Santaclauszation
December 16, 2001
Dear Friends,
In the beginning, God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Ever since then, man has created God in his own image. During the Middle Ages in the age of tyrannical kings and popes, God was created as a cruel and angry deity against who man needed protection. Patron saints and the Virgin Mary were called upon to fill this need.
As of late, it appears that man is recreating God again to the other extreme. For this new creation of God, I have coined a new word – the “santaclauszation” of God. What is the definition to “santaclauszation”? It means to become like Santa Claus.
God has been recreated to be like the jolly old elf. At one point at time, Santa just brought gifts to good girls and boys. Have you ever heard of Santa bringing coal to the neighborhood brat? Santa is jolly, benevolent, never angry and gives gifts to anyone and everyone regardless of whether they were good or bad. He may “see you when your sleeping and know when you’re awake”, and “know when you’ve been bad or good” but he really doesn’t care. He just loves everyone.
Shortly after the events of September 11, I heard a clergyman on television proclaim that God not only had nothing to do with these events, “there was nothing He could do to stop it.” This is nothing short of blasphemy.
The truth is that God is both a God to be feared as well a God of love and tender mercy. He is a God who created the flood that destroyed most of mankind in the days of Noah as well as the God who gave His only begotten son, Jesus Christ, for us. He demands our obedience, but is forgiving. He hates sin, but loves sinners. Moses observed this duality in God’s character when he saw Him on the mount. God proclaimed “The LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.”
What is so wrong about the santaclauszation of God? First and foremost, it is a denial of how God has chosen to reveal Himself to us. Since He wrote the Bible, God had the option to portray Himself anyway that He chose. Yet, He was careful to let us see both sides to His character. God does not want to be portrayed in some caricature of His personality nor does he want to be portrayed as simply benign. He condemns Israel for such practice in Zephaniah. “At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish those who are complacent, who are like wine left on its dregs, who think, ‘The LORD will do nothing, either good or bad.” God wants us to see Him for all that He is.
The truly great tragedy of santaclauszation is what lies behind it. For the most part, this philosophy is the same line of reasoning as the serpent. The serpent told Eve “Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” The serpent argues that in fact what God has said is not true. Eve can go and do what she wants as God really didn’t mean what He said. This is exactly the new philosophy about God. Sure God says for us not to steal, commit adultery, murder and so on, but He doesn’t relay mean it. Therefore, as the serpent said, we know good and evil. In other words, we can determine right and wrong on our own without Divine guidance. Since God is so nice and loving, He doesn’t really care what we do.
God is not a Santa Claus anymore than He was the bloodthirsty deity of the Middle Ages. He is a loving Father who has offered us the world while allowing us to suffer for a season. He has all control of natural evil (earthquakes, disease, famine, etc.) as well as the blessings we receive in this life.
I will leave you with a few more words from the prophet Zephaniah: “Gather together, gather together, O shameful nation, before the appointed time arrives and that day sweeps on like chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD comes upon you, before the day of the Lord’s wrath comes upon you. Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord’s anger.” (Zeph. 2:1-3)
Have a good week!
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