Joshua-777 Posted December 8, 2022 Group: Royal Member Followers: 5 Topic Count: 410 Topics Per Day: 0.06 Content Count: 3,102 Content Per Day: 0.48 Reputation: 522 Days Won: 6 Joined: 10/19/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 11/07/1984 Share Posted December 8, 2022 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omegaman 3.0 Posted December 8, 2022 Group: Graduated to Heaven Followers: 57 Topic Count: 1,546 Topics Per Day: 0.21 Content Count: 10,320 Content Per Day: 1.41 Reputation: 12,323 Days Won: 9 Joined: 04/15/2004 Status: Offline Birthday: 11/05/1951 Share Posted December 8, 2022 I've not watch the video yet (I will) but I already have an opinion. My opinion? There is nothing wrong with teaching your kids the truth! Anecdotal story. I was in the third grade, when one night a tooth came out. I did not want to wake my parents about it, so I just place my tooth under the pillow for the tooth fairy. When I woke up in the morning I turned my pillow over to discover a . . . tooth? It did not take long before I figured out that my parents has lied to me. I can remember confronting them about their intentional deception, tears in my eyes, I exclaimed I no longer believed in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny either. I feel almost fortunate, that they never taught me about God, or I might have included Him in the I don't believe category. As it turned out, being educated by the public school system, and lots of science books (which I loved) and nature programs on TV, I learned to not believe in God anyway, but being deceived by people who are themselves deceived, is not as painful as having the people you most trust in your life feeding you lies. What made is worse was that I seemed to have been the last one in my class at school to know that Santa was not real. So, in addition to being deceived by loved ones, I had the pain of embarrassment of being the only "baby" in my class. On the plus side, I got over it. I learned to be more skeptical about claims and learned to investigate. As a parent, I purposed to never lie to my own children (5 of them who are now adults), and although there are things I may never have disclose to them, as far as I know, I have not told any of them a single lie in the 35 (as of November of 2022) years I have had kids. I know my parents did not mean to hurt me, nor did they have any mal intent, but I doubt they really thought this through. I cannot help but think, that it was a shame, that they bought me gifts, which Santa got the credit for. Sort of like how God does not get the credit for the good things in the lives of unbelievers, which is a shame. Rom 1:21 P.S. Just watched the video, and I see we are pretty much on the same page! I had a little smile though, when I noticed your sweater had Santas and Reindeer! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willa Posted December 8, 2022 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 68 Topic Count: 186 Topics Per Day: 0.04 Content Count: 14,244 Content Per Day: 3.33 Reputation: 16,658 Days Won: 30 Joined: 08/14/2012 Status: Offline Share Posted December 8, 2022 I concur. We told our kids the truth about Santa Clause, that someone's daddy was dressed up in the costume. I figured if I lied to my kids about Santa how would they believe me about the Christ. Today my kids are saved, their kids are saved and have married godly spouses. It is largely because I wanted my attitudes and values to always be about bringing them to know Christ. It was bringing them up in the way they should go. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teddyv Posted December 9, 2022 Group: Royal Member Followers: 6 Topic Count: 6 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 4,264 Content Per Day: 2.93 Reputation: 2,302 Days Won: 1 Joined: 05/03/2020 Status: Offline Share Posted December 9, 2022 Since we are of Dutch heritage, Sinter Klaas is a big thing there, and is tied with the historical St. Nicholas (although mythologized somewhat). So our kids have known about that since they were little. I can't recall us ever telling/suggesting to them Santa Claus is real (as in the modern version) - it was just a symbol of the season, so to speak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmuffet Posted December 9, 2022 Group: Royal Member Followers: 34 Topic Count: 1,991 Topics Per Day: 0.48 Content Count: 48,689 Content Per Day: 11.80 Reputation: 30,343 Days Won: 226 Joined: 01/11/2013 Status: Offline Share Posted December 9, 2022 I think Christian's parents should be honest with their children. You could tell them that children who have parents who do not believe on Jesus Christ believe in Santa instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayne Posted December 10, 2022 Group: Royal Member Followers: 16 Topic Count: 107 Topics Per Day: 0.04 Content Count: 3,820 Content Per Day: 1.29 Reputation: 4,806 Days Won: 2 Joined: 03/31/2016 Status: Offline Share Posted December 10, 2022 12 minutes ago, missmuffet said: I think Christian's parents should be honest with their children. You could tell them that children who have parents who do not believe on Jesus Christ believe in Santa instead. I realize I will be in the minority opinion here and that's OK. I believed in Santa Claus until I was 6 or 7. It had nothing to do with my belief in God and Christ. When I found out Santa was not real - I was like.....er, OK. And I moved on. It never interfered with what I KNEW about Jesus. It's not an "either or". