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ORIGINAL: SonInMe1

Legalism is such an invasive ideology.

How does having fun with santa with young kids keep them from Christ?

The world never celebrated the reason for the season. We do. Does it matter if we buy gifts and eat good food and have a tree?

Sometimes I think christians think they cannot be christian with a smile on their face. Always suffering. Always sacrificing. Fun is evil. Joy only comes after beating yourself with a whip.

Lighten up. Santa, Barney, Spongebob and the easter bunny will not send you to hell. If they seperate you from God, your faith is weak and ya need a fix. If buying your kid a gift on christmas causes you to worship the world, your faith is weak and ya need a fix.

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ORIGINAL: mvic

I agree with SonInMe.

Nowhere does it say in the Bible be miserable. Otherwise, Heaven would be a sad place indeed with miserable faces playing the harp for eternity.

I'd prefer a party with bagpipes and whisky.

And whilst we're waiting down here, let's celebrate Jesus' birthday the best way we know how. But let's not forget to invite Him.

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Is it it a coincidence that santa is an anagram of satan? Both seem to guise as angels of light.

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ORIGINAL: TheTartanTammy
Maybe so, maybe no. How come Christians are happy to teach their children about a mythical character called santa, only to admit some years down the line that actually they were lying to them!

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ORIGINAL: mvic

For generations and generations children have grown up being told about Father Christmas, fathers have dressed like Santa in the night and delivered presents to their young ones, lies, as you call them, have been told by parents to their sons and daughters ... and what happened then?

Did these children grow up all bitter and twisted because they were lied to by their parents? Did they hold that lie against them and no longer trusted them? Did they assume that since Santa and the Tooth Fairy don't exist then it follows that God doesn't either?

No ... most of them grew up to be normal good citizens who in turn tell their children about Santa.

I'm really not sure whether your posts Tammy are tongue in cheek or whether you mean them.

Do you really suggest no Santa in your family, no trees, no colourful lights, no celebrations, no presents? How exactly would you describe low key?

Is it the same at Easter and New Year's Eve and Burns Night?

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Santa, is a lets pretend, directed to a certain group of little people. and not put forth as a truth, but the secret is to be revealed at later time, a fable with a lesson in giving and love, that whets the appetite of all ages, and continues even when the fable has long been acknowledged.

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ORIGINAL: mvic

Tammy, you keep avoiding the question - your priviledge.

Of course it's a lie. I've admitted that and every sane person knows it's a lie. But we do it as a tradition because we love our children. And for generations it has not harmed them. So it is not the sort of lie that God would send you to hell for.

Of course Christmas, like every thing else, has been commercialised. So has Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day and Red Nose Day.

I've admitted that too. And I said that we can enjoy Christmas yet teach our children its true meaning. Have a small crib in the house maybe. Go to church most certainly. And explain as best they can understand the greatest gift of all - sending One's Son to us.

But I've also made room in my Christmas for fun.

How do you and your family have fun at Christmas and other occasions?

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I think we need to define what a lie is.
Webster: A lie - A false statement purposely put forward as truth, Falsehood. (more was given)

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ORIGINAL: TheTartanTammy

With the onset of August, Christmas begins to creep into our thinking more and more ( )!

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Of course it's a lie. I've admitted that and every sane person knows it's a lie.

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I could be wrong, but in my opinion that goes against why Jesus came, what the Gospel proclaims, and is really sad when you consider how many people die each day in the world because of the lack of water to drink, food to eat and basic sanitation!

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ORIGINAL: mvic

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I could be wrong, but in my opinion that goes against why Jesus came, what the Gospel proclaims, and is really sad when you consider how many people die each day in the world because of the lack of water to drink, food to eat and basic sanitation!

Tammy, you are 100% correct. Christmas in the UK has been over commercialised for years. Come September the supermarkets are already full of Christmas puddings, cakes and the like.

I agree we've lost the meaning of Christmas in the UK - but then, this country has also lost all meaning of Christianity.

So we don't disagree there.

Where we differ is that I see no wrong in telling the little ones that Santa will bring them toys. I've accepted it's a lie. But it gives me the opportunity to dress up in red and go: Ho ho ho. Are you going to deny me that? Am I going to hell for lying?

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ORIGINAL: TheTartanTammy
Let me give one example of the obsenity that Christmas has become here in the UK;

Christmas 1999/New Year 2000 - during that particular period of festivities which lasted for about 7 weeks in total, when we take into account the run up to Christmas and the period up to and including New Year (2nd Jan). During that particular 7 weeks, 36 billion pounds were spent on presents etc. On Christmas day alone, it is reckoned that 1/2 million pounds in food alone was binned, put down to waste.

I could be wrong, but in my opinion that goes against why Jesus came, what the Gospel proclaims, and is really sad when you consider how many people die each day in the world because of the lack of water to drink, food to eat and basic sanitation!

I rest my case.

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It is not a question of a Christian going to hell, it is a question of what it means to walk in the light that the Lord provides. I prefer, as much as possible to walk in the light, not in the shades of dark that satan provides