Black Friday is the worst way possible to start the Christmas season. It is the single most shameful manifestation of American consumerist society. It starts the month during which we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ with our collective sights firmly set on what most of our culture seems to worship: stuff.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against giving gifts on Christmas, or even getting gifts, for that matter. Gifts, in fact, are a way to commemorate the first Christmas. In case you forgot in your mad dash to get your hands on the latest electronics for deep discounts, our gifts at Christmas are meant to echo the gifts that the wise men left the newborn babe in Bethlehem, and I don’t think the wise men were paying their credit cards off until the second Christmas.
Of course, everyone knows all of this. No one will honestly say that they love Christmas for the mad shopping sprees and expensive booty that they rake in. But I even have a problem with what people claim as the “Reason for the Season” when they’re being honest.
“It’s about serving others,” they say. Or, “It’s about spending time with family.”
Okay. Those things are nice, and are some of the things that I enjoy about Christmas. But, whereas getting gifts is a tertiary benefit of the season, those other reasons are secondary. The primary reason we celebrate Christmas is to commemorate the birth of the Son of God, who was born to “save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). Because of that birth over two thousand years ago, and the Atonement that that baby would ultimately perform, all of our service and all of our family relationships would be meaningless.
I like to imagine myself in the fields with the shepherds who were watching over their fields by night. I wonder what it would have been like to suddenly see an angel and hear him make the pronouncement, “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). Would I have known that I was witnessing the second most important moment in the history of the world? Would I have reached out to touch the newborn Christ? Would I have recognized in Him the King of Kings and Lord of Lords?
It is because of Him, his birth, life, and Atoning sacrifice (which is the most important moment in the history of the world) that makes all our service and our cherished relationships meaningful. Without Him, no matter much service we did in this life, we, with those whom we serve, would all be condemned to die and stay that way forever. Without Him, we would have no hope of seeing our family again after this life. Because He now lives, we will all live again. Because He took upon Himself our sins, we can overcome them, and one day live the life that our Heavenly Father lives with our families with us. He is not only the “Reason for the Season,” He is the reason for everything. He is the only thing that makes life worth living.
Of course, all of you know that, and I thank any of you who have read this far for humoring me as I put some of my thoughts into words. So, I will reward all of you faithful readers out there. Do yourselves a favor and get a copy of the film The Nativity Story. It’s a magnificent film that tells the story of Christ’s birth with great reverence. If it’s too late to enjoy it this year, get it in time for next Christas. It’ll be a great addition to your Christmas movie collection, alongside It’s a Wonderful Life, Elf, and A Christmas Story.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
The Right Question
While we were in Europe, my family traveled north from Italy to Munich, Germany. Near to Munich, is Dachau Concentration Camp. I think that it was only fitting that we were there in November, when the trees were bare and the air was chill. It made the grounds harsh and uninviting. That’s the only way that place should feel.
Nazi Germany is an enigma to most modern people. It’s something were still grappling with as a society. That’s why books and movies about the Second World War are so popular. We still have questions that haven’t been answered. The main question is how could it have happened? How could they have done such horrible things?
Maybe they all suffered from mass hysteria. But that answer is really a non-answer. It doesn’t help us understand what happened. Reason and motive does not enter the brain of the hysterical. We have nothing to learn from them.
Maybe the Germans are a hateful people. But that just gives us an excuse to dismiss them. Hateful people are wrong, therefore I don’t need to understand them. We aren’t going to get any answers that way. And can we really believe that they are or were more hateful than any other people?
Maybe they were easily manipulated by their leaders. The Germans? They are one of the best educated nations on the planet. The notion that all of them were just used for the personal vendetta of their leaders is silly. Also, that argument just delays the question. Eventually we are going to want to know why their leaders would want to kill millions of people.
I think that these answers are hard to come by because we aren’t asking the right questions. Instead of asking, “How could they have done that?” we should ask, “What would I have done in their place?” That changes the way we think about the problem and gives us a better chance of solving it.
Between the world wars, Germany suffered one of the worst financial collapses ever experienced. To pay for its debt from the first war, the government just printed money until the German Mark was worth next to nothing. People would burn heaps of them for warmth. Milton Bradley collected them to put in the Monopoly game because that cost less than printing his own fake money. When the currency was hyperinflated, people’s savings became worthless. Businesses went under and unemployment was rampant.
Enter the young, charismatic leader of a new political party. The leader: Adolf Hitler. The party: the National Socialists. Hitler promised to put the country back on track. He promised to solve these economic problems. He promised to give people jobs again.
And in his first months in office, Hitler was true to his word. He solved the unemployment problem. He did so by going into so much debt that they had to invade and plunder their neighboring countries and seize the property of minorities to pay for this, but the average German didn’t know that. All he knew was that before he had no job, now he had one. All she knew was that before she had no bread, now she had that and more.
