Actually, it is not so innocuous.
Jesus is the reason for the Season, not Santa.
We should be teaching people and our kids especially, that the reason for the season, and our giving, is because God gave us an unspeakable gift through His Son.
Waiting for Santa to judge us lessens our trust in God judging us.
Kids need to learn to behave because God wants them to, not because of some mythical figure with the powers of a god.
If you saw my 24 year old drunken drug addicted spike faced dreadlocked nephew defend his (past) wearing of an Ozzy t-shirt covered with Ozzy flipping the bird as free speech when his high school ordered him to take it off the other night, you would understand completely.
I am still not over it.
Well, I disagree.
Jesus is the reason for the Season, not Santa.
Absolutely. But, the Christmas tree is not the reason for the season. Niether is eggnog, presents, tinsel, or turkey, and most of us partake of those heartily with no inconsistency with the true Christmas message--that God sent His only Son to earth to live and die to save us from our sins so that we may be righteous in God's sight.
We should be teaching people and our kids especially, that the reason for the season, and our giving, is because God gave us an unspeakable gift through His Son.
We Christians do. My daughter, now 13, grew up with Santa (I even put on the outfit once and was Santa one year), but she has always been taught that we give gifts as a reminder of God's most precious Gift, His Son. She is now a leader among her youth in church and is developing into a mighty young woman of God. It's amazing to see how much she loves Jesus and how the youth pastors look to her as a leader for those in her age group. She even has a prayer minstry in the youth group.
Waiting for Santa to judge us lessens our trust in God judging us.
I respectfully disagree. But, I stopped believeing in Santa at age 7.
Kids need to learn to behave because God wants them to, not because of some mythical figure with the powers of a god.
Without question. But, they also need to learn to behave because we, as parents, want them too. That does not place us in God's place of judgement any more than Santa's "naughty or nice" list does.
If you saw my 24 year old drunken drug addicted spike faced dreadlocked nephew defend his (past) wearing of an Ozzy t-shirt covered with Ozzy flipping the bird as free speech when his high school ordered him to take it off the other night, you would understand completely.
I was once a 24 year old drunken drug addicted spike faced long-haired drug pushing dopehead whose only purpose in life was to get wasted and buy more dope. A year later, Jesus Christ set me free and radically changed my life. I pray God will do the same for your nephew. Con Dios, todo es possible.
I admire your stand for righteousness, Race. And I also admire your excellent taste in cartoons (Quest was, by far, my favorite). Have a blessed and very Merry Christmas!