Santa Pause

The Historical Origins of Santa Claus

Years ago, a pastor told me, Justin, never preach about Santa Claus. You just can't win preaching about Santa. At the risk of going against his advice, I am going to address an icon with which we are all familiar, but few really consider to be an issue, Santa Claus.

Now to do away with any suspense, I'm not a fan of Santa. I've never cared much for him ever since I learned that he was not real. As an adult, I cared for him even less and even began to have a bit of animosity toward the jolly old elf.

However, it was not until about 2010 that I, through circumstances in my life, was actually forced to sit down and think through exactly who Santa is and wrestle with the biblical implications. And I am not in this piece going to use sophomoric arguments like, well, you know, if you rearrange the letters of Santa, you get Satan, and while that might technically be true, I suppose, that I'm not going to result to such childish arguments for my thesis here.

Again, until 2010, I would never have dreamed of doing a piece like this or writing on this issue because, quite frankly, I never dreamed that there would be a need for anything like this. And so, dear one, I ask only that, as we go through this program, that you would consider the arguments I make, consider its thesis, not necessarily with an open mind, but rather with a theological mind.

Please consider the points I put forward and evaluate them not against family tradition or common sense, culture, majority opinion, or even emotion, but rather against the teachings of inerrant and sufficient scripture.

Our standard for what is true, right, appropriate, beneficial, and both edifying to the believer and glorifying to God can be nothing but the word of God. And so, here we will examine the history of Santa Claus, we will look at his characteristics and attributes, and then draw some conclusions about the proper biblical approach to this familiar icon of Christmas.

And it is my prayer that, after hearing these arguments and listening to my reasoning in the biblical evidence put forth, that the conclusion to which you come will also be that we should give pause to Mr. Claus.

St. Nicholas, Sinterklaas, and the Development of the Santa Legend

First, let us look at the history of Santa. Now, the history of Santa is not as well-documented as many would assume. The most widely held view is that the legend began with St. Nicholas, a fourth-century Catholic bishop of Myra in southern Turkey.

A cult grew up around the bishop, and prior to the Protestant Reformation, it had become one of history's most widespread religious movements. According to the Christian Almanac, by the height of the Middle Ages, St. Nicholas was probably invoked in prayer more than any other figure except the Virgin Mary and Christ himself.

Various acts of generosity and even miracles were attributed to St. Nicholas, including the distribution of gifts to the poor, the salvation of a city from famine, and even the resurrection of three young boys who had been sadistically murdered and mutilated.

After his death, St. Nicholas made various visionary appearances to people in distress and need, so the legend held. He provided comfort and even deliverance from execution, for those falsely accused of crimes.

The documentation of Nicholas' life, however, is actually quite sparse, and little is known of him. Some speculate that he may not have even been a real person at all. Nonetheless, the legend around him and the cult grew.

Despite the Islamic advance across southern Turkey beginning in the eighth century, and then later the Protestant Reformation, which swept through northern Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, both of which served to hinder the Catholic-oriented Nicholas cult, the legend nonetheless grew outside of the borders of the church, and it did survive.

Some speculate that a revised version of the legend came to America via the Dutch Sinterklaas. The legend slash cult appeared to be largely dormant in American culture until new life was breathed into him in the late 18th century in Manhattan.

Sinterklaas became known as Santa Claus, and slowly began to be associated with gift-giving. Author Washington Irving, most famous for Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, in his 1809 work entitled The History of New York, described St. Nicholas as an old man in dark robes who traveled on a flying horse bringing gifts to children.

In the poem entitled The Children's Friend, published in 1821, Santa acquires his flying reindeer in chimney-top stops. Just one year later, Dr. Clement Moore, theology professor at Union Seminary, undoubtedly inspired by both Irving and The Children's Friend, wrote his own poem entitled A Visit from St. Nicholas, which begins with these familiar words.

