I have serious problems with "Santa Claus" ...

pic downloaded from Google Images

OK. I'm going to get myself in trouble here, but that's OK. This is something that's been bothering me for many years. Because of it, my wife thinks that I'm a "Grinch". My daughter-in-law came close to banning me from seeing our young grandson for fear that I might say something and "spoil his Christmas". So I know from first-hand experience that this is NOT a popular viewpoint.

The problem is that I think it is wrong to teach very young, impressionable, and trusting children that Santa Claus is a real person that really lives at the North Pole and really flies all over the world in a sleigh pulled by magical reindeer in order to deliver presents to good children and pieces of coal to naughty children.

I don't really have a problem with telling children about Santa, as a form of fiction, like a fairy tale or the like. Kids can have fun with that kind of story telling, just like they would with Little Red Riding Hood or Snow White or The Little Mermaid or ... well, you catch my drift. My problem is teaching, and insisting, that the story is REAL, not fantasy/fiction.

There are numerous reasons that any person, religious or not, can understand even if, like most, they don't agree. First, it is an outright LIE, and lying is never good. Second, there is a strong potential for damaging the trust your child has in you, when (s)he finds out that you've been lying all those years. Third, once the truth comes out, it can cause issues with differentiating truth from falsehood. There are other reasons as well, that I'm not going to go into here. A quick Google search yielded many detailed article and essays on serious mainstream websites such as CNN, Business Insider, and Psychology Today that go into greater detail.

As a Christian, I have other reasons for concern about this fraud.

To begin with, there is a corollary to the trust issue. How many children after finding out that the Santa they had been taught was a real person really wasn't, have then, rather logically actually, taken the short step to believing that Jesus isn't real either? I don't have a solid number, but I personally know several people that have rejected Jesus as anything other than a myth because of being disillusioned about Santa. (And the Easter bunny, the Tooth Fairy, etc. But that's another post for another time.) If there are a handful among my comparatively tiny sample, how does that translate into the entire population? You do the math, as the saying goes.

The Santa myth completely overshadows the real reason that the holiday even exists in the first place. Christmas is about the physical birth of Jesus Christ. The second Person of the Triune God took on flesh and human nature. Yet today, after a casual look around almost any place in the country, you would think this is about trees decorated in such a way that the most fanatical druid would approve, about spending billions of dollars, and often going into debt, to buy buy buy and buy some more. You might think it's about cutesy little songs about jingling sleigh bells, or about a nutcracker that comes to life. And all of this happily supervised by a fat old guy in a red suit with white trim laughing "Ho! Ho! Ho!" all the time. You would find very little if anything about Jesus in the average family or school or community "holiday" celebration. And I have a problem with that. Anything that distracts from worshiping our glorious Savior is a problem, and you couldn't find a bigger distraction this side of hell itself.

Everyone is more than happy to proclaim the seasonal motto of "Peace on earth and goodwill towards men", and smile at strangers and give to charities. (Did you know that many charities receive the bulk of their annual donations during the month of December?)

What most don't know is that the phrase is from the Bible, specifically Luke 2:14. It was the angels proclaiming "Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men" as they announced the birth of the Savior of the world. The phrase has nothing to do with truces during a holiday and about everybody wishing everybody else well. No! It means that the Second Person of the Holy Trinity had come to earth, had taken on a human nature and human body, and was going to live a perfect and sinless life and then die as a ransom for many, and then be resurrected in power and glory. And because of that, peace would be possible between God and man. Not man and man, but God and man. And that goodwill between God and man would exist, not between man and man. It meant that God's white-hot wrath over sin would be spent punishing Jesus as my substitutionary sacrifice, and that Jesus would triumph over sin and death for me. Any "peace" and "goodwill" between men would be secondary.

The Bible is very clear in teaching that salvation is strictly by the merciful grace of God, completely on HIS terms, and is contingent upon complete faith and trust in Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. "Being good" doesn't get you into heaven! It might make your mommy smile and your daddy give you a nice pat on the head, and maybe even a gold star from your teacher, but it WON'T get you into heaven! And just as "being good" isn't going to count towards getting INTO heaven, being "naughty" doesn't count in keeping you OUT, either. Because EVERYONE is "naughty", aka "sinful". EVERYBODY!!! Teaching children that "being good" wins you gifts from some silly-looking supernatural super-being, and that being "naughty" wins you bad things, you are going exactly the opposite of the gospel message.

