Don't Lie about Santa Clause!

[catolic]

Don’t lie, tell them the truth.

Santa Clause was a Bishop of the Catholic Church who was very generous. We remember him before Christmas on the 6th but it is ok to remember him on Christmas, as long as we put Jesus first.

Then explain that candy canes are fashioned after Bishops staffs and how Christmas is a Catholic holiday that most the world celebrates.

That is what I told my kids, it doesn’t take away from Christmas, heck I never believed in Santa Clause (the commercial one) as I never had a fireplace as I was growing up.

In Christ
Scylla

stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=38

A very sensable approach. And it allows some fun for the children who will learn about the* real* St. Nicholas…A very great Saint of the Church, and one of my personal favourites! :yup:

 

[Semper_Fi_1]

A very sensable approach. And it allows some fun for the children who will learn about the* real* St. Nicholas…A very great Saint of the Church, and one of my personal favourites! :yup:

Saint Nicholas, pray for us!

 

[Semper_Fi_1]

I agree, why spoil it for them? Unlike many of the Church’s teachings, the stories of Santa Claus are harmless. I figured out that the stories of Santa Claus could not possibly be true around the time of kindergarten or first grade. But even after that, Christmas was still fun. Catholicism took a little longer. That may have been due to the fact that many of the adults around me seemed to believe in the idea of God and the teachings of the Church so that influenced my young mind a bit. When I was in around the third or fourth grade though I realized that almost all of the biblical stories were mythology and I think I completely rejected the idea of God a few years after that.

The whole point is that even now you can’t distinguish Santa Claus from a “Church teaching”. Santa Claus is an invention of American commercialization and a mix of the British “Father Christmas”. It most definitely is not teaching of the Church, which is why it is harmful and you are demonstrating my point which you try to refute

 

[mlchance]

It’s actually great being an atheist. I’m able to use logic to arrive at conclusions about important issues…

When I was in around the third or fourth grade though I realized that almost all of the biblical stories were mythology and I think I completely rejected the idea of God a few years after that.

– Mark L. Chance.

 

[Katie1723]

So, what did everyone get from Santa Claus?
Kathy

 

[estesbob]

It’s actually great being an atheist. I’m able to use logic to arrive at conclusions about important issues rather than resort to passages from a book written 2000 years ago and some old men in the Vatican on the other side of the globe.

I don’t need to constantly convince myself of God’s non-existence. To understand how this is so, remember that you feel no need to convince yourself constantly that Allah is not the one true God.

I am an American though and celebrate Christmas, so Merry Christmas to everyone. (I mean it).

I do think there are some interesting parallels between the stories of God and Santa Claus. They are both allegedly omniscient and can perform feats that defy the physical laws fo nature.

And yet you are obsessed with hanging around a Catholic forum seeing if, I guess, whether you can validate your disblief by tearing down others beliefs. When one reads your posts it is apararent that the one you are trying to convince there is no God is yourself.

 

[water]

I believe the longer Imagine23 stays here in the forums, the better chance he would become a Christian himself.

I think he’s a better atheist than the others. At least he hangs around in these forums to learn something about God even though he doesn’t believe in Him yet.

 

[Imagine23]

And yet you are obsessed with hanging around a Catholic forum seeing if, I guess, whether you can validate your disblief by tearing down others beliefs. When one reads your posts it is apararent that the one you are trying to convince there is no God is yourself.

Nope, I’m already convinced. Just trying to figure out the positions of my fellow Catholics on various issues.

 

[AnthonyM2]

Nope, I’m already convinced. Just trying to figure out the positions of my fellow Catholics on various issues.

How do you mean “fellow Catholics” if you no longer believe? In the nominal sense perhaps.

Anyway, I think people treat children too delicately, they can figure out the difference between make-believe and reality without irreparable damage.

 

[aspawloski4th]

I’m with Guardian. A lie is a lie is a lie. Period.

If we tell our children about Santa Claus, and then we tell them about Jesus, and then they discover that we’ve been lying to them about Santa Claus, what are they going to think about what we tell them about Jesus?

DaveBj

so dont tell them about the easter bunny or the toothfairy either? whats next? taking away cartoons and koolaide? I can remember my childhood as far back as 2 1/2 years old, and my parents raised me with the santa claus and all the other traditional stuff as well as my other 7 siblings and we turned out fine. lets get a grip people and let children have a childhood and be children, treat them as the children they are and lot like adults which there seems to be a burning desire with some arround here.

 

[aspawloski4th]

It seems to me that the evilness of lying (not telling the truth) about something goes out the window when people tell little kids about Santa Clause and how he is real and lives in the North Pole, etc etc. I don’t see why we should feed our kids lies because people think it’s one of the “joys” of Christmas for little kids. I say tell them the truth that Santa is just a myth, or better yet, tell them about the real St. Nick who lived back in the 4th century!

