My cartoon “God’s Gift”, which was posted to my website back in December of 2009, was upsetting to some. I received several emails from people who did not like that I had used Santa Claus in the cartoon. One person even wrote that the cartoon was sinful.
I have to admit, I was not surprised. I expected that I might get that reaction. Santa Claus is a very distressing character to many Christians. I remember an incident years ago, in my hometown of Jacksonville, where a pastor hung Santa Claus in effigy outside his church. It caused a bit of a stir back then.
I can certainly understand why Santa is so upsetting to some Christians. The true meaning of Christmas is, of course, the birth of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. What gets Christians angry about Santa Claus is that he has pretty much replaced Jesus as the meaning of the season in a lot of people’s minds. It’s ironic, since the Santa Claus myth is based on a real person, St. Nicholas, who was a Christian priest back in the fourth century.
In spite of all that, I have to say that I don’t really consider Santa Claus to be very threatening. In my mind, he’s just a fictional character, one that has been overused in television commercials, television shows, and movies. I know some people are horrified when parents pretend to their children that Santa is coming to their house on Christmas Eve. I see it as an elaborate prank that parents get to play on their children. My parents played the Santa gag on me. I remember my Dad taking me outside on a chilly morning to show me the reindeer hoofprints in the yard. Even though I was very young and gullible, I somehow wasn’t buying it. But, I was certainly willing to accept Santa’s gifts on Christmas morning.
The idea for the cartoon came to me while I was reading Romans chapter 5. There the Apostle Paul uses the word “gift” several times in referring to God’s grace to us in sacrificing His son Jesus on the cross, to redeem us from our sins. That word “gift” made me think of that famous gift-giving character, Santa Claus. I thought I could use him to picture the gift of grace that God gave us through His son Jesus. Rather than using Santa to obscure the meaning of Christmas, as so much of our modern American society does, I thought I could use Santa to point to the true “reason for the season”.
I apologize to all who were offended at my cartoon. It was certainly not my intention to upset anyone. Incidentally, not all of the email reaction to this cartoon was negative. I actually received more positive than negative comments. One person even told me that it was my best cartoon.
Excellent response to a dicey situation. I really like your point that although the media uses Santa to encourage materialism and marketing, instead you used Santa to point towards Jesus. We need more fictional characters to inspire us to do the same!
Mark Twain said it best, “Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.”
I was not bothered in any way by your Santa cartoon. If “Santa upsets some readers”, oh well, Jesus upset people too. My pastor says all the time that Jesus drank too much (for the Jewish leaders) and partied too much (with the wrong kind of people. He talked to women, he made friends with tax collectors, and caused riots, even worked on the Sabbath.
You keep doing what you are doing. Never apologize for something you did right. Apologies are for the guilty. Your critics need to find something productive to do.
Love in Christ,
Julie
I loved it and God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. That whosoever believes in him should not perish but receive everlasting life. God Almighty was the first Santa Claus or Gift Giver… however you want to put it. He gave us our first Christmas present and our first Valentine gift! We can only describe God in ways that our language allows and we sometimes have to use characters and symbols that are very popular, some may be not so popular, to describe God’s attributes, qualities, and gifts!
Love you,
Faith Talk
I love the Santa cartoon. It helps to pull together the “myth” of Santa with the very “willing gift” from our Lord, Jesus Christ. If there is no one who will challenge beliefs, then beliefs can not be explained in a way that persons who are not “Christ-followers” can understand. It is extremely important that we be able to meet others on middle ground. If one is disapproving of anything that happens in others daily lives, they have no conduit to invite or expect others to come to church. We must accept people where they are (Christ did) and get them in church. Once there, Christ will do the rest. It’s a poor society when folks do not know that the John 3:16 signs flashed at ball games pertain to a scripture in the Bible. They think they are reaching millions — most of those people have never read the Bible.
Looks like we’re in agreement so far. I say, “Go for it”. Some people are going to complain no matter what happens, they seem to live for it. Like one song says facetiously, “If you want to be one of his, gotta act like one of us!” One of my favorite pictures at Christmas is with Santa kneeling with the shepherds at the manger.
From what I understand, Niklaus was a Godly man, and some of the legend is true, that he gave gifts to children in secret.
Satanists like Santa because he is used as a distraction from the truth of Christmas, or even as a substitute for the true meaning. I told my kids that he is not real, and that he is a symbol of the spirit of giving. We can use that as a springboard for the Gospel message.