“Merry Christmas,” he said.

“Happy holidays,” she said in return.

“Season’s greetings,” retorted a third.

“Who’s going to the Christmas party?” asked another.

“Shhhh!” said a bystander. “You can’t say Christmas. It’s holiday.”

Confused yet?

If you want to see cultural, spiritual, intellectual, and moral confusion, look at the culture’s use of language. What words are you still free to use? Which ones are now suddenly inflammatory or dangerous? What words are off-limits?

I am currently teaching a group of men the doctrine of Christology–that Jesus the Christ took on flesh in His incarnation, that He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born in the natural way via Mary, lived a sinless life, made an atoning death in His vicarious substitutionary death at Calvary, was buried, was three days later raised bodily (just as Jonah was three days in the belly of the great fish and was resurrected onto the land), was seen by hundreds of eyewitnesses, spoke with His disciples and others, was touched by Thomas, ascended to heaven, and will come again in glory and judgment. In short, Jesus was and is God in the flesh. He is the God-man … 100% God and 100% man. God has come down. He has made Himself known. God is not silent.

And yet what you see happening in the realm of language is man’s salvo of efforts to keep God quiet, to suppress God’s revelation. “Don’t say Christmas.” Really? But I guess you still want to take your Christmas holiday, though, right?

Why? It’s just another day, right? If God really didn’t take on flesh in Bethlehem, wasn’t really raised in Nazareth, didn’t really die a substitutionary atoning death for all those who were to believe upon Him, then what are you so anxious about? Just go to work, don’t worry about believers saying “Merry Christmas,” and admit that you cannot explain the calendar you go by, much less any coherent theology.

Recognize that your suppression of speech reflects your theology. You worship the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

I am by no means making an argument for 25 December being the heart of the matter. What I am arguing for is that God came to His own and men loved darkness rather than light. And that explains what you see in substituting “holiday” and “season” for Christ, Christmas, and the Christ-stamped universe He graciously permits us to traffic upon each day.