"'Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house. It was Moore's poem which gave us the number of Santa's reindeer, eight, with Rudolph being the ninth, their names and his travels up and down chimneys leaving gifts for boys and girls.

Political cartoonist Thomas Nast developed Santa further by giving him a home at the North Pole in a workshop filled with busy elves. Not everyone agrees with this history, however. Some point toward a much darker origin of Santa.

Some researchers trace the legend back to the Norse god of Odin, who rode through the sky on a white eight-legged horse. Like Santa, Odin's home, Valhalla, was in the North Country. Odin had a long white beard and would fly during the winter solstice between December 21st and 25th with the mission of rewarding good children and punishing the naughty.

Others trace Santa to the Norse god Thor. No, not that Thor. The Norse god Thor was generally represented as an older, friendly man who also sported a long white beard. He was associated with the element of fire and generally wore red attire.

His mode of travel was a chariot drawn by two white goats named Cracker and Gnasher. He too lived in the Northland and he also had elves to assist in craftsmanship and was said to come down chimneys and perform benevolent acts for humans.

More ominously, though, according to the Scandinavian mythology, he was, quote, regarded as the chief antagonist of Christ. In fact, in many traditions from Holland, Scandinavia, Germany, Bosnia, the center class did not travel alone but was accompanied by a sinister demonic being known variously as Hans Trapp, Nekt Ruprecht, Krampus, the Dark Helper, and Black Pete, whose responsibility it was to punish children and even drag them to hell.

The Pennsylvania Dutch had their version of the Dark Helper known as Belsnickel, Furry Nicholas, or Rough Nicholas. The Dark Helper was not only dark by nature but also because he was covered in soot from his travels up and down the chimneys.

And though Thomas Nast is rightly credited for creating the modern image of Santa, some argue that his inspiration, Thomas Nast's inspiration, was not St. Nicholas at all but rather was the Dark Helper.

Images of St. Nicholas portray a tall, slender man attired as a Catholic bishop and look nothing at all like Santa. Drawings of the Dark Helper, however, portray a horned man clad in fur and carrying a bag on his back.

The Dark Helper actually does bear some resemblance to modern Santa, leading many researchers to argue it was actually he rather than St. Nicholas to whom we ultimately owe our conception of the iconic Yuletide figure.

Researcher Phyllis Seifger states this, quote,. It seems obvious, therefore, that Santa Claus can be neither the alter ego of St. Nicholas nor the brainchild of Washington Irving. If we peek behind the imposing St. Nicholas, we see, glowering in the shadows, the saint's reprobate companion, Black Pete.

He, like Santa, has a coat of hair, a disheveled beard, a bag, and ashes on his face. In fact, it is this creature, rather than Irving's creation or an Asian saint, who fathered Santa Claus. The truth of Santa's history is hard to know for certain, but there certainly seems to be enough evidence to make plausible the theory that his origins are not quite as genteel as popularly imagined.

Santa's Attributes Compared to the Attributes of God

Though Santa's origins may be of interest to some, for the vast majority of people, Santa is about as far from ominous as one could get. He's gentle, he's a roly-poly grandfatherly figure who gives good gifts to children once a year.

What could possibly be the harm, right? Well, dear ones, now we get to the meat of the matter. Let's look at the characteristics and attributes of Santa. This is where I must ask you, as much as possible, to put aside personal preferences, majority opinion, tradition, and preconceived notions in general dealing with Santa Claus.

Here's where I ask that you consider the following information from a purely biblical point of view. Here, we will examine who Santa is and who God is. We will look at his characteristics and attributes and compare them to God's characteristics and attributes.

And until 2010, I had never given this much thought at all. In fact, I was in much more need of listening to a program like this or reading some solid material on this and not producing it myself. So I invite you now to join me as we take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and consider if there is biblical warrant for us to give Santa pause.

The first characteristic and attribute, Santa is eternal. Santa is often portrayed as having a wife, but never a mother or father. He seems to have no real beginning and certainly no end. He's just always been around and always will be.

