Are the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus considered idols?
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Asked April 10 2014
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Penny G. Vera
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Steve Nearman
Worship is: • The feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for someone or something • The acts or rites that make up a formal expression of reverence for someone or something • Adoration or devotion comparable to religious homage, shown toward a person or principle • Archaic honor given to someone in recognition of their merit • Used in addressing or referring to an important or high-ranking person • Show reverence and adoration for (a deity); honor with religious rites • treat (someone or something) with the reverence and adoration appropriate to a deity • take part in a religious ceremony Considering what can be worshiped or religiously practiced extends far beyond a religious deity or stone idol. It can include sports, hunting, fishing, bike riding, video gaming, Easter, Christmas, racing, physical fitness or most any thing that one devotes his time and or money to in excess, can become an idol. We live in a pleasure mad word that seeks instant gratification. The god of this world, Satan, supplies whatever a man could want to gratify his flesh, consuming his time in the pursuit of having "fun". Their are even those who worship religion, being extremely devout to its rites, ceremonies, traditions and practices to the point of loosing sight of who should be the focus of their adoration and devotion. Like Israel of old; “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ” Making the word of God of no effect through your (religious) tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.” Matt. 15:8-7, Mark 7:13 Another consideration for parents is the lying about Xmas and Easter to make it real and fun for the children. We teach our children that lying is bad. God’s word teaches we are not to lie. Eph. 4:25 Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another. So who do you think is behind the idea that it is OK to lie to children so they can have fun? (read: John 8:44) What effect will that have on them when they find out that their parents have been lying to them? What part of deceiving an innocent child fits with the instructions of Prov. 22:6? God has given man His Word, truth, because He loves His creation and desires fellowship with him. He not only knows what is in man’s best interest He wants man to come to that knowledge and enjoy the peace and rest that accompanies knowing and walking in truth. To have real joy and true peace, study the scriptures for yourself. Don’t accept what others may say pleases God or trust in your own understanding, be as those from Berea (Acts 17:11), they listen with an open mind but they also checked with the scriptures to see if what they heard was in fact truth. They used the source of truth as a guide to compare and judge what they heard. We all have that same resource and God excepts us to use it for our benefit just as He designed it to. It's a personal choice. Are you taking advantage of this precious recourse? Or is your Bible collecting dust on the shelf? Are you being lazy asking questions and letting others do the research instead of searching the bible for yourself? There is a lot of truth and insight shared on the pages of this website that is beneficial in gaining godly wisdom and there are also opinions, error and false teaching. For your safety, to understand and know the difference between them it requires studying the scriptures for yourself.
Bruce Lyon
Are the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus considered idols? Absolutely! Santa Claus replaced the lord Jesus and God in the minds of little children. I will never forget the time an senior lady approached my son, who was 5 years old, at Ralph's Market in Pasadena at Christmas time and asked, "what is Santa going to bring you for Christmas" and my son replied, "Santa is a big lie". Needless to say she was shocked. If we teach our children about Santa and they find out he is fiction, what will they think when we teach them about Jesus? As for the Easter bunny; rabbits are considered fertility symbols in pagan religions, for good reason, they multiply rapidly as anyone from Australia can verify. They fit in nicely with Ishtar - the queen of heaven - which is another name for Samiramas wife of Nimrod who started the Babylonian Mystery religion that is now practiced by the Roman Catholic Church.
