If you or someone near you is still battling with the theology of Santa Claus, you may want to stop reading now.
I remember in third grade I still believed in Santa. Kind of. At this point, I wasn't sure. I remember my classmates were debating whether Santa was real or not. You had one group that would say for sure that Santa wasn't real. Another group fully believed he was. I believe I was on the fence.
You see, up until I was questioned about it, I never questioned it myself. I just believed. It was simple as that. So how did it come to me asking, "Why do I believe in Santa? Why don't these people believe in him? Why don't I have a more solid foundation to support my thesis???" (Okay so, I probably didn't even know what a thesis was at the time...) Point is, I was very confused and was looking for answers.
Don't we do the same with God? I know not everyone grows up in the church, but so many times the bible talks about having "faith like a child." We're human and we can't comprehend certain things. My husband and I were just watching a video by Francis Chan where he talks about how it can be difficult to believe in God simply because we can't comprehend the fact that we aren't capable of comprehending everything. He put it this way: "My mind goes to Romans 9 where God compares me to a piece of clay...Wow, that means i'm like a piece of clay trying to explain to other pieces of clay what the potter is like. Think about that for a second." It's humbling, because you can't be an expert on the creator unless he reveals who he is to you. As scripture states in Isaiah 55, His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Our ways are not as His ways. His thoughts and His ways are in the Heavens. They are that much higher than ours. Our thoughts and ways are waaay down here on earth trying to make their way higher than they're actually capable of going. So the first step is accepting that we aren't experts, we don't know everything, we need to swallow our pride and acknowledge that the Creator knows what he's doing. He sees everything. All we see is what's in front of us at the time.
"What about all the horrible things that happen? All the evil and illnesses and death?" Again, those things go way deeper than we realize. Just as darkness is the absence of light, and cold is the absence of heat, so is evil the absence of God. But that's a whole other discussion. :)
To have faith like a child doesn't mean you have to be ignorant or delusional, it simply means to accept that you don't, and won't, know everything. Be humble, and trust.
A funny little tidbit that I posted in 2006 about Santa Claus:
"So I was sitting in my composition class when a thought had crossed my mind. What am I going to tell my kid(s) about Santa some day? I mean, I want them to know about Jesus's birth above all. However, I don't want them to go to school telling all their friends that Santa isn't real or be upset because we spoiled it for them. And I certainly don't want them to feel left out being all not believin in Santa. But how do you let them be all Santa-crazy but still understand and celebrate the Christian meaning of Christmas? Because we especially don't want our kids getting selfish at Christmas time, only doing nice things to receive things.
So then I thought of something...use Santa Claus to teach your kids about BLESSINGS! We can teach them that not only if they act good, but if they TRULY have good intentions and BLESS other people with kindness and The Good News they TOO will be blessed :D BUT instead of just counting up who's naughty or nice he's really counting how much they blessed other people without expecting anything in return. :D AND We won't tell them if Santa is real if they ask us, because then they will be compelled to search for the real truth. Therefore, we will also make theologians out of them :D
And when they find out that Santa isn't real and they're all sad, you can be all like "It's okay Jesus lives forever and ever amen!!" "
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