Santa

[concernedamerican]

I have a real problem when parents lie to their children, about the fat man in a red suit who goes down chimneys. If, “He knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows when you’ve been bad or good...” Wouldn’t that make him all-knowing and omnipresent? If he can get presents to every house in the world in one night wouldn’t that have to make him all-powerful also? Isn’t God the only one who really has those attributes? The first of Ten Commandments, which God wrote with His own finger, says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). Shouldn’t the focus of Christmas be on Christ, not Santa? Besides why would you want some fat man to get the credit for your hard work anyway? And finally, if parents lie to their kids about Santa, and then later tell them that an all-knowing, all-powerful God loved them so much that He sent His son Jesus to earth to die for their sins, how are they suppose to believe it? Why should they believe any thing their parents say after that?

 

[4ujesus]

I have a real problem when parents lie to their children, about the fat man in a red suit who goes down chimneys. If, “He knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows when you’ve been bad or good...” Wouldn’t that make him all-knowing and omnipresent? If he can get presents to every house in the world in one night wouldn’t that have to make him all-powerful also? Isn’t God the only one who really has those attributes? The first of Ten Commandments, which God wrote with His own finger, says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). Shouldn’t the focus of Christmas be on Christ, not Santa? Besides why would you want some fat man to get the credit for your hard work anyway? And finally, if parents lie to their kids about Santa, and then later tell them that an all-knowing, all-powerful God loved them so much that He sent His son Jesus to earth to die for their sins, how are they suppose to believe it? Why should they believe any thing their parents say after that?

I agree completely!

Christmas is about Jesus not Santa. As parents how can we lie to our precious children and take the focus off of our Savior.

One suggestion for small children that we have done in our family. We put out the manger seen early in December. Each morning when our children come downstairs, the first thing we do is look in the manger for baby Jesus, if HE's not there it's not Christmas yet. It is such a blessing to see our children grasp the real meaning of Christmas at such an early age.

Day after day, no Jesus in the manger, it is not Christmas yet. Then finally on Christmas morning when the children run downstairs and to the manger and see Baby Jesus in the manger, Shouts of it's Christmas, it's Christmas-Jesus is in the manger, Jesus is born.

Our children grew up, not running down the stairs in anticipation of presents, but looking for Jesus.

We then read the true Christmas story form the Bible, and have a happy birthday Jesus party. Singing Happy Birthday to Him, and blowing out the candles on the cake that says "Happy Birthday Jesus"

Some will say that your kids will miss out if they don't get to believe in Santa, but the truth is that our kids will really miss out if they don't believe in Jesus.

May we teach them the truth and not confuse them with a Lie.

BTW- each of our kids get only three gifts on Christmas- As they shouldn't get more presents on Jesus' Birthday than He did.

 

[Lawless]

hello

 

[dearme]

You are right. It would basically make this man a god, wouldn't it? I'm not gonna say he would be Jesus. because santa will never be Jesus. Hey, santa isn't real. he's a fake. so, i agree with you 100%.

_Dearme here

I have a real problem when parents lie to their children, about the fat man in a red suit who goes down chimneys. If, “He knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows when you’ve been bad or good...” Wouldn’t that make him all-knowing and omnipresent? If he can get presents to every house in the world in one night wouldn’t that have to make him all-powerful also? Isn’t God the only one who really has those attributes? The first of Ten Commandments, which God wrote with His own finger, says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). Shouldn’t the focus of Christmas be on Christ, not Santa? Besides why would you want some fat man to get the credit for your hard work anyway? And finally, if parents lie to their kids about Santa, and then later tell them that an all-knowing, all-powerful God loved them so much that He sent His son Jesus to earth to die for their sins, how are they suppose to believe it? Why should they believe any thing their parents say after that?

 

[slacker1]

I have a real problem when parents lie to their children, about the fat man in a red suit who goes down chimneys. If, “He knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows when you’ve been bad or good...” Wouldn’t that make him all-knowing and omnipresent? If he can get presents to every house in the world in one night wouldn’t that have to make him all-powerful also? Isn’t God the only one who really has those attributes? The first of Ten Commandments, which God wrote with His own finger, says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). Shouldn’t the focus of Christmas be on Christ, not Santa? Besides why would you want some fat man to get the credit for your hard work anyway? And finally, if parents lie to their kids about Santa, and then later tell them that an all-knowing, all-powerful God loved them so much that He sent His son Jesus to earth to die for their sins, how are they suppose to believe it? Why should they believe any thing their parents say after that?

