Christmas, forgotten.

Being the New Year, most people have long forgotten about Christmas. The problem we have is that people have not just forgotten about Christmas because of the date on the calendar, many people have no clue what Christmas is actually about.

A recent report from the UK read as follows:-

A survey has found that as many as two out of five British millennials (those born between 1980 and 2000) do not know that Jesus Christ is the baby in Nativity scene displays. The survey, carried out by research company OnePoll on behalf of Hotels.com found that 39% of 2,000 Britons aged between 21 and 38 did not know the baby’s identity. A similar amount, or 37% of respondents, also did not know about Joseph and Mary.

The poll also posed a number of other questions. Among them:-

· Less than 10% of young people were able to name the gifts by the wise men in the story; and

· 6% said that they believed the story of Santa Claus was somehow linked with the Nativity!

A miniscule 6% of Britons are classified as practicing Christians and therefore it is no surprise that millennials are becoming Biblically and culturally ignorant. In many ways, they are not to blame. After all, knowledge is somewhat generational and if people of the generation prior have not taken the time to impart the truth of the Word upon them, then they will naturally look elsewhere for information on spiritual matters. In this pluralistic society, many have embraced a form of pantheism over the truth of the Bible. In addition, with the push to remove religious instruction from schools, children and young adults are simply filling their minds with useless junk from the internet and social media.

Ronald Reagan once said: Christmas can be celebrated in the school room with pine trees, tinsel and reindeers, but there must be no mention of the Man whose birthday is being celebrated. One wonders how a teacher would answer if a student asked why it was called Christmas.

Despite this, all is not lost. After all, Jesus preached to doubters, didn’t He? The vast majority of the people who listened to Jesus’ teachings and witnessed His miracles harboured misgivings about following Him, while others outright opposed Him. The rich made excuses and refused to leave their wealth behind. The religious scholars found reasons to avoid Him.

In fact, just about everyone who met Jesus doubted Him at one point or another.

So, let’s not accept the doubt as the be all and end all. Let’s take it as an opportunity to start again and teach young people with the true Gospel.