Is Santa Anti-Jesus?

It's not new news that Christmas is supposed to be a celebration of Jesus' birthday. Everyone knows that. Even those that choose to celebrate the 'Christmas' part and not the 'Jesus' part. So is it wrong to get all pumped up about Santa, Rudolph and all the other Christmas add-ons that we see everywhere? Are those things okay or do they detract from the holiday? Is Santa Anti-Jesus?

I'm not sure that Santa can be given a universal diagnosis of 'good' or 'bad'. Like most things in life, it's more about how we perceive him and approach him.

At the core, Santa isn't a bad thing. He's just some fat, white guy that culture uses as a Christmas mascot to get kids to focus on doing good and giving. Ain't nothing wrong with that. He's just a guy who loves getting his cookies on. I can relate with that. And spiritually, Santa seems to be a pretty neutral guy. He doesn't play favorites between religions. Rarely is the character of Santa associated with Jesus or any other type of faith in any way. For all intensive purposes, Santa is neutral in pretty much every way. That's why everyone likes the guy.

Here's when Santa does become an issue though. In many ways, the character of Santa has replaced Jesus as the main character in the Christmas story in today's culture. Most Christmas songs, commercials, and movies have some sort of reference to the big guy (see Netflix for several terrible examples of this). If someone didn't know any better, their natural conclusion to all the Christmas jargon around them would bring them to think that Christmas is all about Santa and his reindeer.

And that's okay with many people, since Santa is more politically correct than Jesus. No one is complaining about omitting 'Santa Clause' from government buildings or cutting Santa's name out of certain TV broadcasts (see youtube.com/watch?v=6Ei3g97-tH8). Santa is a safe bet. We can all agree on Santa because, again, he's neutral. No one is gonna complain about a jolly, old, fat guy with a sweet tooth.

Jesus, on the other hand, was anything but neutral. He drew a line in the sand and told people that if they wanted to follow him, they had to go all in. There is no towing the line with Jesus. He made a lot of bold claims that made it hard to half-believe in him. When Jesus claimed to be God, even when faced with his own death, he basically had to be one of two things. He was either completely crazy and delusional and living in a fantasy world. Or he was completely right and actually was God.

There's not a lot of room to stand in the middle on your perspective on Jesus. Either he was a compulsive liar or was telling the truth. And that's where people differ.

So here's what's important in this conversation. It's okay to have Santa statues in your home. It's okay to listen to Santa Baby on repeat (please don't though). It's even okay to watch ABC Family's Desperately Seeking Santa on YouTube (you'll regret doing this). But don't fall into the trap that many non-Christians in the world want you to fall into. Don't let Santa replace Jesus as the main character in your Christmas story. He can be a fun, little insignificant side character. But remember whose birthday it is.

Jesus is the main character. It's his holiday and his miracle that we celebrate. Keep that in mind over these next few days leading up to Christmas. And maybe even keep an eye out for how many more references there are to Santa than to Jesus in today's world. You may be shocked at how easy it is people to focus on the wrong main character.

Happy birthday, Jesus. We celebrate together and exchange gifts because you gave us the best gift.