Should Santa Claus Be Part of a Christian’s Christmas?
Anyone that knows me has probably heard me complain about Santa Claus being part of Christmas. The responses I have gotten have largely been that I am too uptight or just downright silly. My men's small group laughed at me one year and thought if they drove by my house, they might find me burning a figure of Santa on my lawn for Christmas decor. But I would like to make my case against Santa and let you decide.
Please forgive me for picking this picture. My sense of humor is not for everyone.
The roots of the December 25th Christmas
The Bible does not tell us when Jesus was born or even to celebrate His birth and for close to 350 years, it was not on any calendar. In the year 380 AD, Rome declared Christianity to be the state religion, and that no pagan religions would be tolerated. This put the church in the unbiblical position of being a political power and forcing people to choose Christianity instead of inviting them to choose it.
The church realized that trying to force everyone to give up their pagan practices would be next to impossible, so they decided to absorb and rebrand them. By assigning the birth of Jesus to December 25th, the church could go after the customs associated with the winter solstice. Historians are divided on whether Jesus was actually born in the Spring or the Fall, but they say it is highly unlikely that He was born in the winter.
Many of our Christmas traditions come from pagan rituals. From the Norse, we get wassailing that was done to orchard trees to get a good harvest or done house to house to get gifts. We know it as caroling today. We also get Odin, who is one of the origins of Santa Claus.
Gift giving was also a tradition in the Roman celebration called Saturnalia, which was in honor of the god Saturn.
You probably do not put a holly wreath on your door to keep out evil spirits, but that was what many ancient pagan cultures believed it could do.
The Celts believed that various objects in nature had spirits attached to them. Because evergreen trees stayed green even in the darkest and harshest winters, they believe they had powerful spirits attached to them. They hung food and other items in the trees to gain favor and protection from these spirits.
While I doubt many people decorate their tree to appease spirits, I don’t know that you can call it a symbol of Christianity since so many non-believers also have trees in their home. This is because Christmas has grown beyond being a Christian holiday. There is simply too much money to be made at Christmas for it to remain a Christian only holiday.
When I bring up banning Santa Claus, people will argue that because Santa Claus is based on a person that likely lived between the end of the third century and the beginning of the fourth that it is okay to have him share as a figurehead of Christmas. I am just not sure why any protestant would feel this way about a Catholic saint. If some of what has been said about him is true, he sounds like he might have been a good person, but giving him a holiday is not something a protestant would normally do. We certainly do not make it a habit of putting the icons of saints in our homes, even though many protestants do put up images of Santa Claus.
I think when we really look at what Santa Claus has become, we can’t say that he has much in common with Saint Nicholas of Myra. No one suggests that the real St. Nicholas was a magical being who lived at the north pole with elves that made gifts for him to deliver to the entire world in a single night once a year.
However, Odin of Norse mythology, was said to fly overhead on his eight-legged horse during the Yule season, watching over humanity. As he passed through towns, he would either bring fortune or doom depending on what they deserved. Children would leave treats out for Odin’s horse, hoping to gain favor.
Different cultures have put different spins on Sinterklaas, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, Santa Claus, etc. but none of them line up with Catholic bishop that died before Christmas ever existed.
These days Santa has his own music, TV shows, movies, and his image is all over Christmas decorations. It’s hard to buy certain types of decorations because his image appears on so many. For the non-Christian world, Santa is the face of Christmas, for the Christian world Jesus shares the spotlight with him. But our God is a jealous God, and He doesn’t want to share the spotlight with anyone. It is one of the 10 Commandments.
In some storylines, Santa is the hero saving Christmas or helping people discover the spirit of Christmas. But that is not our message. We want people to establish a relationship with Jesus and, through repentance and sanctification, become more like Christ. It can't be done through Christmas magic, it is a long process of following Christ.
Jesus is our true Hero. He brings light, hope, peace, and love into a world of darkness and despair. He did for us what none of us could do for ourselves. He conquered sin and death and made a way for us where there was no way. His birth, even though we do not know exactly when it is, should be celebrated as a gift to the world. As it says in the most recognizable verse, God gave the world a gift out of His love:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 KJV
The story of what Jesus has done for us can never be retold enough, and it can never be topped by a mythical guy, born from pagan lore, who also gives gifts to the entire world at Christmas.
You may still think I am going overboard, and that Santa Claus is just a fun add-on to Christmas. As my mother mentioned to me earlier today, many churches have someone dress up like Santa Claus to entertain the children. My church doesn’t do that, but at parties music featuring Santa is sometimes played. None of that makes it right. Santa is part of our world’s culture but that doesn’t mean he should be a part of our Kingdom culture or a season designated to celebrate the birth of Christ.
Merry Christmas everyone. Lynn Mosher has a blog post coming on Thursday and after that we will be back after the first of the year.
Scripture used or considered in the writing of "Should Santa Claus Be Part of a Christian’s Christmas?" by RD Montgomery
Exodus 22:18
Exodus 20:5
Exodus 34:14
Deuteronomy 4:24
Deuteronomy 5:9
Deuteronomy 6:15
1 Samuel 5
Isaiah 9:6
Matthew 6.19-20
Matthew 6.33
John 1.1-14
John 3.16
John 6.35-51
John 10:18
Acts 2:33
Romans 5:19
2 Corinthians 6:17
Hebrews 1.3
Hebrews 1.10
Hebrews 12:2
Philippians 2:7-9
Colossians 2:9
1 John 5.1-5
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