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Southern Illinois University Opts Out of Playing Just Christmas Music…to Not Offend

December 10, 2010 at 12:09 PM 2 comments

UPDATE:  I sent an e-mail to Chancellor Cheng.  While I will not reprint it here, suffice it to say that she completely missed my point.

My original e-mail to her offered the complaint that Christmas would not exist if not for Jesus.  The reality is that while many would like to update Christmas so that it becomes more inclusive too all cultures and faiths, the fact remains that if Jesus had not been born into this world, we would not be celebrating Christmas at all.

To suggest that Christmas needs to update so that it is more in keeping with current times is to denigrate Jesus’ birth altogether.  It is not about updating or making Christmas politically correct.  While everyone is welcome to celebrate Christmas, the object is to celebrate it for what it is, not for what people would like it to be.

Consider the fact that whether it is Christmas, Easter, or some other Christian celebration, Satan has managed to turn each of them into one that better resembles the money-changers tables than anything that truly bears God’s stamp of approval on the original event.

While I also realize that we have no proof that Jesus was born on December 25th, and that it was a day chosen to provide Christians with a way to memorialize His birth (and no, it was not copied from Mithras as some like to insist), it was done so in order to remember the God-Man who was born into this world, lived a life without sin, died a brutal death, and rose again in order that salvation might become available to fallen human beings.

This is certainly what His life accomplished that is worth celebrating, whether the world thinks so or not, and whether they agree with the reason for this celebration or not.

In another ongoing example of how the world treats Christians and Christmas, Southern Illinois University’s bell tower was silenced briefly because it only played Christmas music…during Christmas time…when we celebrate the birth of Jesus…the Savior of humanity.  Not to worry, because the music once again tolls loudly, with the addition of non-Christmas music.

Chancellor Rita Cheng indicated that she essentially felt no need to not find a way to make the music more inclusive by playing music that celebrated different cultures.  “That is part of the season,” she said. “We have a large number of African-American students at Southern Illinois University and we would want to be as inclusive as we can.”

If I may, Chancellor Cheng has it incorrect.  The only reason for the season of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Christ.  It is not to somehow turn Christmas into a politically correct event that plays off of many different cultures, religions, and ethnic groups.

Without the birth of Jesus, there would be NO Christmas.  Do people get that? Irrespective of what people think about Christmas, or how humanistic it has become, the core of Christmas surrounds the birth of Jesus into a world of lost sinners.  His birth, His sinless life, His bloody death, and His resurrection from the grave marked a literal new chance for humanity on an individual basis, to enter into the only salvation that is available from God.  Apparently, Chancellor Cheng and others believe that Christmas has nothing to do with Jesus.

Satan has succeeded in turning Christmas into a carnal, pagan holiday.  While it does not surprise me that people throughout the world are trying to find a way to make Christmas more politically correct, it does surprise me that individuals from a so-called institution of higher learning believe that above all things, Christmas must be made more inclusive so that people of all religious backgrounds and cultures can somehow benefit without having to go through the process of changing their belief system because of Jesus Christ and what He demands from the world He created.

The birth of Jesus was inclusive enough.  His mission, played out throughout the battlefield of His life, was designed to redeem sinful humanity, people from all walks of life, cultures and ethnic backgrounds.  His life was not intended to become all things to all people, allowing them to remain unbelievers as Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and even those who celebrate Kwanza.

Jesus came to call people from those errant and vain philosophies, religions, and ideals to the light of truth.  He did not come to allow them to continue to embrace their error, but to turn from it.

The idea that Christmas should be turned into an event that somehow gives a thumbs up to everyone’s particular religious or cultural beliefs is to further denigrate Jesus and His birth, something Satan delights to do.  Unfortunately, that is to be expected from a world that wants nothing to do with God and will undertake any means necessary to turn Him away from their own little worlds.

Jesus IS the ONLY reason for the season of Christmas.  His birth, His life, His death, and His resurrection speak to the lost state of humanity.  His birth was not designed to make us feel good about ourselves, nor was it meant as a path to inclusiveness and political correctness.

(Sigh) Frankly, I have no idea how God has remained as patient as He has been, but of course that stands to reason since I am not God.  Imagine having created everything that exists only to watch every part of your Creation become affected and infected with sin, stemming from free will.  Imagine watching and hearing people use your Name as an expletive so many times throughout each day that only God can keep track of it.

Imagine watching the world curse you repeatedly, blame you for the ills, the sickness, the death, the greed, the malice, and much more within society, in spite of the fact that it was humanity that drew first blood after God’s Creation.  Imagine watching the human race – created in God’s image – desire with all their heart to have nothing to do with the Creator of their souls.  Imagine what it feels like to be constantly taken out of context and misrepresented.  None of us would stand for that, but God – who is just, holy, loving, patient and infinitely more – does take it, day after day because He wants no one to perish.

This latest attack on Christmas is simply another in a long history of attacks on God Himself.  The fact that He hasn’t destroyed all of us long ago says a great deal about His love and His patience, in spite of the fact that He is consistently accused of not existing.

I pray to gain even half of that amount of patience that God expresses daily to a world that wants nothing to do with Him.  Soon enough, the very word “Christmas” will be gone completely, replaced with some humanistic, politically correct, all-inclusive phrase that offends no one…except Christians.  The world believes it is safe doing so because after all, Christians don’t fight back.

The problem though is that one day, God’s patience will come to an end.  That will be a tragic day for all who have chosen to take the path that leads them away from God.  On that day, it will as the writer of Hebrews states when he said, “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God,” (Hebrews 10:31).  I cannot imagine it myself.  Can you?

Entry filed under: 9/11, alienology, Atheism and religion, Demonic, dispensationalism, Eastern Mysticism, emergent church, Gun Control, Islam, israel, Judaism, Life in America, new age movement, Posttribulational Rapture, Pretribulational Rapture, Religious - Christian - End Times, Religious - Christian - Prophecy, Religious - Christian - Theology, salvation, Satanism, Sharia Law, temple mount, ufology. Tags: chancellor rita cheng wants Christmas to be all-inclusive, southern illinois university changes Christmas tunes, southern illinois university determined to be pc about Christmas, the bell tower at southern Illinois university plays more than Christmas music.