Should Christians tell their kids there is a santa?

[Dave Slayer]

Should Christians tell their kids there is a santa and an easter bunny? In my opinion if they are fictional, then it would be a lie to tell our kids that they are real. Someday, they will find that out anwyays.

 

[follower of Christ]

Should Christians tell their kids there is a santa and an easter bunny? In my opinion if they are fictional, then it would be a lie to tell our kids that they are real. Someday, they will find that out anwyays.

not judging so please no one take it that way, BUT...

My personal view is no, we shouldnt.
My view is that when we do this we set our kids up a bit because at a VERY impressionable age we've told them to believe in something that doesnt exist. I honestly dont see how that can be a good thing.

 

[animal]

I don't believe I will pull this one over on my children. I never really remember believing in either of them, or the tooth fairy for that matter. I do remember coming across my christmas presents in my parents room on christmas eve one year (my cat ran under the bed.. I wasn't snooping ) and realizing I had been lied to was pretty devastating.

 

[LostSoul]

I could be wrong, but I do believe this topic was discussed in the past here at Christian Forums....

Nonetheless, if Santa was to be brought up within any Christian home it is something that should be done from an honest stand point. There was such a man named Saint Nickolas, and if I am not mistaken....which I could be....he did not do any form of evil unto the world. Mankind today has more or less idolized him like regretably we as people tend to do with pop stars, politians, and the like.

So again, if the idea of Santa was to be mentioned within the Christian home, it should be done from an honest standpoint to where the true meaning behind the season is more than clear.

My apologies for any offense caused. None was meant.

May God Bless You

Danielle

 

[Adullam]

We let our kids in on the non-existence of santa from their beginning years.

 

[Gabe]

^I agree with all of the above. I never celebrated Christmas until a few years ago, but the thought of my parents fooling me into believing something which they themselves do not believe seems....wrong.

 

[Kelli]

This was a struggle for me when my kids where little. My husband didn't start going to church with me until after my kids where in school, and if I would have told him I thought we shouldn't lie to our kids about Santa, he would have thought I was insane (i think he kind of thought I was anyway.)

When my girls started getting to the age where they were getting skeptical about Santa, they would ask me. Mom is there a Santa, and I would say "what do you think?" So when my oldest came to me when she was in about second grade and point blank asked me if there was a Santa, and wouldn't take my "what do you think?" answer any more,
I said "BreAuna you know I would never lie to you right?"
"right"
"Do you really want to know if Santa is real?"
"yes"
"Okay BreAuna Santa is not real"
She was very upset and cried, something she rarely did, and still doesn't. It made me feel like I did deceive her, my husband felt like I had told her too soon. It wasn't fun but sometimes you do what you have to do!

 

[MMarc]

When I was a child, I was told to believe in Jesus and in Santa.

Now I never did see the real Santa only copies of him in shopping centers because the real Santa was too busy.

Just like Jesus I never did see the real Jesus, only copies of Him in churches...And I was told to pray to saints because Jesus was just too busy...

Point is, when I found out Santa was a lie told me by the adults in my life, I reasoned Jesus was also a lie because the same adults also told me Jesus was real, like Santa.

The day I stopped believing in Santa was also the day I stopped believing in Jesus. The irony is staggering.
I still played church, as I still played Christmas for the gifts but I fell away from the faith, and I was 6 years old.

I know this contributed to the great falling away in the past century where Santa took center stage in the lives of at least four generations of children and Jesus was put aside. Because only Santa delivered the gifts.

 

[Lee100]

MMarc, do you steal believe that there is no Jesus?

 

[Jon-Marc]

If you lie to your children about one thing, they won't believe you in anything. My dad was a liar in all things, and I couldn't believe anything he said.

 

[e. barrett]

I honestly have no idea how to handle this. Which is kind of weird, because I feel like it shouldn't really be one of life's challenging questions!

I understand why people say you shouldn't tell your kids that Santa is real, when he clearly isn't. But then I think about all the ways we shield our kids from the truth. When they are scared of monsters, what do we say, "there's no such thing as monsters." We don't tell them, "well actually little Timmy, it's not the monster's that you should be scared of, but the spiritual war occurring all around you involving demons!" We shield them from the harsher realities until they are cognitively and socially prepared to deal with those issues. I suspect we all shield our kids in one way or another.

My parents told me that there was a Santa and those were some of my favorite Christmas holidays. I was devastated later when I found out there wasn't. But for a few years I believed in miracles. Now, I guess I still believe in miracles, but have since learned that many miracles are caused by God's people acting in love. Not so different from what my parent's did for me on Christmas.

 

[Imagican]

I am in utter agreement with what has been offered here. Teaching your children to believe in a LIE can ONLY be damaging to one's walk. And then when we consider that Santa Claus is OBVIOUSLY an invention designed to TAKE AWAY FROM CHRIST, teaching such to our children can ONLY separate them from THE TRUTH.

Blessings,

MEC

 

[Jon-Marc]

While I see nothing wrong with children having their make-believe time and even believing in non-real things, I totally disagree with lying to them and saying things like, "If you're not good, Santa won't bring you anything for Christmas." What child is ever good ALL the time? Is any adult capable of that? I know I haven't reached perfection yet.

I have no idea if I ever believed in Santa since I knew all my Christmas presents came from my mother. I also have no idea if my daughters ever believed in him, but I never lied to them and said he was real. The subject never came up, or else I would have told them the truth and not lied to them. They also knew that their presents didn't come from a fat, jolly man who came through the fireplace we never had.

 

[e. barrett]

While I see nothing wrong with children having their make-believe time and even believing in non-real things, I totally disagree with lying to them and saying things like, "If you're not good, Santa won't bring you anything for Christmas." What child is ever good ALL the time?

I think that's a good point. It does no good for the child to believe that there is a giant, all-knowing, all-powerful (in a toy sense) person watching their every behavior waiting to "thump" them the moment they make a mistake. That's downright creepy when you think about it.

 

[Reido]

Finally, people who agree with me on this.
I thought me and a friend of mine might have been the only ones to not like it that parents tell their children the lie that is Santa. :gah

 

[RND]

Should Christians tell their kids there is a santa and an easter bunny? In my opinion if they are fictional, then it would be a lie to tell our kids that they are real. Someday, they will find that out anwyays.

No. There is no such thing as "Santa Claus" nor the "Easter" bunny. Paganism through and through.

 

[Jon-Marc]

I never cease to be amazed at parents who claim to be Christians and see nothing wrong with lying to their children--whether it's about Santa or anything else. I have always found it interesting that Santa has the same letters as Satan. Also, Santa has God-like attributes--all-seeing, all-knowing, and able to do other things that mere mortals cannot.

 

[RND]

I agree. Now, let's go one step further. I'm a member of a church that "celebrates" the birth of Jesus Christ on Saturnalia - just like other pagans did thousands of years ago.

Should this even be done? Christ gave to us the reasons how and the reasons why we should remember Him and none included "worship" on the shortest day of the year.

 

[Gabe]

I never cease to be amazed at parents who claim to be Christians and see nothing wrong with lying to their children--whether it's about Santa or anything else....

True. Many Christians view all sins as equal, so I'm not sure how they can justify it.

I agree. Now, let's go one step further. I'm a member of a church that "celebrates" the birth of Jesus Christ on Saturnalia - just like other pagans did thousands of years ago.

Should this even be done? Christ gave to us the reasons how and the reasons why we should remember Him and none included "worship" on the shortest day of the year.

Lets keep this on-topic.

 

[LostSoul]

Lets keep this on-topic.

Agreed.