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmuffet Posted December 10, 2022 Group: Royal Member Followers: 34 Topic Count: 1,991 Topics Per Day: 0.48 Content Count: 48,689 Content Per Day: 11.80 Reputation: 30,343 Days Won: 226 Joined: 01/11/2013 Status: Offline Share Posted December 10, 2022 59 minutes ago, Jayne said: I realize I will be in the minority opinion here and that's OK. I believed in Santa Claus until I was 6 or 7. It had nothing to do with my belief in God and Christ. When I found out Santa was not real - I was like.....er, OK. And I moved on. It never interfered with what I KNEW about Jesus. It's not an "either or". I did not grow up in a Christian family. Of course I believed in Santa and was not told otherwise. It is when I became a born again Christian that all my views on many things changed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teddyv Posted December 10, 2022 Group: Royal Member Followers: 6 Topic Count: 6 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 4,264 Content Per Day: 2.93 Reputation: 2,302 Days Won: 1 Joined: 05/03/2020 Status: Offline Share Posted December 10, 2022 17 hours ago, Jayne said: I realize I will be in the minority opinion here and that's OK. I believed in Santa Claus until I was 6 or 7. It had nothing to do with my belief in God and Christ. When I found out Santa was not real - I was like.....er, OK. And I moved on. It never interfered with what I KNEW about Jesus. It's not an "either or". A similar story for me. We always opened gifts on Christmas Eve so we knew those were from our parents or each other. But our stockings would be filled with something which we found on Christmas morning and those were the gifts from Santa Claus. When I figured it out it was no big deal. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueFollowerOfChrist Posted December 10, 2022 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 3 Topic Count: 9 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 1,039 Content Per Day: 1.62 Reputation: 589 Days Won: 0 Joined: 07/26/2022 Status: Offline Share Posted December 10, 2022 I feel like the odd man out. I love Santa. He was based on a real person who did great things. Obviously you DEFINITELY tell kids the truth that Christmas is about the birth of Christ. However I see nothing wrong with the fantasy of also letting them believe in a man who brings them presents. In my conscience, if I got rid of Santa, I'd have to get rid of lights, the tree, and presents all together. Those are all pagan too. Seems hypocritical to me to cherry pick some stuff. Leave it all in. Besides, telling your kids about Santa isn't some huge lie that your kids will disown you for later. I'm glad I lived for a time where Santa brought me presents. It was a magical time. And honestly, in my young years Santa was a lot easier to understand than the theology of Jesus. No judgment on parents wherever side they take on this issue either way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmuffet Posted December 10, 2022 Group: Royal Member Followers: 34 Topic Count: 1,991 Topics Per Day: 0.48 Content Count: 48,689 Content Per Day: 11.80 Reputation: 30,343 Days Won: 226 Joined: 01/11/2013 Status: Offline Share Posted December 10, 2022 38 minutes ago, TrueFollowerOfChrist said: I feel like the odd man out. I love Santa. He was based on a real person who did great things. Obviously you DEFINITELY tell kids the truth that Christmas is about the birth of Christ. However I see nothing wrong with the fantasy of also letting them believe in a man who brings them presents. In my conscience, if I got rid of Santa, I'd have to get rid of lights, the tree, and presents all together. Those are all pagan too. Seems hypocritical to me to cherry pick some stuff. Leave it all in. Besides, telling your kids about Santa isn't some huge lie that your kids will disown you for later. I'm glad I lived for a time where Santa brought me presents. It was a magical time. And honestly, in my young years Santa was a lot easier to understand than the theology of Jesus. No judgment on parents wherever side they take on this issue either way. That is your choice. Life if full of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts