I grew-up with Santa (and adored him). But when I became a mom, I was faced with the reality that if Steve and I pretended Santa was real, we would be lying to our children. 🎅🏼
But if we didn’t participate in the Santa tradition, would we be robbing something incredibly fun from our children? This was a genuine concern!
Let’s process through this concern together!
1.) Would we be stealing fun from our children by not acting as though Santa is real?
First of all, we need to identify the false dilemma fallacy of thinking that fun is solely dependent upon thinking Santa is real.
For example, we can watch movies and read books containing fictional storylines (ie., Chronicles of Narnia, Guardians of the Galaxy, etc.) and thoroughly appreciate them, without them being nonfiction.
Therefore, can children watch Frozen the movie and enjoy it without believing Elsa is real? Of course!!
Friends, we can hopefully agree that enjoying the fictitious story of Santa is NOT reliant upon believing he is real. For more information pertaining to the false dilemma fallacy, please click here for Kathy Gibbens’s podcast.
2.) Should the desire for fun supersede honesty?
Most parents view Santa as a “white lie.” The thought that we would be purposefully deceiving their children would genuinely grieve us. With this being said, we can agree that deception is most often NOT the motivation. Instead, experiencing an awe-inspiring activity is.
This brings us having to our first question: “Can we enjoy Santa without believing he is real?”
Parents, the last thing I want is for anyone to feel condemned if they have promoted Santa to their children. To reiterate, I grew-up with a sincere fondness for Santa Clause, and am not upset with my parents for nurturing the idea that he was real.
The purpose of this post is to lovingly put forth questions that we all should consider.
For we all earnestly desire that our children trust our words. Especially, regarding what matters most: their trust that God exists, and that Jesus came to save them from their sins (1 John 4).
Let’s allow the reality of what God has done on our behalf lead the way! We don’t need to add fluff to God’s incarnation, as if it lacks awe-inspiring qualities. It’s a true, historical event which is filled with more than enough awe and wonder to last a lifetime!
Hold Fast Apologetics 