Yes, Virginia, There Really Was a Santa Clause.

Up on the house top reindeer pause
Out jumps good old Santa Claus!

Down through the chimney with lots of toys
All part of a little ones with Christmas joys
oh, who wouldn't go?

(Ho-ho-ho) who wouldn't go?
Up on the housetop, click-click-click
Down to the chimney with the good St. Nick!


In our cultural memory, we know that Santa Clause and St. Nicholaus are the same person.  We remember through our songs and poems.  "Santa Clause" is an Anglicized version of the Norwegian "Scinter Klaus," Klaus being the shortened form of "Nicholaus" in the Norse tongue, and "Scinter" simply meaning "Saint."

So the next question is this:  Who was Saint Nicholaus?

Nicholaus was born to wealthy parents in the city of Myra, in Turkey, late in the 2nd Century.  After becoming a Christian, Nicholaus gave away many of his possessions to the poor and needy.  There's even a particular story of him tossing a bag of gold coins through an open window, which landed in a stocking which had been hung by the fireplace to dry.... the origin of our Christmas stocking tradition. The gold was to provide dowery money for a young woman who could not, otherwise, have gotten married.

Because of his passion for the faith and his generosity to the poor, Nicholaus was advanced to the station of Bishop of Myra while still a fairly young man.  Under the Christian persecutions ordered by Roman Emperor Diocletian, Bishop Nicholaus was beaten and imprisoned, yet he remained faithful to the Cross of Christ.

After his release, Bishop Nicholaus attended the Council of Nicea, in 325 AD.  One of the major issues settled at the Council of Nicea was the church's understanding of the Deity of Christ... that is, that Christ is God Incarnate.  One of those present, a man named Arias, presented his arguments as to why Christ was NOT God Incarnate, and during his presentation, Bishop Nicholaus rushed the stage and punched Arias in the mouth.  Arias is the father of the Arian Heresy, which holds that Christ was only a good man, but not God Incarnate, a belief held to this day by certain heretical sects.

Bishop Nicholaus wore the red robe and white mitre's cap, seen in this image, as part of his priestly vestments.  This was what the clergy of the region wore, and this is the origin of the red "suit."

Bishop Nicholas died on December 6th, and the day of his death was recognized as his "Feast day." Every Saint recognized by the Church has a "feast day," the most well known of which is February 14th, the feast day of St. Valentine. 

As with many great men, the story grows throughout history.  "Santa Clause" was re-imagined in the 1950s by a marketing executive for Coca-Cola, and much of the modern imagery around the character has little or nothing to do with the historical figure, but please remember that he was a real man, a devout Christian who loved Jesus as much as you or I.  Let's teach our children the truth, because that's what God requires of us. 

Peace of Christ to you.  Shalom b'Yeshua.  Merry Christmas.

The Secret of the Golden Calf

The ESV translation of Exodus 32:1 reads:

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” 6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. 

In Exodus chapter 19, Moses goes up onto the Mountain of God, and God begins giving Moses the Torah.  From Exodus 20 all the way to Exodus 31, God is giving Moses laws.  In the end of Exodus 31, God writes the Ten Commandments on two tablets of stone and gives them to Moses to carry down to the people. 

But something interesting also goes on below. 

The people get upset because Moses has been gone so long, and they come to Aaron and demand that he "make... gods who shall go before us."  They demand something they can see, rather than this invisible God who conceals Himself in smoke and fire. 

And poor Aaron is caught between THE ROCK and a hard-nosed people.  So what does he do?   He commands them to bring to him all the gold jewelry they have.  He takes the gold and fashions a "golden calf."  And then the interesting thing happens:  Aaron says "Tomorow shall be a feast to Yehovah!"

Aaron uses God's Holy NAME, which our English Bibles translate as "LORD" in all capital letters.  There's no ambiguity: the calf he has just fashioned out of gold is supposed to represent the God on the Mountain. 

Why does Aaron make a calf? 

Because the symbol of their deliverance was the lamb at the Passover.  Aaron does the best he can to make an image of the Living God, as best he can imagine Him.  Aaron was not trying to make an idol of an Egyptian god, but rather to make an image of the One True God.

Aaron was trying to stay true to the God who had delivered them.

This is not to let Aaron off the hook.... God expressed a perfect willingness to execute every single Hebrew at the base of the mountain and start over again with Moses alone (Exodus 32:10).  What Aaron did was deserving of death and damnation.  He made an idol out of metal and proposed that the Hebrews worship it. 