I tend to agree with you,True believers should not be teaching children about
this worldly "fat man". We need to be teaching the truth about what God has to say.

4. `Do not turn to idols, nor make for yourselves molded gods: I am the Lord your God.
5. `And if you offer a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord, you shall offer it of your own free will.

Leviticus 26:

1. `You shall not make idols for yourselves; neither a carved image nor a sacred pillar shall you rear up for yourselves; nor shall you set up an engraved stone in your land, to bow down to it; for I am the Lord your God.

21. They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God; they have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols. But I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation; I will move them to anger by a foolish nation.

 

[jazzbird]

Moved from Denomination-Specific Ethics

 

[.Mikha'el.]

I agree completely!

Christmas is about Jesus not Santa. As parents how can we lie to our precious children and take the focus off of our Savior.

One suggestion for small children that we have done in our family. We put out the manger seen early in December. Each morning when our children come downstairs, the first thing we do is look in the manger for baby Jesus, if HE's not there it's not Christmas yet. It is such a blessing to see our children grasp the real meaning of Christmas at such an early age.

Day after day, no Jesus in the manger, it is not Christmas yet. Then finally on Christmas morning when the children run downstairs and to the manger and see Baby Jesus in the manger, Shouts of it's Christmas, it's Christmas-Jesus is in the manger, Jesus is born.

Our children grew up, not running down the stairs in anticipation of presents, but looking for Jesus.

We then read the true Christmas story form the Bible, and have a happy birthday Jesus party. Singing Happy Birthday to Him, and blowing out the candles on the cake that says "Happy Birthday Jesus"

Some will say that your kids will miss out if they don't get to believe in Santa, but the truth is that our kids will really miss out if they don't believe in Jesus.

May we teach them the truth and not confuse them with a Lie.

BTW- each of our kids get only three gifts on Christmas- As they shouldn't get more presents on Jesus' Birthday than He did.

I will not disagree with you, but there something I must add. I do not think that children should be totally ignorant of the Santa Claus myth. It is extremely prevalent in North America, and celebrated to a great dealin the school system. Suppose a child is unaware of Santa Claus. So, when the subject of Santa comes up, and the child reveals his or her ignorance on the subject, bullying, teasing and other forms of social harassment will be guaranateed to follow. And whom will the child hold responsible for the teasing? The parents.

 

[holo]

If you go so far as making a god out of santa, then yes, you need to stop and think.

However, people don't normally do that.
What about, say, Lord of The Rings, or C.S. Lewis' characters? Would you reject them too because they're not, after all, actually real?
And a kid in the western world has seen so many santas on the same street by December 1st anyway, so there's not much chance (s)he'll think he's actually real. Besides, christmas isn't really about Jesus. It's an old pagan holiday.

Personally, I'd be more concerned with children who are deprived from Santa and other imaginary characters. It's good for a child to dream and fantasize.

The reason kids can lose their "faith" in Santa and actually believe in Jesus, is because Jesus is in fact real and alive. But if you feel your telling your kids about Jesus is jsut as plausible as telling them about Santa, you need a more powerful meeting with Jesus. Kicking Santa out certainly won't help IMO.

 

[holo]

BTW, I'm pretty sure the OP is just a troll, though sadly that kind of attitude doesn't really surprise me anymore.

 

[just_dance]

Yah it is a fun time but what happeneds at school when the teacher is talking about santa and the kid has no idea about him the kid will get teased and bullied about that. Santa is a figuar of giving nothing more people don't see him as a God. I was taught agout him and all childer grow out of him. The thing is that I was constently reminded of the true meaning that this is a time we celibrate christmas (he was probily born in April some time according to historians.) And about the three gift thing I could see that happening at a kids birthday but also remember the meanings of the gifts they were worth alot more than a millionn $ the frankinsene was for earth that he would be anoung the people mure was for death and gold was for rolity. The child was to chose one but he chose all three. If he only chose one that was to syblize what type of king he was to be. So the gifts weren't just that he probily got alot more from family members since childbrith if the child and mother survived it was a huge celibration aspecially if it was the first born.So those gifts were the ones mentioned because they ment something and not to mention they were given awile after Jesus was born.

 

[revrobor]

Christmas is not a Biblically mandated holiday so we are free to celebrate it any way we choose or not celebrate it at all. For those of us who follow God we celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas. Others celebrate it in other ways. I have never met anyone who "worships" Santa who is patterned after a real Roman Catholic saint "Nicolas" Christmas is not exclusively a "Christian" holiday.

