` Why I Believe in Santa Claus

Why I Believe in Santa Claus



By Pastor Todd Peperkorn

It has become quite popular in evangelical Christian circles to “poo poo” Santa Claus.  “I don’t want my children believing in Santa Claus,” it may be said.  “I want them to remember that Christmas is about Christ and not about gift giving and the like.”

Now certainly any Christian family in freedom may choose whether or not to do the Santa Claus thing.  There is no sin either way.  Often, though, the desire to not celebrate Christmas (or Halloween, for that matter) stems from the thought that any kind of fantasy or imaginative work (dressing up, Santa Claus, etc.) is basically lying.

However, I would like to suggest that Santa Claus is a good thing for Christians, for several reasons:

  • It encourages the imagination.  Christians have always encouraged the use of fantasy as a way of spurring the imagination.  The Arthur legends, Grimm’s fairy tales, all of these and many more are inspired by the Christian faith.  Even Jesus himself used parables and stories to teach the faith!  It is a very good thing for Christian children to learn that there are things and people they cannot see that want good things for them.
  • It keeps imagination and reality separate.  It is easy to teach a child at the proper age that Santa Claus is a story, but that Jesus and His gifts of forgiveness, life and salvation are real.  But when we use real stories and re-create them as if they are fiction (e.g. VeggieTales), then we can make it much harder to teach the difference between what is true and what is not true.
  • It can teach children about giving.  God gives us the greatest gift of all in His Son, Jesus Christ.  We can use lesser gifts to help teach about the GREAT GIFT that our Lord gives.

Really the main caution we as Christian parents have to make is that we be careful not to teach moralism: you do certain things and then good things happen to you.  If we can guard against that, then Santa Claus can be a very good and salutary tradition in the Christian household.

So this Christmas, think about teaching your children about Santa Claus.  It may be good for them and for you!

Merry Christmas,
Pastor Peperkorn
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This page was created on 02/26/2007 and last edited on: 02/26/2007
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