Quote:
Originally Posted by Igzy
When I was in the LCM, like a good little trained monkey I didn't celebrate Christmas. As far as I can tell it had zero positive effect. In fact I would say the effect was negative. Family just looked at me as if I was a weird snob. Which I was.
|
Since I grew up in the LC, I had no choice about not being able to celebrate Christmas, however, I quickly picked up on the notion that if we just told others the 'truth' about Christmas, then they would see that they shouldn't celebrate it either. What always baffled me was despite what we had been taught regarding Christmas, and the seemingly simple quest to avoid anything 'pagan', whenever the issue was brought up with outsiders - with friends and family alike, the conversation always erupted and backfired. I suppose that most viewed our family and other LCers as complete snobs. At any rate, it accomplished the exact opposite of what we thought we were accomplishing.
It has since become clear to me that the scorched earth type approach that the LC takes to Christmas (and other issues) generally causes more destruction than accomplishing anything meaningful. I’m not out to say that everything associated with Christmas is positive. I don’t care for the materialism, but I don’t think the fact that some people have got it all wrong means that we can’t participate in Christmas. Even the supposed pagan orgins I don’t see as a big deal. We wouldn’t even know about that expect there are people out there making a fuss about it. It would be incredibly difficult for anyone to make a reasonable argument that the celebration of Christmas is done with the specific intention of participating in something pagan.
If someone really feels to eradicate anything 'pagan' from their lives, then they might as well stop calling days of the week or calendar months by name, and also refuse to associate with anyone who does. And while they are at it, they should refuse to work at a job where people make appointments using day/month names. Maybe it sounds like I’m being ridiculous, but isn't it reasonable to expect someone who claims to hate ‘pagan’ things to take the same stance on non-Christmas related ‘pagan’ things?
Ultimately, that is why when people or certain groups take certain stands on issues like Christmas, the stand is never taken seriously. It's just too easy for a double standard to arise, and the glaring contradiction is what everyone sees, not any presumed testimony that has come about from eradicating things that aren’t ‘pure’.