But he was sincere.  He was so sincere.  He thought he was doing the right thing.  He thought that in his honesty, in his sincerity, The God on the Mountain would bless him. 

Sincerity is not enough.  Honesty is not enough.  We must worship the God Who Is in the way He desires to be worshiped.  We must worship Him as He is, not as we would make Him to be.

Don't Arabic speaking Christians use the word "Allah" too?

I've been seeing this argument somewhat frequently, and I wanted to address it here:


While this is absolutely true, it is somewhat misleading.  The word "Allah" in the Arabic shares a linguistic origin with the Hebrew word "אֱל֫וֹהַּ" (eloah) That is the base word, "אֱלֹהִ֣ים" (elohim) is the plural of that.

Eloah, and Elohim, are not names. They are the generic terms for "god" or "gods." For example, in Deuteronomy 6:14-15, we read

14 You shall not go after other gods (אֱלֹהִ֣ים), the gods (אֱלֹהִ֣ים) of the peoples who are around you— 15 for the LORD your God (אֱלֹהִ֣ים) in your midst is a jealous God (אֵ֥ל) —lest the anger of the LORD your God (אֱלֹהִ֣ים) be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth. 

The word "gods" in this passage is the Hebrew word "אֱלֹהִ֣ים" (Elohim), except in one instance where it is shortened to simply "אֵ֥ל". It's the generic term for "god."

So yes, while Arabic-speaking Christians use the word "Allah" to mean "God," so do Arabic speaking Hindus and Arabic speaking pagans who worship Zeus or Thor or Loki.

If the argument, then, is that since both Muslims and Christians use the word "allah" to mean "god," that must mean they worship the same god, then the Muslims also need to accept the Hindus and Pagans as serving the same god they do.

This is the logical conclusion of this argument. If you're fine declaring the Muslim god to be the same god as the Hindu gods and also the Pagan gods, feel free to continue making it.

CLARIFYING EDIT:
The argument is usually that since Christians also use the word, then Allah is also the God of the Christians.

The problem with that argument is that Arabic speaking Hindus or Pagans would also use the word Allah. So if the linguistic similarity is the criterion by which we determine which god is which, we must also conclude that Hindus and Pagans worship the gods of both Muhammad and Abraham.

Since no Muslim is willing to carry the argument that far, it falls flat.

What does it mean to say "Our God is a Jealous God?"

Think of it this way:  Your friend owes you $50.  He keeps telling you he will pay you, but every time you see him, he's got some new toy, some non-essential thing, that he's bought.  He could have paid you the money he owes you instead of buying this new thing, but he didn't.  

This is what it means when it says that God is jealous. We owe God absolutely everything... our money, our time, our very breath.  But we don't give it to Him.  We could, and we absolutely should, but we don't. 

This jealousy is not a failing on God's part, it's a recognition of what is right.  By failing to give to Him what we owe Him, we are the ones in the wrong.

Why does a loving God send people to hell?

God is infinite in all of His attributes.  God is infinitely good, for example.  God is infinitely powerful.  God is infinitely present.

God is infinitely Just.
God is infinitely merciful.

There's the contradiction.  God cannot be both infinitely merciful, in that He has mercy on everyone, and also infinitely just, in that all wrongdoing is punished.

Justice and Mercy are, in some sense, opposites.

So how does God, who is both infinitely Just and also infinitely Merciful, maintain both of those qualities?

By punishing all sin, and by showing mercy to everyone.

Thus, the punishment for all sin was meeted out onto Jesus, who is God Himself.  In this way, Justice is served.  But mercy is also extended to all persons because now that justice is served, there is no need for further punishment.  That's infinite justice and infinite mercy.

Now, you may ask, why does He send those who do not believe in Him to hell?

Glad you asked.  He doesn't.  God loves everyone with an infinite love.  He allows us to chose our paths in life. If we chose to reject Him, He honors that choice.  If we spend our whole lives, therefore, rejecting God, God will honor that choice.  He will not force us to spend eternity in His presence.  That's how much He loves us.

But God is the source of all goodness in all of existence.  To be away from God is to be away from everything that is good.  God doesn't send us to hell...  God has gone to amazing lengths to save us from hell... even taking the punishment of our own sins onto Himself... but if we chose hell over a loving God, God honors our choice.