The Bible and Santa

I am not talking about Santa on the radio program because of who may be listening :), but it is probably the most important Christmas tradition to know some things about. I believe Christmas as a whole can be a wonderful application of the Biblical commands to celebrate the great acts of God each year, and to create traditions that give an opportunity to teach children about God (see Exodus 12:26-27). Some Christmas traditions help do this. Other Christmas traditions fall into the category of harmless fun. When it comes to Santa, I believe he can fall into the category of harmless fun, but there is potential for some harm as well. I will explain what we do with our children in our home as it relates to Santa, but I recognize there is plenty of room for Christians who believe the Bible to disagree about things like this. My hope is to encourage some thoughtfulness in how you do Santa. You don't have to do things my way, but you don't have to do Santa the way everyone else does either.

First, let's look at the background of our Santa traditions. Saint Nicholas lived in the early 300s AD. He was a Bishop in modern Turkey. For many centuries, the church celebrated him on December 6th. Some have said he gave gifts to children, or helped the poor, but little is known for sure. Many countries in Europe still celebrate him on December 6th with a bigger celebration than Christmas. By the 1500s, the Dutch were saying that Saint Nicholas came by boat on December 5th and traveled on a flying horse to bring treats to children. This was probably related to an older tradition about the pagan god Odin, who was said to go on a hunting party each December. He had a horse that could leap incredible distances. Children would leave boots with treats for Odin's horse near the chimney and would get treats in exchange.

In America, few thought much of Saint Nicholas. Those who did were a small group of social elites in New York City who celebrated him on December 6th. Up until 1822, no one thought of "Santa Claus" as having ties to Christmas. That is when Clement Moore wrote, "Twas the Night Before Christmas." The origins of the Santa tradition in America are this poem. He was not writing about traditions observed in America at the time, but wrote the poem in order to begin a new tradition. He borrowed from and recreated the Dutch traditions and moved his day from December 6th to Christmas Eve. Over time, other elements were added to the "Santa Claus" story, but the main parts were an invention of Moore's poem.

One interesting fact is that Moore's poem sounds a lot like an earlier poem written by a preacher about Jesus coming to judge the world. In 1662 Michael Wigglesworth published, "The Day of Doom." The opening lines read:

Still was the night, Serene and Bright, when all Men sleeping lay;
Calm was the season, and carnal reason thought so 'twould last for ay

Whereas Moore's poem reads:
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

There are many other similarities throughout the poem. I will not go into all of them. The point is that the real origin of Santa Claus seems to be a remaking of the coming of Christ into a story about the coming of Santa.

Think of the comparisons between Jesus and Santa. Like Jesus, Santa knows if your are being good or bad, he is omniscient. Like Jesus, he can be everywhere at once (omnipresent). He has a book with wish lists and one for who is naughty and nice. Revelation talks about books with the names of the righteous in it. Santa seems capable of receiving wish lists almost like Jesus can hear prayers. Both come in judgment. Santa rewards good children and puts others on the naughty list.

I don't think these things naturally arose over time, they were intentionally created this way. The trouble is there are key differences. Jesus offers his righteousness as a gift. He gives grace. Santa, on the other hand, rewards only the good kids. The Bible says "There is no one righteous, no not one." Santa offers gifts to fulfill the material desires of children, Jesus offers himself as the one we should desire.

So Santa really is a being similar to Christ, but with key differences. Is it really helpful to present someone like this to our children? Many young children have a more developed faith in Santa than they do in Jesus. Should it be any surprise that their view of Santa will in time influence the way they see Jesus? I suggest that however you do Santa, don't emphasize that a divine being will reward only good children. Rather, teach children that all of us deserve to be on God's "naughty" list but that God gives goodness to those who trust in Jesus. Jesus is the one we should desire above all material things.

Then there is the issue of tricking our children into belief. Our children trust us as parents. If we tell them Santa can do certain things, they will usually believe it. But should we take advantage of their trust? I'm all for pretending. I go on rocket adventures to Mars under the blankets on my bed with my children all the time. But they know we are pretending. If we go to great lengths to make our children think everything about Santa is really true, does that really benefit them? I'm not saying that if you did or are doing Santa with your children that it will greatly harm them. Obviously almost all children growing up in our country have believed in Santa and many are fine. However, is it not possible that for some children who have grown up they have a distorted view of God now in part because of their view of Santa then? For those who no longer believe in Jesus, could the seeds of doubt have begun when they realized they were foolish to believe in Santa?

I'm not against all things Santa. We watch movies with Santa in our home. I have no problem getting a picture of my kids with Santa. At Christmas time, we joke around about what Santa is going to bring or if we will see him in the sky. I often say, "It's Santa!" When a UPS truck shows up at our door with a delivery during the month of December. But I also know my kids are aware he's not real, and I don't tell them they have to be good to get presents. I don't tell them he's not real, we've just never tried to convince them that he is. And I repeatedly urge them not to talk to other children about Santa. That's what we do in our house.

 Trust the Bible is a weekday radio program that begins at about 8:10 each morning on WDOG 93.5 in Allendale, SC. You can listen to previous programs online here: http://www.fairfaxfbc.org/trust-the-bible.html