Eternality, as with all of God's incommunicable attributes, is uniquely his. He is the great I am. He has always been and always will be. Immutability, closely related to his eternality, Santa is also apparently immutable.

In other words, he does not change. Year after year after year, on December 24th, he boards his sleigh and makes his appointed rounds with just as much energy, just as much enthusiasm and strength and vigor as he has in years past.

Time seems to stand still for Santa. Unlike all the other created plants and animals and we humans who grow old and undergo decay, Santa appears immune from the passage of time in the curse of the fall.

He never gets sick, never tires, and he never seems to age, he never changes. This is one of the incommunicable attributes of God. Santa is also omnipresent, another one of God's incommunicable attribute.

Santa is, in effect, everywhere at the same time. True, he does go from one house to another consecutively, but he visits every child's house in the world all in one night. In my research, I came across a rather humorous engineering analysis of Santa's feat of flying, and assuming that Santa does not visit Buddhist, Hindu, or Islamic children, et cetera, he still manages to visit some 91 .8 million homes just in one night.

And just to be generous, this author allowed Santa a full 24 hours with an additional six hours provided by different time zones with the assumption of east to west travel. According to this author, Santa must visit 822 .6 homes per second.

And so for all intents and purposes, we can say that he is indeed omnipresent. Humor aside, omnipresence is one of God's incommunicable attributes. He is limited neither by space nor time and is everywhere present in his fullness.

Santa is also, like God, omniscient, and this is undoubtedly one of Santa's creepier attributes. He seemingly knows everything. Consider the words of John Coutts in Haven Gillespie's 1934 song entitled, Santa Claus is Coming to Town.

He knows if you've been sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake. From his home at the North Pole, Santa possesses the ability to know when each and every child and presumably adult on earth is sleeping and awake.

Compare Santa's power with that of God. Proverbs 15 verse three, the eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. Eerily similar, is it not? Santa knows our behavior and is apparently qualified to make judgments as to its meritorious value.

He sees all and knows all. Omniscience is one of God's incommunicable, unique attributes. Santa is also good. Santa is portrayed as kind, gentle, jovial, and good via his authority to determine which children have been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake.

Good is a word that we often use to describe everything from people to some desired outcome or to some delicious food like fried chicken. Some will undoubtedly think I'm stretching a bit here, but describing Santa as good is problematic when coupled with all of the other divine attributes ascribed to him.

God's standard of goodness is moral perfection and complete obedience as measured by his moral law, the 10 commandments. And dear friends, none of us measures up to that standard. We have all sinned and all of us have hearts that are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

The apostle Paul knew that nothing good dwells in us and that there are none good, no not one, except Santa. Santa is good by his nature. This too is in direct opposition to the plain teaching of scripture.

In a statement affirming his own deity, Jesus told the rich young ruler plainly, no one is good except God alone. God's goodness, his omnibenevolence, is original to him and is not possessed by any of the fallen created order.

Santa's goodness separates him from every other created thing and puts him in the class of God. Santa is also a gift giver. That Santa gives gifts to good children and leaves lumps of coal for the bad is inextricably tied to his goodness.

Only one who is intrinsically good by character and nature is truly qualified to make judgments about good and bad behavior and render the appropriate rewards and punishments. Aside from this though, Santa's activity all year is for him and his elves and by the way, ponder that Santa has elves, God has angels, so there's another parallel, but his activity all year is for him and his elves to create toys for worldwide distribution.

He's a gift giver and gives with no expectation of anything in return. In this aspect too, Santa looks just like God. God is the only true gift giver because only he gives with truly pure motives. He gives light, he gives man the fruit of his labor, he gives individual personal abilities, he gives love, he gives spiritual gifts, he gives faith and repentance for the gift of salvation in the gift of his son, Jesus Christ.

God is not only the ultimate gift giver, but he is also the only true gift giver for every good thing and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of lights. And so dear ones, the reality is, is that Santa shares many of God's attributes.