Now they hear rumors that people are being gassed in what are supposed to be worker retraining camps. Who are they going to believe? The people who gave them their life back, or unsubstantiated rumors? But what about the soldiers? Are they going to disobey orders and defy the people who made their country great again? When anyone else would flip the switch in his place?
If he was moral he would, we say. I think that is the answer. A moral person would do what is right. He would not be an executioner of innocent people even if it meant that he would have to lose his own life. Moral strength was lacking in Nazi Germany, which is why such atrocities were allowed to happen.
But I don’t think that Nazi Germany was especially lacking in moral strength. I think that most people, most nations are lacking in moral strength. An American teacher reproduced the Third Reich in his classroom, and his students started behaving like Nazis without even realizing it. We do what everyone around us does. We go with the flow. We look out for number one.
It takes great moral strength not to.
It takes great moral strength to stand up for what it right, even when everyone around you says that it is wrong. It takes great moral strength to defy your leaders, especially when they have complete power over you. It takes great moral strength to see the truth, even when it means that what you have been given is ill gotten.
When we stop asking, “How could they?” and start asking, “Would I?” maybe we’ll develop the moral strength necessary to prevent what happened in Nazi Germany from happening again.
Nazi Germany is an enigma to most modern people. It’s something were still grappling with as a society. That’s why books and movies about the Second World War are so popular. We still have questions that haven’t been answered. The main question is how could it have happened? How could they have done such horrible things?
Maybe they all suffered from mass hysteria. But that answer is really a non-answer. It doesn’t help us understand what happened. Reason and motive does not enter the brain of the hysterical. We have nothing to learn from them.
Maybe the Germans are a hateful people. But that just gives us an excuse to dismiss them. Hateful people are wrong, therefore I don’t need to understand them. We aren’t going to get any answers that way. And can we really believe that they are or were more hateful than any other people?
Maybe they were easily manipulated by their leaders. The Germans? They are one of the best educated nations on the planet. The notion that all of them were just used for the personal vendetta of their leaders is silly. Also, that argument just delays the question. Eventually we are going to want to know why their leaders would want to kill millions of people.
I think that these answers are hard to come by because we aren’t asking the right questions. Instead of asking, “How could they have done that?” we should ask, “What would I have done in their place?” That changes the way we think about the problem and gives us a better chance of solving it.
Between the world wars, Germany suffered one of the worst financial collapses ever experienced. To pay for its debt from the first war, the government just printed money until the German Mark was worth next to nothing. People would burn heaps of them for warmth. Milton Bradley collected them to put in the Monopoly game because that cost less than printing his own fake money. When the currency was hyperinflated, people’s savings became worthless. Businesses went under and unemployment was rampant.
Enter the young, charismatic leader of a new political party. The leader: Adolf Hitler. The party: the National Socialists. Hitler promised to put the country back on track. He promised to solve these economic problems. He promised to give people jobs again.
And in his first months in office, Hitler was true to his word. He solved the unemployment problem. He did so by going into so much debt that they had to invade and plunder their neighboring countries and seize the property of minorities to pay for this, but the average German didn’t know that. All he knew was that before he had no job, now he had one. All she knew was that before she had no bread, now she had that and more.
Now they hear rumors that people are being gassed in what are supposed to be worker retraining camps. Who are they going to believe? The people who gave them their life back, or unsubstantiated rumors? But what about the soldiers? Are they going to disobey orders and defy the people who made their country great again? When anyone else would flip the switch in his place?
If he was moral he would, we say. I think that is the answer. A moral person would do what is right. He would not be an executioner of innocent people even if it meant that he would have to lose his own life. Moral strength was lacking in Nazi Germany, which is why such atrocities were allowed to happen.
But I don’t think that Nazi Germany was especially lacking in moral strength. I think that most people, most nations are lacking in moral strength. An American teacher reproduced the Third Reich in his classroom, and his students started behaving like Nazis without even realizing it. We do what everyone around us does. We go with the flow. We look out for number one.
It takes great moral strength not to.
It takes great moral strength to stand up for what it right, even when everyone around you says that it is wrong. It takes great moral strength to defy your leaders, especially when they have complete power over you. It takes great moral strength to see the truth, even when it means that what you have been given is ill gotten.
When we stop asking, “How could they?” and start asking, “Would I?” maybe we’ll develop the moral strength necessary to prevent what happened in Nazi Germany from happening again.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Sacred Ground
I recently returned from a trip to Europe and my posts for the next few weeks will be discussing some of the experiences I had out there. My brother was already in Rome with a friend when I arrived, and the rest of my family wasn’t going to land until the evening, so my brother and his friend, Mike, showed me around the city for the day. We went to the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, and St. Peter’s Basilica. While we walked through basilica, I was overwhelmed by the size and the beauty of the place.
