Does the end justify the means?

She faced months, if not years in jail, which was unthinkable. She was a wife and a mother. She was also an alcoholic. And she had racked up back-to-back-to-back DUIs. The state was done giving her second, third and fourth chances to clean up her act.

So, she ran.

And she had help. A safe haven was provided, in exchange for her providing care and companionship for an elderly relative who lived out-of-state, out of the reach of those who sought to incarcerate her. Perhaps she could redeem the time, redeem all that had gone wrong in her life. At the time, everyone was in agreement. And for awhile, it worked. There were no more DUIs, and the telephone reports were all positive. Until the death of the elderly relative. It wasn't until after the funeral that her duplicity was uncovered. A battle royal ensued, severing familial ties that had survived hurricane force winds in the past but were stretched beyond the breaking point with this discovery.

Can the end ever justify the means? Does the desired end even materialize? Or do the means destroy the desired end?

No one can predict with any level of certainty how her life and the lives of those affected most deeply by the schism would have turned out if she had made a different decision those many years ago. But the heartache caused by the current reality is undeniable. And there is no way to reclaim that which has been lost.

It seems from the earliest days of Christianity that those who chose to follow Christ also desired to fulfill his final command "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:" (Matthew 28:19)

And so they did.

But what did they find? A world, not unlike our own, that really wasn't all that concerned or interested in this Savior, this incarnate God that had bled and died to atone for the sins of the world.

And so began the deception that the end can, indeed, justify the means. Because all that can be said about men of old can be said yet today.

Human nature hasn't changed much, if at all, over time, and those who seek to bring the good news of the Gospel continue to discover a world that isn't the least bit interested in being saved.

Saved from what? they wonder. They have gods of their own, complete with festivals, celebrations and religious rites.

It's hard to know, these many years later, which came first, the manger or the egg, but both have their roots in the righteous motive of getting people to Jesus, by whatever means that seemed expedient at the time. And so today, both holidays have the veneer of Christianity, to the extent that the majority of American Christians get all up in arms each Christmas season about "Keeping Christ in Christmas," causing, in my opinion, more harm than good to the cause of Christ.

After all, anyone, looking in from the outside (that is to say from outside the faith) at this particular holiday, and all of the hoopla, chaos and stress it entails in the 21st century would be hard-pressed to connect it to the peace Christ promised.

The upcoming celebration of Easter isn't faring much better. Again, in an attempt to make Christianity more palatable to the pagan world, Christian imagery was assigned to pagan practices, so much so that the truth of the Resurrection may ultimately end up on the altar of expediency.

In fact, in a poll published by the Barna Group, although 67 percent of Americans describe Easter as a religious celebration, only 42 percent relate it directly to the resurrection of our Lord.

Anyone, looking in from the outside (that is to say from outside the faith) at this particular holiday, replete with Easter eggs, Easter bunnies and even sunrise services, reminiscent as they are of sun worship, would be hard-pressed to connect any of it to the Risen and Redeeming Christ.

So what are we to do?

Can a Christian be a Christian without Christmas? Without Easter? Certainly, without the virgin birth of the Christ Child, Jesus becomes what so many already believe him to be: simply a good man, a great teacher, perhaps even a prophet of the Most High God. But not the Messiah. Not the only begotten Son of God, come to seek and to save that which was lost.

And apart from the Resurrection, our faith is utterly futile as Paul once noted in his first letter to the Corinthian believers, "And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men." (1 Corinthians 15:14-20)

Truly, we must have both as tenets of the faith. But dressing up these truths in the old wineskins of paganism, deadening the faithful to the sins of excess our modern celebrations sometimes lead too, may ultimately end up doing more harm than good. And who can say if that which is lost in the process can ever be reclaimed?

The virtues brought about by the first advent of Christ, the peace he carried into the world, and the rejoicing he deposited into the hearts of all believers upon his resurrection, must be part and parcel of every day of our lives as his followers. And each day of our lives, he reminds us of his command to lay down our lives, just as he did on Golgotha, thereby saving us and strengthening us to endure whatever trials or tribulations come, because come they will. Each day, also, we are called to remember whose we are and each day we are called to lead a life worthy of our Lord.

Perhaps, if we can live in this way, at peace with all men, as much as it depends upon us, then we will have the opportunity to completely fulfill his command in Matthew "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

Our Lord does not need gimmicks -- be that pastel eggs or haloed babes in mangers -- to reach the hearts of men. He deals in truth, always and exclusively. He needs faithful witnesses, willing to proclaim, in word and in deed, to one and all, "He is not here: for he is risen, as he said." (Matthew 28:6) Because, no matter how good our intentions, no matter how righteous, if the means are unrighteous, the end may be forfeit.

"Jesus said unto her, 'I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?'" John 11:25, 26 (KJV)