To Clause or not to Clause: Santa and the Church

80 postings argueing over Santa?

If the concept is evil it is because it divides the brethren.

 

So are you number 81?

HankD

 

81 posts...would that make me 82

Lets play scramble:
S-A-N-T-A

jumble them up and:

S-A-T-A-N

Can we hear a little X-Files music?..

 

Then please tell us what stupid anagram there is for Father Christmas, Pere Noel, and Sinter Klaas.

Which reminds me, a few lears ago, I used spray snow to write "MERRY CHRISTMAS" and "NOEL" on my window. The next day, I was quite surprised to find that my lessage read "Merry Christmas Leon".

 

Pedantic mode activated.
Sinterklaas is actually one word not 2.
Pedantic mode deactivated.

And than there is ofcourse the whole cultural heritage thing.
Celebrating Sinterklaas (together with the Dutch language) is about the only living expression of Dutch culture that can be dated back to the middle ages. Everything else was created in the 19th century.

 

And as a Dutchman myself (Leiden born), I'm quite proud that the US has adopted the Sinterklaas legend into its culture.

Sinterklaas kapoentje,
gooi wat in mijn schoentje,
gooi wat in mijn laarsje,
dank u, Sinterklaasje.

 

It has aways amazed me that our children cannot take Christ cards to school without being in violation of school policy, cannot pray openly without breaking school rules, cannot witness to their friends about the saving power of The Christ which is the purpose of his coming that all men could be saved. To discuss any manner of faith in schools is prohibted. Yet they close the schools in celebration of his birth, the same legislation that condems the mention of his name closes for business in honor of his birth, this is a oxymoronic action. The whole bankning and government system shuts down because the SAvior is born? I don't think so. Was it a Christian culture that brought these traditions to the U.S.? As doctrinaly correct as the scholars are on this board i am suprised of your acceptance on the clause issue as something harmless.

 

Johnv
Er zijn er 2 van ons!?
Dit opent perspectieven.

 

Dear time like this,

You are so right about this contradiction and this in the nation which has "In God We Trust" as our motto and by which we measure the passage of time according to the year of Our Lord 2003 (Anno Domine) paradigm.

What is wrong with this picture?

Go figure.

HankD

 

Ja, dat denk ik ook

 

Baptist: bats pit
Carl Barkema: black era ram
Santa Clause: Alas! Can't Sue!

 

live - evil

 

huh - huh?

 

Just pointing out what one can do with mixing up spellings. If rearranging Santa to Satan makes Santa wrong, the the "live" must be "evil?"

 

He sees you when you're sleeping,
He knows when you're awake,
He knows if you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake.

These are lines from the song "Santa Claus is Coming To Town". I remember when I was a child and believed in Santa that this song made me think that Santa was just like Jesus. You make think this is silly, but I really do remember thinking that. Now, as an an adult and a Christian (I was saved when I was 20) my husband and I decided to ignore Santa. Our kids are now 15, 13, and 10 and I don't think they ever missed him. We try to concentrate on the true meaning which is of course our Savior's birth. I do believe, though, that it is every parent's decision whether or not to talk about Santa and I certainly don't think it is a major issue.

 

The whole Christmas thing to me is larger than the Santa question. Christians should distance themselves from the whole materialistic side of Christmas. Santa is a part of that. It is appalling that retailers actually rely on what is supposed to be the celebration of Christ's birth for the bulk of their sales for the year. Christmas is a holiday that is just about totally of the world now. Everyday should be lived the same as any other once we are in Christ. No day holds any more importance than the other. However, if we must celebrate special days, shouldn't we out far more emphasis on Easter than on Christmas. My guess is that the world will never get as energized over the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as they do over his birth. A baby being born doesn't offend the world. But the cross of Christ is an offence to those who do not know the Lord.

In Christ's Love

Joe Elliott
http://members.aol.com/joe4jesus/index.htm

 

We do NOT celebrate christmas (we used to years ago). My husband did an exstinsive study on the origin of christmas and found it's origin in a pagan religion. So we felt it best not to celebrate it, BUT I LOVE giving gifts etc...to others so what we do instead is celebrate gift giving at Thanksgiving time. We share gifts with friends and family and tell them at Thankgiving time how Thankful we are that they are in our lives and wanted to take this special Holiday to express it. And it works out VERY NICE! Instead of a "christmas" theme, I decorate in Fall colors etc....
No one offended that we choose Thanksgiving to recognize them rather then christmas time.

 

and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

Joe, only when we leave out the fact that that baby is the second person of the Trinity become flesh. Its fine as far as the world is concerned if He is simply a "great teacher".

The Incarnation offends many or most this world's religionists.

But yes you are correct about the cross.

He become one of us to offer up the only acceptable sacrifice for sin.


HankD

 

Apologies if this has already been mentioned, but I didn't read all the way through this thread

I like the apocryphal story of Nicholas of Myra slapping Arius at Nicea. I wonder what he would do to those who promote the "Santa Claus" character?

Will give Sunday school kids a lesson on the real Nicholas in a week or two

Pete

 

c. s. lewis has good comments on the commercialism of Christmas.

http://www.geocities.com/regkeith/linkholidaysCSLewis.htm