This year, with all the divisiveness and “cancelling” we are bombarded with, I think it is high time we take a much more introspective look at the true meaning of Christmas. Dig a little deeper into what it really means to live the spirit of Christmas, of Christ. And to do that I can think of no more timely words than those written by E.G. White over 126 years ago in her little book Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing.

“The sentence, “Thou that judgest doest the same things,” doesn’t [even come close to reaching] the magnitude of his sin who presumes to criticize and condemn his brother. Jesus said, “Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? … Those who have never experienced the contrition of an entire surrender to [Love] do not in their life make manifest the softening influence of the Savior.

“These would be judges are placing themselves on the side of antichrist, “who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God”… When men indulge this accusing spirit, they are not satisfied with pointing out what they suppose to be a defect in their brother. If milder means fail of making him do what they think ought to be done, they will resort to compulsion. Just as far as lies in their power they will force men to comply with their ideas of what is right. This is what [men] have done ever since whenever [they] lost the grace of Christ. Finding [themselves] destitute of the power of love, [they] have reached out to the strong arm of the state to enforce [their] dogmas and execute [their] decrees. Here is … the secret to all persecution from the days of Abel to our own time.

“Christ does not drive but draws men unto Him. The only compulsion which He employs is the constraint of love… No one has ever been reclaimed from a wrong position by censure and reproach; but many have thus been driven [away] and led to seal their hearts against conviction. A tender spirit, a gentle, winning deportment, may save the erring… The revelation of Christ in your own character will have a transforming power upon all with whom you come in contact.”

So here’s the bottom line, however you prefer to refer to your god – Jesus, Allah, the Universe, science… – if your belief system, your “theology”, does not lead you to the practice of non-coercive love it can only do the opposite, lead to more cancelling and more injustice, and certainly cannot be called inclusive or unifying let alone “Christian”.

So what does all this have to do with Christmas, let alone wholistic dentistry? Any celebration of Christ should remind us of the lessons He taught, the lessons that inspired Dr. King, the lessons Gandhi spent 2 hours a day meditating on, those “love your brother and your enemies” lessons. No “Ya buts…” or “Only ifs…” Everybody; all the time. Our nation will not heal until we get that through our thick heads. And nobody in Washington or on any ballot can make it happen. It has to start at home; freely start at home.

And as far as your teeth go, both dental decay and gum infection start with inflammation, and stress is the number one cause of inflammation. And what is the number one cause of stress? Interpersonal discord, incoherence caused by a lack of love and manifested as coercion. Ya, I know. It seems like a stretch to some of you when your dentist starts talking about lifestyle issues like diet and exercise let alone l-o-o-o-v-e. But the truth is that I wouldn’t really be a true Wholistic Dentist if I didn’t.

I’ve said it before, the number one predictor of health and longevity is the consistent presence of love in a person’s life. (To learn the science on that read Love and Survival by Dr. Dean Ornish.) The lack of love causes stress which in turn compromises your heart, your brain, your teeth and gums, every cell in your body. All the stress management tools and techniques available, as helpful as they may be, are only Band-Aids and can never replace dealing with the root cause – not enough Golden Rule living, i.e., love.

And why do we have such a problem with that? Because we really don’t believe it. Our innate survival-of-the-fittest minds just can’t fully buy into a survival-of-the-most-selfless paradigm. But that paradigm shift is really what Jesus’ mission on earth was all about. “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father” he said. He knew that as long as people continue to view God as judgmental, punitive, and coercive, they will continue to act the same way. In other words, the example set by our gods (again, insert your preferred noun here) sets the moral compass we each inevitably emulate. (There is strong science to back this statement up too – see The God Shaped Brain by Dr. Timothy Jennings.)

Yes, Christmas is about hope and redemption, giving and caring, family, friends, and good food. But at the foundation of it all is Love. And the antithesis of Love? Coercion – cancelling, blocking, labeling, and controlling. Your oral health, your systemic health, the health of your family, the very health of our nation depends on the Christmas Spirit taking over our lives 24/7/365. Are you ready to really get healthy and make a difference too? Let’s each of us pledge to make Christmas 2022 the start of true lasting healing.