Is It Ok to Lie to Your Kids About Santa?

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There have been plenty of kids who have come along and essentially said, you've told me that Santa was real, and I learned that he wasn't real, and that really messed with my head.

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What are the other things that you've been lying to me about? And there's been plenty of kids who've compared that to Jesus. I thought

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Jesus was a big fairytale just like Santa, because we can't see him too. Alright, Tim, the question for today's episode is, is it okay to lie to your kids about Santa?

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Well, you know, the Bible says, thou shalt not bear false witness. So, I'm not a big fan of lying.

00:52

Okay, well, I guess probably the disconnect for a lot of people here is, they're not going to view telling your kids that Santa Claus is real as lying.

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So, what's your response to that? Yeah, I mean, if you're... Because it's easy to say, well,

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I don't believe lying honors God, because it doesn't, right? And they're going to agree, but then they're going to say that telling your kids

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Santa Claus is real is not a lie, so I'm not sinning. Yeah, well, they just need to get a dictionary out and look up the definition of words.

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I mean, what they'll call it is they'll say, hey, we're playing pretend, right? And like, just what's wrong with having imagination and all that?

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And it's like, well, come on, Nick, when you're playing pretend, everyone knows it's not true, right?

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Yeah. So, like, that's the point. So, I mean, my daughter plays pretend all the time. And she wants you to call her, like, whatever character name she is.

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And then everyone's playing pretend there because everyone knows it's not true. But, like, that's not what we're talking about.

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We're talking about Santa Claus. We're not talking about everyone knows that this isn't true. We're just playing a little game here. Like, what we're talking about is, like, you're talking about lying.

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You're talking about deceiving your kid. Because if someone comes along and says, hey, you know, Santa isn't real, you're going to be so mad at them and, you know, hate them and everything else.

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And so, like, that's what we're talking about is you're deceiving them, you know, for no reason.

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Like, why do you want to teach them that some fat, obese man is, like, you know, sliding down their chimney and giving them presents?

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I mean, it's a pagan myth. And watching them when they sleep. Honestly, Santa's pretty creepy. He is.

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I mean, just imagine, like, you know, sitting on that obese man's lap every year and telling him all the things you want for Christmas.

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I mean, there's so much in this that's just absurd. Knowing, as a parent, that it's just some random guy that they hired to be

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Santa for a few hours. Some random, creepy, overweight pedophile that you're sitting on, you know. Yeah, so,

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I mean, it's weird. I mean, I think there's weird, yuck -factor reasons, like the kind of things that we're saying.

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And then there's more substantial reasons, too. But, I mean, just to keep on going with the theme of the weirdness.

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I mean, I work my 40, 50 hours a week in order to provide a house for my kids.

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Why do I want to give some overweight man the credit for all that, you know? Like, come on. Your mother and I, we bought you these presents.

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Some imaginary person didn't buy you these presents, you know. So, I mean, I think it's weird because it's creepy.

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I think it's weird because, like, you shouldn't lie. You know, that's a moral issue. I think it's weird because you're giving someone else credit for the presents you gave your kids.

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But then, you know, like, a lot of parents use it as some kind of ridiculous, like, teaching tool, right?

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Like, you better be good or Santa's not going to buy you your presents kind of thing. He's going to give you coal. I mean, then you're, like, teaching some sort of works, you know, righteousness kind of system there, too.

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Which, by the way, I've never heard of any of those parents actually getting coal for their kids. Even if they behave really poorly.

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Well, I mean, that's where it's just like, you know, the Bible says that, like, sin leads to more sin. You know, you tell one lie and it's going to end up turning into a bunch of lies.

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And once you get used to it, you know, you end up just lying, lying, lying, you know? So, it's not just the original lie.

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It's all the lies you have to tell to cover it up, too, right? And you're just engaging in it.

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You're just training yourself in lies and training them in lies. I mean, there's been plenty of people who, you know, have come along.

