The ads/ circulars are starting to appear heavier in the Sunday papers. Of course, this is leading up to the biggest, baddest, busiest shopping day of the year - Black Friday. Ooohhhh, do you get shivers from those two words being used together? Other than Joy Behars not so bright assumption that it is negative (since it uses the word "black" in its name) Black Friday is when retailers have traditionally gone into the "black" as far as sales go. Which is opposite to in the "red" or negative. (Video below of Behar's not so assertion on Black Friday)
Retailers now get more outlandish with the offers and add to the chaos that surrounds the day. The lines start forming earlier each year, sometimes right after Thanksgiving Dinner if there is an exceptional deal to be had. The stores even have workers passing out coffee and donuts to those in line as the countdown ticks away to the mad rush for that elusive deal. The retailers add to this frenzy by offering rock bottom pricing on a few items to just people in the door. I guess this works because the stores and malls are packed throughout the day.
I admit that there is a little bit of an adrenaline rush that comes with the thrill of the chase. But as I get older, and wiser, Black Friday shopping becomes less and less appealing to me. Only if there is something I can't get now or will not be stocked later will I venture out into the wild of the packs of shoppers. I am not a crowd person anyway, so I can wait.
One thing you will notice on the advertisement I pictured is Best Buy's willingness to include all religions holidays on the front of their paper. The most prominent on this one is a Muslim holiday called Eid al-Adha, which is the celebration of Abraham's willingness to offer up to sacrifice Ishmael, his son. But wait a minute, doesn't the bible say that Abraham was going to offer up Isaac? Why, yes, it does. So something is not meshing here, was it Ishmael or Isaac? I am 100% with the bible and say Isaac, but this is the fight that has raged for many years. I am not going into the arguments here, but I do suggest that you do your own study into this.
Along the bottom of the ad you will also see Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Happy Hanukkah and Happy Kwanzaa. Best Buy is really trying to please everyone with this method of advertising. I guess it is working for them, since they are the nations largest electronics retailer. This just follows the thinking of most people anyway. That all religions are equally valid, that they all follow the same god, etc. My answer to that - Jesus Christ declared that He is the only way to the Father in John 14:6. That is Jesus Himself speaking there, God in the flesh. So, do you believe that statement? If not and you think that the other worlds religions are just "another way" to God you are not a Christian. That is a very plainly laid out, black and white fact.
But what about the ad with all the other holidays? Should Christians be upset with Best Buy? Should Best Buy be boycotted by the AFA? Should other stores that just say "Happy Holiday" be boycotted? Sure, if you feel that conviction, but I will not tell you to do that or not to do that. To me it is simple and falls into the category that most people are sinners on their way to hell, we can't push Christian principles onto a lost person, we can't clean up a sinner and make them appear to be Christians. Sinners sin, which makes it their nature to deny the God of Christianity. But as far as shopping, consult your own conscious for that answer. I will walk around this Christmas Season as I have others, saying Merry Christmas to those I see regardless if they say Happy Kwanzaa or Happy Holiday.
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