Hallelujah! My Lord lives!

IS THERE ANYTHING MORE AWESOME? He gave His life for us, every one of us, even as we wallowed in our sin. He loves us! He rescued us! That should never be forgotten, never be made light of. Which brings me to the controversial point of the day…

We celebrate with presents and candy, but the Easter Bunny has never come to our house. Doesn’t it lessen the awesomeness of Christ’s sacrifice to pretend a “magical” rabbit delivers candy on Easter? Why is it okay that this is the focus of our children’s excitement? How will they discern that Christ is the Truth, if we pepper their lives with untruth? Moreover, the Bible tells us “Do not lie. Do not deceive one another." (Leviticus 19:11). I believe that is all inclusive.

No, we do not do Santa either, for the same reason. I struggled with this one… I would not put “Santa’s” name on presents, avoided talking about it with my son, but still allowed Noah to have the illusion (mostly for the sake of other children). Once I tried to talk to him about it and he got very upset and said “Santa lives at the North Pole with Rudolph!!” So I let it go.

The Holy Spirit kept tugging at me about it. We are not of this world (John 15:19; 1 Peter 2:11), I did not desire to lie to my son in order that he should conform to it.

 It was just after this Christmas that he asked to watch the Rudolph cartoon, and I was prompted to speak to him again. Thank God for His grace… Noah even seemed thankful for the information! He understands now that there was a man that “Santa” is modeled after…a man who loved the Lord. But the Santas we see at Christmas are people dressed up, and we should remember when we see them that it is good to give gifts in secret (Matthew 6:3-4) for the glory of God. Most importantly, he is excited for the REAL reason of the celebration.

Does anyone else have a similar story?

Hallelujah! My Lord lives!

IS THERE ANYTHING MORE AWESOME? He gave His life for us, every one of us, even as we wallowed in our sin. He loves us! He rescued us! That should never be forgotten, never be made light of. Which brings me to the controversial point of the day…

We celebrate with presents and candy, but the Easter Bunny has never come to our house. Doesn’t it lessen the awesomeness of Christ’s sacrifice to pretend a “magical” rabbit delivers candy on Easter? Why is it okay that this is the focus of our children’s excitement? How will they discern that Christ is the Truth, if we pepper their lives with untruth? Moreover, the Bible tells us “Do not lie. Do not deceive one another." (Leviticus 19:11). I believe that is all inclusive.

No, we do not do Santa either, for the same reason. I struggled with this one… I would not put “Santa’s” name on presents, avoided talking about it with my son, but still allowed Noah to have the illusion (mostly for the sake of other children). Once I tried to talk to him about it and he got very upset and said “Santa lives at the North Pole with Rudolph!!” So I let it go.

The Holy Spirit kept tugging at me about it. We are not of this world (John 15:19; 1 Peter 2:11), I did not desire to lie to my son in order that he should conform to it.

 It was just after this Christmas that he asked to watch the Rudolph cartoon, and I was prompted to speak to him again. Thank God for His grace… Noah even seemed thankful for the information! He understands now that there was a man that “Santa” is modeled after…a man who loved the Lord. But the Santas we see at Christmas are people dressed up, and we should remember when we see them that it is good to give gifts in secret (Matthew 6:3-4) for the glory of God. Most importantly, he is excited for the REAL reason of the celebration.

Does anyone else have a similar story?