This week we will be teaching a Christmas lesson of your choice. Maybe this week you can share with the others what you will be teaching this Sunday in class. Or... you may want to start out by just finishing this sentence. Christmas to me means....
I hope each of you have a great week.
8 comments:
Billy, I’m preparing a lesson titled “The False god of Christmas”. As I mature in my walk with Christ, I have been burdened, as you know, with the question. Why do I believe the things I believe? Yes, now that I’m almost 40, I’m questioning right and wrong more than ever. Whereas many people can just accept the fact that people think differently, and get on with life, I find it very difficult.
Anyway, Joyce and I did the Santa thing for several years. We, just like most Americans enjoyed the myth as long as we could, never considering the potential danger we were exposing our kids to. Whether intentional or not, by passively giving in to the
Santa myth, aren’t we teaching our children to place the jolly, loving guy in a godlike position. I mean, don’t we tell our kids to be good during the year, so that their request will be granted by Santa? I know that most parents and kids really enjoy the Santa tradition, and to speak against it is taboo, and may even earn labels such as “Scrooge”.
Believe me, this is a difficult study for me. Just to think that we, for many years didn’t just allow, but encouraged our children to idolize a fairy tale guy in a red suit, rather than Christ! We taught them that he is all knowing. He knows if they’ve been good or bad. We taught them that he is all powerful. He can deliver presents to all the children in the world in one evening. We taught them that he is all present. He can be at all the stores and at the same time, two streets down, on the corner. We’ve taught them to worship and idolize Santa and put him before or in place of Christ the world’s Savior. And, we did all this during Christmas? I know many will think it’s easy to take a stand like this since my youngest is almost 14. Hey, we’ve got to start sometime. I wonder how quickly, a new tradition based on truth rather than lies would catch on? How can we Christians say, “Let’s put the Christ back in Christmas” but leave Santa in?
John, I am 100% on board with you. I guess it has been easy for me to raise my kids in not believing in Santa because the way I was raised. From birth my Dad had this saying that I also have passed to my kids(without the profanity my Dad used) "No fat man in a red suit is going to take credit for my hard work over the last 364 days, these presents came from me!" I have modified the statement since becoming saved. I add the fact that everything comes from God, my job, our money to buy gifts, etc. we just manage it. We explained when they were in K-2 not to tell other kids he wasn't real, because their was no need to argue over this issue. Those kids would find out in due season. I personally think this would be a good blog issue, Billy.
I will be teaching on Mary. No, this is not a Catholic lesson. However, can you imagine what she was thinking. She has been told she will give birth to the King. She is on her way to Bethlehem, and a dark shadow passes over them. It is the shadow from the Herodian almost 2 miles away. So tall, that during the day the shadow of it would pass over Bethlehem. Her mind is racing "this all makes since, I'm having the King." yet she ends up....
The other day some people came to the Chidlren's home to do some work. During their lunch break one of the men asked Jonah,"What is Santa going to bring you this year?" to which Jonah replied, "Santa's not real!" You should have seen the look on the guy's face. He didn't know what to think or do so he just said, "Uh...ok...hmmm...ok" and then started talking to someone else.
Amanda decided long ago not to perpetuate the Santa myth with our children because we don't ever want to lie to them. My thing with the whole Santa myth is that if we teach them all the things about Santa that John said and then they find out that he's not real when they are about 8 or 10 then they will probably question what we have been teaching them about God. God is everywhere, he knows if you've been bad or good, he rewards you for doing good, he's always watching over us. I also remember how devistated I was when I learned that Santa wasn't real and that my parents had been lying to me.
Eventually they will need to question why they believe what they believe about God but I think that 8 or 10 years old is a little young for that. We do the Easter Bunny and the tooth fairy the same way. Jonah knows they are not real but he plays along with it in public so as not to cause a problem.
