Christians, tell your children there is no Santa Claus

[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.

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.

No you dont have to bow down to something in order to idolize it. Anything you put above God is an idol. We do not idolize our tree.

Here's the rest of my post you quoted...

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.

[Vickilynn]

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.

Shalom Ovedya,

Strawman argument.

Who said anyone should tell "white lies"?

Lying is a sin, pure and simple. It is called a sin in the Scriptures. You cannot rationalize it away. It is something we should not do if we are Christians.

[Vickilynn]

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.

Shalom Bib,

Good post!

[Guest Biblicist]

Thanks Vickilynn.

Bottom line, we can not convince you or convict you that telling your children that Santa exists is wrong.

It's between you and God. I'll leave it to Him.

JOY TO THE WORLD, THE LORD IS COME

LET EARTH RECEIVE HER KING!

[Vickilynn]

It all depends on how you were raised...

Shalom LFW,

No, it all depends on whom you choose to serve.

Man, or G-d?

I was raised Jewish so Christmas holds nothing for me but bad memories.

However, when I gave my life to Yeshua and committed to following Him AND HIS WORD, I meant it. I do not rationalize sin and call it good. I celebrate the incarnation of the Son of G-d, not some jolly fat guy. I refuse to lie to my kids and I refuse to gloss over when other parents say there is nothing wrong with lying to kids.

That's NOT what the Bible says.

BTW, no one said anything about going to hell.

[Vickilynn]

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.

[Smalcald]

It all depends on how you were raised...

Shalom LFW,

No, it all depends on whom you choose to serve.

Man, or G-d?

I was raised Jewish so Christmas holds nothing for me but bad memories.

However, when I gave my life to Yeshua and committed to following Him AND HIS WORD, I meant it. I do not rationalize sin and call it good. I celebrate the incarnation of the Son of G-d, not some jolly fat guy. I refuse to lie to my kids and I refuse to gloss over when other parents say there is nothing wrong with lying to kids.

That's NOT what the Bible says.

BTW, no one said anything about going to hell.

So in your case it certainly is dependant on how you were raised.

We went to Church on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and do that today with our kids; there was NO confusion then or now about the true meaning. I do think there is a problem when we celebrate Christmas with only secular things like Santa and don't worship on Christmas Eve or Christmas day or talk about Jesus or the Blessed Virgin or the Holy Family etc.

We have a giant Nativity scene that seems to have grown every year it is about to take over the living room, but we all love it, and that is our focus along with our Advent Box and Calander, not the tree and Santa. I am trying to remember if we have ever said to our kids yes Santa exists, I don

[Guest Biblicist]

Seems to me this thread might use a bit of review here... Debating Santa Claus has sure taken the focus of what this season is supposed to be about.

http://www.worthyboards.com/index.php?show...p;#entry1042805

[Vickilynn]

So in your case it certainly is dependant on how you were raised.

Shalom Smalcald,

Absolutely incorrect. I NOW celebrate Yeshua's birth, and I do that because I am a Christian. Not because I was raised a Jew.

It all depends on whether we truly believe the Word of G-d is G-d's Word and we should obey it rather than man.

Telling someone that Santa is real is a lie and there is no way to make it not a lie.

The question is, whom do we serve? If we serve G-d, we will not lie.

[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.

Shalom Ovedya,

Strawman argument.

Who said anyone should tell "white lies"?

Lying is a sin, pure and simple. It is called a sin in the Scriptures. You cannot rationalize it away. It is something we should not do if we are Christians.

It is something which we should not do. That is true. But what's the reality of that? As parents many of us find ourselves lying to our children about a lot of things. So either we're absolute or we are not. I think that we find ourselves in this compromising position a lot and not just on Christmas either.

So why focus so much on "the lie of Santa"? Anything to take the focus off our own hypocrisy, I think.

Stop please for a moment and please take note that I used the terms "we, us," and, "our." I'm including myself here. I don't think that I'm perfect or that I have any place to judge another person's condition - or even how persons are conducting themselves. I know that I am constantly contradicting my own word as a parent and find myself often in the same predicament.

Fact is, if we're going to criticize a falsehood we should be willing to acknowledge that we're not perfect either, and be honest about that with our kids. I'm not in any position to tell another parent what to teach and what not to teach their own children, because I fail in almost every respect as a parent. I just do the best I can with what God gave me. I expect the same is true for many other parents as well.

Fact is, I have found that there is nothing inherently wrong with telling kids that there's a Santa Claus. There's also nothing inherently wrong with telling kids that "Jesus is the reason for the season." But if you're going to tell your kids that Christmas is to celebrate Jesus' birth, tell them the whole story. Don't just conveniently gloss over the fact that the date is not accurate or that it's a human tradition as opposed to a Biblical observance (Of course keep it "age appropriate"). Kids don't grow up emotionally scarred because parents lied to them about Santa Claus, and they understand a heck of a lot more then we give them credit for.

I chose a long time ago to tell my kids the truth about the season. And despite my mother's complaining that I "took my children's imagination away," they're okay with it. They always have been. In recent years my mom's been okay with it too.