Why I Feel Like The Modern Day Scrooge.
Editorial by Al Penner
It’s about that time of the year where I begin to feel a certain kind of way as I observe the sights and scenery of what is deemed the most festive time of the year. I didn’t always feel like this but as the old saying goes, “when you know better, you do better.” This is my personal journey and it is not to convince anyone one way or the other of how they should live their life. When I was a little boy, I could not wait until this time of the year. Christmas time was the time when you could get most of the things that you desired and some of the things that you have been begging for all year long. It was a time where you start to feel a certain spirit in the air which I must say quickly evaporated the day after this festive day. It was funny to me how the joyous attitude of the world quickly changed when Christmas was over. Quite honestly no one really spoke much about the celebration of Christ and his birth when I was growing up. It was mentioned sparingly, maybe to make people feel like they were not keeping some sort of pagan holiday or maybe they spoke about his birth to add some value to this fictional story.
No one that I knew ever got up and went to Church Christmas day, but boy the presents and huge meals with family and friends is what it was always about from what I could tell. I always believed that Christ was born and that he lives even today although I have never personally met him. My faith and common sense told me that. Even today, as I enter into my 40’s, I am convinced that he is real, and I hold on to every word that I have ever read about him in the holy bible. I started to wonder later in life, why was this day never mentioned in the bible?
As I got older, I was exposed to some information that seemed pretty simple. It was elementary, but shocking, and I could no longer understand for the life of me why people ever celebrated Christmas or embraced the season. There was no date given for Christ birth and no where in the bible did it say to celebrate such a day. I get it, and just like it took me 23 years on this earth to be exposed to this information, I cannot understand why my friends and family ever celebrated this holiday.
Because of tradition, I know that so many people will refuse to hear my story, but I think that the story will help so many people and it’s worth being told. This time of year draws so many people together and the thought of being separated from this annual event will ultimately separate them from the spirit of joy and gladness as well as their love ones.
As a follower and believer of Christ and his teachings, I started to ask myself “Did Christ ever tell us to acknowledge this day? Maybe I missed something or maybe these non-Christmas believing people are just radicals with nothing else to talk about. Did the Apostles ever recognize this season during their lifetime? My conclusion was NO. Of course my conclusion was based off of documented history and the bible. Where then did it come from? The revelation was quite clear for me, but people must get it for themselves. Every year it’s like I can feel the anger of the Father. Why do people celebrate what’s not in the bible and offer it up to God and yet reject what’s in the bible and say that the festivals in the bible are just old biblical festivals that are not to be observed today? If your wife or spouse loved jewelry, would you buy them a toolbox? Why then would people not celebrate the holy days that God created and loves instead of celebrating pagan customs that he despises? (Leviticus 18:3; James 2:10)Why does the world celebrate a festival that originated from the very ones that refused to worship the Father in spirit and in truth? Isn’t he worthy to be worshiped the way in which he commanded us in his word? He is holy alone and did not need nor desires to be worshiped according to man’s way. Didn’t they read in the last book of the bible where it said “If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book”-Revelation 22:18-19. The truth was out, well at least to me. They added so much to this story that was never in the bible. The world added a celebration that was wicked in nature, called themselves cleaning it up, offered it up to the Father, and to make matters worse, they kept all of the pagan traditions in it.
I wanted to be saved and I wanted everyone that I knew to have a chance at eternal life. I sure don’t have a heaven or hell to put anyone in, but I do understand what the book of revelation says. To my surprise, my enthusiasm was not met with much fan fare. I came to be known as the “party pooper”, the person that was now part of a cult because I refused to acknowledge some day that is wrapped up in paganism!
Just like Christ, I’ve been persecuted for going against the status quo but the conviction that overcomes me for not trying to live perfect in his sight is unbearable. I’m still working on myself, and I’ve yet to achieve that status that was bestowed upon those like Abraham, Noah and Job but perfection for me is still attainable. I know better, so I desire to do better. It is my strongest belief that living by these principles will come into question on judgement day. I can hear it now, “It was spoken in my word, Learn not the way of the heathens (pagans)-James 10:2,” Why did you embrace their ways?
It’s ok to walk alone, as long as the Master walks with you. If he is for you, he’s more than this wicked world that is against you. He loves and embraces those for being different from the world as he has commanded us to come out of Babylon and her ways. I leave you with a verse that is both pleasurable to me and disturbing at the same time.
“ Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Jeremiah 6:16