Santa as a Graven Image and the Danger of Idolatry

And this should be extraordinarily sobering to all who profess Christ. Santa diminishes the glory of God by sharing in his glory. Glory is a term that we often hear and use. We often speak of giving glory to God or affirm that he is glorious, but what does that really mean?

I fear that the magnanimity of this term all too often eludes us. It will elude us today as well, and it will elude us because it is really not even possible to give an adequate definition of the glory of God.

And so to define glory is in some sense to attempt to try to define the indefinable. The glory of God is inextricably connected to the holiness of God. And so this raises the question, what is meant by holiness?

Holiness is not one attribute among his many others, but rather is the totality, the summation of all of God's perfect divine attributes. God's holiness denotes the incomparable perfection of his divine nature and his glory is the manifestation, if you will, or the revelation of his holiness.

Glory is in short holiness revealed. Jesus Christ is God incarnate and reveals to us the fullness of God's holiness and is the radiance of his glory. He was God in flesh and now is at the right hand of the father.

While incarnate on earth, Jesus was the revelation of God's glory and is revealed to us today in God's inerrant sufficient word. None of God's attributes can be fully and perfectly manifested in any of his created beings.

Santa, however, manifests not merely one, but many of God's attributes. We've taken many of God's unique attributes and fashioned them into a figure known as Santa Claus. And though fictitious, by encompassing so many of God's attributes, he is a manifestation of sorts of God's holiness.

In other words, he is a man-made reflection of the glory of God. And at this point, many will cry foul. Many will object saying, oh, come on, who thinks of it that way? Who thinks of it that deeply? There's not a kid on earth that would ever think such things.

Adults don't even think of Santa like that. That's not what we teach. We don't think Santa is God. And this, dear friends, is just the point. Most of us do not think about Santa this way. However, our ignorance, willful or not, does not change the fact that that is who he is.

And please hear me. Please know that I understand that no professing Christian would ever dream of consciously ascribing to Santa the attributes of God. The problem is not so much that we would do this, but that it has already been done.

And whether or not we think of Santa as embodying the attributes of God does not change the fact that he does embody those attributes. Yet another one of God's attributes is jealousy. And this may at first seem contradictory.

After all, how could an omnipotent God be jealous of anything his lesser? How could God be jealous and still be righteous and good? And though jealousy for us most often carries with it a negative connotation, it can be a good thing.

For example, any decent husband upon seeing another man trying to win his wife's affections would become immediately and appropriately jealous. Jealousy, unlike envy, which is always bad, is often good.

God's jealousy is always good. So of what, or rather for what, is God jealous? Himself. God is jealous for himself. His attributes, which comprise his holiness, manifested in his glory. And to some, this might seem egotistical of God.

Not at all. Not at all. Pride is sinful in humans because we do not deserve honor. God does deserve honor. God is all about himself because he is the creator of all things and he seeks to defend his honor and his glory.

He is consumed with himself and he wants us to be consumed with him as well. He is jealous of believers because we are his possession, his people. God is zealous to protect that which is his own, his people, his name, his word, his honor, and his glory.

The biblical term for zeal is the root word for jealous and it denotes an intense heat. The Hebrew root denotes a redness in the face that accompanies strong emotion. God is jealous of himself, his attributes.

He says, I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God. And Yahweh, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God. And so that they would be sure not to miss the point, God warns Israel against going after other gods.

For Yahweh your God in the midst of you is a jealous God. Otherwise, the anger of Yahweh your God will be kindled against you and he will wipe you off the face of the earth. And granted, people who do Santa in their homes are not consciously going after other gods, not consciously.

However, the truth of the matter remains. God describes himself as jealous, exceedingly jealous. God says in Isaiah 42 verse eight, I am Yahweh, that is my name. My glory I will not share with another, nor my praise to graven images.