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And not everyone thinks this, but, I mean, there have been plenty of kids who have come along and essentially said, like, you know, you've told me that Santa was real.

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And, like, I learned that he wasn't real. And that really messed with my head. What are the other things that you've been lying to me about?

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You know, and there's been plenty of kids who've compared that to Jesus. I thought Jesus was a big fairy tale, just like Santa, because we can't see him, too.

04:57

Yeah, you become the whole Anakin meme, right? What other lies has the council told me?

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Basically, basically. I mean, not every kid. I mean, obviously not every. Like, the thing is, like, there are some people who tell the lie, do the

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Santa Claus lie thing. And for whatever reason, you know, they're sentimental, sappy people, whatever, who get into that kind of thing.

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And, yes, their kids come out unscathed. And they all, you know, at some point, you know, it was a nice holiday tradition, whatever, you know, like so.

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But that's not every story. And, you know, so, like, yeah, obviously every kid who's been lied to about their, you know,

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Santa is not going to come out an atheist, whatever. Right. Yeah. So, but I guess it's still it doesn't honor the

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Lord to lie to your kids. It doesn't honor the Lord to, you know, lie to them about a, you know, obese fat man, you know.

05:52

Is there any comment to be made about, like, the focus that it puts on material gifts and Christmastime?

06:00

And probably, too, is there anything to the fact that it probably takes emphasis away from Christ himself?

06:09

Well, I think that's the most significant issue that there is. So, I don't know that I have, like, a huge reaction to, like, having a time during the year that's devoted to gift -giving and presents.

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And I think sometimes parents can make way too much out of it. Like, in terms of just, you know, there's, like, this concern that they have.

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So, like, two issues. One of them, the gift -giving, and one is the focus off Christ. I think sometimes parents can just maybe overthink the gift -giving problem and make it way more of a problem than it actually is.

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So, I mean, under the Old Covenant law, there was, like, a prescription that the

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Israelites were given to take a tenth of their income every year. And use that, you know, to celebrate in Jerusalem, like a big feast or whatever, right?

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And so, like, that's a tenth of your income. And so, like, the Bible, when you think about the Bible, you read through the

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Old Testament, there's all these feasts in the Bible. And, you know, the New Testament tells us God's given us all things richly to enjoy.

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And God, like, He didn't spare, like, blessing us, okay? So, when you think about, like, the creation

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He gave us, He didn't just give us the bare minimum, some black and white world with no taste, no smell, no sights, no sounds, no nothing, you know?

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Like, everything's gray. A deprivation tank. Yeah, He didn't do that. Like, He gave us, like, all this, right?

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Like, He gave us all this that we see in this, like, it's a wonderful creation that He's given us to enjoy.

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And not only, like, the earth itself, you know, and all the variety, like, grass and trees and, you know, birds and, you know, all that.

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You know, like, sky, blue sky, green grass. But the planets and the stars and everything is, like,

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He went, like, He just lavished us with, you know, everything, right? And as Christians, He's given us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

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He spared no expense, you know, so to speak. Like, the thing is, He's done so much for us.

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And then He instructs, you know, His people just to, like, feast, right? Like, we need a real doctrine of, like, feasting to the glory of God and enjoyment.

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And so, I mean, I think sometimes we can just kind of be miserly and, you know,

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I don't think you want to approach the Christian life, like, as if, like, every, you know, good thing that you give your kid is taking away from, you know, the starving orphans in Africa.

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Their extended bellies and the flies flying around them with the Sarah McLachlan song in the background or something.

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Like, you just, like, God's given us something to enjoy. And it's good as parents, I think, to have those moments where you're not getting into a bunch of credit card debt and you're not breaking the bank and you're being responsible and you're being reasonable, but you planned well and you're just, hey, we love you and this is our chance to show it.

09:04

And I don't think there's any, like, I don't think we have to overthink that too much, you know? Like, unless, like, unless it's just that's all year and that's what you're doing all year long, right?

