Chronicles of Narnia

[Prodigalson123]

Santa Claus is not a servant of God. He takes the place of God in the minds and hearts of children. They go to him with their requests. They expect him to meet their needs. He has all the attributes of God.

I'm afraid I must disagree...the people who do see Santa Claus as god are the one who don't know any better...it is relatively easy to teach children who the REAL God is (I say "relatively" as it is MUCH harder to teach adults this), and even simpler to teach them that Santa doesn't have all the attributes of God...which, frankly, I don't know any kid who has believed that (and once they're old enough to start thinking such things through, most of them don't really believe he exists anyway).

Anyhow, as I said, he is what you make him.

He sees you when you are sleeping

He knows when you are awake

He knows when you've been bad or good

He can grant the wishes of children throughout the world in a single night

He can fly through the air and can visit every home in the whole world in a single night

He can squeeze his fat belly through small chimneys

Sounds like all knowing, all powerful and everywhere all at the same time to me.

And, then we tell our children this is the truth and they believe us and then later we tell them it is only a fairy tale and then we try to teach them about Jesus who has the same attributes and we tell them only this one is really true - do you think God would really approve of us telling lies to our children and leading them to believe the lie? Do you think he would approve of us telling our children to believe in this false god? You may see it as harmless, but I think it is preparing our young people to believe many more lies of the enemy disguised as truths. And Santa gives gifts only to children who are good. Jesus died for us even while we were yet sinners.

I agree with this wholeheartedly. When I found out that Santa wasn't real, I asked my parents what else they lied to me about! And it took a long time for me to trust them again. That's why I refused to do the whole santa thing. Not because of replacing Jesus in Christmas, but I refused to lie to my son.

[Iryssa]

I honestly can't say I remember a time when I believed in Santa. Maybe it's because my mom always had such a distinct wrting style, and I always thought "sure, it says it's from Santa, but it has mom's writing!" It could also have something to do with the fact that I was a bit of a night owl, so my parents had a hard time sneaking past my door at night to put out the presents

Anyhow...I've basically always seen him as a cute story that I now know has its origins in people like St. Nick...

[Iryssa]

Santa Claus is not a servant of God. He takes the place of God in the minds and hearts of children. They go to him with their requests. They expect him to meet their needs. He has all the attributes of God.

I'm afraid I must disagree...the people who do see Santa Claus as god are the one who don't know any better...it is relatively easy to teach children who the REAL God is (I say "relatively" as it is MUCH harder to teach adults this), and even simpler to teach them that Santa doesn't have all the attributes of God...which, frankly, I don't know any kid who has believed that (and once they're old enough to start thinking such things through, most of them don't really believe he exists anyway).

Anyhow, as I said, he is what you make him.

He sees you when you are sleeping

He knows when you are awake

He knows when you've been bad or good

He can grant the wishes of children throughout the world in a single night

He can fly through the air and can visit every home in the whole world in a single night

He can squeeze his fat belly through small chimneys

Sounds like all knowing, all powerful and everywhere all at the same time to me.

And, then we tell our children this is the truth and they believe us and then later we tell them it is only a fairy tale and then we try to teach them about Jesus who has the same attributes and we tell them only this one is really true - do you think God would really approve of us telling lies to our children and leading them to believe the lie? Do you think he would approve of us telling our children to believe in this false god? You may see it as harmless, but I think it is preparing our young people to believe many more lies of the enemy disguised as truths. And Santa gives gifts only to children who are good. Jesus died for us even while we were yet sinners.

I agree with this wholeheartedly. When I found out that Santa wasn't real, I asked my parents what else they lied to me about! And it took a long time for me to trust them again. That's why I refused to do the whole santa thing. Not because of replacing Jesus in Christmas, but I refused to lie to my son.

Personally (not saying you should or have to do this or anything), I'd tell the cute stories, but make sure the kids know they're stories...maybe start out telling them "there was once a man called St. Nick, who was very generous..."

[Gerioke]

Santa Claus is not a servant of God. He takes the place of God in the minds and hearts of children. They go to him with their requests. They expect him to meet their needs. He has all the attributes of God.

I'm afraid I must disagree...the people who do see Santa Claus as god are the one who don't know any better...it is relatively easy to teach children who the REAL God is (I say "relatively" as it is MUCH harder to teach adults this), and even simpler to teach them that Santa doesn't have all the attributes of God...which, frankly, I don't know any kid who has believed that (and once they're old enough to start thinking such things through, most of them don't really believe he exists anyway).

Anyhow, as I said, he is what you make him.

