what they believe.” Such multiculturalism and religious pluralism have caused us to throw away the truths of the Christian Bible just so we can please those who disagree with us. (And we wonder why non-Christians have such a low estimation of the Bible?!) Strangely, while anti-Christians are militant in their views, unwilling to concede and most relentless in ramrodding their agenda through our culture, we believers in Christ are urged to relax our “intolerant” Bible-based worldview. Nonsense!

Although the United States has never been a truly Christian country (just nominal), the Holy Bible has influenced it probably more than any other nation except Israel. Over these last several decades, anti-Christian sentiment was hidden under the guise of “Christian” church tradition. Now that people have grown tired of the hypocrisy, they have simply moved to a new type of anti-Christianity—outright secularism, totally distinct and even worse than Christendom. In the name of “religious tolerance,” our ungrateful culture has become intolerant toward Christianity. However, we Christians are admonished to be tolerant toward every other group. Anything and everything is acceptable today, for we have normalized wickedness just a little more with each passing year. There are no absolutes anymore. Truth is relative, varying from person to person. Sin is just an “alternative lifestyle.” As ancient Israel of the Old Testament shows, no nation can survive these reversals. “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20).

It stands to reason we Christians should look and sound different from the world around them. As the unbelief of Bible haters is plain to see, so our faith should be obvious to everyone we meet. We are not aggressive or despicable, but we as Bible believers should say “Merry Christmas.” In doing so, please understand, we are not endorsing all the commercialization and paganism associated with this time of year. We are rather remembering sound Bible doctrine, the conception (not birth!) of the Lord Jesus Christ. (See our related study at the end of this article.) By using the name of “Christ” in “Merry Christmas,” we can smoothly transition into a Gospel message, a wonderful witnessing opportunity we would have not otherwise had.

Christmastime is a wonderful opportunity to tell everyone about the Lord Jesus Christ, the Christ of Christmas, thereby causing them to forget about all the silliness they heard in their “Christian” churches that caused them to discard the Scriptures in the first place. We can tell them about the Creator God, the Word, who became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14); they can learn about the one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5); we can share with them the Gospel of Grace, “Christ died for sins, He was buried, and He rose again the third day” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4); finally, they can “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and… be saved” (Acts 16:31).

“Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law” (Romans 3:22-28).

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

Indeed, the greatest Christmas gift is the gift of salvation and eternal life, which God had graciously given us by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Merry Christmas!

Saints, as we close 8 full years of grace-oriented Bible studies, this is our final Q&A article for 2021. Lord willing, we will be back next year with another 115 studies!

Also see:
» Why do people use “Xmas” instead of “Christmas?”
» Was Jesus Christ born on the 25th of December?
» Were there really three wise men?
» What is the “Immaculate Conception?”
» Should I display a Christmas tree?
» What was the Star of Bethlehem?
» Does doctrine really matter?
» What is the greatest threat facing the Grace Movement?