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1. Christians and Santa Claus
Joseph Clark

2. For Christians, Christmas has become one of
our most sacred holidays and rightfully so.

3. It is a time when we come together with
friends and family to celebrate the birth of our
lord and savior Jesus Christ.

4. However, there is one subject that tends to
cause confusion among Christians every year.

5. Santa Claus

6. To gain a proper perspective on Santa Claus
we first need to look at the celebration of
Christmas it’s self.

7. In the early Christian churches the birth of
Jesus was not celebrated, only his death,
burial, and resurrection.

8. The birth of Jesus was not celebrated until the
4th century.

9. Also, evidence shows that Jesus was actually
born in the spring time.

10. The church leaders of the 4th century decided
to hold the celebration on the 25th in order to
gain popularity among the many other winter
celebrations going on in that day.

11. Christmas continued for a while until in the
17th century the Puritans actually cancelled the
celebration because they found no basis for it
in the Bible.

12. For nearly 100 years there was no country
wide Christmas celebration allowed in the
newly founded United States, only pockets of
rebels.

13. In the 1820s stores saw Christmas as a good
time to advertise and began doing so.

14. By the 1840s it had became a wide spread
practice.

15. Even though Christmas had gained popularity
again, it did not become a federal holiday until
June 26, 1870.

16. Santa Claus

17. The legend on Santa Claus can be trace back to
a monk named St. Nicholas that lived hundreds
of years ago.

18. The name Santa Claus actually evolved from
Nick’s Dutch name, Sinter Klaas, a shortened
form of Sint Nikolaas (Dutch for Saint
Nicholas).

19. St. Nicholas was known for his charitable
giving, especially to the children.

20. In the 1840s stores started using a live Santa to
lure children, and their parents, into their store.

21. By the 1890s the Salvation Army began to
dress their employees up like Santa to earn the
money needed for the free meals they gave to
needy families.

22. With our celebrations today the problem is not
whether or not to include Santa Claus. The
problem is more centered on trying to use a
holiday to teach our children about Jesus.

23. We should be teaching our children about
Jesus all year. They should know his story
from beginning to end and all that he does for
us in everyday life.

24. If this has been taught all year long, then
Christmas can be a time of not only celebrating
the birth of Jesus, but also the Spirit of giving
as represented by Santa Claus.

25. You can use Christmas morning to explain to
them that how they feel at that moment is how
others feel when they give to them.

26. Instead of getting stuck on just our actions we
need to look deeper at our motives.

27. If we keep Christ in all our lives, and not just
Christmas, the holidays can be a great time
spent enjoying many of the modern customs
we have today without going against our faith.

28. Children should learn all year that every good
thing comes from God above.

29. This knowledge will help put Santa Claus into
the proper perspective for your children.

30. History has proven that commercializing
something is not always a bad thing. If
combined with the proper knowledge it can
help spread the good news of God’s son Jesus
Christ.

31. Shining God’s Light
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