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WayneNBec
Member



Joined: 2009/10/10
Posts: 1


 Re: The danger of Santa Claus by John MacArthur

My husband and I have also been questioning the wisdom of celebrating Christmas with all the secular trimmings. Although we don't have any children yet we have decided that if we do we would not want them to grow up believing a lie (santa).
One other thing that I find disturbing at Christmas are carols. Don't get me wrong, I love the music, but something feels wrong singing about "baby Jesus" when we know very well that he is no longer a baby. It seems pointless celebrating his birthday one day a year when we should be preparing for his return. :-D

 2009/11/28 8:07Profile
Leo_Grace
Member



Joined: 2009/6/14
Posts: 703


 Re:

[size=x-large][b][color=CC3300]Christmas should be all about Christ![/color][/b][/size]

[i]Isa 9:6-7

"For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it with justice
and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this."[/i]

I have three children who grew up without any Santa in their lives. For us, Christmas has always been and always will be a celebration of God's love for us. There is a benefit in being truthful with the kids early about this. Rather than losing a fictitious part of their childhood, they gain a precious truth about God, and a greater trust for their parents; for they will see that they were told the truth about Christmas while other kids were not.

 2009/11/28 11:41Profile









 Re:

Quote:
Now I could careless about having a tree and stockings.

You have to be absolutely clear in your own mind brother of what that tree means to you.

We had all the education on it from Jeremiah, and the even the origins of the sun god. But the meanings have all been changed down through time. Christ was born and the story surrounds it during this time. I was told that more people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ during this time of the year then any time (excluding world crusades). It's also a very lonely time of the year for many people.

Instead of getting all miserable about it. Take a corner of your living room and dedicate that part during the holiday season with the manger scene. And have a Star dangle from the ceiling. Get that impression in your children, and tell your children the true meaning of Christmas. Don't make their lives miserable because of your inability to make a decision.

Explain to your children about what is sacred and what is profane, and make sure the wife is there by your side in complete agreement. You and her need to understand that your leaving an impression of confusion on your children and your provoking them to anger. Make this a joyous time for them without the lies about Santa but the true meaning of Christmas.

If they know anything about God, they will understand that Santa is not the name of God and he cannot see me while I am sleeping, or even knows if I am bad or good.

Now listen to this conversation in school:

Hey Johnny, what did you get for Christmas?

Oh I didn't get nothing, my Dad doesn't believe in Christmas.

Oh, doesn't he believe in God?

Yeah, he believes in God but doesn't believe in Christmas.

Hey, that's a bit confusing. You say, he believes in God, but doesn't believe in Christmas, that doesn't make any sense.

(anger is now setting in, a lack of respect for Dad is now being exhibited because he doesn't know how to answer for his Dad's belief, because he doesn't understand either)

Now if you homeschool your children then your in a better place, but if your kids go to a public school your setting them up for some hard times.

 2009/11/28 12:39









 Re: thanks

Quote:

DeepThinker wrote:
Quote:
Now I could careless about having a tree and stockings.

You have to be absolutely clear in your own mind brother of what that tree means to you.

We had all the education on it from Jeremiah, and the even the origins of the sun god. But the meanings have all been changed down through time. Christ was born and the story surrounds it during this time. I was told that more people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ during this time of the year then any time (excluding world crusades). It's also a very lonely time of the year for many people.

Instead of getting all miserable about it. Take a corner of your living room and dedicate that part during the holiday season with the manger scene. And have a Star dangle from the ceiling. Get that impression in your children, and tell your children the true meaning of Christmas. Don't make their lives miserable because of your inability to make a decision.

Explain to your children about what is sacred and what is profane, and make sure the wife is there by your side in complete agreement. You and her need to understand that your leaving an impression of confusion on your children and your provoking them to anger. Make this a joyous time for them without the lies about Santa but the true meaning of Christmas.

If they know anything about God, they will understand that Santa is not the name of God and he cannot see me while I am sleeping, or even knows if I am bad or good.

Now listen to this conversation in school:

Hey Johnny, what did you get for Christmas?

Oh I didn't get nothing, my Dad doesn't believe in Christmas.

Oh, doesn't he believe in God?

Yeah, he believes in God but doesn't believe in Christmas.

Hey, that's a bit confusing. You say, he believes in God, but doesn't believe in Christmas, that doesn't make any sense.

(anger is now setting in, a lack of respect for Dad is now being exhibited because he doesn't know how to answer for his Dad's belief, because he doesn't understand either)

Now if you homeschool your children then your in a better place, but if your kids go to a public school your setting them up for some hard times.



Thanks for the advice...great idea's! I do enjoy this time of year, I enjoy Christmas.. I have learned some knew things about this time of year, it has been revealing. I just want my boys to understand that santa is not real, and Christ is the reason we celebrate it. Just feel a bit guilty about going on long with the story about santa. I feel i should have done it earlier...I may wait till after christmas.

I do love the idea about setting up a manger in the house...Great idea...encouraged me a lot...thanks!

blessings
Mike (reformer)

 2009/11/28 13:54
hmmhmm
Member



Joined: 2006/1/31
Posts: 4994
Sweden

 Re: The danger of Santa Claus by John MacArthur

edit: wrong thread :-) one would think after many posts i would have got how it all works by now....