Dear friends, we must not miss this. God will not share his glory with another, he will not. And like it or not, dear ones, by sharing so many of the same attributes, God is sharing his holiness, his glory with Santa.

There just is no other way around it. And I completely understand that very, very few people think of it at this level. However, that does not make one bit of difference as to whether or not it is right.

Whether or not we intend Santa to have the attributes of God is irrelevant. The fact of the matter is he does. Ultimately, it does not really matter what you or I think about Santa. What does matter, however, is what God thinks about him.

God will give neither his glory nor his praise to another. And by definition, Santa is a graven image that shares God's glory. If we were able to sit down and ask God directly, Lord, are you okay with Santa?

How do you think he would respond? I honestly cannot imagine any scenario in which he would say yes. In fact, he has already told us more than enough in his word that he is not okay with Santa or any other graven image.

Consider the second commandment. You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God.

Some will undoubtedly object again by saying that we do not worship Santa because he's not real. Well, neither are the graven images. A graven image is no more real and yet just as real as Santa. No, there are no real deities behind the graven images.

Those created by the Israelites were wood and stone. But we can see them just as we can see Santa in a book, on television, or sitting in a chair in the mall. But we don't worship Santa, you say. Well, maybe not directly.

However, by ascribing to Santa the attributes of God, we are ascribing to him worship. This is a crucial point, dear ones, a point not to be missed. By ascribing to Santa or anyone or anything else any of the attributes of God, we are ascribing to him worship.

That we think of it in this way or not does not negate the truth of it. Truth is truth regardless of whether or not we believe it. We worship God not primarily because of what he has done but because of who he is.

God is worthy of worship because of his attributes and these same attributes have been given to the fat man in the red suit. In 1 Corinthians 10, 14 through 22, Paul addresses an issue that had arisen in the Corinthian church.

Paul preached the gospel in Corinth, God saved his elect and a church was born. After spending about 18 months with them in discipleship, Paul left the young church and went on to other destinations. A problem arose, actually many problems, but that's a whole other series of sermons and broadcasts.

But nonetheless, a problem arose concerning the eating of meat sacrificed to idols. Some of these young believers were going back into the pagan temples and participating, at least at some level, in some of the accompanying pagan rituals, including but not necessarily limited to the eating of meat that had been sacrificed to idols.

These Corinthians were not going with the intent of actively participating in the worship of pagan gods. They simply wanted to maintain friendships and fellowship with their friends who were not believers.

So they would go to the rituals and they would eat some of the meat that had been sacrificed to idols. Paul writes to them and gives them a stern warning in 1 Corinthians 10, 14 through 22. Paul says, therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

I speak as to wise men, you judge what I say. Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

Look at the nation Israel. Are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar? What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything or that an idol is anything? No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God.

And I do not want you to become sharers in demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?

We are not stronger than he, are we? Paul is warning them that simply by being present and giving implicit approval, but not speaking out against the pagan worship and by eating the meat sacrificed to idols that they are unwittingly dining with demons.

The idols did not have real deities behind them and Paul readily acknowledged this in verse 19 and verse 20, part A. However, there were very real spiritual forces, very much at work, demons. Paul warns them that the things that the pagan sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God.

This was not a neutral experience for the Corinthians as they naively assumed. It was demonic because behind every false religion, no matter how primitive it may seem to us today, are demons. Satan and his demonic horde have inspired every single false religion that has ever existed.

Satan, Lucifer, the son of the morning was the highest angel created. He was closest to God and orchestrated his worship. However, he came to desire worship for himself. He longed to have for himself the worship rightly given only to God.

Iniquity and pride were found in his heart and he along with a third of the angels whom he persuaded to follow his lead were cast out of heaven. Satan longs more than anything to be worshiped and will deceive by any means necessary to acquire that worship.

He is worshiped by non-Christians by creating for them false religions and false gods such as Egyptian deities, ancestor worship, deities of nature, Buddha, Muhammad, et cetera, et cetera. What he most desires though is to be worshiped by those claiming to worship the true God.

