The Christian and Santa Claus7 min read

Danger Up Ahead...

     As Christians (and we're especially talking to Christian parents), how might having your child or children believe in Santa Claus and his flying reindeer damage their future view of God? Have you thought about how teaching your children to believe in a seemingly all-knowing, very powerful, loving, giving, but soon-to-be-discovered imaginary person is going to shape their view of God? This is not a subject often brought up in churches, mainly because many churches have sadly embraced jolly old Saint Nick in an effort to contextualize the Gospel, especially since he was an actual historic person. 

     But there may be unintended consequences that can arise from teaching children to believe in an imaginary man who wears a fluffy red and white...bathrobe, has flying reindeer and a sleigh, lives in the North Pole, and delivers billions of presents to children all over the world in one night—as harmless as it may sound. People go out of their way to effectively deceive their kids into believing that Santa is real by secretly wrapping presents, eating loads of cookies and milk, writing fake and elaborately decorated letters for/from Santa—and buying some coal, just in case. Truthfully, this may be a hindrance to your child's view of God when they grow up, and here's why...

Santa Can't Be Seen (Except At The Mall)

     Children are told that they cannot see Santa (except at his special mall appearance, or course), so they naturally rely on the testimony of older adults for their belief—after all, they're supposed to trust the adults, right? They're told to write him a nice letter, leave him milk and cookies and food for his reindeer, make sure to behave well so that they do not receive a lump of coal instead of good presents (talk about works salvation!), go to bed early because they are not allowed to see Santa as he intrudes in their house, etc. For all they know, Santa is a real person...they just can't prove it.

     As if that weren't enough, children are also told that Santa possesses some powerful attributes that they can't see. For example, he is said to be all-knowing ("he sees you when you're sleeping; he knows when you're awake"); and he has great powers (he can fly with his reindeer, squeeze through chimneys without getting burned or suffering broken bones, and deliver billions of presents in one night). To kids, this Santa guy sounds pretty spectacular! In fact, he kind of sounds like God in a twisted sort of way. Do you see the problem here? 

     As children grow up, they eventually realize that Santa Claus is not a real person. They learn that their parents, friends, teachers, and members of society have fabricated an elaborate scheme to deceive them about jolly old Saint Nick. Their whole world falls apart. Well, perhaps we're exaggerating, but it is a rather sad day for many children when they come to this realization. Some do become angry and resentful for a time, depending on their personality, even though they know their parents meant no harm. But children may have a hard time believing anything their parents say about anyone in the future...including Jesus, since they can't see Him either.

God Can't Be Seen

     By now, you've probably already figured out the many repercussions that may result from teaching kids that this figure known as Santa Claus is real. The one aspect that could very well destroy your child's ability to believe in God someday is the fact that we cannot see God either. We teach our kids that God is all-knowing, all-powerful, all good, ever-present, and gives us blessings but...we can't see Him. To a Christian adult, this is no problem, since we know God exists by many other proofs (e.g., the Holy Spirit, Scripture, Jesus, Biblical Archaeology, Apologetics, miracles, visions, blessings, answered prayers, etc.), but to a child who is still developing, this may be hard to comprehend after finding out that Santa (who also sounds a lot like God) is fake.

     How are children supposed to believe in God (whom they cannot see) on the testimony of those who also deceptively assured them that Santa (whom they believe they saw at a mall) was real? This would be difficult indeed. How are they going to believe that God is watching over them and cares for them when they were told the same about Santa Claus, but it turned out he's a fake? And how are children supposed to believe in prayer and communication with God if the last time they sent out a letter to Santa Claus turned out to be the time they found out he wasn't ever really there? Finally, how are children going to believe that God thinks their bad thoughts and actions are sin (and that they need Jesus) if Santa Claus, the one who saw if they were bad or good, doesn't even exist? Maybe God doesn't even exist or, if He does, simply doesn't care how we live?

Their Deception Can Last 

     An unintended consequence arising from children being deceived about Santa Claus' existence is that they may remain deceived about God's actual existence throughout their lives; they may be convinced that He doesn't exist, even beyond childhood. Here's what we mean. Since children are deceived about Santa, depending at what age they find out he's not real, they may assertively tell themselves that they are never going to be deceived by any other adult ever again, especially with huge claims like that of God existing. This may cause them to close their hearts to receiving the truth about God's existence since, in their minds, they are protecting themselves from being lied to again by adults.

     Also, children may remain deceived about Satan's (the devil's) existence. Think about it. Once they find out that Santa Claus is not real, then they may reject God being real, thereby leading them to also reject the notion of the Devil being real. This would set them up to being deceived that Satan has no real spiritual influence in their lives unless they believe in Christ. But the early-rooted deception by their parents will have squashed children's inclination to believe adults when they affirm that Satan is real and out to destroy them, but that Jesus is also real and out to save them. Children and adolescents may eventually believe Jesus existed, just like Saint Nick actually existed, but they might have a harder time accepting that He presently lives and is God.

Some Suggestions

     Now, the point of this article was not to dismiss your childhood memories of excitement and joy during Christmastime and tell you not to pass that on to your kids. This was not intended to convince you to never speak of Saint Nick again. But we would like to encourage you to think through your beliefs and determine what is most important to you come Christmas: Jesus or Santa Claus? Superstitious traditions or the Truth? Your children's temporary happiness or their eternal salvation? It may be beneficial for you to teach your children about who Saint Nick actually was, and perhaps play along that people make-pretend that he comes for cookies on Christmas Eve (or something like that), but without the other fanciful fabrications. Keep the focus on Jesus during Christmas. After all, without Christ, there would be no Christmas.

     Do teach your children to be giving, honorable, kind, compassionate, and loving, just like Saint Nick—but more importantly, just like Jesus. Teach them about the blessings of God; about the His salvation through Jesus Christ, the greatest gift; about the poor and needy that He cares for and provides for through people like Saint Nick and us; about being grateful for what we have and what we are given by God and others; about family and friendships; about church and fellowship; teach them about baby Jesus—the one before whom even Saint Nicholas bowed down to worship!

Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year to you! God bless you.