Thursday, December 24, 2009

Santanas

How Santa Killed Christmas

I'm not a religious person. I'm not what you would call spiritual or atheist either. I know that we don't know anything so we can't prove or disprove the existence of anything beyond what we know. You will never hear me say that there is or is no God and that he does or does not need us to follow any particular set of sometimes oddly specific rules.

What I will say is that IF there is a God...I hope he/she/it is what we consider as Good. This blog is not going to digress upon the abstract concepts of right and wrong or if our own understanding of those vague concepts is correct. At least not completely.

This blog post is a suggestion. A tiny little thought that could possibly make you rethink how you see Christmas.


Place yourself in the mind of a child. Perhaps this is easier said than done for you than it was for me. ;)

When you think "Christmas" you probably think, "Toys, Santa, Cookies." Maybe ornaments and lights in there somewhere. There are two relatively omniscient characters in the play called "Christmas." One is the messiah it is named after and the other is a dramatically altered image of a man that at one time actually existed. At least there is some provable history and evidence to the existence of a man known as Saint Nicholas.

What does this mean to a kid?

Well, Santa Claus is a happy, go-lucky man dressed up in a ridiculous outfit and brings you toys and grants wishes if you're good.

Jesus Christ is a man that loves you, bleeds and cries. Kids don't really understand the concept of everlasting life or heaven really. Then, at a very young age, the truth comes out. The fun one isn't real. Yet religious families continue to enforce the existence of the latter. All those miraculous, magical and fun characters of our youth don't exist. But the one that is the least fun, and a bit scary in certain paintings, IS!

Children won't appreciate the depth of the message adults try to portray here. They will only grow up and think to themselves that if they can "shut off" believing in the fun spirits like the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and good ol' Sain Nick, then they can also "shut off" believing in a messiah that will only return to Earth when it is time for us all to die and burn for eternity. Because honestly, who here is without sin?

Though the original Saint Nicholas does have his roots in religion, it makes cents that the jolly image would try to distance itself from the tremendous weight of religious guilt that accompanies Christianity and Catholicism.

Ironically, Christmas in the United States has become more a tradition filled with Pagan habits and symbolism which even the faithful have embraced. That scares me just a bit. Let me explain why.

Lets assume God does exist as the Catholics describe. Let us also assume that Satan exists as well, also as they describe. I'm no genius so you'll forgive the simplicity of my explanation but I hope you'll understand what I'm trying to say here without being offended in any way.

If I were Satan and it was my intention to rob God of his loved ones. I would do it in the most dishonest, devious fashion. I wouldn't be up front. I wouldn't slither to humans and say, "Hey dudes, you can be more powerful than God himself if you eat this magic fruit."

I would slowly, and methodically change what his people's concept of God actually is so the humans mistakenly follow the wrong faith and traditions. I make a mockery of his greatest sacrifice and his most powerful message and instead replace the worship of his own son with the image of a man dressed up as a clown. A clown that gives material items as gifts.

All the while allowing his people to mindlessly recite the very same passages that tell them what they are doing is wrong in the eyes of their own God.

I don't consider myself a devout believer of any one religion because I don't believe religious texts and traditions have gone untouched long enough to still contain UNIVERSAL TRUTH if they ever did.

If I were a Catholic Satan looking upon the Earth as it is now, I would be happy. Assuming of course that Satan is as he is described in the current versions of their bibles.

During these times I see what people consider strict Catholic churches and families decorating trees and placing stars upon them. Celebrating in ways that I still do myself.

When they do it though, it seems wrong. I see Christmas trees in church next to Jesus on the crucifix. I would imagine that is supposed to be blasphemous. If you don't know or understand the book you claim to lead your life by then you truly are the blind and ignorant gerbils those angry atheists claim you are.

That scares me. If you follow what you don't truly believe people like Hitler come to power and terrible things occur.

Merry Christmas!

6 comments:

jewlover2 said...

I find this blog post very profound and at the risk of starting a debate, I'll still venture to say that some of the things you mentioned in this entry are PRECISELY the reason Jehovah's witnesses do not celebrate Christmas. Let's forget a moment about the disturbing aspect of Santa Claus and lying to small children. Let's also set aside the sheer greed and media frenzy that surrounds the holiday. What ABOUT the Pagan origins of the holiday? I have asked other Christians how they are able to overlook this and their response is that the traditions no longer mean the same thing they once did...that pure and noble intentions have long since overshadowed them. But I personally have BIG HUGE issues with those traditions, regardless. After all, the tree and the other winter solstice activities were not just associated with pagan SOCIETY, they were incorporated into false WORSHIP. How does God view it? Well, if you want to consider the message behind the entire bible, and if you truly believe that God's principles don't change, then you'd probably do well to consider what happened when the ancient nation of Israel adapted pagan customs to their own celebrations and changed the name to 'Day For Jehovah'. It didnt seem to matter to Him that they changed the name...he was NOT okay w/ the practices, regardless of the peoples' reason for doing them. Thousands were destroyed. Since I personally don't feel that God has changed and that there is plenty of info in the New Testament to lead us to believe that he still expects exclusive devotion, I choose not to participate in those things that I feel show him dishonor. I know most people would disagree w/ that reasoning but I don't ask that they agree. I just wish that people would at least attempt to understand where we're coming from and not be quite so hard on us for 'denying' our children this holiday. :)

Peace Out-
heh heh

Papi's Girl said...

