Christians, tell your children there is no Santa Claus

[faith pleases God]

If you consider telling your child a story about Santa a lie, then that is your conviction.

Shalom LFW,

Actually, that's not true.

If you tell your child that Santa is REAL, that is a lie.

It is not a conviction, it is not an opinion. If you tell your children that Santa is real, there is no other word for it than lie, which is a sin, whether you are "convicted" or not. It is Scripture not to lie. We don't have the choice to lie because we want to. Telling someone that santa is real cannot be justified or rationalized away and whether one "feels convicted" or not, the Word of G-d stands.

We don't believe in Santa, therefore we don't celebrate Santa. Nor do we give reverance, homage or respects to him. Most make the argument that this is all in fun and harmless. Yet they trade whats worthy for what isn't. They take the focus off what's to be honored for a false idol. I think ther are better days to play pretend, like halloween. But Easter and Christmas are 2 days to be revered and honored. My wife went through 15 years of public school and didn't know Christmas was Jesus' birthday or Easter was the resurrection until she was 21. She really thought it was about Santa and the Easter Bunny. So much for harmless. I believe that we are in a spiritual war and Satan is at work. I believe this is the work of demons to undermine holy days.

Edited November 29, 2007 by faith pleases God

[MrsSealedEternal]

Comparing lying intentionally to reading fictious stories fits into the apples to oranges category. Jesus told fictitious stories to illustrate a point but he never resorted to lying.

Honestly!

[Ovedya]

These verses are pertaining to people setting up trees with the actual intention of creating idols.

Our Christmas tree is a decoration. If this verse is pertaining to simple decoration, then all decorating is evil. I do not believe my tree has any special powers and I dont believe my tree is a God and that is totally not the intention behind it at all and is entirely a different thing than what is being spoken of in these verses.

Shalom Emily Anne,

Exactly. It's amazing how many people will take those verses in Jeremiah *out of context* and apply them where they do not apply.

We certainly don't make an IDOL our of our Christmas tree, in fact, we use an evergreen to symbolize that Yeshua brought us eternal life.

And we place lights on the tree to symbolize that Yeshua is the Light of the World.

And we give gifts to each other because the wise men brought gifts to the King.

Then what about the commandment not to create images of things in the heavens nor on the earth, to take them for ourselves (paraphrase)? Isn't the taking of a tree, or any other iconic figure and adding focus to it pretty much the same thing? Does simply attaching a "Christian" label to it make it okay, or are we just intentionally deceiving ourselves - making idol worshi palatable? How is that any different then the Catholic ritual of praying to saints, or adorning depictions of them in their places of worship?

[Emily~Anne]

I dont see how our tree is an idol. We do not worship our tree, and we do not put our tree above God. We can decorate our tree with reverence to God in mind, but that is not worshipping the tree anymore than it is worshipping the piano to make a joyful noise unto the Lord.

[Ovedya]

Shalom,

To further clarify, to LIE mans to tell a falsehood.To deceive

When a parents tells a child that Santa is real, this is a lie, a falsehood, a deception. There is no way to rationalize this as something good.

Then neither should a parent tell their children those "little white lies" about adult things - like where babies come, for example.

How far should that go, exactly? What if little Billy decided one day to have an invisible friend, or what if little Mary imagined that her dolls could talk to one another? Should a responsible parent allow that, or should we tell "the truth" to our kids and not allow them to imagine things that don't exist?

[sheya joie]

I can remember very clearly lying in bed one night when I was a child, trying to reconcile in my mind Santa Claus and Jesus. So I know for sure at least one child was confused by it.

We never did the Santa/Easter Bunny/Tooth Fairy stuff with our kids. I can remember one Christmas when my second daughter was a toddler, we were at a restaurant visiting with some relatives when the store's very determined Santa kept following my little daughter around. My daughter was freaked out by that Santa (who really should have had the good sense to back off).

But then, we were all a bit freaked out by that particular Santa, because we were almost certain that under the Santa beard was a woman.

[Ovedya]

I dont see how our tree is an idol. We do not worship our tree, and we do not put our tree above God.

Well, we don't worship our pictures of Jesus either. And we don't worship our church buildings. But we imagine that there is some great spiritual significance to both things.

Does an idol actually have to be something that you worship or pray to? I mean, many people idolize money and things, yet they don't bow down to them or worship them.

[Vickilynn]

These verses are pertaining to people setting up trees with the actual intention of creating idols.

Our Christmas tree is a decoration. If this verse is pertaining to simple decoration, then all decorating is evil. I do not believe my tree has any special powers and I dont believe my tree is a God and that is totally not the intention behind it at all and is entirely a different thing than what is being spoken of in these verses.

Shalom Emily Anne,

Exactly. It's amazing how many people will take those verses in Jeremiah *out of context* and apply them where they do not apply.

We certainly don't make an IDOL our of our Christmas tree, in fact, we use an evergreen to symbolize that Yeshua brought us eternal life.

And we place lights on the tree to symbolize that Yeshua is the Light of the World.

And we give gifts to each other because the wise men brought gifts to the King.

Then what about the commandment not to create images of things in the heavens nor on the earth, to take them for ourselves (paraphrase)? Isn't the taking of a tree, or any other iconic figure and adding focus to it pretty much the same thing? Does simply attaching a "Christian" label to it make it okay, or are we just intentionally deceiving ourselves - making idol worshi palatable? How is that any different then the Catholic ritual of praying to saints, or adorning depictions of them in their places of worship?

Shalom Ovedya,

To whom are you addressing your questions, Emily Anne or myself?

I'll answer for myself.

No, we don't "focus" on the tree. It is not an "icon", it is not a 'graven image" it is something G-d created. It is not the focus of our celebration, Yeshua is. There is nothing inherently wrong with a tre. There is nothing Scripturally forbidding a tree being in our home being part of our celebration.

I would say that is an incorrect application of that verse.

Let's look at the actual verse and see how it applies please.

[Guest Biblicist]

Ovedya,

You have hit on a very important point.

Christmas is the only time of the year that Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus. It's the only time of the year we hear sermons preached about the birth of Christ.

Those that only celebrate Jesus on Christmas are doing themselves a great disservice, and not honoring Christ at all. Every day we should celebrate Jesus. I believe that this problem starts in the pulpits of churches.

Please remember, though, not to make such sweeping generalizations. You are a Christian, do you also not celebrate Christ's birth any other time of year? It is true of some, maybe many, Christians, but not all.

Wayne,

Teaching your child that someone exists, and they don't, is a lie. Telling your children the story of Santa, as a myth, is not a lie, any more than telling them about Snow White. As far as I know, no one believes Snow White really lives, or ever lived, in a little house in the woods with seven men of short stature.

Idols:

Anything that is more important to you than God. If your Christmas tree is more important to you than God then yes, it has become an idol.

[forrestkc]

Shalom,

To further clarify, to LIE mans to tell a falsehood.To deceive

When a parents tells a child that Santa is real, this is a lie, a falsehood, a deception. There is no way to rationalize this as something good.

Then neither should a parent tell their children those "little white lies" about adult things - like where babies come, for example.

How far should that go, exactly? What if little Billy decided one day to have an invisible friend, or what if little Mary imagined that her dolls could talk to one another? Should a responsible parent allow that, or should we tell "the truth" to our kids and not allow them to imagine things that don't exist?

Excellent point.