“Happy Christmas!” -What does it mean?

Not really sure what I think of this religious festival any more.

When I was young it was explained as a celebration of the birth of Jesus, we had the nativity play, we were read bits of the Bible and it was a very similar experience at Easter come to think of it.

School lessons told us that religion meant GOoD people went to heaven and dEVIL people went to hell. I was not from a religious household so we never went to church but I kind of ‘got’ the message that there was consequence for being good or bad in life. It all seemed fair enough to me as being a perfectly relatable spirit or concept to live as a general guidance to life.

As a relatable spirit it leaves me believing in living with a ‘spiritual’ existence with guidance from lost loved ones, but religion plays no part of life for me. The church now seems to be saying that god loves everyone no matter how bad or what utterly horrific things they have done in life, they will be welcomed in heaven and it is that new message that just confirms the church’s desperation.

Religion and the bible seem to be alienating people nowadays. From the child abuse scandals that have been widely reported which seems to have been a very common practice down the centuries and to present day, the church has damaged itself and religion. If these priest, vicars, nuns, ministers and whoever else actually believed there was a God, who was watching and judging their time on earth then they would never have committed those terrible acts. So if the people within the churches do not practice what they preach then there is no wonder that religious credibility is at an all-time low….and tumbling attendance figures confirming the same.

In recent decades much of the Bible’s stories that were generally guiding lines towards how ‘we’ should live have, found themselves with opposing sentiment from the new ‘on trend’ lifestyles which humans now tolerate or positively accept. Religion’s stance had become outdated and therefore often irrelevant with the way mankind has moved quickly in a more open direction. As a youth I was always excited to see which song would be the official chart number 1 but even that disappeared a few years back when the X-Factor winner started to get the slot, often with forgettable acts singing forgettable singles, nothing but an extra opportunity for more revenue. The blatant over commercialisation by the big retailers such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday and January sales starting mid-December is proof that it’s all business rather than sentiment.

Same with Easter, it’s now associated with chocolate eggs.

Yes for kids Christmas is all about the magic and Santa’s presents but let’s be honest; for most of us it’s a few presents exchanged, eating and drinking too much, tolerating certain family members but most precious is a few days away from work!