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Wednesday, December 03, 2014

Santa God

It's just as easy these days to find a "Jesus is coming" bumper sticker as to hear "Santa Claus is coming to town." "No connection," you might think, but I beg to differ. It is my opinion that God and Santa are interlinked in the minds of most Americans, at least subconsciously. Consider.

Santa lives somewhere that you can't see ... you've never seen. Except, perhaps, in story or movies, but never actually. And God is in His heavens where no one has been.

Santa is mostly absent, but he's watching. Oh, yes, he's keeping an eye out for good girls and boys. He's making a list and checking it twice. The threat is "I'm gettin' nuttin' for Christmas 'cause I ain't been nuttin' but bad", but everyone knows better, don't we? Santa loves all girls and boys and everyone, good or bad, will get something wonderful despite the threat of being on his "Naughty List". If it exists, it doesn't really matter. And, of course, we all know that God loves everybody and wouldn't do anything as mean as damning people to eternal torment just because they told a fib or something. No, many believe in God and believe in hell, but "I'm not going there" because, after all, God loves all girls and boys.

Despite the "Naughty List" threat, at the core Santa is a gift giver. He will bring you what you want. Just ask him. Now, of course, he may not know what you want, so you have to let him know. He'll try to bring you something nice, but if you don't let him know what you want, he won't know what to bring. God, at His core, is a nice guy who gives gifts to people. You just let Him know what you want by prayer. He'll give it to you. Just ask anyone. It worked for them even if it hasn't worked for you. Because He's in the business of making you happy.

If Santa fails to bring you what you asked for, it's time to stop believing in fairy tales. Grow up. It's about time. Santa is really just "comfort food", stories we tell our kids to make them feel nice. When God fails to do for you what you demand, it's time to set Him aside. Another myth told to frightened children afraid of the dark or death or some such.

The Santa Claus concept has its origins in Nicholas from Turkey. Nicholas was a generous believer adamant for the truth about God. I suspect he would complain profusely about the image we've made it into. I think, however, that we've simply created Santa in our image of God, a twisted, distorted image far removed from reality. Because we are, in our natural condition, "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God" (2 Tim 3:4), and that god now sits in the seat of our celebration of the Incarnation. Nice trick. I suspect you can guess its originator. (Do you suppose there's a reason that rearranging "Santa" into "Satan" is so easy to do?)

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