Margaret Hosseini
The santa image is irresponsible, and unbiblical. Santa image broadcasts (whether intended or not) is that Santa is somehow equivalent to God..... Now hold on all you nay- sayers, I am just posing different perspective for you to consider for a moment.... The biggest problem I see here (for either interpretation) is that this image is make-believe....Mixing these images for children is dangerous and borderline unethical. Think about it, St Nick or santa, whichever you call him, He isn’t just a “story.” Stories and fictional stories have an ending....They are contained in books and television shows and movies. We do not weave an elaborate web of deceit to convince our children that snow white really exists, or that Mickey is an accurate portrayal of how mice really behave do we? If they ask us about the geographical location of Neverland, we’ll tell them Neverland is just imaginary. I KNOW how we like for our kids to have imaginations, but don't be fooled, santa has NOTHING to do with imagination. When you imagine, you conceive a thing that isn’t. With santa, a child is simply duped into believing a thing that isn’t. Santa is a mythology that we feed them and even go to great lengths to preserve. Friends, this is called “lying,” not “imagination building.” Let's examine a lie~it is a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive; an intentional untruth; a falsehood. I do agree, santa is entertaining, fanciful, “just for fun.” Well, he might be very fun, but he's a lie all the same. The opposite of “lie” isn’t fun.... it’s TRUTH...... Is santa true? No. Do you know he isn’t true? Yes. So what do you call it when you attempt to convince someone of an untruth? Fun? OK, I understand it's fun.....but......what? A fun lie? Look... My parents “did the santa thing.” They’re great parents and fantastic people, so I’m not making any judgments about parents who “do santa.” You could be perfectly wonderful, loving, and caring, and still participate in this fraud. I just think it's time we reconsider our practices.... What message are we sending our children and the world when we advertise Santa's picture next to baby Jesus? When we collect statues, ornaments, and adornments of St Nick? Is this the message we want our children getting in Sunday school? Followers of Christ, we must be more careful....We must be more deliberate....Christmas is supposed to be about the moment when Jesus breaks into a world of sin, doubt, hurt and guilt to declare with his presence that God is and forever will be among us. What Christmas is NOT about is Santa Claus bringing gifts to good little boys and girls ~ and it is most definitely not a mixture of the two. The Christmas story must be about Jesus ~ not Santa. This story IS good enough for you without St Nick isn't it? The Christmas story message is powerful, it has the power to change lives...... It tells people that heaven is breaking into earth and isn't leaving. It says the inauguration of God's kingdom is at hand, and our lives, through the face of Jesus, are being redeemed. All God's children~ we should hesitate representing Jesus' birth so casually...
Jennifer Rothnie
Supporter
This is a very complex topic, dealing with both idolatry and our freedom in Christ. I Cor 10 (the whole chapter) is an excellent chapter for examining both our freedom and the perils of idolatry. Please take a moment to read through the chapter. It brings up several pertinent points, which can be used as we each personally examine the issue: #1 Idolaters 'sit down to eat and drink' (please themselves in leisure), and 'get up to indulge in revelry' (work to please themselves) (I Cor 1:7) [Is Santa being used as a symbol to please self, or as a tool to work for others?]. #2 Idolatry is a strong temptation, and we should flee from it (I Cor 10:12-14) [Is it necessarily wise to spend so much time/effort on man-made symbols? Could this be a stumbling block?] #3 If you know something is being sacrificed to an idol (or is presently being offered so), do not participate in it. (I Cor 10:18-24, I Cor 10:28-29) [If the unbeliever next to you says, "Yah the easter bunny and eggs are old fertility symbols"...should our response be defending the symbol, or respectfully not using it in that person's presence lest it be a stumbling block to the gospel?] #4 If we do not know something has been offered to an idol, or do not think the current action is idolatrous, then participate without fear (I Cor 10:25-30) [Basically, don't fret about where every symbol or object comes from or fear using something because it might have a pagan origin]. #5 Whatever we do, do it for the glory of God. This does not mean what we feel glorifies God, but rather what glorifies God before men (I Cor 10:31-33) [For example, does teaching Santa is omniscient and judges bad from good illuminate the gospel, or detract from the glory of God?] We see then that idolatry is a matter of the heart, vs. Just one's particular action. In I Cor 1:10, it is not the eating food sacrificed to idols that is of itself idolatrous, but rather the heart (knowledge, motive, other people). This is why we have been given the Holy Spirit, so that He aids in helping us weigh and judge circumstance, vs. Just following a set of rules. Any object, then, can become idolatrous, or even crafted specifically to serve idolatry, as idolatry is when man begins to serve a shadow or partial