Christmas

What's All This Talk About Christmas?

First, what is Christmas? I believe it's just that.... CHRIST's mass... Or more appropriately, it's the "Gathering for the Celebration of Christ."

It's kind of a pet peeve when I see X-mas used as a reference to Christmas. Why? It's not to shorten the name, but rather it's removing Christ from CHRISTmas.

What are other issues with this time of year? Though commercialism is a great issue for concern, I won't go into that but rather, I will put the emphasis on that which I believe is of a far greater importance.

Christmas is the time of year that we celebrate the birth of Christ. No, I don't believe that this was the actual day on which Christ was born, but it's a day on which we can celebrate His coming to earth in the flesh.

Why don't I believe that this was the day on which Christ was born? The main reason is in history. In ancient times in the middle east, the sheep were kept in the sheep fold in the winter rather than out in the fields. Clearly the Word tells us that the shepherds and sheep were in the fields when the angels came to announce that the Christ Child was born in Jerusalem (Luke 2^8-10). This means that is was probably spring or summer when Christ was born.

But that's not the purpose of why this page has been created. It was created to encourage us to understand the deeper things involved in the Christmas we're being pushed to accept.

Firstly, the Word of God tells us that we are to have no other gods before, or take precedence above, Jehovah the Living God. We are to have no other image, no god whether real or in the mind, to come before the Living God. We are to bow down or give in to NO thing as supreme other than the Living God.... And to give no consideration of importance it if it's not God (Exodus 2^03-5a).

What is the most common phrase that parents use with their children, beginning about November 1st? We've all heard those imbedded words which say, "Children, if you aren't good, santa won't bring you anything for Christmas." Now what's THAT supposed to mean? In saying that, parents are teaching their children to bow down to santa so they can get nice things at Christmas.

We are told to teach our children how to live a proper, righteous life (Proverb 22⁶). When telling our children to be good or santa won't give them presents, we are doing two things. We are teaching them that it's ok to bow down before santa to get things, and it's teaching them to put santa BEFORE God. The entity called santa becomes a god before which parents teach their children to bow.... And for the purpose getting gifts.

This brings us to the second part of this issue. It's teaching our children that greed is ok. It's ok for them to want anything and everything. It's ok to be greedy. Do we really want to teach our children this by having them bow down to the god called santa?

Instead, we should be teaching the children that they should be obedient because it's right to do.... Not because if they're good they'll get something. They should be taught that being respectful and obedient will gain them a long life (Colossians 3²⁰Ephesians 6^1-3).

Also, when we teach our children to bow down to false gods and live in idolatry, we are teaching them that it's ok to lie and deceive to get what we want. For parents to get their children to be obedient, they lie to them, telling them that santa is real and that we should be obedient for his rather than for Christ. It's a lie! And we know that NO liar will ever enter the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21^7,8) and the devil is the root of all lies, white or black (John 8⁴⁴).

Remember, a liar is one who is an imposter and deceives (2 John 1⁷) (Strong's #4108 - 'planos' meaning "imposter, liar, seducer). They do exactly the same things that the devil does.

Are we willing to turn our children over to idolatry, lies and greed? If we get serious about Christ, we will cease this evil practice of teaching that santa is real.

I know that some will say that he was real... A good man who gave gifts to poor children. His real name was Kris Kringle. That name apparently comes from the Netherlands, KRISTKINDL meaning "Christ Child." If this is true or false, this is not santa clause.

Others will say that St. Nicholas was indeed a real man. I agree. St. Nicholas was a real man. He was born in Parara in Asia Minor. He became Bishop of Myra, a capital city in Asia Minor. Of course, he is not santa clause.

I must go so far as to say that no matter what name we put on this, it comes out the same... If we lie to the child, mislead them, or tell them to be obedient or santa [St. Nicholas, Kris Kringle, Father Time, etc] will not bring you gifts, we are doing the child wrong and according to God's Word.... sinning!

Where are our priorities? To teach our children how to live a righteous life and live in truth or to do what the world thinks we should do and lie to the children by teaching them to deceive like the devil and send our children into a life of idolatry and greed....?

In closing, I'd like to mention that a good practice to get into is reading the Biblical version of the Christmas Story when starting the time of Celebrating the Birth of Christ. For a complete Biblical Version, you can get our free printer friendly copy here.

The Complete CHRISTmas Story
(Printer Safe Format)