That's what he most desires. For those who profess Christ as savior, he must be more cunning. He can't just create idols of wood or stone or offer Buddha or Muhammad. No, for those who claim to be Christians, he's got to offer them something that looks more like the real thing.

He devises clever counterfeits. He offers the prosperity gospel, the social gospel along with the social justice movement. He offers worship of and prayer to dead saints and the Virgin Mary. He offers a watered down gospel devoid of calls for repentance, the seeker sensitive movement.

He makes it look as close to the real thing as possible without it actually being the real thing. Satan does not present himself to the Christian as this red and scaly thing with a bifurcated tail carrying a hay fork.

No, he's smarter than that. He disguises himself as something innocent, harmless, an angel of light, something like Santa. Now, some of you who are listening to me right now are livid, I know. You think that if you do Santa with your children that I am accusing you of worshiping Satan.

Please, dear one, if this is you, I am not at all accusing you of anything. I'm simply offering to you a warning from compassion and love. Paul was not accusing the Corinthians, he was warning them. And know that he was not warning them out of self-righteousness or pride.

He did not consider himself any better than they. In fact, Paul referred to himself as the chief of sinners. He was warning them from a heart burdened with concern, compassion, and love. He dearly loved these Corinthians.

He loved the socks off of them. As the one who first brought the gospel to them, he thought of them as his spiritual children. Paul is warning them that by participating on any level with the pagan rituals, they are unwittingly and innocently exposing themselves to demons.

As believers, they were in no danger of losing salvation, that's not the issue. However, they were exposing themselves to demonic influence and there would be spiritual consequences. And lest you think yourself immune from the influence of Satan and his demons, consider that Satan went after none other than the Son of God himself.

Satan led Jesus into the wilderness, showed him the kingdoms of the world, and took Jesus to the top of the temple, tempting him. What did he want? He wanted the same thing that he wants now, worship.

If Satan had the audacity to come after the Son of God, the very one who created him, rest assured, dear ones, he will not hesitate to come after you and me. It is an argument from the greater to the lesser.

Lying, False Motives, and the Need to Remove Santa

Is Santa real? No, but Satan is and Satan has always desired to make himself look as much like God as possible and to do whatever he can to diminish his glory. Anything that takes on the attributes of God and is the object of any warm feelings of affection is inspired by Satan.

Children love Santa. They have warm feelings of affection toward him. They trust him, they respect him. They even fear displeasing him. And for those who maintain that they can do Santa and still teach their children that Jesus is the real reason for the season, allow me to pose this question.

For whose arrival do children most eagerly await at Christmas time? Do children lay awake at night in their beds on Christmas Eve excited about the incarnate God or Santa? Of course, it's Santa. They are children and they can be expected to do nothing else.

I remember laying awake excited about Santa on Christmas Eve in my bed too. It doesn't make it right. Anything that draws attention away from Christ is not approved by Christ. It is no coincidence that on the two most revered days in Christendom, Christmas and Easter, there are two fictitious icons possessing divine attributes which garner much of our attention.

I know what I'm saying here goes against the overwhelming majority opinion and many will say that I'm being alarmist, overreactive, legalistic, accusatory, maybe even arrogant and self-righteous. Dear ones, I can assure you that these are neither my motives nor my intentions.

Nor am I saying that if you do Santa with your children, you are a bad parent. I'm not saying that you're not saved, none of those things. Again, it wasn't until the year 2010 that I myself finally thought through the Santa issue.

There are, however, aspects of this issue which we as Christians simply must consider. One is lying. This is an objection we have heard before but have not yet mentioned. If we tell our children about Santa, aren't we lying to them?

Well, yes, we are. When we tell children about Santa Claus leaving his divine attributes aside for the moment, we are in fact lying. Thou shalt not lie is the ninth commandment. And even though we say that it's just for children, for fanciful fun once a year, the inescapable conclusion is that we are in fact still lying.

