For most Christians, this is not much of an issue. In fact, given how seriously many Christians think about whether they should participate in Halloween or not, the fact that they usually don’t think much at all about the non-Christian mythology surrounding Christmas is rather surprising. Is Santa a healthy thing for children to believe in? Does Santa distract from Jesus? Is there any danger in telling children fairy tales? What happens when children discover the truth? Does Santa teach theologically helpful or theologically problematic things to children?
Bible References: Ex 20:3, Ex 20:16, Num 23:19, Deut 6:4-9, Prov 6:16-19, Prov 30:5-9, Amos 2:4, Matt 12:35-37, Matt 18:4-6, Mark 9:42, Luke 17:1-2, John 8:44, Eph 2:8-9, Eph 4:25, Eph 5:3-16, 1 Tim 1:3-7, 1 Tim 4:6-7, 2 Tim 4:3-4, 2 Peter 1:16, 1 John 2:21-28
Links:
Origin of Santa and the Christian response by Richard Bucher
What have Christians made of Santa? by ReligiousTolerance.org
Santa origins and FAQ by Lone-Star.net
St. Nicholas and the origin of Santa Claus by St. Nicholas Center
Santa Claus and the Gospel by Gretchen Passantino
God, not Santa Claus, with us by A.W. Tozer
An analysis of the theology of Santaism by Bob Cromwell
Santa and Rudolph: what's a Christian parent to do? by Living Catholicism
To Santa or not to Santa? by Families Online Magazine
Should parents perpetuate the Santa myth? by Atheism.About.com
Invisible pink unicorns, Santa Claus, and God by GodAndScience.org
Santa Claus: the great impostor by Terry Watkins
What should Christians tell kids about Santa? by GotQuestions.org
Santa Claus at Wikipedia.org
From Santa to salvation: Polar Express by Marc Newman
In defense of Santa Claus by Dennis Prager
The Santa Claus dilemma by Chicago Tribune
1 comment:
I'm ok with Santa - to an extent. It's hard to totally avoid it for one, and I think there is a child's realm of dreams/innocence that we should let them have. We try to emphasize the St. Nicolas version - have celebrated his feast day with small treats in shoes. Another thing which I like is we have a nice ceramic figure display on our table which has Santa kneeling before the baby Jesus. This helps to put things in the proper order of importance.
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