STRONG OPINIONS FROM ROB: on santa-

when I was a kid, I remember believing in santa, until one day when my dad said, "you know that's not real." my mom shouted at him, but I could tell by both of their reactions that he was right.

when we had our own daughter, we decided that we were not going to talk about santa- other kids could, but we didn't. we wanted Christmas to be about jesus. I remember one time I was talking to my daughter- she must have been 4 or 5, and she was talking about santa and asking if he was real. I said, "who bought mom's presents?" she said "we did." "who bought dad's presents?" "we did," she said. "well- then santa didn't bring them, it was us." she said, "are all of the stories at church fake too?"

that's when I knew that it was not only a preference to not talk about santa, it was important to the future of my daughter's faith. if I present all of these fairy tales, and then at some point declare that they are pretend, why wouldn't she doubt the stories from the bible? why wouldn't she put an invisible God who hears her prayers in the same boat as santa- who brings her toys once a year?

my experience just confirms this- I hear about kids getting expensive toys from santa because they are good- and kids whose families can't afford those toys wondering why santa gave their friend something expensive and them something cheap. were they not as good? its heartbreaking.

I see families going to elaborate measures to convince their kid that santa came, and ate the cookies they left for him, and got their letter. its a lot of deception, and is setting their kid up for a heartbreaking conversation.

and in the end, it causes kids to associate Christmas with presents, toys and santa, and not jesus.

every Christmas I see churches singing songs about santa and having pictures with santa- I think God in heaven see this and is nauseated.

I know its cute to see your kids get excited about the magic of santa, and the hope of what he might bring them. its cute to read their letters and listen to their hopes, but is it worth deceiving them and creating mistrust about things that are truly supernatural? I don't think so.

God is love.
-rev rob