We live in a queer world and so many things are going topsy-turvy. There is confusion everywhere, as the devil is more intent on dragging many downhill. Sadly, there are many that are willing to follow him there.
I was appalled last week when a townsman of mine, a professor and former vice chancellor, drew my attention to the latest madness in town. The message he forwarded to me read: Outrage as Cambridge dictionary changes the definition of “man” and “woman”’
The definition was altered to include people who identify as a gender other than their biological sex.
The definition of woman, which previously was about the sex a person was born as, now states that a woman is “an adult who lives and identifies as female though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth.”
Outrage as Cambridge dictionary changes the definition of “man” and “woman”
Similarly, a man is now defined as “an adult who lives and identifies as male though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth.”
Are you as shocked as Prof and I? Thankfully we are not alone.
The message went on to add some of the views by an outraged world.
This change has elicited criticisms. Many argued that redefining society’s categorization of gender and sex is harmful and inaccurate.
“Cambridge Dictionary just dropped a new definition of ‘woman’,” Christopher Rufo, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, tweeted.
Outrage as Cambridge dictionary changes the definition of “man” and “woman”
Rufo also pointed out that the dictionary used the pronoun “they” to describe the subject rather than “she”.
“Notice that the dictionary writers say ‘*they* may have been.’ They couldn’t bring themselves to write ‘she may have been,’ because they know they’re lying. That’s the tell,” he tweeted.
Adam Brooks, a British social commentator, questioned whether women are happy with the change.
He wrote: “Oh wow, the @CambridgeWords dictionary definition of a woman is shocking, how did we get here? Surely women aren’t happy with this?”
Dan McLaughlin, a senior writer at National Review, argued the change is Orwellian.
“1984 wasn’t supposed to be a how-to manual,” he tweeted.
Indeed, 1984 is here in 2022, going to 2023. We are contending with an Orwellian situation, which is fast railroading the world to damnation. This is a repudiation of the essence of Christmas, which is the birth of Christ, the saviour.
Funnily, many are celebrating Christmas without Christ. They are celebrating the birth of Christ the saviour without being saved by him. They are celebrating Christmas without the celebrant they neither know nor want to experience.
The markets are boisterous. Brisk sales making hitherto lean pockets bulge. There is a stifling stench of blood in the air, as a man commits murderous crimes against fowls and goats on a scale never imagined. What is the offence of these hapless creatures?
Jokes apart, how many have soiled their hands in crimes and rituals just to get money to celebrate Christmas? How many have taken risks to get money to celebrate Christmas? How many women’s balloons have men pumped full just to get money to celebrate Christmas? How many backyard child incinerators have been primed to reap from the evil windfall of Christmas?
Friends, forget this Christmas; there is nothing like it. Why, you asked?
Well, there is nothing like it for you if you don’t know the celebrant. You are a gatecrasher and shall be thrown out when the doors for the real party are flung open at Rapture.
The Bible tells us of such an incident in Matthew 22:1-14. The king shall soon come to inspect the Christmas guests and anyone not properly garbed shall not only be thrown out but also bound and cast into outer darkness where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Beloved, your new clothes don’t matter. Your sumptuous delicacies don’t matter. You may kill all the animals and fete the entire humanity; they don’t matter either. You could do all these and still be cast into eternal weeping when the king comes because of your improper dressing; because you are celebrating Christmas without Christ.
When was the last time you went to church? Last year’s Christmas? And after this year, when will you go again? Next year, of course, when we again recycle our annual ritual.
That is how much we value Christmas. Even our streets have been washed clean like Hope Uzodinma awaiting the visitation of Buhari. Our Christmas lights and trees have been hung. Our houses wear fresh tar and all around us glitters. There are fireworks, food fests, and carnivals. However, is this Christmas? How many have factored the celebrant in our feverish preparations?
Christmas has become more of a commerce and funfair. A time to buy and sell; a time to travel and to visit; a time to eat and make merry. Believers and unbelievers are feverishly milling around jam-packed streets, gaily dressed and happy, bearing their gifts but without the greatest gift of all.
It is impossible to celebrate without the celebrant, otherwise, your celebration is vile and in vain.
Nevertheless, thanks to God that you are reading this. It is an opportunity to go and get properly dressed for that Big Event where the high and low meld indistinctively. The Big Event that shall demystify highfalutin human intellect. That Big Event where the worthy and unworthy are rewarded accordingly.
You may pander to homosexuality and lesbianism and change the definition of a woman but we know women where we see them; nothing really changed. You may tell the lies and mount gilded citadels of power but at the fullness of time, all fakery shall crumble before the real power.
Like E.T.W. sang: People, all around the world, you can’t spell Christmas without Christ!
To sum up with Kirk Franklin:
It’s time again for the holidays.
Pain and sorrow miles away.
But in my spirit, I’ve got to say.
There’s no Christmas without you.
There’s no Christmas.
With caroling and mistletoe.
Children playing in the snow
But in their hearts, the world must know
There’s no Christmas without you.
NB: Just like yesterday, 2022 was born but the year is already far gone and ebbing. In this evening of the year, may you recover all that you lost, especially the essence of Christmas. May the year end on high for you and yours, in Jesus’ matchless name, Amen.
HAPPY CHRISTMAS!