"It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones".
- Luke 17:2
A little boy with a sad heart and tearful eyes was on his way to the woods. There he sat down on a log where he thought no one would see him. This is what he said: "All these things I've been told about Santa Claus are only lies, and storks don't bring babies at all. I wonder if there is any truth in these stories they tell me about Jesus. Papa and Mama tell me lies about Santa Claus and about babies, but if I tell a lie, I get a whipping. I wonder how old little boys must be before it's right for them to tell lies".
Maybe some people will make excuses for these lies, but there never are any good reasons for telling lies to children or to anyone else. If you tell children lies about Santa Claus, is it any wonder that they grow up without faith in Jesus? It is better to tell your children the truth about these things from the beginning. They will find out sometime and usually from morally degrading sources. Then their confidence in their parents is destroyed.
Christian parents, God has given you the blessed privilege of training your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Parents might tell their children, 'If you don't behave, the bogeyman will get you'.
That should never be said among Christians.
Many Scriptures talk about lying.
"Lie not one to another" (Colossians 3:9).
" A false witness shall not be unpunished; and he that speaketh lies shall not escape" (Proverbs 19:5).
Revelation 21:8 lists liars with others such as murderers and sorcerers and says they all "shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone".
Speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
-- Eli A Yoder --Stuarts Draft, VA
~ Sin has many tools, but a lie is a handle that fits them all.~
16 comments:
The night I walked into my daughters room and saw her covered in sweat I gave up the santa stories. She had been hiding under her blankets in fear. I told her how sorry I was and I told her the truth about santa.
That was 13 years ago and I still feel like a jerk when I think about it. I never told my son about santa. He has always known mom and dad were "santa".
I never thought the santa thing was cool to do. I did it with my daughter for awhile because that is what the ex wanted. He wasn't happy when I came clean. But, she and I were way ok with it.
If I had it to do over. I'd do her like I've done my son. He has never missed out on anything by knoing the truth.
Well we can't go back and fix the past, but you did the right thing in telling your daughter the truth when you did.
I am glad you didn't raise the boy believing in this Santa thing. :)
What a society we live in...'let's all lie to our children during the holidays and tell them some fat guy in a red suit knows when they are sleeping, awake and if they have been bad or good'. No wonder kids have nightmares...lol.
One of my sisters in Christ tells her children that the gift's are from Jesus, which technically I guess they are since He provided the money to the parents to buy them...
We never told our children the Santa lie either. Oh, how cruel to lie to your innocent, trusting children like that. My family was quite displeased with us for not perpetuation the lie, and I don't like having to tell my boys to keep the secret from their cousins, but we refuse to betray the Lord's trust in us as parents and lie to our children, about anything for that matter. We know we made the right decision, and don't care who makes fun of us for being "weird". Thanks for posting that article Dawn.
great post!!!
This was an awesome post! Thanks for sharing it! May I post it to a forum I'm in? I'll direct them back to your page.
Sure Darelina go ahead! :-D
That's a great post, Dawn, and it needed to be said. Despite the mistakes I made in raising my sons, I'm glad that I was so strongly against Santa. Both sets of grandparents would give gifts, labeled "from Santa" and my boys and I would know better ;-) Now, as an adult, my youngest son has thanked me for raising them with the truth. He said, "Mom, I'm SO glad that you never lied to us about Santa".
Yeah, My granparents probably won't be happy that we're raising our kids that way, but too bad. Its better to please the Lord than man.
I refuse to even have any Santa ornaments or decorations up. Its time for a reformation in all areas of Christian life, and this is one of them.
I don't have any problem with children learning about Santa as just a fun tradition. Just so long as they understand it isn't real. Just like X-Men and Spiderman aren't real.
One problem in believing Santa is real is that children might understand mom and dad can't afford something, but will just assume Santa can. I have a personal experience with that.
I don't have a problem with Santa but I certainly don't make it the central focus of the season. My older son knew long before that Santa was questionable especially when he heard how he gets in the house LOL!
On a serious note I think for fun it's OK but it certainly shouldn't be the focus on the season. Unfortunately our consumption driven society can't leap away from this mentality.
I really like how you wrote this post. It really speaks to the parents of children. Both my boys never believed in Santa and it didn't harm them at all. I don't celebrate Christ-mass at all now but used to. We as True believers need to take a stand in what the bible says and live it no matter the cost.
Debylin
Great post! We teach our children the truth from the start.. At least we do now. We were not believers for the first 6 years of my oldest son and 1 yr old my 2nd oldest son's lives. Now we have 5 children, and they all know the truth.
Blessings,
Christy
Shalom! Excellant post! I remember as a child about 7 or 8 years old I found out Santa wasn't real...I heard noises outside my window my mama and daddy giggling I looked out the window and low and behold it was my parents playing with 'Baby tippy-toes' The doll I ask Santa to bring me...it was a lie! my heart was broken! I cried myself asleep and the next morning...well, lets just say I had a bitter taste in my mouth when I saw the stockings and 'Baby tippy-toes' under the tree...of course I kept up the pretense because I wanted or coveted more 'stuff' each year! I Praise Yah for freedom from paganism and freedom to walk in the truth! May Yah richley bless you my Sister!
Penny in TN
It's funny how we can create our own culture. People ask my children what Santa is bringing them and they just get a blank stare. Of course we see him all over town, but we call him "the Christmas guy." I do tell the story of St Nicholas and the stockings, but we don't have anything to do with Santa Claus.
This is our second year without a tree as well. We enjoy celebrating Jesus fake birthday but there's no reason to do it the world's way.
Great post. I have family members who tell their children that there is a Santa, Tooth Fairy, and Easter Rabbit, who leaves them gifts. Last year my 8 year-old niece asked me if there really was a Santa and I could not lie to her but I was afraid of upsetting my sister if I told her the truth. I told her to speak to her mom about it and thankfully she told her the truth. Now she knows the truth about all of them. I hope the other's will do the same. Thank you sharing this.
Elizabeth
Hey Dawn, I couldn't agree more and appreciate you willing to tell the truth on the subject. It bothers me so much hearing other mothers at church constantly talking about Santa Clause and decorating their house with Santa Clause items.
I was raised to never believe in Santa Clause. My mom was lied to as a child and didn't want to do that to us. I'm thankful for that. My kids have no idea who Santa Clause is supposed to be and people keep asking them what Santa is getting them for Christmas. I say they don't even know who Santa is. People look at me like I'm weird and am somehow depriving my children of something necessary to a child's well-being.
The whole notion of Santa Clause is there to replace Christ as though Santa is an omnipresent, omniscient, good being that brings gifts to children. It's to replace Jesus. Kids are taught to be good so this made-up guy will bring them presents. Why not be obedient because God has commanded us to in His Word?
It bothers me so much that so many "Christian" parents are willing to lie to their children and have no problem with it. I'm considering posting about my views on the subject on my blog, but I'm still thinking about it. We'll see...
Melissa : )
http://titus2wifeandmommy.blogspot.com
(Christian women blog on headcoverings, parenting, marriage, and more.)
http://happyhomestead.etsy.com (My and my mom's Happy Homestead store where we sell plain or fancy headcoverings, headbands, and more.)
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