“Should children be told Santa is fake?”
We can probably include the tooth fairy in this conversation
as well. I think it’s fairly clear that if you pick up a Hebrew or Greek
concordance, you will have great difficulty locating an equivalent for either “Santa”
or “fairy”. The Bible does not address such questions directly.
So, I am trying
to think back to my own childhood in a Christian home, asking myself how my
parents handled this ...
Down the Non-Existent Chimney
To be honest, I can’t remember any significant
discussion of Santa Claus in our home when I was a boy. I cannot remember
a single moment when I ever believed Santa Claus was real, let alone a
deeply disillusioning incident where I came home from primary school,
little round head full of fanciful notions of a fat man in red sliding down our
non-existent chimney and bringing gifts for all good little boys and girls,
only to find my fondest hopes and dreams dashed by a callous, tear-jerking reality
check from hard-hearted fundamentalist parents.
No, when I pay a hazy visit to my childhood memory bank,
there is only a drowsy momentary half-glimpse of my dad in his dressing gown,
sleep in his eyes and hair tousled, sneaking a pillow case full of goodies onto
the bottom of our bunks in the middle of the night after I and my siblings
had once again proved hopeless at keeping each other awake so we could catch
him at it.
Believe in God? Definitely. Dad? You bet. Santa? Not a chance.
Child Abuse
Was I abused? You tell me. Frankly, I’m glad nobody ever
tried to pull the wool over my eyes in that respect. If there was ever any talk
of Santa in our home, it was very much tongue in cheek. Nobody was fooling
anyone.
I also cannot recall a single time either my father or
mother ever told a falsehood to their children which we later discovered, or
even allowed one to be perpetuated in their presence. Not one. Concealing
information on subjects we were too young to be thinking about, or refusing to
answer questions we asked about other people’s business, sure. But lies? Never.
I am not sure what purpose the Santa Claus myth serves in
our culture, but I cannot bring myself to believe it’s a helpful one.
Christian parents have enough work to do living consistently and teaching the
Bible faithfully so that perhaps, hope against hope, their children may come to
believe in a Father in heaven whose existence we cannot prove in a lab, and who
is better experienced personally than theorized about in a classroom. Why would
they add to their burden the obligation of inculcating or perpetuating belief
in a chubby, benevolent myth that will invariably lead to disappointment and
cause their own children to question their honesty? Why would they put glorious
truth on the level of secular fabrication?
Identifying the Problem
Christian parents are also tasked with the difficult job of modeling
Christ for their offspring. Believe me, I’ve found that one tough sledding. But
I don’t see in the gospel accounts a single hint that a lie ever crossed
the Lord’s lips, and every indication from the later theological writings of
the apostles that such a thing was absolutely impossible. Jesus of Nazareth knew
no sin. He committed no sin, neither
was deceit found in his mouth, not even pretty lies. In this he was just
like his Father. God not only does not make a habit of lying, but telling a falsehood
is utterly antithetical
to the divine nature. There are no such things as white lies, and no
mealy-mouthed prevarications that serve the “greater good”.
“But if I don’t allow my children to believe in Santa
Claus, they won’t be like their peers. They’ll be ... *ugh* ... different!”
Yes, and the problem with that would be what exactly? We are
trying, I hope, to raise a generation of discerning, sharp-eyed realists who
can tell the difference between the world as it is and the nonsense the media
is constantly spoon-feeding us; kids who are wise to the incoherence and
deviousness of the evolutionists, to the higher critics of scripture, to their
midwit teachers who simply repeat what they have read uncritically, to the sceptics,
to the blasphemers, to the fake-caring Left, the phony conservatives, and the
crazy communists, to the Hollywood hellmouth, to the religious pretenders, and to the slavering political
animals who are everywhere around us; kids who know right from wrong and the
lies of the devil from the truth of God.
Why would ever we say a single thing to our children that
might subvert our mission? If we do, we are fools working at cross-purposes to
our own best intentions.
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