Christmas gives us something to believe in

OPINION:

In 1990, the rock band Poison released one of its signature songs, “Something to Believe In.” The song was a call for something positive, something of substance.

In desperation and sorrow, the band called out for something to believe in. Throughout America and beyond, it became an anthem sung by hundreds of thousands of fans who were frustrated with reality as they saw it. The song resonated with many in the early 1990s as it spoke of the tangible emptiness of a life devoid of purpose. It was a ballad that rose above disillusionment, sorrow, suffering, pain and injustice. It struck a chord.

Why?

The answer is simple. We all need something to believe in. No one can live without meaning and purpose. Inside the heart and soul of every man and woman is a desire for something more.

Pascal called this the “God-shaped vacuum” in every human heart. C.S. Lewis said the “longing” proves the existence of “the real thing” that longing desires.

“Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists,” Lewis said. “A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. … If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.”

Lewis and Pascal are both saying this: Thirst is made for water; hunger is made for food; questions are made for answers; and life is made for meaning — in other words, vacuums will always be filled.

Every person needs something to believe in, and those who kill the God they see in the manger will always resurrect a new one that looks an awful lot like the one they see in the mirror. But the obvious problem here is that if history teaches us anything, we make for very poor gods. To quote G.K. Chesterton: “Of all the horrible religions, the most horrible is the worship of the god within.”

This week, as you wish people a “Merry Christmas,” remember the principle of the vacuum. Remember, we all want something to believe in. Everyone is broken and wants more. We all yearn for “the real thing” that is bigger and better than the temporal and material.

Saying “Merry Christmas” is not and never has been a mere seasonal pleasantry. “Merry Christians,” on the contrary, means something profound and powerful. It means we believe in a “Savior who is Christ the Lord”; it means that “the government shall be upon his shoulders,” that he is “the beginning and the end, the way, the truth, and the life, and the great I AM!”

“Merry Christmas” means we believe that the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” that he was and is Immanuel — “God with us” — our savior and our king, our redeemer, our guide, our peace, our joy, our comfort, our life, our light!

Saying “Merry Christmas” means we believe that Jesus Christ is the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, the Lord of our daily lives and our judge at the end of our days.

Merry Christmas means we believe that a virgin’s child was and is “the image of the invisible God” and that “by him, all things hold together.” It means we believe “In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge … and the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in him.”

Merry Christmas proclaims that Jesus is the light of the world, the good shepherd, the door, the narrow gate, the true vine, the resurrection and the life.

Merry Christmas means we believe in something much bigger and better than just the here and now. It means we believe that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” and that “the one and only Son is himself God.”

Saying Merry Christmas means we believe the “ages are canceled, centuries are left behind. … [Christ] has no limit of time; the uncreated Word ’WAS’ in the beginning” (Hilary of Poitiers), and that death has lost its victory and the grave its sting (St. Paul).

Joy to the world, the Lord has come. We have beheld his glory, full of grace and truth. Merry Christmas to all! Thank God, our savior, we all have something to believe in!

• Everett Piper (dreverettpiper.com, @dreverettpiper), a columnist for The Washington Times, is a former university president and radio host. He is the author of “Not a Daycare: The Devastating Consequences of Abandoning Truth” (Regnery). He can be reached at epiper@dreverettpiper.com.