Am I being anal?

I answer yes your for only one reason, because I cant come up with a stronger word for it. read my other post in this thread. if we’d dump all the cockemainey new ideas and justr raise kids the way we did in the 50s and before we’d be much better off.

 

[Mr.Ex_Nihilo]

Are people really this upset over this stuff?

Nevermind. I didn’t ask. :nope:

oh bother…

 

[kellie]

I just thought that I would report back here on something my son did yesterday.

He believes in Santa, and of course Jesus.

There were 12 of us around the table, and we were eating our Christmas lunch, when he asked everyone to be quiet as he wanted to make a speech.

He is 9 years old.

We all hushed and he spoke.

He said “Happy Birthday Jesus, and thank you for looking after me and my family, and thank you for the nice food today”

We all had tears in our eyes at his honesty, self confidence, and love for Jesus.

Telling him Santa is real will disappear one day, but I know the love for Jesus wont.

We speak of Jesus every week as Catholics, but Santa only maybe 6 times a year.

That is why there will never be the chance that children will think Jesus is a myth too.

 

[tee_eff_em]

The Straight Dope: Is There a Santa Claus?

“If you see it in The Straight Dope, it’s so”,
tee

 

[LilyM]

As a previous poster pointed out, there’s a big difference between stories, fairytales and lies.

Jesus spoke of a Good Samaritan, Lazarus the beggar who went to heaven and Dives the rich man who went to hell, and the Prodigal Son and his father. Were these real people whose real lives he was discussing? Of course not!

Was he doing the wrong thing by talking about them? For that matter is everyone wrong who’s ever written a fictional story for children or acted in a kids’ movie? What about parents who used to (or still do) tell children that babies come from the stork or the cabbage patch?

 

[juno24]

I’m with Guardian. A lie is a lie is a lie. Period.

If we tell our children about Santa Claus, and then we tell them about Jesus, and then they discover that we’ve been lying to them about Santa Claus, what are they going to think about what we tell them about Jesus?

DaveBj

I don’t know anyone who gave up belief in Jesus along with their belief in Santa Claus. I would imagine the ones who might give up belief in Jesus when they find out Santa is a myth are those who are taught about Jesus with the same frequency that they are exposed to Santa-- that is, once a year at Christmas.

 

[Imagine23]

Think of the crusades, the inquisition, the witch hunts, 9/11, the London bombings… bad things happen when you focus on set in stone overly simplistic principles and stop thinking about what you are actually doing.

One of the wisest statements I’ve seen posted in awhile.

 

[estesbob]

Duh…

You can quote all sorts of biblical passages and stuff, but you come off as non-sensical if you try to claim that all lying is evil no matter what.

I can give examples but I would like to assume everyone can think for themselves and realize many cases where it’s obviously not bad to lie.

Lying, as well as anything else, is only evil when it hurts people and causes unnecessary harm.

Everything is only wrong when it causes unnecessary harm.

I know some of you might see it differently but unfortunately it’s not the case, and if you think like that you can often end up causing lots of harm.

Think of the crusades, the inquisition, the witch hunts, 9/11, the London bombings… bad things happen when you focus on set in stone overly simplistic principles and stop thinking about what you are actually doing.

Please enlighten the rest of us about the Crusades,and the Inquistion, the Witch Hunts- the number killed in them and how the Church was involved in them. Then if you could tie them into the topic at hand we can see if they are relevant OR if you just dropped by to bash Catholics.

Very very bad things happen when one beleives everything is up for grabs, there are no moral absolutes

 

[childofmary1143]

I don’t hold a grudge against them in the sense I am still angry with them. I got over it in a couple days. I hold it against them in the sense that I made a permanent mental note never to do that to my children and how I felt when I was lied to for years.

I have violated the laws of God many times, but not in this case.

I may have, but if I did that would be lying and wrong. Lying is objectively wrong, whether you have good intentions or not.

Thank you for examining every child’s experience throughout history and relating the data back to me.

I don’t hold a grudge against anyone, I just still happen to think that lying is objectively wrong. And Santa isn’t evil, but telling kids he’s real intrinsically is.

Your wrong when you say lying is objectively wrong whether you have good intentions or not. The Cathechism makes an allowance for “white lies” as not being sinful. Being too scrupulous can be sinful too

 

[ChristianWAB]

My daughter will definitely hear an explanation about Santa Claus because he’s hard to avoid this time of year with the cartoons and such. However, my intent is to do my research on exactly where the Santa story starts and to then tell my daughter the story in a way that she can understand.

This way, not only will she understand the whole Santa thing, but she won’t have been misled in any way. Frankly, I could never, in good conscience, feed my daughter a pack of lies as I’d be doing with the whole Santa thing.