"All that mankind has done, thought, gained or been: it is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of books."
-Thomas Carlyle

by Paul Lytle

I am not one of those Christians who think that mythology as a subject is evil. Certainly, we would not wish to worship Zeus or Odin or the like, especially since we know the Truth and have been set free from such things, but the study of mythology is not necessarily a bad thing in my mind. I would argue, in fact, that there are benefits for the Christian who studies mythology.

But that is not the argument I will make here, because I think there is a more important topic that should be discussed. At worst, ancient mythology can only distract me from God; at best, it can help me understand better. But in America today we have a real and current mythology. Not one worshiped, per se, but certainly one believed and adored.

I speak of Santa, of course.

What? you may ask. Do I really think Santa is more dangerous than the study of ancient but real religions? Yes, because there is little danger of being drawn into Zeus worship for most of us. On the other hand, the Santa myth is an active one.

Santa is not a god in the traditional sense, but he has more god-like powers than, say, Hercules. Not even Hermes, I think, could match the man's speed. We build shrines to him in malls and approach with petitions, which he will grant if he finds you worthy. Oh, and don't you think the cookies by the fireplace are a bit like an offering?

I'm being slightly facetious. In truth, I believed in Santa for much of my childhood, and it really didn't hurt me. I really don't think the children are being harmed by this little lie. There are a lot of sites on the internet about how belief in Santa causes all sorts of psychological harm and drives people away from Christ. This may indeed happen, but I believe it to be the exception and not the rule. I know children to be resilient, so I am not terribly concerned that they will lose their ability to trust or anything like that. Any psychological damage that could come of this belief is likely akin to the damage brought on by competitive sports; honestly, if these things cause you permanent pain, you were probably going to be damaged by something.

Santa is not the same as Satan. Let's just stop this ridiculous hyperbole when it comes to attacking St. Nick. I have a friend who likes to point out that if you rearrange the letters in "mother-in-law," you get "woman Hitler." Does this mean that every mother-in-law is a woman Hitler? Obviously not. Unfortunately, much of the criticism of Santa Claus actually comes from this sort of logic. You know, you just move that "n" to the end of the word and it spells Satan! But to take the English translation of one name and compare it to the English translation of another name, and to infer that they are the same because of that is absurd.

There is a problem with Santa, but it's not that kids are getting into Satan worshiping, and it's not that they are being psychologically harmed. In fact, the whole reason for this article is not the kids at all. It's the adults.

You see, for most kids, Santa is not a fun story like Frosty the Snowman or something like that. It is not a fiction, but a fact. And the reason for that is because we adults are lying to them. Now, some lies harm the person to whom the lie is directed and some do not, but all lies harm the liar.

Let me express it another way. As a fan of mythology, I rather like the Santa Claus stories. I enjoy watching Miracle on 34th Street. I like the image of Santa. I smile when I pass by one in the malls. I know it to be a fiction, but like the fiction of Tom Bombadil or Frizban, I find pleasure in Santa's character and personality. Here's where I have a problem — when we, as Christians, lie, we step away from God and toward the world.

Can a Christian be sanctified while maintaining a regular and pervasive falsehood toward children? Put in those words, the practice seems worse than it seems the week before Christmas when you pass Santa in the mall. But what defense could be given for the lie? For the pleasure of children? As a child, I really didn't care where my gifts came from, so long as they came. There was a certain amount of joy looking up at the sky for Rudolph's nose, but beyond that, I don't think my Christmas would have changed much had I known the truth.

On the surface (and an important surface at that), Santa has clearly overcome Christ as the center of the celebration. The movies on the television or theater deal with Santa or (at best) family rather than Jesus. How many film protagonists have wrestled with materialism, just to come to the conclusion that Christmas is really about being with the family in love? That's wonderful, but what does even that have to do with Christmas? The holiday has been so corrupted that even the "moral" approach to Christmas is a shadow of what it truly should be. Would this happen if there were more religious reminders than pictures of Santa in the mall? Would that happen if our children spent Christmas Eve in worship rather than looking for jolly ol' St. Nick?

