Santa

I don't recall running across Santa in the Bible...

 

I never told my kids there was a santa claus because I refuse to lie to my kids, and I think the image of santa is a deceptive one, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that the fact that santa is an anagram of satan means anything,

 

Hi jane. Agree with webdog, and we also do not find Christmas or Easter in scripture. Santa, Christmas, and Easter are from the mind of man.

 

Boy that line bugs me...Check out the Wikipedia page on Saint Nicholas.

Every time I see a "Santa" I say "Nicholas would probably not be pleased".

 

Each family must come up with thier own understanding on this. Our faimily did not use this at any time. We view Santa as a replacement of God.

He knows when you are sleeping......
He knows if you are bad or good......

God knows all things.

Santa is coming...

Christ is coming back.

Stanta lives far far away...

God lives in heaven.

Santa can visit and houses in one night.

God is everywhere.

Kids need to write Santa letters for what they want.

We pray to God, with our needs

Stana brings us a gift.

God gives the gift of life freely.

Santa teaches love by works..

God loves in grace

One could look at this all day.

Songs that praise Santa or songs that praise God.

Santa is a lie...God is truth.

 

Thanks for the link. There's a lot I didn't know about the real St. Nicholas.

 

My wife and I decided not to teach our children about Santa (in the real and alive sense) nor the Easter Bunny, ToothFairy, and the like. We spoke about it at lenght and both agreed we did not want to teach our children lies and then teach them to teach their children lies to teach... Scripture states

Lieing about this and teach it to our children that they in turn perpetuate this lie (one of those commandments we should not break) is to teach them unrighteousness.

We also don't want our children to loose trust in their parents because we lied to them and then they discover via their friends the truth. Now who do you think they will go to more when they find out all the lies you as the parent have been telling them. That is not something we are willing to part with. We tell our children about the real Person and explain not to hurt other children who hold to what thier parents tell them, but guess what Kids do. :tonofbricks:

It is a choice of the parent but what I find disturbing is the parents (supposedly Christian parents) who have actually said we border on child abuse for not letting our children be involved with how the world views and enjoys Christman, Halloween, Easter. As a Father, what am I showing my children about the God 'The Father' if am caught lieing to them. :tear:

 

I still celebrate Christmas, hopefully for the right reasons, but have you checked out this perspective from a family who no longer celebrates Christmas? The man is a respected professor at a Southern Baptist seminary.Why We No Longer Celebrate Christmas

 

Hold on....you mean the ToothFairy is a lie? Humm Bummer

 

If one teaches a child about Santa Claus being real, then is forced to say several years later that he's really not, what will they think about us when we say that Jesus Christ is real?

 

Where is my take on the link.

Christmas is just a day like any other. It is what I make of that day that counts. If I think its a magical super holy day, then I worship a day. We do not know 100% sure what day of the week Christ was born. Most likely it was not Dec 25th, from what I read. In the past, the 25th was a peagan holy day to worship the sun god. But what do I do with this day? I will not let a peagan rip this day from me. The day is what I make of it, based on what I do and who I worship.

Years ago, I too took a close look at what I was during at Christmas. I did not want to just do things, because all other people did them. Why have a tree? Why do we have candy canes at Christmas, and no other time of the year? Why is the main colors red and green? Who made these choices and why did they make them?

Today I have reason behind each thing we do. Somethings we dropped and no longer do, for they had no meaning to us. I put up a tree for a meaning. In our house the tree is a picture of the Church of Jesus Chrsit. The top light (Star) is Christ at the head of our church. The dark tree is a picture of the world. We are the little lights shinning in a dark world. The candy cane is "J" for Jesus. Red reminds us of the reason for Christ coming. He came to die and His blood (red) saves sinners. Green is GO...as in Go tell the world the good news.

We also added things no one else does. On Christmas eve it is the highlight of our year. We close all windows and cover them to get as dark as we can. All lights are out. We just set there as our eyes get use the the darkness. We then light one candle. When your eyes are use to the dark, one candle gives off alot of light. The Dark room was our sin filled world. Christ came as the light. (John 1) We then take turns and light a candle from the one that is shown as Christ. This is the new birth of the believer. That candle is taken back to where the person is seated. This is showing how we must go into all the world. The person then must tell what Christ has done in their life that year. Many tears have come on Christmas night as we tell stories of God helping us though that year. Even when the kids were younger, they still said some powerful statements I will never forget. We then sing songs to praise God.

I read the Christmas story, and give a short lesson then we pray.

My point is this. We do not have to let pegans take any day from us. They do not own that day. Our God made all the days. Its what you do with that day that counts. Have reasons for why you do things. Give God all the glory.


In Christ...James

 

A-men James.

I Celebrate the birth of Jesus (no the day) at a time the U.S. understands it has some signifigance in religious understanding (Many have forgotten that Christ is a part of 'Christ'mas).

I also Celebrate The Lords Resurrection at a time the U.S. understands there is some religious significance to it. Again though many remember or understand why.

I do these not for the day but that I might show to the world a testimony of my Love, awesome Saviour, and Mighty God. And these tools work well that I may speak the truth of Christ not only to the World (U.S.) but more specifically to my family that they may know devotion and why we should be so devoted.

NOTE: lots of mispellings but it is to early to worry about it, Sorry.

 

Thats right because he has nothing to do with Jesus or the Bible.

 

Hard to tell what is real and what is urban myth with the real Nicholas. I hope the stories of his generosity and stands for truth (eg slapping Arius :thumbsup came from some real events

 

The same thing I thought about my parents when they told me the truth about Santa.

I'm not going to defend the practice of parents playing Santa.. there is too many other things we need to worry about, to worry about whether or not it is wrong to play this game with our children.

I grew up believing in a Santa Claus. It did not hinder my belief in God, or Jesus.

Why don't we tackle real life problems instead of always condemning other Christians. Sometimes I want to :BangHead:

 

There is nothing wrong, if you tell the truth. If you play Santa and tell them of a make-believe story...then it is YOU...and not some old man from the north that plays this out. If you say that it is you and that you buy gifts like Santa, and this is a picture of Gods blessing and grace, and God gave you the money to buy, nothing wrong with that.

On the other hand...If you say that Santa lives up north and makes toys, but you really mean its you but you fail to tell the kid, this is a lie, and some fake old man just got all the glory of blessings that needed to go to God.

All blessing come from God, not Santa.

 

Amen, Tim!

I plan on "pretending" with my son there is a Santa Claus, complete with the whole outfit and video camera. All one has to do is go in any given mall to see he's a real person stitting there charging $10 for a picture :laugh:

I don't see the harm in it as long as he doesn't grow up thinking he's got supernatural power. I plan on telling him that God is the only one who knows all, and Santa just helps out mommy and daddy in bringing presents.

I have a feeling that those who despise the whole Idea of a make believe character have no problem buying video of make believe vegetables who talk about Jesus and Bible stories...

 

So basically all fiction is "lying"? Pretty legalistic, don't you think?

 

Fiction is when you tell your kids that the story is not real. I said above in my eyes this is ok. My kids knw of Santa, but knew it was fiction.

Legalistic is if I tell you, you MUST do it as I have done, based on a standard I have set. Yet all should set standards. If you have peace about giving Santa the glory, go for it. I did not have that peace.

My kids are grown now, and it don't matter in our house. Yet they too have taken the same path as we did. They are school teachers, and they do not lie to the kids. They can share the story without lying.