Now teaching the real story about Nicholas, the man who became St. Nicholas is a good story to teach our kids. Nicholas came from a rich family and he noticed the poverty in his hometown in Italy. He would dress up in a red costume each Christmas and deliver gifts to these poor people, against the wishes of his family. Eventually his family apporved of what he was doing and Nicholas went on to be a priest and taught everyone in his village about Christ. Now that is a story I can live with!
It's never good to lie to your kids but especially when it could have eternal consequences. As teens they already question what they have been taught as a child anyway. Do we really need to give Satan a "foot in the door" so to speak when it comes to questions of faith? I don't think so.
Merry Christmas Y'All,
Stephen Bene'
I meant to say "Amanda and I decided not to perpetuate the Santa myth..." Sorry I didn't catch that until after I sent it.
Merry Christmas,
Stephen Bene'
Crystal Gill said ... O.K. guys many of you who know me already know where I stand on this one. I was raised Penecostal --my parents let me believe in Santa Claus but did not go out of their way to enhance that belief and all the children I went to church with did not believe. I was about 9 when I could no longer belief because of the constant surroundings of friends, etc who did not.
I believe you can have both Jesus and Santa. Our children are not confused about the two. They understand why we celebrate Christmas --because it is Jesus's Birthday not Santa's day. Even Ella will be the first to point out Baby Jesus. I think if you may sure that children understand the real reason we celebrate because that this remarkable day God send us the most special gift we could ever receive a Savior -- so that we who have the opportunity to live with him forever in heaven and not be lost in this world of sin.
To me Santa is just part of the Christmas Spirit. I love Christmas because most of the time this time of year begins out the best in people. You know Santa (or so the legend of Santa) began in Smyrna (what is now Turkey) when St. Nicholas a rich and generous man began giving gifts to poor children. I don't see what is bad about that. This week I have been helping play Santa --I am on the toy drive committee and we raised money and brought toys for 1342 children the last couple of weeks. And as I get to play Santa for these families, I hope my meeting me and my other Christian friends on the committee they may be able to see Jesus through us.
I respect the way that reach of you have chosen to raise your families and I hope that you will do the same for me. But I think as long as there is no confusion we at our house will have both. If the kids find out -- and I am sure that they will soon about Ssnta --I hope they will look back and say wow my mom washed away reindeer food, signed notes from elves, and actually climbed a few trees for me. (They will have great stories to tell)
I just see if this way --Jesus is in your heart -- Santa is in your imagination.
Remember it is Christmas so please don't be harsh on me.
Santa spelled a different way is Satan....
Just kidding Crystal. Something I do find interesting is what Stephen said about when he found out the truth. My Dad, in his serious moments, would say the same thing. He said he never forgot the hurt when he found out he was being lied to. Now of course everyone doesn't have this feeling, but I have heard more than Stephen and my dad express it. I would think it would be hard, now days, to get past the 5th Grade believing in Santa just because of the other kids. I would imagine if you are in middle school and try to defend your belief in Santa it would be humiliating.
Well, Crystal, I guess the Crystal's think alike on this point. We at our house have the tree loaded with christian and worldly ornaments, have the santa cookie jar on the table and sprinkle the reindeer food on christmas eve as well. And just like you, we don't confuse the two at our house. We have always told our children the real reason for the christmas holiday and we have a Happy Birthday Jesus party with our kids blowing out the candles. Everyone has their own way of celebrating the holdiay, from that perfect holiday meal to decorating cookies with your family or even exchanging the mound of worldly gifts that we exchange. Now, in Paul's words...that would be a good blog topic.
Thanks for letting me post!
Crystal Lastinger
Well about 2 weeks before Christmas our class talked about issues like these. I had one question that threw a wrench into the gears. What would you really feel if your parents took what they would have spent on you and gave it to the needy instead of gifts under the tree? As I thought they would, and as mine would too, they all agreed they'd be upset that they had nothing under the tree and that others they didn't even know had what was supposed to be theirs. These are our Youth that don't really understand the season of giving and the joy it brings. After being in 3 different parts of the world, just having central heating during this time of year is a gift, not to mention a wii or some other toy. So were you satisfied with what you got for Christmas or do you believe you were ripped off?
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