Lately, there has been a lot of talk about the “war on Christmas.” We have all seen Muslims, Jews, and Atheists oppose this holiday. However, you do not hear many Christians today voice opposition to Christmas. This is too bad.
As a Christian, specifically a Calvinist, I am openly opposed to Christmas. Let me briefly explain why.
I do not recognize Christmas, for I am not Roman Catholic. Christmas is a Roman Catholic Holy-day (holiday). The very term ‘Christmas’ signifies “the mass of Christ.” If you are Catholic and you believe in mass, then I can understand why you would want to celebrate Christ-mass.
Calvinism, named after the great Protestant theologian John Calvin, distinguishes between the Protestant Reformed teaching of the Lord’s Supper and the Roman Catholic mass. The Heidelberg Catechism, a Calvinist creed, teaches this distinction clearly. It states, “The Lord’s Supper testifies to us that we have a full pardon of all sin by the only sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which He Himself has once accomplished on the cross; that we by the Holy Ghost are ingrafted into Christ, who according to His human nature is now not on earth, but in heaven at the right hand of God His Father, and there be worshipped by us—but the mass teaches that the living and dead have not the pardon of sins through the sufferings of Christ, unless Christ is also daily offered for them by the priest; and further, that Christ is bodily under the form of bread and wine, and therefore is to be worshipped in them; so that the mass at bottom is nothing else than a denial of the one sacrifice and sufferings of Jesus Christ, and an accursed idolatry.”
The Roman Catholic mass, according to Calvinism, is blasphemy. Therefore, we do not celebrate Christ-mass either. However, if someone wishes me a “merry Christmas,” I do not get offended. I simply smile and point out that I am not a Catholic, and then I wish them well. I do not get offended and call for a ban on free speech. I do not demand Christmas trees to be removed.
Why, one might ask, do I not find such speech offensive, even though I disagree with it? Because, it was the Protestant Reformation that first recognized the importance of free speech. Before the Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church, through the office of the Holy Inquisition, had many individuals tortured and executed for freely speaking in opposition to Catholic doctrine. The Reformation, on the other hand, saw that serious reform and criticism of existing ideas and institutions could not take place without freedom of expression. Nations that embraced the Protestant Reformation soon developed Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, Freedom of Religion, and Separation of Church and State. Nevertheless, the
In conclusion, the Protestant Reformation teaches us that we can use Free Speech to agree or disagree with any position. Rather than imprison, torture, kill, or wage war on those who disagree with us, let us use sound logical analysis, preferably from Scripture, to argue for or against those who put forth ideas and systems of ideas. Rather than label opposing opinions or arguments as “hate speech”, then cry for the government to censor such persons, let us be civil and react with intelligence. For when the government decides that it can punish specific classes of
