The meaning of Christmas

December 25, 2013 Leave a comment

Updated: Tuesday December 24, 2013 MYT 7:43:17 AM

The meaning of Christmas

CHRISTIANS all over the world celebrate Christmas on Dec 25. Wong Chun Wai wrote a very interesting article “The 10 myths of Christmas” (The Star, Dec 22) and this got me thinking to write my reflections on what Christmas means to me in contemporary Malaysia. For a majority of people it is the cultural dimensions of celebration and festivity which dominate the day with gifts, food and decorations.There is in addition a very strong consumer and commercial orientation to Christmas and year-end sales in all major shopping centres and hotels.

In good Malaysian tradition the open houses are another expression of cultural appreciation of our diversity.

However, on a more serious note three key dimensions are relevant as we reflect on the meaning of Christmas.

First, it is really a day to remember the coming of Jesus Christ into the world.

History tells us that there are no historical evidences that Jesus was born on this day or that in the early period the disciples of Jesus celebrated this day.

However, with the conversion of Emperor Constantine (about 312 AD) that we see the institutionalisation of this day.

In this context it must be remembered that prior to this watershed moment in history, Christianity was viewed as “a tiny, persecuted religion” especially in the time of emperor Nero (64 AD).

It then became “the established religion in the medieval West” and today its influence is global in every part of the world.

Second, what is significant is not the date per say but the significance of the day with the theological meaning.

Christmas literally reminds us that “God is with us”. It is this theme of God, the creator of the universe who took the form of a man and entered human history so as to show us the way to God.

The message is “the love of God” for a hurting world and to individuals who feel that they are far from God.

Wrongdoing in the world is categorised as sinful and unacceptable to the way of God.

The embodiment of that love is Jesus and through faith in his life and teachings one will be able to experience this closeness and oneness with God.

This spiritual meaning also has practical implications for daily living in both personal, ethical and moral living at home and society.

There is a moral obligation to advocate this in public life at the national level, too, as responsible citizens of the nation.

Third, experiencing the love of God and celebrating Christmas also implies sharing this Love of God with all of humanity.

A prophet of old said that “…a child is born… a son is given” and that he is the “prince of peace”.

The Christmas message is a message of peace to all of humanity that we can be in peace with God and peace with fellow human beings.

In the world we live in there is so much anger, hate, killing and enmity and we see humanity tearing itself apart.

We are moving further and further away from the true purpose of living and not experiencing the harmony with God and humanity.

The culture of greed fosters selfishness and abuse of the resources given to us by the creator God. We can escape these through a path of obedience with God.

Christmas is therefore a time to think of others, share our time and resources so that the light of faith can shine the love, compassion and justice of the living God upon all human beings.

DENISON JAYASOORIA

Kuala Lumpur

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Kee Koon Boon (“KB”) is the co-founder and director of HERO Investment Management which provides specialized fund management and investment advisory services to the ARCHEA Asia HERO Innovators Fund (www.heroinnovator.com), the only Asian SMID-cap tech-focused fund in the industry. KB is an internationally featured investor rooted in the principles of value investing for over a decade as a fund manager and analyst in the Asian capital markets who started his career at a boutique hedge fund in Singapore where he was with the firm since 2002 and was also part of the core investment committee in significantly outperforming the index in the 10-year-plus-old flagship Asian fund. He was also the portfolio manager for Asia-Pacific equities at Korea’s largest mutual fund company. Prior to setting up the H.E.R.O. Innovators Fund, KB was the Chief Investment Officer & CEO of a Singapore Registered Fund Management Company (RFMC) where he is responsible for listed Asian equity investments. KB had taught accounting at the Singapore Management University (SMU) as a faculty member and also pioneered the 15-week course on Accounting Fraud in Asia as an official module at SMU. KB remains grateful and honored to be invited by Singapore’s financial regulator Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to present to their top management team about implementing a world’s first fact-based forward-looking fraud detection framework to bring about benefits for the capital markets in Singapore and for the public and investment community. KB also served the community in sharing his insights in writing articles about value investing and corporate governance in the media that include Business Times, Straits Times, Jakarta Post, Manual of Ideas, Investopedia, TedXWallStreet. He had also presented in top investment, banking and finance conferences in America, Italy, Sydney, Cape Town, HK, China. He has trained CEOs, entrepreneurs, CFOs, management executives in business strategy & business model innovation in Singapore, HK and China.

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