Christian parents, there is no way you can completely shield your child from being bombarded with the pagan, anti-Christian nonsense about "Santa" and all that entails. So it is incumbent upon you to make sure your child understands the truth from the very beginning. If you think it necessary, tell your child the stories. Read "The Night Before Christmas"  with them. Go see "The Nutcracker" ballet. Have fun driving around after dark to "Oooh!" and "Ahhh!" at the beautiful lights. By all means, have fun! Fun is good! BUT you must, I repeat MUST, make absolutely sure that your child knows that Jesus, and His birth, was a REAL event with REAL consequences, and that "Santa" is NOT real, but only a character in a story.

If you can succeed in doing this, you will be doing your child the biggest favor imaginable.

If, and there most likely will be, there is a negative reaction, or if you or your child is questioned about this, a simple answer should suffice. Something along the lines of, "Yeah, I know all about Santa! He's a funny storybook character."

Well, I'm tired of typing, and I'm sure you are tired of reading, so to everyone who as made it this far, Merry Christmas! from Ron and the Debster.

Love, sex, and marriage

The following is a post I wrote on Facebook the other day:

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Heb 13:4 ESV "Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous."

Physical intimacy between a husband and his wife is a wonderful gift from God Himself, the "glue" that holds a marriage together (Gen 2:24), and the means by which He chose to bring children into this world. As such it is, in a real sense, a sacred thing.

God has made Himself quite clear on this subject.
Physical intimacy between a married man and a woman not his wife is ADULTERY, a SIN.
Physical intimacy between a married woman and a man not her husband is ADULTERY, a SIN.
Physical intimacy between unmarried man and an unmarried woman is FORNICATION, a SIN.
Physical intimacy between a man and another man is an UNNATURAL ACT, a SIN.
Physical intimacy between a woman and another woman is an UNNATURAL ACT, a SIN.
Physical intimacy between a human and an animal is an ABOMINATION, a SIN.
Jesus also made clear (Matt 5:28) that not just the physical act of (sinful) intimacy is wrong, but even mentally contemplating it is as much as sin as the act itself. As a married man, I don't have to actually be intimate with another woman to be guilty of adultery, all I would have to do is to "look on a woman to lust after her".

Do I look for a return to a hypocritical prudery? No, of course not. Do I think that we should make a crime out of all forms of sexual immorality? No. As a freedom-loving American, I recognize, and even cherish, the legal right for any individual to act in any way (s)he sees fit, provided no one else is coerced into it or physically injured by it.

I have many friends and relatives that live in immoral heterosexual relationships, and several that are practicing homosexuals. I love them all, unconditionally. They all, I think, know what I think and feel about this, and with a few exceptions are willing to accept me as I do them. (A few are not so kind, but oh well. I love them anyway, even though they don't believe that.)

I am not naive. Both of my parents had been married and divorced before they got together. And just to add a little more spice to it, I was born on their wedding night. (Talk about a buzzkill on a honeymoon!) Doesn't mean I think less of them. Anyone who knows me at all knows that I practically worshiped them, especially my father.

Some fifty years or so ago, the so-called "sexual revolution" tore our society to shreds. Lifelong monogamy is out. Serial marriage is in; just the other night the entertainer Jennifer Lopez, on American Idol [what a telling name that is!], joked about how many men to whom she has been married. A television show now almost must have a homosexual character to be truly successful. And now, I understand, one very popular daytime drama (soap opera), unveiled a major character as a transgender woman-that-used-to-be-a-man. Who knows what will be showing up in mainstream "entertainment" in the coming years and decades? I sure don't.

Once upon a time, the homosexual lobby pressed for toleration, to be allowed to act as they wanted. That was granted. Now, however, they are going much further, demanding not only toleration but celebration. And they are winning.

It is almost amusing to watch as people fall all over themselves to cater to them. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, went on the offensive against the recent Indiana Restoration of Freedom of Religion Act, saying they won't do business in a state that "discriminates" like that. Yet Apple aggressively pursues business in Saudi Arabia, where homosexuals not only don't get wedding cakes, they get EXECUTED. (O Hypocrisy, thy logo is a partially eaten apple!) President Obama, who a few years ago as a state senator in Illinois, voted FOR a virtually identical law in that state, has condemned Indiana's law. Can anyone say flip-flop?

I am not perfect. Never have been. Never will be as long as I inhabit this body that came equipped with a well-functioning sinful nature. (These days, that's just about the only thing that still works perfectly LOL!) It is only by the grace of God that I will not have to suffer His wrath and His judgement for the sins that I have committed, and they are many and varied, believe me.