09:14

Yeah. Like, I don't think you have to overthink that too much, but, so I think that's just a good, just a good, if the

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Israelites can spend 10 % of their income on a yearly feast, I think we're all right, you know? Mm -hmm. Provided you can afford it, you know,

09:28

I think we're fine. But, you know, but I think the main thing is just, like, I don't understand why we're making

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Christmas about, you know, Santa, you know? Yeah. Like, that is, like,

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I think that's the, like, this is a time where we're celebrating Jesus and I don't understand why.

09:46

Yeah, it feels like, I'm sure there are probably people out there who say, hey, what's the big deal?

09:52

You know, I think you can, you can have a place for Santa and you can have a place for Christ and Christmas, but then,

10:00

I think you can just look at the state of Christmas right now and say that that's probably just not true, right?

10:07

Yeah. Do you understand what I'm saying? Yep. Like, basically, you know, there is no,

10:14

I mean, there's pretty much just no Christ and Christmas. I mean, Christ's name is literally in the holiday and it's more about Santa, right?

10:26

Yeah, I mean, it's so much, yeah, it's so much about, you know, Santa that, you know, you have churches who don't even want to meet.

10:34

Yeah, yeah, you're right. Because Jesus, you know, worshiping Jesus gets in the way of our celebration of, you know, his birthday apparently, you know, so, but I think, yeah,

10:44

I think the main thing is you're taking Jesus out of this thing. And I mean, I just don't understand it personally.

10:50

I don't understand, like, the whole, I don't understand the appeal to it all, you know, it just doesn't sound fun to me at all to turn a holiday into Jesus, you know, about some kind of secular pagan myth, but, you know, we, you know, we've never lied to our kids about it.

11:12

And so we've kind of just instructed, like, we basically just,

11:17

I think my, it's pretty funny, my wife told our kids about, you know, the real

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Santa Claus. So she told him the, you know, the story about Saint Nick or whatever, you know, and, but basically, you know, the end of the story was he's dead, right?

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Like he died, right? He's not alive anymore. And, you know, he used to be a guy who took care of kids and, you know, gave them presents and all that.

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And that's where some of this stuff has come from. But then they, the main takeaway that they took from that would be that whenever anyone would ask them, do you believe in Santa Claus, they would basically say, no,

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Santa's not real. Or, you know, their go -to for a little bit was, no, Santa's dead, you know? Oh, that's hilarious.

12:09

That's pretty good. That's pretty good. But we never coached. I mean, like, I think some people are just overly concerned about, like, offending everyone and their delusions, you know, around Christmas.

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Yeah. We just told our kids, like, you know, if anyone asks you about it, just say you don't believe in them or whatever and leave it at that, be honest or whatever.

12:29

But then, like, they never, I mean, they didn't never go around trying to disabuse everyone of the lies that they've been told.

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But we didn't. I mean, we're just not the kind of people who, like, play into it. Yeah, we're not going to train our kids to be sensitive and, you know, protect people from the lies that they've been told, you know?

12:48

So there's been plenty of situations where, you know, other kids ask them, you know, are they excited about Santa coming, giving them presents?

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They're like, no, our parents didn't buy us presents, Santa's dead, you know? And that was, like, earth shattering to them.

12:59

And the parents are so mad at us. And, I mean, I just, you know, I just looked at them and said, well, you know, like, this is what happens when you lie to your kids, you know?

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They're not going to trust you, you know? So, you know, nothing that's hidden will not be revealed, you know?

13:14

You reap what you sow. You've sowed lies, right? And you're reaping distrust from your kids. You know, don't blame it on my kids.

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It's your fault. You're the liar, not me. You know, we just told you the truth. But, yeah,

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I'm totally callous to it, man. I could care less. Okay, fair enough. No concern whatsoever. Fair enough.

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Now, go boldly and obey the truth in the midst of a biblically illiterate world who will be perpetually offended by your every move.