Do I celebrate Christmas? Yes.
Am I a Christian? No.
How is this possible, one might ask? Simple. I celebrate Christmas as a cultural holiday. Yes, just as I disbelieve in "Christ", well, at least I disbelieve in him as the born of a virgin, miracle-working, crucified and resurrected "Son" of the Creator of the Universe, I also disbelieve in goblins and leprechauns. But despite my disbelief in goblins and leprechauns, I still recognize Halloween and St. Patrick's Day as cultural holidays. Yup, I attend Halloween parties and I drink green beer, and I don't feel weird about it. For this reason, I do not feel that I and other nonbelievers are being inconsistent or weirdos for decorating a tree and hanging stockings for Christmas---IOW, celebrating the cultural aspects of the holiday.
While of course, belief in Santa and his reindeer-powered sleigh is no longer in the equation, it still brings back pleasant, childhood memories to put up lights and decorate a tree. There are a few things that I miss about my childhood at Christmas time..e.g...leaving cookies and milk for "Santa", making a list of the things I want, etc., just as there are things I miss about believing in "God". For instance, I miss the comfort that the thought of being reunited with my deceased loved ones gave me. I miss believing that "God" was looking out for little ol' me and would answer my prayers.....well, sometimes.
But alas, my missing the cookie and milk ritual and having my prayers sometimes answered doesn't mean that "Santa" or "God" have referent in reality, nor does it mean that the right amount of will power will work in forcing myself to readopt belief in either guy. There is just no amount of will power that can get me to believe in that which I find unbelievable. Only evidence can change my mind. This, of course, will sound dogmatic and "closed-minded" to some readers. 'Sorry, I can't help that, other than to maybe prompt you to ask yourself what you'd say to the person who called you "closed-minded" or "dogmatic" for disbelieving that "Poseidon" controls the tides without any evidence that it is so, and actually, plenty of evidence that it is not so.
This is how we know that non-belief isn't always a "choice". When a "bell" rings, we cannot "unring" it. When we learn to recognize the misses as well as the "hits", we cannot go back to ignoring the misses. When we get the courage to put intellectual honesty ahead of "faith" and sometimes even happiness, we cannot go back to doing things the opposite way. When we understand what subjective validation does and how and why it works, we cannot go back to a "group-think" mentality. When we learn that we just can't trust our feelings or "intuition" 100% of the time when it comes to what is true, we cannot go back to trusting those things.
Anyway.....
Happy Holidays and/or Merry Christmas to all!
2 comments:
Happy Holidays to you and yours my friend.
It's funny how maybe just 10 years or so ago i used to ignore any contrary evidence, information or data that would contradict my belief that god and jesus were simply facts of life to be accepted unquestioningly.
Now, everywhere i look i see contrary evidence that runs contrary to that world view and makes it seem farcical and ridicules. Especially when one looks into the history and origins of the cultural traditions, symbols, stories, poems and songs that make up the celebration of the birth of the supposed son of god ... i'm hard pressed to think of a single solitary thing that we do in our "celebration" that has any factual or historical connection to that supposed event ... that said, i love everything about the holiday season with the exception of the selfish greed exhibited by retailers and shoppers who will do just about anything to buy or sell the item/toy du jour.
Thx, and ditto.
It's funny how maybe just 10 years or so ago i used to ignore any contrary evidence, information or data that would contradict my belief that god and jesus were simply facts of life to be accepted unquestioningly.
Yes, that's correct--ignore evidence and opposing views, and yes, accept it all unquestionably. The latter, perhaps some of the most idiotic advice ever offered from one human being to another. In no other facet of life except religion are we asked to accept something as true without questioning it, in our case, the Christian *religion.
*Yes, folks, it's a "religion" the very second that you take your "personal relationship" out of the bedroom and invite others to join in. It's a "religion" the minute that you want the personal convictions between you and your lover taught in public schools and implemented in public policy.
Now, everywhere i look i see contrary evidence that runs contrary to that world view and makes it seem farcical and ridicules
Yup, ridiculous. Let's see....talking snakes, virgin births, unicorns, walking cadavers, raining frogs, yadda, yadda, and all coming from people who thought the earth was flat, geocentric, and sat on pillars. OTG!(oh, their God!)
But seriously, 'not one good reason to believe any of it, unless you cannot fathom your own nonexistence. This, I contend, is why people cling to and defend Christianity, albeit, most believers(all?) will not admit it. This goes for the religious off-shoot "metaphysical" camp, too. But it's the former who insist that without belief in God that we have no moral foundation and nothing to live for. I read a few weeks back where one lady said she'd run out and rack up a bunch of debt if this life was all there was! Charrrrrgggge it! LMAO!
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