This House Believes in Santa

Father Christmas, Santa Claus, St. Nicolas

For many true professing believers of Jesus, the wrestle over whether or not to celebrate Christmas is present, a nagging subject beckoning our attention and concern. This wrestle and the severity on subject we feel have unbelievers mocking us, but what the world thinks of us must be buried, for I Corinthians 2:14 tells us, "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." So I do not expect most to understand this affliction, but I did understand when my good friend told me that she once threw away all of her Christmas decorations, including an expensive artificial tree in fear of false worship. After all, Jesus did warn us not to adhere to false, man-made religious doctrines: "And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men" (Mark:7:7). The truth is, Christmas and Yule are so tightly woven, along with other non-biblical religious holidays the fear is understandable, no Christian desires to give vain or empty worship of Christ.

So here is where I am currently on the subject; It is obvious that the celebrations and festivities surrounding Christmas stem from a great many pagan, Roman Catholic, and secular origins, two of the most prominent being Yule and Christmastide.  But I also think to a strong degree that we are "safe" celebrating Christ's birth as we do, even with the fact that many of our festivities stem from Yule or other Winter Solstice celebrations. I do not view Christmas as one of the only times to acknowledge God, go to church to worship God, or act on and obey the commandments of God...I worship God daily and try my best to live a Christ-centered life. 

So, with that said, I will be including my family in the festivities. I love Christmas for all that it is! I am not afraid of the pagan roots of Yule, because I am not a pagan in danger of false worship. I am fully aware of what Yule is, and what Christmas is. I find the decorations and festivities beautiful and fun because they are. Think about it for a moment, the Germanic tribes that worshiped these false gods, pre-Christ, pre-Bible had a festival that included joy, peace, goodwill towards men, giving to the poor, eating, drinking and being merry. 

This is the better side of humanity, and I'm to shun it? I have read a bit about the history and evolution of Yule into Christmas and would like to read more...It is a history of my people.  Did you know that the Germans had a devil-like figure named Krampus that would punish the children who misbehaved during the Christmas season? He would often appear in contrast to St. Nicolas. It sounds like a parents' desperation to control their children to me, haha.  Practically everything about Christmas is passed down from pagan Germanic traditions and folklore; all of our decorations, caroling, gift-giving, many of the stories... 

One of my family's favorite movies to watch every year is Scrooge with Albert Finney. Really it is a great tale of redemption thru pre-Christ figures. The ghost of Christmas Past is a re-manifestation of Mōdraniht, the ghost of Christmas Present is Father Christmas and Future is Death or the Grimm Reaper. All of this I say loosely because did Dickens really think too much about it? Or was it just so deep-seeded in the traditions and stories of his time and culture paired with his feelings and (miss)conceptions of how being good by doing good to others will allow you to escape the punishment of Hell?  This is the perspective of one unsaved, one that does not know Christ. Is it not a great parallel to how many view salvation today? If I am a "good" person I will not be punished, I will go to heaven. It is the same conversation the pagans had, they knew to look for hope during Yule. They knew to rejoice in the promises of peace, joy, goodness, helpfulness and love, and to fear the punishment of a horned goat for misbehaving. And we Christians either exclude ourselves from Christmas for these very reasons or we erroneously join the holiday's festivities without spreading the gospel. But I say, as many do, why not use this time to give the gospel? People are looking for hope, and what better hope then Christ born, died to cleanse us of our sins, that through his blood being punished by the father that we may be united with God in heaven and saved from Hell. Even in this post-Christ era the lost are searching and are in need of a lamp, who will burn it if not us? And are we not called to do so?  So how will you ever be the salt and light if you seem like an Ebenezer? 

 Our Christmases look very much like others; I warm our house and open our doors to family, friends and neighbors. I decorate with such joy, I really love old vintage and retro ornaments and figures. I love that my house glitters and that my children have so much fun! We trim our tree, we give to the poor, build gingerbread houses with our church family, we bake cookies, we drive around to look at the lights and try to find the most brilliantly lit houses, we wrap gifts for our loved ones, we deal with the stress of our purse strings being pulled and fight against the commercialism and consumerism. Christmas Eve we attend church and Christmas day the children open their gifts from Santa Claus with great excitement. I cook a feast and give thanks to the Lord for all. We don't go out and at night we sit on the couch as a family to watch Scrooge and Doctor Who, to which by the show's end the kiddies are passed out asleep. I do not think that is sinful, or practices unbecoming a Christian.

Fun and happy times to eat, drink, and rejoice are not looked down upon by God. 

Eccl. 3:12, 13: “There is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good during one’s life; and also that every man should eat and indeed drink and see good for all his hard work. It is the gift of God.”

I welcome your comments on this subject and would also like to say that I support my brothers and sisters in Christ that do not give gifts to their children under the tree in the name of Santa Claus.