Who is your Christmas hero ? Santa Clause or Jesus Christ
How many of you grew up believing that Santa Clause was real? I can't remember when I believed he was real suspect there was a time. I remember far more Christmases when I know Santa was simply my parents rather than a red man going down the Chimney.
Despite knowing that Santa Clause was really my parents I enjoyed the idea of getting stockings full of candy and gifts. The whole idea of some guy coming down the chimney to give you presents is a marvelous concept. And you get free stuff while you're at it who could complain at such a deal?
However, this is only part of the Santa Clause belief. The Santa Clause belief goes something like this. Throughout the year Santa makes gifts at the north pole with his elves. He also sends some elves to keep watch on all the children to see if they are good or not. If at the end of the year the children are on Santa's “Nice list” they get presents that Santa has prepared for them. If on the other hand they are on the “Naughty list” they simply get a lump of coal or maybe nothing at all.
So it would seem that if you were considered “Good” as a child you would get presents and if you were “Bad” you wouldn't. I'm not quite sure all the requirements for getting on the “Nice” list were or whether by being more “Nice” whether you would get better and more gifts. However, most people probably didn't put a lot of thought into this because by the time they were old enough to ask these questions they had typically stopped believing in Santa Clause.
Isn't it rather strange that we sing all sorts of songs and tell stories about a person who every adult knows real and yet we tell young children that he is? I think the reason we do this is that it's a fairly non-threatening way of teaching core beliefs to young children. If you are good in this life you will get rewarded, but if you're bad you'll get punished.
So while when we're older we may no longer believe in Santa Clause we still have some vague idea that it is important for us to do what is “right” so that good things will happen to us. If on the other hand we do what is “wrong” then bad things will happen to us. There are many different explanations for this belief depending on where you're coming from. An Atheist or Agnostic may explain it such that if you do nice things to other people other people will tend to do nice things back. A Hindu or Buddhist, will talk to you of the concept of Karma. An Jew, Muslim or Christian will talk about a just God who rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked. So basically while we may not believe in Santa clause we do accept some of the basic fundamentals of the Santa Clause belief.
Personally, I'm not a big fan of the Santa Clause belief because it causes problems for those on both the good and bad lists. First of all those people who are on (or think they are on) the good list can become prideful and selfish. When people think they are on the Nice list they can be tempted to think they've done enough good things and they can relax and take a break and not care about anything else anymore. This is often unfortunately seen not only very religious people but also non-religious people who think they are better than everyone else. Secondly, for those who are on the bad list (or think they are at least) don't have a lot of hope. While there may be some people who actually want to be on the bad list I've met plenty of people who really want to be on the “good” list be keep on doing bad things. I've seen it various times where people try hard to do what is right and yet they manage to really mess things up in their lives. For these people the Santa Clause belief offers little hope. It is at this point I'd like to look at another belief system.
The Jesus belief goes something like this. All of us started on Santa's good list and had everything we wanted for Christmas. We got along with everyone and even God himself. But we came to a point in our life where we were given a choice. Should we follow only God's ideas or our own? On a hunch we decided to follow our own plans and chose to learn the difference between right and wrong. All of a sudden we had all these new bad ideas come to our mind and we started to do bad things. Not choosing to follow God ultimately meant that we stopped caring about God or other people and doing things that would give us short term pleasure but long term pain and harm other people as well. We ultimately got on Santa's naughty list.
Oh how we longed to get back onto the nice list but we never managed to do it. Some people lowered the standards and decided to try to get on Santa's non-existent “good enough” list. While others who were continually trying but never managing to get on Santa's nice list got depressed.
At this dark hour is when Jesus came into the world. He was and is the gift given everyone even those on Santa's “naughty” list. Jesus came to offer us something when we were going to get nothing for Christmas. He came to give us the gift we really wanted.
Jesus was the one being who was able to still get on Santa's Nice list. He offered us a chance to switch spots with him so that our names would be on the nice list and his name would be on the naughty list. This allows us to get all the good stuff from Santa for being on the Nice list. This also allows us to get along with people and to be friends with God himself the source of all goodness.
The great thing about the Jesus belief is that all people who really want to be on the nice list can access it if they want. On the other hand those who do get on the “nice” list have nothing to boast about because they didn't get there by their own efforts.
We should be asking ourselves two questions. First: which belief do we want to believe? The Santa belief or the Jesus belief. Secondly: Are either of the characters behind the beliefs true?
You'll have to decide for yourself which you prefer to believe. I've outlined why I don't like the Santa Clause belief and what I like about the Jesus belief. However, it is more important we believe what is true than simply believing in something because we want it to be true.
Are Santa or Jesus real? I know that Santa is not real as I had an opportunity to take a picture of the real Santa clause. To my shock and dismay I found it to be my parents.
I have come to the conclusion based on the evidence I've seen that Jesus is who he says he is and what he says is true. First of all I've read the bible a few times and have found it to be fairly consistent all the way through. There are no major contradictions and it seems to offer a lot of wise advice from what I've seen. Secondly I have seen Jesus in the lives of other people. John 15:4 says “Remain in me [Jesus], and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” I have seen amazing fruit produced by certain people who claim that Christ is part of who they are. Finally I have seen Jesus work in my own life so that I have been able to do things that I would never have been able to do on my own. For me this has been sufficient for me to believe who Jesus is and what he says about himself.