image instead of the true God. Greed, pride, the pursuit of pleasure, and dissatisfaction with the provision of God are often at the heart of idolatry (Col 3:5, I Sam 15:23, I Pet 4:3, etc.) Idolatry is the pursuit of pleasure, stuff, or satisfaction (physical idols, pleasure, things, etc). (Acts 17:29, Jer 10, Deut 4:15-20, Ex 20:4, Ezek 20:28, Eph 4:17-19, Col 3:5, I Cor 10:1-14). No earthly object, whether created by God such as a tree, or crafted by man such as a figurine, has any power of itself (Jer 10:1-5, I Cor 8:1-8). We should neither fear idols nor serve them. Interestingly, man can still be involved with idolatry while claiming to worship God. The golden calf is an excellent example of this, as the people of Israel tried to replace God with a physical object they could see. Yet, they claimed the calf actually was the God who had brought them out of Egypt, and Aaron proclaimed a Feast Day to Yahweh (Neh 9:17-18, Ex 32:3-5). We see then that even a surface motive of serving God can be idolatrous, if what one is really doing is trying to replace God with a more 'visible' manifestation or symbol. Here are some related eBible topics that examine idolatry and freedom of conscience further: https://ebible.com/questions/2652-should-christians-celebrate-christmas#answer-8706 https://ebible.com/questions/3552-should-we-have-a-christmas-tree-does-the-christmas-tree-have-its-origin-in-ancient-pagan-rituals#answer-17366 https://ebible.com/questions/320-should-we-give-gifts-at-christmas#KpB6OK2c1VAZbKSI.99 As such, the Easter Bunny and Santa can potentially become idols by motive (greed, discontent, worldliness, etc.) or be stumbling blocks, but of themselves are powerless concepts/symbols.
Donna Virgin
No I don't believe that they are idols. As long as children are taught the true meaning of the holidays, which center around Jesus, then let them be children. That is such a short period of time, I sure don't see the harm. My children had Santa and the Easter Bunny and they grew up to be good Christian women, and they never once felt lied to. Just make sure they know the true reason we celebrate those holidays.
Vincent Mercado
Supporter
Idolatry is the worship of anyone or anything other than God. So far, I haven't met or heard anyone who worships or offer sacrifices to the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus. So I guess No. The Easter Bunny and Santa Claus are not idols, not mine, nor anyone else's.
Leonie McLoughlin
Yes. I believe that the Easter bunny and Santa Clause are to be considered as pagan in their origins, so as a result they can easily become idols in the lives of people including many Christians. The scriptures say we shall have no idols. Worship only the Lord God.
Jessica Tinsley
An interesting topic with complexities that make both "for" and "against" compelling in their answers. Truth of the matter is, anything that does not give Jesus the glory, any day of the year shouldn't be entertained. I Cor. 10:23 NLT "We are allowed to do anything, but not everything is good for us to do. We are allowed to do anything, but not all things help us grow strong as Christians." Does entertaining the man made traditions surrounding these two significant events, Jesus birth and Resurrection, by replacing them with Santa and a "mammal" that lays eggs (only the duck billed platypus can do that) bring attention to or glorify the costly price Jesus paid to redeem us? No. Are these characters, and that they are, (except St. Nicholas-the real one) idols? Only in the sense, that they are kept "alive" to those who choose to give them life, by continuing to teach their children a lie over the truth. Although most of us may have grown up with these lies as children and we turned out ok, I'm hoping. Relating back to I Cor.10:23, it's your choice, what you and your family decide to do, but at least consider being a bible educated Christian before you decide to continue giving these characters life.
Cat Robertson
I believe the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus are symbols, not idols. They both are characters used to appeal to children during Christmas and Easter. Whether it is right or wrong for Christians to use the symbols or customs to celebrate these incredibly meaningful celebrations of the Christian faith is another question, but I've never seen or heard of anyone worshipping the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus.
Billye Miles Seale
As a mother, I didn’t think twice about treating my children to Santa and the Easter Bunny. As a grandmother, I have had concern about deliberately telling children about something that does not exist and then later telling them the truth: that Santa and the Easter Bunny (and Frosty, Rudolph, the Great Pumpkin, etc. Are “just pretend.”). What if they think God and Jesus are “just pretend?” Of course, as a child, I had incorrect/incomplete understanding/ideas about God myself. “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.” 1 Cor 13:11 NIV I do not think Santa and the Easter Bunny are idols, but if we focus on them to the exclusion of God, then they can be a distraction or a stumbling block to reconciliation with God through Christ Jesus. Sooner or later, we must all put away childish things and choose to believe and obey God...not. 1 Peter 3:15-16 NIV But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
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