To Santa, or Not To Santa?
“If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” -1 Timothy 4:6-8
What was the first problem and reason why sin exists in the world today? How did man and woman fall? The woman (Eve) was deceived by Satan. The woman then deceived her own husband (Adam) who indulged into sin with her. Thus, deception is a great problem. John 8:44 mentions that Satan is the father of lies. Shall we give into him? What is “the first lie” many parents tell their children? That Santa is real. This causes them to have different reactions: either they are in shock, they let it be easily shrugged off, or they are devastated and have a hard time trusting their parents afterwards.
Rob and I have two young sons. If we were to do what we do in teaching them about Jesus and how real He is, and the fact that we have proof in history and documentation that He exists, but then tell them Santa Claus is a real person who doesn’t die (just as Jesus is still alive today) and go into elaboration about how real Santa is, get their hopes up each year, do whatever we can to get them know who Santa is, but then suddenly break their hearts when we tell them, “You know how we’ve been telling you for years that Santa is real? Well, he isn’t. You’re old enough to know that now.” How should we expect them to react to the story of Jesus? I actually was told by someone a few years ago that they stopped believing in Jesus the day they found out that Santa wasn’t real. People/Parents take advantage of the great trust children have in them, and harm them in the process.
How can we teach our children that they shouldn’t lie and should be honest, especially to us, if we can’t even do the same with them? We can’t. That is completely hypocritical. This is what so many parents do though to their children around Christmas. They teach them that Santa is alive and real, and then after years of working their kids’ hopes up, they find out their parents lied to them, so why can’t they lie to their parents? I used to lie to my parents as a young child, but they saw through it. I got reprimanded and disciplined often for it. I lied a lot back in those days, and it was a terrible thing that made me feel awful each time I did it. I had to repent of it and work my way into honesty. After a while I saw that my parents were not lying to me and by their examples to me and the conviction I felt from Christ, I was transformed.
The only time I remember my mom EVER lying to me, was when she tried to get me to go to my Bridal shower. She kept changing what was going to be happening at the place where it was held because I kept saying, “I am not interested in that type of thing, so I’ll skip it.” She had to eventually get her own godly aunt to come along with us to make it seem like there was a special barbecue that Rob would meet me at later (I tend to not like doing things without him). I was really upset that my mom lied to me then! I was 20 years old, and that is the only time she lied to me and afterwards she said, “I had to find a way to get you to your bridal shower!” I responded in shock, “You could have just said, ‘You are having a bridal shower and we need you to go,’ but you lied to me.” I know that it might sound a bit absurd that I would be upset my mom and aunt lied to me about a surprise bridal shower, but thankfully my mom learned her lesson and told me when I was having a baby shower a few years later.
I believe that we should be upset about every lie! I believe God doesn’t make exceptions for lying in His word (the only one I can see applauded for a lie was Rahab for hiding men of God so they wouldn’t be killed – which was her fear of God over those in search to destroy others). Jesus said, “I am going to return here one day again.” I doubt He said that only to say in the future to us, “Never mind, I was lying. I just wanted to build your hopes up. I’m not coming afterall!” God sets an example that we should be following with our own lives.
The Bible says the following things about lying/deceitfulness:
“Let no one deceive you in any way.” -2 Thessalonians 2:3a
“Everyone deceives his neighbor, and no one speaks the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves committing iniquity. Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit, they refuse to know me, declares the Lord.” – Jeremiah 9:5-6
“Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.” – Proverbs 12:22
“Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.” -1 John 3:7-8
“No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes.” -Psalm 101:7
“A truthful witness saves lives, but one who breathes out lies is deceitful.” -Proverbs 24:25
“Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit. You love evil more than good, and lying more than speaking what is right.” -Psalm 52:2-3
“I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.” -1 John 2:21
“You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.” -Psalm 5:6
“Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” -Colossians 3:9
Regardless of all these passages and more, people who proclaim Christ still will say to me, “But Santa is just a nice thing! It is cute! I was raised on Santa, and I came out okay!” These people are completely missing the point of why our family believes Santa is really a dangerous thing our society teaches our children. I even had one Christian tell me that Santa gave them comfort when they were a child because they were raised in a mixed up home by various people and had a fun thing to think about to make their holidays enjoyable. My thoughts and words to them was, “Shouldn’t one’s comfort be in Christ?” Have people made Santa a temporary god for December?
What do you think about Santa or these verses?
Are you willing to live radically for Christ in obedience to His word?
Yeah I felt like it was strange that my parents lied to me and told me Santa and the Tooth Fairy were real. It did not stop me from believing Jesus is real thank goodness.
I definitely won’t be doing Santa with my kids for sure.
That’s really cool that you’re “breaking” the way you were raised in that way. Not many people do that!
We told our kids from the beginning that Santa was make-believe. No problems.
That said, I also agree with Rebecca Ann. No amount of Santa Claus and Tooth Fairy will keep someone from coming to Christ. If God calls a person into his kingdom, he straightens out their thinking about the truth eventually.
I like your collection of verses, too. There’s Revelation 21:8 too for a powerful statement about liars.
Tim
I am totally aware that people raised on Santa can come to Christ. I just mean that usually people, including Christians who are raised with Santa, still teach the lie of Santa. That is so so wonderful that you two taught your children about the truth as well. I am really thankful that my parents told me the truth from the start, but my heart aches for the loads of children i know personally who are going to be lied to or are being lied to by the people they love and trust the most.
I’ll check out the verse you posted.
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