He sees you when you are sleeping

He knows when you are awake

He knows when you've been bad or good

He can grant the wishes of children throughout the world in a single night

He can fly through the air and can visit every home in the whole world in a single night

He can squeeze his fat belly through small chimneys

Sounds like all knowing, all powerful and everywhere all at the same time to me.

And, then we tell our children this is the truth and they believe us and then later we tell them it is only a fairy tale and then we try to teach them about Jesus who has the same attributes and we tell them only this one is really true - do you think God would really approve of us telling lies to our children and leading them to believe the lie? Do you think he would approve of us telling our children to believe in this false god? You may see it as harmless, but I think it is preparing our young people to believe many more lies of the enemy disguised as truths. And Santa gives gifts only to children who are good. Jesus died for us even while we were yet sinners.

I agree with this wholeheartedly. When I found out that Santa wasn't real, I asked my parents what else they lied to me about! And it took a long time for me to trust them again. That's why I refused to do the whole santa thing. Not because of replacing Jesus in Christmas, but I refused to lie to my son.

Personally (not saying you should or have to do this or anything), I'd tell the cute stories, but make sure the kids know they're stories...maybe start out telling them "there was once a man called St. Nick, who was very generous..."

I told my kids about the actual St. Nicholas. Now my son goes around and ells everybody that Santa is dead.

[Iryssa]

I told my kids about the actual St. Nicholas. Now my son goes around and ells everybody that Santa is dead.

[Christ's Free Servant]

I told my kids about the actual St. Nicholas. Now my son goes around and ells everybody that Santa is dead.

[Christ's Free Servant]

Personally (not saying you should or have to do this or anything), I'd tell the cute stories, but make sure the kids know they're stories...maybe start out telling them "there was once a man called St. Nick, who was very generous..."

I read the history of St Nick and I think, if I remember correctly (which may not be the case) that the original celebration was in memory of this man who gave gifts to children, so in memory of him on a special day people would give gifts to one another, but I don't think it began with telling children that St Nick was the one giving the gifts to them, or was it?

Anyway, I have no problems with fairy tales as long as they are understood as fairy tales and as far as Santa goes, to me it is more than just the idea of telling lies to my kids, but it is because he takes the place of Jesus in their hearts this time of year. Parents are telling their children that Santa is bringing them gifts and then they tell them that Jesus gave them the best gift of all and I can imagine what is going on in their little minds - "Well, where is it?" How can Jesus compete with Santa? How can the gospel of repentance compete with a social gospel? The bigger issue here is that we are preparing our young people to follow false teachers, because the lie is more fun! The cross hurts!

[Scarletprayers]

I believed in Santa when I was little and so did pretty much everybody else I know. Now that I'm a grown up I don't feel like my parents were liars and I don't feel that it some how effected my belief in Christ.

I don't want to sound rude but this is going overboard to me. Kinda like the Puritans outlawing Christmas Pudding because it was so good it had to be sinful.

Narnia doesn't pretend to be the Bible, it doesn't pretend it is taking the place of the story of Christ. Its fiction, lions don't talk, we don't travel to different worlds by holding a jewel in our hands.

[Gerioke]

Personally (not saying you should or have to do this or anything), I'd tell the cute stories, but make sure the kids know they're stories...maybe start out telling them "there was once a man called St. Nick, who was very generous..."

I read the history of St Nick and I think, if I remember correctly (which may not be the case) that the original celebration was in memory of this man who gave gifts to children, so in memory of him on a special day people would give gifts to one another, but I don't think it began with telling children that St Nick was the one giving the gifts to them, or was it?

Anyway, I have no problems with fairy tales as long as they are understood as fairy tales and as far as Santa goes, to me it is more than just the idea of telling lies to my kids, but it is because he takes the place of Jesus in their hearts this time of year. Parents are telling their children that Santa is bringing them gifts and then they tell them that Jesus gave them the best gift of all and I can imagine what is going on in their little minds - "Well, where is it?" How can Jesus compete with Santa? How can the gospel of repentance compete with a social gospel? The bigger issue here is that we are preparing our young people to follow false teachers, because the lie is more fun! The cross hurts!

Santa is the god of consumerism. I am trying to make my kids understand how TV and the likes are trying o brainwash us into thinking we need these things. Santa Claus is a merchandising icon developed by clever ad people. St. Nicholas was a real person who had a gift of generosity (from what I have read). The story I heard had something to do with a dowry and two poor newlyweds.

[Scarletprayers]

The story of St. Nick is.............there was a poor father with 3 daughters, because he didn't have any money for a dowry for them he was going to have to sell them into slavery. St. Nick heard about it and each night for 3 nights he threw a bag full of money into the fathers window so the girls would have a dowry.

He was a very opinionated man and once punched another Bishop in the nose during a meeting of the church fathers, because he said the man was espousing heresy.