Wow. I have a lot to share about this subject. This really was a powerful blog. I was discussing the same thing with my friend the other night about Santa Claus and how we make children believe a fantasy and then later tell them that he doesn't exist. How can you make them believe in God then? You might just tell them later that he doesn't exist either. This is why I personally did not bring my daughter up believing in this illusion of Santa Claus. She is aware of the true meaning of Christmas....the birth of Jesus Christ. She is aware of the meaning of ever holiday.

I have brought her up understanding that material gifts are not what the holiday are about. But the other day it hit me. I realized that giving gifts is a symbolization of our riches that are hidden within us. When the three wise men brought gifts to Jesus it was because they acknowledged Him for who He was and were honoring Him. We too honor our loved ones with gifts whether material or through expressions of love.

The gifts also show us that God is our provider. I understand that we should not get wrapped up in the materlism of the holidays but there are some spiritual symbolisms that should be recognized.

I believe that we all celebrate the holidays through our perceptions of truth. I believe that we all have the same truth within us but we express it differently through how our minds have been shaped and molded by our life experiences.

I personally was brought up believing in satan, heaven and hell. I was not set free from those religious beliefs until I started seeking God for myself. Those answers were within me.

We are all so mesmerized with being "human" that we forgot the "being" part. We are spiritual and we should not force our minds to try to understand things naturally. That is why we become so confused and easily decieved. We believe every doctrine and everyone elses truth instead of seeking our "beings" for the truth.

I don't believe that there is such a thing as satan. Satan is just the anti-Christ. Christ means anointing...spirit. So anything that comes against the spirit is Satan. Our minds trying to understand things naturally are the antiChrist.

The truth that sets us free from the bondages of tradition only emerges when we surrender to the spirit that dwells within us.

Heaven and hell are not a place we aim to reach. They are a state of mind. You can burn in eternal hell with ever decision you make that is contrary to the truth that dwells within you. The kingdom of Heaven is at hand. It is here...it is within you. It is the peace that surpasses all understanding. It is a state of surrender.

To me there is spiritual meaning in many of the traditional symbolism of Christmas.
Santa- represents God that blesses us daily with gifts.
Red- represents the blood that was shed for our sins that makes us white as snow.
White- represents the spirit, purity, maturity, wisdom
Green- represents life
Tree- resprents life and the wood represents humanity

It is all about our perception of things. Do we chose to see life or death? Do we see things through our natural eyes or spiritual eyes?

Farhan said...

I agree with you a 100 percent, Hektik. The concept of an overweight man, wearing red, carrying a bag of toys, riding a sleigh being pulled by reindeers, climbs down chimneys and puts presents under Christmas trees is utter rubbish. It is nothing but innovation. Man-made. Has nothing to do with religion. Fine, Christians believe it is Jesus’s (may peace be upon him) birthday on Dec 25th , but I am reading through the King James Version of the Bible and I have so far not seen a single verse that clearly says “Jesus was born on the 25th of December”. I’d like to know where the book tells us the exact date. And if it doesn’t, then clearly, celebration of Christmas is an innovation.

I am sure it is forbidden in Christianity to lie. And yet we continue to lie to our children by saying “if you are good, Santa will bring you the gift that you want”. Do people think that it is okay to lie in that situation?

Also, I think Satan gets happy when he sees people celebrating Halloween too. Kids on Halloween dress up as little devils. And on top of that, they go door to door and are rewarded (with candy) for mimicking evil things. Is the hero of an average child today a person that was made of real flesh, blood and bone (like Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy) or even religious figures (like Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jonah, Moses or Muhammad and all the ones who came between them [may peace be upon them all]) or is their hero a character that does not even exist (like Superman, Batman, Spiderman or Power Rangers etc.)? Again, it is the parent’s fault for letting the TV sets in their home baby-sit the children.

“I would slowly, and methodically change what his people's concept of God actually is so the humans mistakenly follow the wrong faith and traditions” – this is exactly how worshipping of stone idols came into the world. The people to whom Noah (may peace be upon him) was sent, worshipped idols. Their names were Wadd, Suwa, Yaghut, Ya’uq and Nasr. These were actually pious and well respected people (between the time of Adam and Noah [may peace be upon them]), after they died, when people were mourning, Satan inspired them to erect statues of those pious ones so that people may remember them. They were not worshipped in the beginning, but generations passed and when the knowledge of what those statues were erected for was lost, Satan again crept into the minds of the people and they started to worship those statues (idols) instead of the one true God. And this is why Noah was sent. And each time people went back to worshipping stone idols, God sent prophets and messengers.

Farhan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

wow, what an amazing way to dissect Xmas, I like it! :)

I've personally never quite been a fan of Xmas myself so don't quite share the 'passion' there is for it. Tell you my theory why though, the day my parents told me Santa didn't exist I cried - not because he didn't exist but because I felt guilty that my parents and family had spent money and time and effort to surprise me and buy me presents. I think that was the first time I felt emotional pain.

I do completely agree with the fact that it's just another commercial party though. Santa has nothing to do with Jesus. In fact, I'm not quite sure I'd want to let my own child sit in some fat mans lap. There's something slightly perverse about it.

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