The Christmas Holiday season gives each of us an opportunity to reflect on the year gone by, our successes or failures, along with our joys or sorrows. Recently, in her weekly column for Townhall.com, conservative and political writer Myra Kahn Adams explored a very interesting topic: “What if Jesus Had Never Been Born?” Her article compelled me to consider the blessings we have in the West, where the Judeo-Christian ethic, morality, and worldview are foundational to our society, including the rule of law, and to compare those blessings with what life would be like without those blessings.
A world in which Christ had never been born, and therefore a world in which there was no Christmas and no Christian faith or influence, would be a dystopian nightmare we can only fearfully imagine. Without Jesus, we would have no example of the self-giving, sacrificial love of the Son of God or of God the Father who sent His only Son to redeem the world from our sin—our separation from and rebellion against God. But when we begin to look around, startlingly, one does not have to do a “deep dive” into the history books or look too far to see the contrasting realities that exist right now.
Compare the wealth, prosperity, and standard of living of the West to the citizens who live under the rule of socialist, communist, or Islamic dictatorships. The socialist/communist system of government is openly hostile to religion or to belief in an almighty Creator God. In every case, Christianity is banned under the penalty of law and imprisonment. For the people who live(d) in those countries, it may as well be as if Jesus had never been born.
Adoration of the Shepherds by Hugo van der Goes. Public domain.
Life for the citizens living under despotic, self-serving dictators serves to reinforce and dramatically illustrate the fallen nature of humanity. What motivates those who strive for authority over us is power and control. Power is what they seek, and they will stop at nothing to keep it.
The Nativity story in the Gospel of Matthew provides its own example, as King Herod sought to murder the child who would be the One to fulfill ancient prophecies and be a threat to his reign. Throughout human history, we have repeatedly seen clear examples of corruption, murder, and deceit from those who claim for themselves the mantel of our “ruling class.”
Christians in the West are also attempting to counter the influence of over a hundred years of post-modern, liberal-progressive ideologies in which social reforms (enacted and enforced by the power of the state) are intended to correct all manner of social ills, inequities, and injustices. Instead, we have squandered trillions of dollars, wreaked havoc on our culture, and continue to sustain a wider, ever-growing number of social ills, inequities, and injustices.
The acceptance of a post-modern, liberal-progressive worldview that strives at every opportunity to expel the notion of God from public discussion and cultural influence is also increasingly hostile to anyone who professes religious faith, specifically a confession of faith in the Creator God of the Bible and His commandments. It is the expulsion of God from our popular culture and its broader impact that coarsens our discourse and hastens the destruction of society’s foundational relationships. Herein lies the root of our problems.
The very people responsible for the discord, dysfunction, inequities, and injustices are the ones who have been trying to convince large segments of our population that they are “the ones” to correct all wrongs if we relinquish our freedoms and give them more control. They strive to tell us, again and again, that their man-made and man-devised schemes will be the solution to all our problems, whether worldly or spiritual.
In recent months, the corruption and failures of our government have not escaped notice. In the face of such blatant corruption and failures, Christians across the country have mobilized. First, as documented in an American Greatness article, “Faith Made All the Difference,” “Christians of all denominations [showed that they] have had enough,” and Christian voters made sure they were heard loud and clear as they overwhelmingly turned out for President Trump.
In addition, the landslide electoral victory was likely propelled by the backdrop of the myriad failures of the federal government’s response to Hurricane Helene. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, sadly, once again, embodied the frequent failures of an administration that raises ideological fealty over the desire to serve or possess the essential competencies needed to provide for citizens affected by natural disaster.
When it was “crunch time,” it was every day, average Americans—neighbor helping neighbor (as it should be)—who stepped up and succeeded. Let there be no mistake: The Christians showed up and got to work!
As a native of North Carolina, my church donated generously, and I spent a week volunteering in the Asheville, North Carolina, area. My son and I worked mostly behind the scenes, but we put in a full day’s work to help unload, sort, warehouse, and ship the supplies that were vitally needed across the region. Some have called it a triumph of the American spirit, but I will assert that it was a combination of our foundational Judeo-Christian ethic to care for our neighbor, as well as the heartfelt desire by Christians to be agents of the light, hope, love, and compassion of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Myra Kahn Adams’ column included a paraphrased quote from British author and Christian apologist C.S. Lewis: if Jesus had never been born, it would be “always winter, but never Christmas.” We would be left cold, without hope. There would be estrangement, with no redemption, no peace. There would be darkness and very little discernable or perceptible light.
But Christ was born! He was born in a dirty, smelly livestock pen in Bethlehem. The Gospel of Luke recorded specific historical details about the birth of Christ, linking the event to a specific time and place in human history. The Gospel of John proclaims, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1: 4, English Standard Version). Christ came! The Gospel of John later recounts Jesus saying that He came not “to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:17, New King James Version).
Adams’ column also quoted American poet James Lowell Russell:
I challenge any skeptic to find a ten square mile spot on this planet where they can live their lives in peace and safety and decency, where womanhood is honored, where infancy and old age are revered, where they can educate their children, where the Gospel of Jesus Christ has not gone first to prepare the way.
No government, nor any system thereof devised by any politician, can solve our problems. At their root, our problems are spiritual problems. The spiritual problems of this world can only be solved by the One Who came to save us. The benefits to humanity and the blessings that flow from the birth of Christ are interwoven in human history. It is the single most important event in The Lord God Almighty’s direct action in human history, and because He has done so on our behalf, we all immeasurably benefit.
May the Peace of God and the glad tidings of Salvation in Christ Jesus fill your hearts with Joy! Merry Christmas!
Jeff M. Lewis is a Christian, a native of North Carolina, a husband, father, Veteran, and former professional pilot.
Jesus Christ is King
