Once again its Christmas time. All the big chains and superstores are running their "Holiday" Ads. I was in the car the other day and I heard a interesting stat - all of the retail stores operate in the red until this season, when they do up to 70% of their business and then go into the 'black". Anyone that is not totally disconnected from the cable media, Internet etc... know that last year we had a 'war on christmas' controversy. Many retailers including the big one: Wal Mart would not advertise Merry Christmas in their stores or in their ads. This brought the ire of many right wing talk show host across the country, and rightly so. The retailers chose to stick with more vanilla slogans such as Happy Holidays. Many Christians I guess chose NOT to shop at those places that wished to stay 'politically correct' and it hurt their bottom line because apparently this year almost everyone will be acknowledging the holidays with Merry Christmas. That is ALMOST everyone. Best Buy and Crate & Barrel are the two retail holdouts. Best Buy had no comment up until this date on the subject. Crate and Barrel had their PR spokeswoman come and out and flatly state they most certainly will NOT be saying Merry Christmas.
I am actually relieved, because there are few stores that I hate to go into more than Best Buy. No it's not their overpriced products, their annoying tech guys who think they are God's gift to computer knowledge. No, what irks me more than anything else is the whole check out counter nightmare. First you are asked if you want to get "free" magazines, then any sort of gadget you might buy will surely have a extended warranty offered. Sometimes if you deny the extended warranty you will be berated by the employee's. I am sorry sir, I don't need a $20 extended warranty on a $5 computer joystick. Thanks but no thanks. I can't count how many times I have seen a poor sucker buy into those warranties. I actually saw a couple buy a $20 keyboard about 2 months ago and they were talked into buying a $15 extended warranty for it. Excuse me? I know Best Buy is not the only retailer guilty of pushing these warranties but they are the only ones that I know of that also try to push their magazines and anything else they might have going on. How about this, skip all the last ditch efforts to sell us something we don't want or need and maybe move along the bloated waiting lines a little faster. I know I got a little sidetracked with my Best Buy rant, but like I stated earlier, I am actually happy they have chosen not to acknowledge Merry Christmas, because now I can chose NOT to shop there. I can get whatever I need off the net cheaper, and without the hassle and lines. As far as Crate and Barrel I have never heard of them before, but I would imagine I am not really one their target customer's anyway, I don't really have any need for crate's or barrel's.
Some people find the whole argument petty or small. Some people(major media outlets)deny there is even a 'War on Christmas' to begin with calling it a 'myth', even though the Supreme Court may be hearing a argument as soon as this week with a case(nativity scene in public schools new york) that pertains to the "War on Christmas". Just tonight we see in Chicago the mayor disallowing the new Nativity movie to be advertised in their own CHRISTMAS festival, because they worry it might offend non-Christians. Never mind you might offend the 90% of the population that claims they are Christian here in the good ole USA, by banning such a thing. When did the United States begin to let the tail wag the dog? How have we come to a point of such a weak argument that we might offend someone for having a nativity advertisement run during a Christmas festival?
I don't find any of this petty or small. Christians have been a punching bag the last 15 years, you can pretty much say, do, or defile anything to do with Christians. Madonna can put herself on a cross, Everclear can dress some clown up as Jesus and have him do all sorts of vile things, "artist" can submerge a small wooden cross in their own pee in a jar and call it "art". We can kick God out of our schools, kick His commandments out of our courts, make cities rename themselves because they have Christians origins, prevent Christians students from meeting on college campus's, reject Jesus dolls for Toys for Tots Christmas presents, attempt to throw His name out of the pledge, on and on and on, yet we are worried about maybe offending a few non-believers?????????? I don't think America could be more ready for a revival. So many people claim to be Christians but do their deeds and works bear that out? Or do they just try to live a good life and never really form a relationship with Christ? Church attendance is down, out of wedlock babies are UP, divorce lays claim to 50% of all marriages - and now today we learn Aids is set to be the 3rd largest killer world wide. Young Americans need to put down their game controllers everywhere and pick up the Bible. Generation X'ers need to take responsibility for their babies, and move out of their parents house and stand up and become upright men and women. It's all a lie, selfishness is a trap. Christians everywhere need to stand up and be heard and tell the media, retailers, and the government enough is enough. You will no longer tread on us and get a free ride, we will no longer support those who do not support us, we will no longer support those who belittle us and defile our images. We will not allow you to make 70% of your business off OUR holiday if you will not give us the common courtesy of wishing us a Merry Christmas. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.