Santa or Jesus (Pt.1)

Dec 15, 2009 by desiringvirtue

Santa Claus is so very interesting to me. How is it that a fourth century bishop who was known for his generosity to children, the poor and the destitute became the center of a an entire holiday season? When and why did people feel the need to mold this real and God-honoring man into an idol? The word idol may sound harsh. I am not proposing that everyone who participates in the Santa Claus tradition is an idol worshiper, but I fear that the vast majority of Americans are in fact teaching their children to worship an imaginary man (imaginary because the historical St. Nicholas of Myra is vastly different from the one we celebrate now).

Think about it, how is the way we worship the true God any different from the way we teach our children to relate to Santa Claus? We teach them that Santa is all knowing (after all he can see you when your sleeping and know when your awake), he is omnipresent (he somehow can be everywhere at once in one night), and he rewards good behavior while punishing bad behavior. We ingrain in our children the validity of Santa, reading them stories and teaching them songs. We remind them throughout the year (especially as Christmas gets closer) that the gifts they get on Christmas will depend upon their obedience or disobedience making Santa an authority in their lives. Of course we know the truth (that we are basically lying to our children so that they can have some childish fun) and they will find out sooner or later that it was all just an elaborate story that was meant for their enjoyment, but they don’t know that. In their childish minds Santa is the coolest man on earth! Who could be better than Santa? I mean goodness; all I have to do is make a list and he will give me all my little heart desires come Christmas morning!

It should not be surprising that the world created this mythical character for we know that man’s heart was created to worship. We know that as humans we were meant to have a relationship with our Lord and that our hearts and minds are fitted to worship (though skewed as a result of the fall). It should not surprise us when we see the world grasp at any and all earthly idols as they spurn the one true God, but it should surprise us when the Christian community wholeheartedly embraces the worship  of a man at the expense of worshiping God.

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