Is Santa to blame?

Early in my childhood my mom shared with me that dad was the one that ate the cookies on Christmas Eve and put the presents under the Christmas tree. Now whether they told me this because they didn’t want to wait in line for Santa at the mall, or deal with the drama that comes with a kid that believes in Santa Claus, this I do not know. Due to this the rest of my childhood I spent trying to convince other kids that Santa wasn’t real, and used an elementary form of apologetics to explain. Some of you reading may think that this was a little harsh but I hope to use the next few paragraphs to comically explain, with a serious undertone, why Santa is the one to blame for people’s naivety towards one's faith. My goal here is not to diminish the innocence of being a child, but to express the importance of maturing, and how I feel we have begun to fall away from this.

I do not know if the idea Santa is more popular in other cultures, but it seems that Santa is more popular here than anywhere else in the world. Other cultures have some form of tradition, but I do not think it is as heavy as what Santa is in the United States. I would argue that Santa is more popular here partly because of the affluence that our country has, but is this a good thing?

Let us take a moment to think about how convincing a child that Santa is real leads to other problems. Some may ask, “what harm can come from telling our child about Santa?” If a child grows into believing that if one does right instead of wrong this produces a thought of self righteousness when they do things that are right. If a child does not live up to being a ‘good’ child and yet still receives all the gifts, then this child is fooled into thinking that he/she can get away with anything. A more sad thought would be that a parent would use Santa as an excuse for the reason why the child didn’t get what they asked for. Instead I would hope that christian based homes would reflect grace, and express this through the Christmas story and the giving of gifts.

As a Christian I wonder how my Christmas was different than others. Many people who rarely attend church would attend church, they also would open presents and eat too much. So how is the christians Christmas any different?

The thought, that I am trying to develop is that with Santa, is Christmas can be confusing for a child. If a child grows up with the Christmas Story, and learns how this applies to the Gospel, how does Santa fit in? Wouldn't we much rather share the Gospel message with our children, isn’t that story so much more profound?

My thought is that because so many children in the church grow up with this idea of Santa, they are more open for some flexibility with other aspects of the Gospel. If we are OK with this idea of taking away from the greatest story of anyone’s life and developing it into a story about works of how one can achieve gifts through how one behaves, there is something wrong! This can develop into the acceptance of false teaching, possibly because the child never fully grasped the concept of the Gospel because a guy with a red hat was mixed in somehow.

A conviction that has been weighing on me is that my generation has a poor understanding of the Gospel, due to the lack of teaching (i.e. the church, home, and lack of their own pursuit). I am not trying to bash anyone but as a Church we need to get together and encourage one another to be in the Word, challenging each other with tough questions and seeking truth, so that we will be able to share the Gospel no matter how difficult the situation. I hope that this has been a somewhat thoughtful presentation of my heart of the importance of knowing the Gospel and how our society diminishes its value.

Prayer: Lord there is no greater story that impacts our life. Thank you for your grace and patience with us and revealing us our trespasses. Lord my prayer is that the church becomes more in love with you and remembers your story forever and always. Our life eternal began when we recognized Your son as Lord and accepted His message. May this message, the Gospel message, be sealed upon our heart so that we are bold when we share it with friends, strangers, family and children. Amen.