Mike had been to Rome many times before, and he freely shared his knowledge about what we were seeing. He informed us that the basilica was built over Peter’s tomb, he explained what all of the saints who are immortalized in marble there did to become saints, and he pointed out different relics in the basilica, such as the spear that pierced Jesus’ side. It slowly dawned on me that Mike was a Catholic and that he really believed the things he was telling me. When that dawned on me, it changed my experience inside the basilica.
I didn’t come away from that impressive structure a Catholic, or believing in many of the things Catholics believe. For example, I seriously doubt that the spear kept in St. Peter’s Basilica is the actual spear that pierced Jesus’ side. And even if it was, it would have more historical value than spiritual value as far as I’m concerned. But seeing this place through the eyes of someone who considers it sacred, just as so many people in the world do, was a gratifying experience. After all, if someone was going to tour one of the sites that I consider sacred, such as the grove of trees in upstate New York where God and Jesus Christ appeared to the boy prophet, Joseph Smith, or Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, I would want them to see it the way I do. I would want them to know why I consider it sacred.
That is not necessarily so they will believe what I believe, although if they did believe it that would be all the better. I would just want them to understand where I’m coming from. We Mormons have borne the brunt of our fair share of disrespect. In the eighteen hundreds, Mormons were persecuted, killed, raped, pillage, and driven from their homes and the Temple they had worked so hard to build. This happened not once, but twice, in Kirtland, Ohio and Nauvoo, Illinois. It almost happened again in Salt Lake City, Utah. In the present, Mormons have been accused of being racist, chauvinists, hate-mongers, and worse. I think that this persecution comes mostly because we don’t compromise our beliefs when they conflict with the demands of the world. Many of the things that we consider most sacred are degraded, ridiculed, and worse yet, exposed to the world’s misinformed scorn.
It hurts when people I meet let their pastors or their ill-informed friends speak for my beliefs. It’s frustrating when I cannot convince them that the falsehoods that they’ve heard are incorrect. Since I’ve had those experiences, I am very careful about not doing the same thing myself. If I am going to learn about a different religion, the least I can do is show those who believe in it the respect of learning about it from one of them, hear what they believe and why they believe it. I unexpectedly got that chance as Mike guided me and my brother through St. Peter’s Basilica, and because of that, I was better able to understand where he and the millions of other Catholics are coming from. Someday, if we’re ever in Salt Lake City at the same time, I would like to be able to return the favor.
Mike had been to Rome many times before, and he freely shared his knowledge about what we were seeing. He informed us that the basilica was built over Peter’s tomb, he explained what all of the saints who are immortalized in marble there did to become saints, and he pointed out different relics in the basilica, such as the spear that pierced Jesus’ side. It slowly dawned on me that Mike was a Catholic and that he really believed the things he was telling me. When that dawned on me, it changed my experience inside the basilica.
I didn’t come away from that impressive structure a Catholic, or believing in many of the things Catholics believe. For example, I seriously doubt that the spear kept in St. Peter’s Basilica is the actual spear that pierced Jesus’ side. And even if it was, it would have more historical value than spiritual value as far as I’m concerned. But seeing this place through the eyes of someone who considers it sacred, just as so many people in the world do, was a gratifying experience. After all, if someone was going to tour one of the sites that I consider sacred, such as the grove of trees in upstate New York where God and Jesus Christ appeared to the boy prophet, Joseph Smith, or Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, I would want them to see it the way I do. I would want them to know why I consider it sacred.
That is not necessarily so they will believe what I believe, although if they did believe it that would be all the better. I would just want them to understand where I’m coming from. We Mormons have borne the brunt of our fair share of disrespect. In the eighteen hundreds, Mormons were persecuted, killed, raped, pillage, and driven from their homes and the Temple they had worked so hard to build. This happened not once, but twice, in Kirtland, Ohio and Nauvoo, Illinois. It almost happened again in Salt Lake City, Utah. In the present, Mormons have been accused of being racist, chauvinists, hate-mongers, and worse. I think that this persecution comes mostly because we don’t compromise our beliefs when they conflict with the demands of the world. Many of the things that we consider most sacred are degraded, ridiculed, and worse yet, exposed to the world’s misinformed scorn.
It hurts when people I meet let their pastors or their ill-informed friends speak for my beliefs. It’s frustrating when I cannot convince them that the falsehoods that they’ve heard are incorrect. Since I’ve had those experiences, I am very careful about not doing the same thing myself. If I am going to learn about a different religion, the least I can do is show those who believe in it the respect of learning about it from one of them, hear what they believe and why they believe it. I unexpectedly got that chance as Mike guided me and my brother through St. Peter’s Basilica, and because of that, I was better able to understand where he and the millions of other Catholics are coming from. Someday, if we’re ever in Salt Lake City at the same time, I would like to be able to return the favor.
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Love Thy Neighbor...
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