I keep coming back to the disappointing savior ... Santa Claus. As a society, we tout him as a wonderful example of goodness and light, but ... I think he's actually dangerous. Consider.
Santa, as we all know, knows who's naughty and nice. Jesus knows, too. Check. He rewards the nice kids with gifts. Well, actually, Jesus forgives the sins of those who repent and believe, so ... not quite check. Santa threatens to put coal in the stockings of the bad kids ... but never, ever does it. Jesus promises judgment to those who don't repent, and certainly carries it out in the end. Absolutely not check. Our modern Santa is a white-haired "deity" kind of being who is "kindly" and certainly not judgmental. Santa acknowledges "naughty" as well as "nice," but ends up putting all kids in the "nice" category. Definitely not just. His primary job is to give everyone (well, at least kids) what they want -- a divine butler, if you will. This character is so far from Christ as to suggest something ... devious, deceitful ... dare I say ... satanic.
I like the warm things about Santa Claus, but between the commercialism (our modern "Santa Claus" representation was originally a Coca-Cola advertisement) and the false "niceness" that is more a license to sin than a call to repent (you know, where "repent" is the first step toward salvation), I'm not a big fan. No, I'm not a "Scrooge." I favor a better Christmas character ... Christ. I prefer the One who came as the Savior of the World to give His life for sin, not to hand out toys and candy and eat cookies.
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