On Christmas Eve, I watched a newscast during which they reported that Santa Claus had finished up in China and was heading over Asia and toward Europe and America. They even had some computer animated footage of the sleigh riding up next to the international space station. Can we not say that this game has gone too far? There was no report about the origin of Christmas, even though that would actually be true, but they would fabricate a story for the benefit of the American myth.

But we know the world will try to do away with any talk of Christ, so we should not be terrible surprised. But that surface effect of the Santa myth is only the start. The lie harms us as Christians.

Colossians 3:9-10 tells us: "Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him." Notice here that the warning against lies does not even mention the effect of a lie on the hearer of the lie. No, do not lie because lying is part of the old self. Don't lie because if you lie you are hurting yourself!

Think about this for a second. Here's Christmas, which is supposed to be a celebration of God coming to earth and becoming flesh to save us. It is supposed to be a time of worship and fellowship. It is supposed to be a time of love. But here's the thing. We approach that season of worship and love in lies. Nearly every adult in this country is telling fibs to children in the very season that we should set aside for worship.

Am I the only one who thinks this reeks of spiritual warfare?

3 John 1:4 says: "I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth." Walking in the truth means walking with Christ. Can we walk in the truth while lying? I cannot believe that is true!

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Is lying okay? I ran into a few online, Christian forums that were discussing white lies, and I was surprised at how many people defended them. Very few defended them scripturally, but the best point brought up with Rahab in Joshua 2.

When the Jews sent two spies into a new kingdom, Rahab sheltered them and lied to her king about their whereabouts. Rahab was spared when the Jews took over, and she is further praised in Hebrews 11:31.

Was this lie right? It, of course, must be pointed out that her lie is not praised, but her support of the spies. There is no comment made on the lie itself. Her inclusion Hebrews does not celebrate all of her actions any more than it celebrates all of the actions of any of the people in that list. The passage is meant to celebrate a great act of faith and not every decision the person made. Rahab was a harlot, after all, so we cannot pretend that Hebrews 11:31 is meant to suggest that everything she did was in accordance with morality.

Besides which, I do not think we can really compare Rahab's lie to our own here. We are not saving spies sent by God by lying, but telling a lie for the sake of the lie. Even if you decide that Rahab was justified in this lie (which I do not concede — I am fully confident that God could have protected those spies even had Rahab been completely and utterly honest), let us not pretend that we are following her great example here. We are not protecting God's chosen people, nor His Will.

This episode is all I can find in Scripture that can possible be construed to support a "white lie." But again, even if you want to take the Machiavellian approach that the end justified the means (which the Bible does not support), what is the end here? The myth can be enjoyed while we still realize that it is a myth, so why the falsehood?

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Is it a small thing? Perhaps. As I said, I really don't think myself harmed for believing in Santa. But is it a sin nonetheless? Absolutely.

So how do we solve the problem? I mean, look, I knew some kids who were told the truth, for religious reasons, right from the start. The rest of us pitied them. I don't know that they were made fun of, but they certainly weren't invited to "join in any reindeer games." They were, to a certain extent, outcasts during this season.

We are expected to lie to the children of other people, too. I'm sure the parents of these kids were harassed all the time. "Do what you want with your own kids, but don't tell mine that there is no Santa!" Think about how hard it would be to not lie during this season.

What would have been the answer for those kids? Perhaps some support from the rest of the Church would have helped. If there was a group of people who refused to sin in this way, perhaps it would have been easier.

But that is hardly the point. The point is not to make Christmas easier, but to strive to be more like Him. That is not an easy road. Looking back, I have great respect for that family. I don't agree with all the decisions the parents made in that house, but they sought goodness rather than what was easiest.

To a certain extent, Christmas is already a blending of mythology and Christianity. It was created out of a pagan holiday, after all. And yet it was designed to draw people out of paganism, not to blend the two. What modern man has done is to take Christmas, at last purged of the "old gods," and put an extra "little god" in there for good measure. Enough of that. Santa is a fun fictional character, but it is the truth that will set us free.

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