 

[TheDag]

Personally, I'd be more concerned with children who are deprived from Santa and other imaginary characters. It's good for a child to dream and fantasize.

I agree that if you don't have the santa claus myth then you do need to make sure you encourage and help develop you childs imagination. A church I used to go to removed the need for the tooth fairy. If you lost a tooth then the child took it to church on sunday and was given $1 for it. It was explained to the child that losing a tooth meant they were growing and that we wanted to celebrate that growth with them. I can certainly see the problem with telling your kids a lie. I think you can explain the whole santa claus thing so they aren't ignorant when it's mentioned at school but also make sure they know he isn't real. I've seen very healthy, imagantive and artistic people some of which were told santa brought the presents and others who were told the truth from the beginning.

 

[GutterRat]

Oh geesh - telling the kids about Santa is no big deal. It's pure fun. Let the kids be kids.

 

[amx]

In our home we understood santa was a "game."

 

[intricatic]

The real question is in the mythos of Santa, who is he? Why does he have a red and white suit? Why do we celebrate Christmast with an evergreen tree? Why do we hang red stockings in front of a fire? Etc...etc...

 

[holo]

The real question is in the mythos of Santa, who is he? Why does he have a red and white suit? Why do we celebrate Christmast with an evergreen tree? Why do we hang red stockings in front of a fire?

The truth is out there...

 

[Protodromos]

I agree with what you posted. It would also be nice if the kids were taught about the actual St. Nicholas though. If you told a couple kids (boys especially) that St. Nick punched Arius at the first ecumenical council in 325 AD, they would probably have more respect for the holiday than ever before :o) Arius deserved it, I assure you-since he said that Jesus was created.

The focus of the Nativity is supposed to be on Christ of course. Athanasius said "God became man so that man might become like God." That about sums it up I think. I don't mind the commercialism to be totally honest, but the forgetting of Christ is the real issue. Those forgetting Christ especially at this time of year deserve a big lump of coal in the stocking if you ask me.

 

[BOJAX]

Santa is a glutton too.
I mean....all those cookies and milk.

 

[Diane_Windsor]

If, “He knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows when you’ve been bad or good...” Wouldn’t that make him all-knowing and omnipresent? If he can get presents to every house in the world in one night wouldn’t that have to make him all-powerful also? Isn’t God the only one who really has those attributes?

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

Do you realize that the above is only a song?

Shouldn’t the focus of Christmas be on Christ, not Santa?

As another poster said, Christmas is not mandated in Scripture, and people can choose how they wish to celebrate it (or not). Furthermore, the early Christians did not celebrate the Birth of Christ. They focused much more on the Ressurection.

Santa Claus, who is based on St. Nicolas, is a good metaphor for the Christian values of genorosity and giving (BTW, that makes Santa real in my book). Santa Claus is a good way to teach children these abstract concepts, and Jesus Himself often used parables and metaphors to explain difficult concepts to His followers.

Besides why would you want some fat man to get the credit for your hard work anyway? And finally, if parents lie to their kids about Santa, and then later tell them that an all-knowing, all-powerful God loved them so much that He sent His son Jesus to earth to die for their sins, how are they suppose to believe it? Why should they believe any thing their parents say after that?

See these two posts:
#19
#38

The real question is in the mythos of Santa, who is he? Why does he have a red and white suit? Why do we celebrate Christmast with an evergreen tree? Why do we hang red stockings in front of a fire? Etc...etc...

Since you mentioned this. Christmas Unwrapped - The History of Christmas has the answers. I'm sure that the History Channel will probably air it a few more times this month. As for Santa Claus, A&E has a Biography of him that has aired this month as well.

DIANE

 

[strikerchris0411]

I have a real problem when parents lie to their children, about the fat man in a red suit who goes down chimneys. If, “He knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows when you’ve been bad or good...” Wouldn’t that make him all-knowing and omnipresent? If he can get presents to every house in the world in one night wouldn’t that have to make him all-powerful also? Isn’t God the only one who really has those attributes? The first of Ten Commandments, which God wrote with His own finger, says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). Shouldn’t the focus of Christmas be on Christ, not Santa? Besides why would you want some fat man to get the credit for your hard work anyway? And finally, if parents lie to their kids about Santa, and then later tell them that an all-knowing, all-powerful God loved them so much that He sent His son Jesus to earth to die for their sins, how are they suppose to believe it? Why should they believe any thing their parents say after that?

Gosh lighten up its just make believe