However, you will need to figure out what you believe and whether you have sufficient evidence to suggest whether or not your belief is true. Who you want you're hero to be this Christmas: Jesus or Santa and are either of them real enough to help you?
Despite knowing that Santa Clause was really my parents I enjoyed the idea of getting stockings full of candy and gifts. The whole idea of some guy coming down the chimney to give you presents is a marvelous concept. And you get free stuff while you're at it who could complain at such a deal?
However, this is only part of the Santa Clause belief. The Santa Clause belief goes something like this. Throughout the year Santa makes gifts at the north pole with his elves. He also sends some elves to keep watch on all the children to see if they are good or not. If at the end of the year the children are on Santa's “Nice list” they get presents that Santa has prepared for them. If on the other hand they are on the “Naughty list” they simply get a lump of coal or maybe nothing at all.
So it would seem that if you were considered “Good” as a child you would get presents and if you were “Bad” you wouldn't. I'm not quite sure all the requirements for getting on the “Nice” list were or whether by being more “Nice” whether you would get better and more gifts. However, most people probably didn't put a lot of thought into this because by the time they were old enough to ask these questions they had typically stopped believing in Santa Clause.
Isn't it rather strange that we sing all sorts of songs and tell stories about a person who every adult knows real and yet we tell young children that he is? I think the reason we do this is that it's a fairly non-threatening way of teaching core beliefs to young children. If you are good in this life you will get rewarded, but if you're bad you'll get punished.
So while when we're older we may no longer believe in Santa Clause we still have some vague idea that it is important for us to do what is “right” so that good things will happen to us. If on the other hand we do what is “wrong” then bad things will happen to us. There are many different explanations for this belief depending on where you're coming from. An Atheist or Agnostic may explain it such that if you do nice things to other people other people will tend to do nice things back. A Hindu or Buddhist, will talk to you of the concept of Karma. An Jew, Muslim or Christian will talk about a just God who rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked. So basically while we may not believe in Santa clause we do accept some of the basic fundamentals of the Santa Clause belief.
Personally, I'm not a big fan of the Santa Clause belief because it causes problems for those on both the good and bad lists. First of all those people who are on (or think they are on) the good list can become prideful and selfish. When people think they are on the Nice list they can be tempted to think they've done enough good things and they can relax and take a break and not care about anything else anymore. This is often unfortunately seen not only very religious people but also non-religious people who think they are better than everyone else. Secondly, for those who are on the bad list (or think they are at least) don't have a lot of hope. While there may be some people who actually want to be on the bad list I've met plenty of people who really want to be on the “good” list be keep on doing bad things. I've seen it various times where people try hard to do what is right and yet they manage to really mess things up in their lives. For these people the Santa Clause belief offers little hope. It is at this point I'd like to look at another belief system.
The Jesus belief goes something like this. All of us started on Santa's good list and had everything we wanted for Christmas. We got along with everyone and even God himself. But we came to a point in our life where we were given a choice. Should we follow only God's ideas or our own? On a hunch we decided to follow our own plans and chose to learn the difference between right and wrong. All of a sudden we had all these new bad ideas come to our mind and we started to do bad things. Not choosing to follow God ultimately meant that we stopped caring about God or other people and doing things that would give us short term pleasure but long term pain and harm other people as well. We ultimately got on Santa's naughty list.
Oh how we longed to get back onto the nice list but we never managed to do it. Some people lowered the standards and decided to try to get on Santa's non-existent “good enough” list. While others who were continually trying but never managing to get on Santa's nice list got depressed.
At this dark hour is when Jesus came into the world. He was and is the gift given everyone even those on Santa's “naughty” list. Jesus came to offer us something when we were going to get nothing for Christmas. He came to give us the gift we really wanted.
Jesus was the one being who was able to still get on Santa's Nice list. He offered us a chance to switch spots with him so that our names would be on the nice list and his name would be on the naughty list. This allows us to get all the good stuff from Santa for being on the Nice list. This also allows us to get along with people and to be friends with God himself the source of all goodness.
The great thing about the Jesus belief is that all people who really want to be on the nice list can access it if they want. On the other hand those who do get on the “nice” list have nothing to boast about because they didn't get there by their own efforts.
We should be asking ourselves two questions. First: which belief do we want to believe? The Santa belief or the Jesus belief. Secondly: Are either of the characters behind the beliefs true?
You'll have to decide for yourself which you prefer to believe. I've outlined why I don't like the Santa Clause belief and what I like about the Jesus belief. However, it is more important we believe what is true than simply believing in something because we want it to be true.
Are Santa or Jesus real? I know that Santa is not real as I had an opportunity to take a picture of the real Santa clause. To my shock and dismay I found it to be my parents.
I have come to the conclusion based on the evidence I've seen that Jesus is who he says he is and what he says is true. First of all I've read the bible a few times and have found it to be fairly consistent all the way through. There are no major contradictions and it seems to offer a lot of wise advice from what I've seen. Secondly I have seen Jesus in the lives of other people. John 15:4 says “Remain in me [Jesus], and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” I have seen amazing fruit produced by certain people who claim that Christ is part of who they are. Finally I have seen Jesus work in my own life so that I have been able to do things that I would never have been able to do on my own. For me this has been sufficient for me to believe who Jesus is and what he says about himself.
However, you will need to figure out what you believe and whether you have sufficient evidence to suggest whether or not your belief is true. Who you want you're hero to be this Christmas: Jesus or Santa and are either of them real enough to help you?
posted by gardion at
2:22 AM
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