But Jesus, the Son of God, came into this world to save sinners like me. He was born of a virgin, lived a perfectly sin-free life for some 33 years. He trained as a carpenter under his human step-father, then ministered to thousands for about three years. He gathered a small group of loyal followers, but was executed by the Roman government at the behest of the religious leaders because He had the audacity to claim to be the Son of God, and equal with God. But that grave couldn't even hold Him a whole weekend! On the third day, a Sunday, He rose from the dead and burst free from the tomb! (Much of the world will be celebrating the anniversary of that event this weekend, as a matter of fact.) He conquered sin and death, and even now sits in heaven waiting for the day that His Father sends Him back to earth to collect His followers. He bestows repentance, forgiveness, eternal life and eternal joy to all who believe in Him and trust in Him alone for salvation. He will save forever all whom He calls.

Do you hear Him calling you? If so, don't wait to respond. Take the plunge! It may seem scary at first, I know it did to me, but the rewards sure make up for it! And the greatest is this: God is now my Father, and Jesus is my beloved Savior, and no greater joy can be found than that!

Totally depraved, and mighty glad of it!

I am totally depraved, and that is a good thing! Perhaps I should explain what I mean, though.

This is gonna start off sounding bad, but here goes:
I am not a sinner because I do bad things; on the contrary, the bad things are a RESULT, not a CAUSE, of my sinful nature. I inherited that nature from my father, and his father before him, all the way back to Adam. I have no more control over that than I do over the color of my eyes or length of my toes.

I was born in sin. Every cell of my body is inclined towards sin, enjoys sin, revels in sin. If my human nature were to have full, unchecked sway, I could be capable of just about any heinous thing imaginable. And this includes being an enemy of God. In fact, that is the primary, central, foundational basis of my depravity. On my way to hell, riding on greased skids. 

So, why is that a good thing? If that was all there was to the story, it wouldn't be, of course. But there is more to the story. Much more, in fact.

My sinful nature prevented me from drawing close to God. To use a rather disgusting analogy, it's kind of like a cockroach that instinctively runs and hides when the lights are turned on. The more the light of God shines, the more my sin nature runs away.

So, how does this get fixed? How can I ever hope to avoid ending up in hell? How can that sin nature be overcome so that I can run TOWARDS God, not away from Him?

Simply put, if left up to me, it could never happen.

But it was not left up to me, and that is what makes this a good thing. If there did happen to be any good thing in me, then I would be responsible for exercising it and taking care of myself. But thank God, that burden has been taken away from me.

God, in His infinite mercy and love and goodness, saw fit to have His very own Son take the punishment that was due to me, and to provide to me, all on His own, the righteousness that is required to enter into His presence.

If I wasn't totally depraved, then I would be at least partially responsible for my own salvation, and my own security. That is truly a frightening thought! How could I ever be sure? I couldn't. I would always be worried whether I was doing good enough. 

But, since He has done it all, every last bit of it, I don't have to worry. It is all HIS responsibility. He alone can save me, and He alone can keep me saved. My only responsibility is to take the love that He gives to me and to return it to Him, giving Him the glory and honor and praise that is due. And He even gives THAT to me, as part of the free gift of salvation by faith! Isn't that awesome?

So that, in a nutshell, is why I am happy to admit that I am totally depraved. It frees me from worrying about my eternal destiny, and frees me to be able to worship Him who gave me the gift of salvation and security through Jesus Christ. I don't have to count on me! Jesus lived for me, He died for me, and He rose for me. I couldn't do it for myself, and I don't have to. In fact, to even try would be to insult Jesus.

And that, my friends, is why I can say that being totally depraved is a GOOD thing! The question is, can YOU? Because you have the same problem. Quit trying to be good enough. It ain't gonna happen, period, end of discussion. You are just as depraved as I. Throw yourself on His mercy, accept the free gift that He offers, and spend the rest of your life enjoying His presence rather than running from it.

Righteousness exalts a nation ...

Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. (ESV)

Let's start off by saying that I am NOT a fan of self-righteous prigs who walk around with their noses in the air thinking they are better than someone else because they do this or don't do that. I've been around too long to be fooled by that nonsense. Every last one of us has an evil nature; we are born with it, and it will be with us until the day we die. To pretend otherwise is not only self-delusional, it is extraordinarily sinful, because it calls God a liar. Jesus had harsh words for people like that (Luke 18:9-14).

