I thought this was an interesting article about Willow Creek Community Church and Bill Hybels in Chuck Colson’s latest Breakpoint email newsletter.
Click here for the online version: Rethinking Church
“Santa is a Lie” poster
This little poster might make you angry … might make your hair stand on end … might even get you more than a little bit riled up.
But whether you like it or not, it’s premise is true … Santa Claus IS a lie. He’s not just a story to tell on a cold wintry night. If we tell our children that Santa is real and not just a game we play at Christmastime, we’re lying to them. It’s deception of the first degree.
What sort of lesson is that teaching our children? That it’s okay to lie if it makes people happy?
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
“So long as Christians continue to focus on Santa Claus coming to town to deliver gifts rather than on the birth of their savior, they will remain part of what they see as the problem. Dispensing with, or even just limiting, the role of Santa Claus and other secular elements of Christmas probably won’t be easy, but that only demonstrates just how deeply enmeshed in secular culture Christians have become. It also reveals just how much of their own religious Christmas they have abandoned in favor of secular celebrations. In effect, the harder it is the more this shows that they need to do it if they want to claim that Christmas is religious rather than secular.”
–from the article ”Secular Santa Claus is Coming to Town: What’s so Christian about Santa Claus?” by Austin Cline
I think it’s interesting that the author of this article is actually an atheist calling into question the Christian inconsistency of celebrating the birth of their savior with a secular figure like Santa Claus as the foremost symbol of the season. While I disagree whole-heartedly with the author’s theology (or his lack thereof), I say a hearty “Amen!” to his comments about the role of Santa in truly Christian homes and religious-oriented celebrations.
~Ed
Read the entire article here: http://atheism.about.com/od/christmasholidayseason/p/SecularSanta.htm
Give Santa the (Big Black) Boot?!
Santa has another unfair advantage over God: He’s imaginary. Lots of us could easily be more appealing if we existed only in fantasy. But why would you encourage your kids to dwell in fantasy, to place their trust and hope in something that isn’t true, especially when its gaudy glow makes God seem irrelevant and pale?
–from the article: “Give Him the (Big Black) Boot” by Frederica Mathewes-Green
Read the entire article here: http://bible.beliefnet.com/story/57/story_5781.html
Christmas: A Time for Make-Believe?
Copyright Dr. Scott Turansky & Joanne Miller, RN. Used with permission. All rights reserved. http://effectiveparenting.org/
What will your family do with Santa Claus, reindeer, elves, and a sleigh? Will you make them part of your Christmas tradition or not? Some families choose to make this one of those examples of ways that we, as Christians, are different from the world and we celebrate the true meaning of Christmas instead of the secular version.
Other families weave the fun of these traditions into their family life, but emphasize to children the true meaning of Christmas.
If you choose to make Santa a part of your Christmas tradition, teach children the difference between make-believe and reality. You might say, “Santa isn’t real but we like to play the Santa game at Christmas.”
Some children who come to the shocking discovery that Santa isn’t real, question whether their parents are telling them the truth in other areas of life. Some even think, “Is Jesus real? Or is He another thing my parents made up for me?”
Christmas traditions can be a lot of fun. Just be careful what you’re teaching and how children are putting it all together in their heads. And be sure to remind your children often about the true meaning of Christmas.
For more practical ideas for helping children develop character visit: www.biblicalparenting.org
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
–Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller, RN, BSN are authors of a large number of books and other resources on parenting and family life. You can visit them online and subscribe to their free parenting email newsletter at: http://effectiveparenting.org/
You can order their books online at:
“Home Improvement: Eight Tools for Effective Parenting”
“Say Goodbye to Whining and Complaining … In You and Your Kids!”
Paula White’s Desperate Moment
“I asked her to justify statements made by members of her church that her divorce would have no impact whatsoever on its ministry. How is that possible, I asked? How is it possible that two high profile ministers could conclude that their own relationship was so damaged that divorce was the only solution, and yet believe themselves spiritually fit to continue their ministries? She had no concrete answers …”
Be sure to read this entire interesting article about Paula White’s radio interview here: http://godandculture.wordpress.com/2007/10/12/paula-whites-desperate-moment/
There’s also a link to the complete interview, itself.
Stricken by God?
“The Bible warns about being tossed to and fro by winds of doctrine … yet this is exactly what is happening today! Jersak talks about listening to God’s voice, but could it be that he has been messing with mystical methods like ’spiritual doorways’ and ‘visualization’ for so long that he has now fallen for the deception of deceiving spirits?”
–from a book review at More Books and Things about the book, Stricken by God?
Read the entire review here: http://morebooksandthings.blogspot.com/2007/09/book-alert-stricken-by-god.html