And yes, we have all lied, me included. Let God be true and every man a liar. We are all liars, true. Anyone who says he has never lied is a liar because he lied in denying that he has lied. It doesn't make it right, though.

We are to busy ourselves in teaching our children the truth of God's word and living that truth out. You can try to excuse it, you can try to justify it in any way, but you're still lying to your children.

And how ironic is it that on the very day that we celebrate the incarnation of the Son of God who came to save his people from their sins, we knowingly and intentionally commit sin against our children and against God by lying to them when we tell them that Santa is real.

It is ironic when you think about it. Also, Santa provides a distortion of motives for right behavior. Children are on their best behavior around Christmas. Why? Because Santa's watching and he knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake, right?

This teaches children that they should behave and be obedient to their parents, not because it's commanded by God, but because Santa might not bring them toys. This cultivates an unbiblical motive for obedience.

Children are trying to please Santa and get what they want rather than obeying their parents and pleasing them in pleasing God because it is what he commands us to do. A distortion of motives for right behavior.

Santa as a Substitute for Christ

Let's return just for a moment to the attributes of God issue. And though I need not belabor the point into which we have already gone into so much detail, Santa looks an awful lot like Jesus. He has many of the same attributes and he does many of the same things.

As an aside, have you ever noticed how Santa is often shown wearing a crown of holly? Holly with its sharply pointed leaves and red berries was known in middle Europe as the Christ thorn and was recognized as the archetypal reality of the crown of thorns.

Jesus bore the crown of thorns and yet Santa wears it too. Friends, that's just too close for my comfort. That Santa has God's attributes is likely the single biggest issue because its implications are so widespread.

Remember the lesson from 1 Corinthians 10. Even though the pagan gods are not real, the demons that lurk behind them are. Any phony impersonation of Christ that mimics him and or draws attention away from Christ really does have a dark element about it.

It's idolatry. Even without active purposeful worship, it is idolatry. And Paul warns his beloved Corinthians, flee, flee from idolatry. Don't pass go, don't collect $200, just flee. There is real danger lurking behind that facade of innocence.

Jesus, Santa, and the Question of What Christ Approves

So dear ones, it really comes down to this and I want to revisit a point that I made a little bit earlier but maybe drill down a little bit more specifically in a more concerted way here. Let's suppose we were to be able to sit down in our living rooms and have Jesus as our physical guest and he is literally physically sitting in a chair across the coffee table from us and we are able to look him in the eye and have a conversation with him.

Let's suppose we asked him this question. Jesus, are you okay with us teaching our children that there is this entity out there, this being who looks an awful lot like you? He is eternal as are you. He is immutable, he does not change.

He is good by his character and his nature. He is omniscient, he knows everything and sees everything and he provides motivation for being good for our children. Are you okay with us teaching our kids that this being, this person named Santa Claus is real?

And dear friends, for the life of me, I cannot imagine any scenario in which Jesus would respond to that question with an affirmative. I cannot imagine the Alpha and Omega saying, yeah, I'm okay with that.

I'm okay with that, especially on the day that we say we set aside to remembering a unique way, the incarnation of Jesus himself. Dear friends, I cannot imagine any scenario in which he would say that he is okay with that.

And I think if you were to think through these issues as I've tried to help us do in this program, I think if you'll really think about these issues, then you'll know, you'll know as well. You'll agree that no, Jesus is not okay with this, he's not.

And that is really what it comes down to. And if Jesus is not okay with it, then neither should we be okay with it. And you don't have to worry that if you, maybe you're listening to this and maybe you're parents of young children and maybe this has caught you off guard.

Maybe this has caught you midstream and maybe you've done Santa. Maybe you're planning on doing Santa with your kids here in less than about two weeks as I'm doing this recording. I would encourage you to just be honest with your kids, just be honest with them.