At Christmas, don’t forget Christ
by Ffion Shiner, The Conservative Woman:
Today marks the first Sunday of Advent, traditionally a period of penitence and preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ.
Christmas is a time of great celebration but its true meaning has been lost in the tat, materialism and individualism of the modern world. Christianity is ultimately humbling – we believe, after all, that we needed saving – and this contradicts an age of selfies, self-aggrandisement and self-promotion.
Rousseau propagated the notion of the ‘the noble savage’, that people are essentially good and it is civilisation and socialisation that corrupts us and causes the chaos seen in the world. This disagrees with the Christian view of humanity: that we are fallen, but good, and it is our nature that makes us sin which is why we need Christ.
It seems Rousseau’s view of humanity has prevailed, with the slavish devotion to any impulse and desire that passes through us. Of course we all have needs, vital needs essential to our well-being and survival, but how easy the line between wants and needs is muddied.
Someone may want to divorce their partner, but with a quick dabble in Freudian psychoanalysis, and an article about the oppressive nature of marriage, suddenly this has become a need, a necessity to their well-being and survival.
No surprise, then, that Christ is ignored during Christmas when His message is antithetical to the philosophy of the age. For not only does He humble us, He also redeems and saves us, and this message of hope is similarly shunned.
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