BY STEVE DUNN
A man walked into my office the other day to tell me that he didn't like celebrating Christmas because it really was borrowing a pagan holiday; and also, there was the Santa Claus thing. We discussed the concern for paganism and Christianity's roots. Then we moved on to Santa.
I know that in our highly commercialized culture and with the way that consumerism has an almost demonic grip on the nation's soul, many Christians would like to ban Santa from the celebration. I do not share their crusade.
Let me "whisper" a little bit of reality. Very few adults believe Santa is a real person. And somewhere after kids pass into elementary school age; they come to realize that "Santa is really Dad," which comes sometime after they begin to suspect something fishy is going on when they find Santa in every department store or standing outside a building manning a Salvation Army kettle.
Instead of battling Santa, why don't we make sure that our kids (and our family Christmases) include the real Christmas story--the birth of Jesus. Why don't we teach our kids about the blessing of giving instead of focusing so much on receiving. Why not teach Santa as a symbol of blessing and as they grow older, encourage them to be blessings themselves?
And how about when we live year round (after Santa retreats to the North Pole), we live by the values of Jesus--which might include giving away those things we have accumulated that those new presents have made superfluous.
Just one man's perspective.
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