With that understood, I want to take a moment and try to work out just how this applies to 21st century America.

Sexual immorality of all kinds pervades our nation. People cheat on their taxes, and don't even think of it as theft. Kids show no respect for themselves or others. Parents abandon their children, either physically, emotionally, intellectually,  or spiritually; usually some combination of the above. The foulest language imaginable is pretty much standard conversational fare nowadays. Modesty in dress and demeanor? What is that? Heroin use is at epidemic levels.

I could go on and on, but that is more than enough to give you an idea of what I am talking about.

Our nation has never been "perfect", and never will be. Of course not; it is comprised of imperfect people and always has been, always will be. But every generation seems to be worse than the last. What has happened to us? What is going to happen to us if the trend continues? What can be done about it?

Start at home. No, start with myself.  I am a Christian. As such, I have a dual nature, or perhaps dueling natures is better. I have the sinful evil nature I was born with, and I have the righteous nature of Christ that was imparted to me by the Holy Spirit at the time of my conversion. I hate the sin nature that I have, and I hate the sinful acts that I commit. But I still find myself doing them. Confess and repent. Repeat as needed. (OFTEN!) I have to constantly pluck logs out of my eye before I can even think about the speck in someone else's eye. (Matthew 7:3-4).

Before any serious attempt to "clean up" our society can be attempted, each of us needs to clean up our own lives. And I do NOT mean simply turning over a new leaf and somehow becoming morally upright citizens all of a sudden, as nice as that would be. To truly change, the change has to come from within, not imposed from without. It CANNOT be done by yourself; that evil nature will NOT be denied that easily. To begin with, you must recognize that your sin has offended the almighty God of the universe. The wages of sin are death (Romans 6:23). But God loves the world so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to be born of a virgin, to live a sin-free life, to die a horrible death, and to be resurrected three days later. Jesus' death provides the atonement for our sin; His resurrection provides us with eternal life. There is no other way to become right with God than to cast ourselves on His mercy and accept His gift of salvation by faith in Jesus, and by doing so be made His very own child, imbued with His own nature and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. 

Once you have become a child of God, you start living like one. Slowly but surely, the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit will convict you of sin and empower you to turn away from it and turn towards righteousness. (The process will continue every day of your life. I can testify that the longer I live as a Christian, the more sin I see in my life. Not that there IS more of it, just that I see it more clearly each day. Kind of like pulling a small piece of string and finding an entire sweater unraveling in your hands.) But as your life begins to "clean up", and you find more and more joy in your Christian life, you need to "share the wealth" by helping others to find what you have. Not by being a pushy preacher, but by living a life of joy and love and helping others as they go about their lives. An ancient saint, Francis of Assisi, once said that he preached the gospel every day, and sometimes even used words to do so.

Seek for ways to interact with others, to bring to them the same joy and love that you have found. Not everyone will respond favorably, maybe only a few. Maybe only one. But that's OK. The results are up to God, not you. And He can do amazing things, you know. After all, two thousand years ago He started with twelve seriously flawed men, and turned the whole world upside down with them! And he continues to do so. A single obscure man, about 150 years ago, shared the gospel with a poverty-stricken shoe-shine boy. That boy was Dwight Moody. Moody grew up to be one of the greatest evangelists in modern history, whose influence is still felt all over America.  We don't have very many shoe-shine boys anymore, but we do have plenty of kids who cut our grass and babysit our kids and stuff like that. Don't neglect them in favor of the rich and famous, for God delights in using the weak to do great things.

Seek to become active in your community's political life as well. As Christians we are ambassadors of Christ to our families and to our societies. Vote for candidates that will legislate in ways that reflect Godly principles, that will allow you to live your Christian life in peace. Pray every day for all of your elected and appointed officials, whether you like them or not, for they would not be in office if God had not allowed them to be.

It is quite possible that our nation has reached the point where God will simply turn us over to reap the results of our ever-increasing national sinfulness; some would say that it has already happened. Even so, that is NOT an excuse for me, or anyone else,  to "throw in the towel". Far from it. That adds even greater urgency to our task. Picture Noah, as he built the ark and prepared for the flood. As he pegged the last planks in place and began loading the animals, and looked up to see the storm clouds gathering, don't you think that his entreaties to his neighbors and relatives became more and more impassioned? Even so should we be more and more impassioned for our relatives and neighbors as the impending storm looms over our nation, as God prepares to unleash His holy wrath on our society.

Ron