_________________
CHRISTIAN

 2009/11/28 14:02Profile
Anastasis
Member



Joined: 2009/7/1
Posts: 75


 Re:

Brother hmmhmm, I think you got off on the wrong exit. ;-)

My dad never taught us Santa Claus; he's never really cared about it, and I'm truthfully thankful for it, though it always drove me crazy that the other kids never got it. I think in the back of my mind was, "How can parents tell their kids that this is real when it's not?"

My first thought on the article was that he was taking it too far, but then again, he's probably right. in that regard, I think his arguments speak for themselves. I wonder if somewhere down the line when a child thinks of God he thinks of Santa for the reasons mentioend there, and thus the idea of God becomes equally ridiculous.

 2009/11/28 14:39Profile
hmmhmm
Member



Joined: 2006/1/31
Posts: 4994
Sweden

 Re:

Quote:

Anastasis wrote:
Brother hmmhmm, I think you got off on the wrong exit. ;-)

My dad never taught us Santa Claus; he's never really cared about it, and I'm truthfully thankful for it, though it always drove me crazy that the other kids never got it. I think in the back of my mind was, "How can parents tell their kids that this is real when it's not?"

My first thought on the article was that he was taking it too far, but then again, he's probably right. in that regard, I think his arguments speak for themselves. I wonder if somewhere down the line when a child thinks of God he thinks of Santa for the reasons mentioend there, and thus the idea of God becomes equally ridiculous.




i think i did :-)

as for santa claus i think there is much that can give us a cause to be worried, but on the other hand one must settle for them selves, its easy for someone to judge someone else that have trees and lights and santas as not spiritual, but on the other hand they may have that freedom to do so. Myself is very against all this stuff, to me its a "unreality" its not real and we should as christians i am convinced who know the real reality contarary to most people alive today. But in my house we are more then me, and all else LOVE christmas, trees and santas and they cant imagine christmas without it, so i could go on a hunt and throw all this garbage out, that is what it is to me, i could quote scriptures and so on, i have a bit :-) but i have learned through experience it is GOD who must open peoples eyes to see.

and when he does they see. One example is jehovas witnesses dont celebrate christmas, yet they are spiritually dead. So one can see the errors in christmas and every other thing man lifts up as wrong, and may be right and yet dont know God.

Myself rejoice in the fact i can see my wife do a lot of things in the house, that makes her feel better, she likes to change curtains and to my annoyance ( i suspect ) put small santas all over the house, she does so much and work very hard to make it a time of joy for the family, in that i feel very blessed, i love to see my children get excited, and i enjoy the small ones tip over the chritmas tree to moms horror :-P and to see them rejoice in presents and the food i like and so on, its very nice, but i am convinced.... all this one can have without the "vanity" in the Lord togheter .

But so far that is my conviction and the rest have not come that far, but maybe they will one day until then i will keep praying and loving my christmas crazy loved ones.


_________________
CHRISTIAN

 2009/11/28 14:55Profile
JS
Member



Joined: 2009/11/23
Posts: 32
Behind a Computer Desk

 Re: Santa Claus

I believe MacArthur has the right to be concerned. MacArthur's commentary on "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" is thought-provoking, and if he felt led by the LORD to speak on that, then I'm glad he did. Really now- isn't that just a bit curious, the lyrics of that song?

[i]"He's making a list and he's checking it twice; gonna find out whose naughty and nice."[/i]

No, I don't think Santa is an anagram for Satan; it seems more like a conjugation of the word "saint." However,I do think people place too much emphasis on him.

 2009/11/28 15:09Profile









 Re:

Quote:
But in my house we are more then me, and all else LOVE christmas, trees and santas and they cant imagine christmas without it, so i could go on a hunt and throw all this garbage out, that is what it is to me, i could quote scriptures and so on, i have a bit but i have learned through experience it is GOD who must open peoples eyes to see.



Well said HmmHmm...thanks for saying what you said. You made a great point...I can not expect my convictions to be there's. It took me sometime to come to this, I must be patient with my wife and let your come to her own conclusions. Sometimes I can be so thick in the head...thinking I am doing the spiritual thing by quoting scripture..When all I am doing is the opposite. Sure wish wisdom would come more before you stumble and fall, than after! :-)

 2009/11/28 15:16









 Re:

Mother never taught us that there was a Santa Claus. She being a God fearing woman would not. However, she didn't discourage us either. When Santa was visiting our school, I was perplexed as to what to say to ask him. I can see her standing there by the sink reluctantly telling me to just ask for a book and a toy car something of that nature.

You see, our family as backwards as it was and misfits as we were, we believed in God and Jesus Christ was our Saviour. We really had no time to think about Santa. Mother would tell us bible stories and we believed that over Santa, even though he'd come around once a year. Our minds were not on that. It never entered our minds that Santa was real, we were not let down when we found out he wasn't real, we just didn't have our faith in him. We'd ask him but for some strange reason we just didn't believe that he was going to come through with anything we asked for. The God that Mother was telling us about was more important to hold onto then Santa. And I am sure Mother prayed for us.

Just as a side note, does anyone have a cat that lays on your arms while typing? Man alive this things heavy! :-?

 2009/11/28 16:33





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