Questions & Answers

In some ways the custom of Santa Claus is similar to that of the Tooth Fairy. Both can be childhood games that we play with our children. It is true that Santa Claus could interfere with the spiritual life of children, if parents allow it. If they teach their children to be good in order to receive gifts at Christmas, it can give the impression that they should be good for the wrong reason.

This is not to say that it is a sin to speak of Santa Claus during the Christmas season. Yet it does point out how this custom could confuse children and blind them to the scriptural message of Christmas, especially if parents are not careful in how they present it.

You ask about how to include both Santa Claus and Christ into Christmas. Perhaps one way to incorporate both in the Christmas season yet separate Santa Claus from Christmas is to associate Santa Claus with Saint Nicholas Day, December 6th. In some cultures it is customary to hang up stockings and fill them with small gifts the night before. This would help to separate Santa Claus from Christmas Day and yet still allow some of the traditional elements of a jolly old man in a red suit to be incorporated into the Christmas season in a simple and low-key manner. That way Christmas Day can be reserved for what it is, the celebration of the Savior's birth. I know of a family that used this approach. Perhaps it is something that would work in your family.

Baseball fans go to baseball games. Football fans go to football games. People belong to health clubs. People join churches. Why?

Fans attend games because they love the game. Being among a loud and boisterous home crowd conveys the excitement and fervor of the moment better than watching the game on television at home alone. Even gathered among a few friends at home is better than just watching the Super Bowl alone.

The whole purpose of Weight Watchers is to meet every week to offer one another encouragement in the fight against the bulge. Rejoicing with those who have made progress and comforting those who have had set backs, is a prime reason for membership.

An individual can read the Bible alone, speak to the Lord in prayer alone, and sing praises to God alone. But the excitement of praising God with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs is so much better even with a few friends. Being with fellow believers to celebrate the victory our God has won for us over sin, death, and the devil is such an encouragement to us as we live our lives here on earth.

We as believers join a church because we as Christians are not meant for isolation. The devil comes looking to tempt us when we are alone. He knows it is easier to get us to despair, to worry, and to be discouraged when we are alone. The encouragement of fellow believers is a prime reason for having a church to call home.

One may feel at times that they don't need the encouragement of others. The role God is playing in their life is good and they are happy. But another one of our roles as a believer is to serve one another in love. Our presence as part of a church is an encouragement to fellow believers. We can share how God is working in our lives, how we are comforted knowing he is in control of the world, how we have peace because we are forgiven for all we have done, and how we are sure of eternal life in heaven.

A piece of coal taken out of the fireplace and left to burn alone will soon grow cold. But those pieces of coal left together will burn bright and hot because of the coals around them. "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

Competition in our world and society is unavoidable and, in some respects, an integral part of business and industry, education, and athletic aspects of culture. You ask if competition is inherently evil or whether it may be seen as morally neutral and potentially useful for Christians.

The Bible addresses the issue of motive or attitude often, but does not directly speak about competition as a moral or ethical issue in and of itself. I see no Biblical evidence that would lead me to conclude competition itself is sinful. I believe the wisest and safest route is to focus on the importance of attitude that can turn indifferent things into sin. Besides, in one sense we are actively involved in competitive activities as good soldiers of Jesus since we are in a warfare against the devil, the unbelieving portion of the world, and our sinful natures. That is fierce competition and comes with the gift of rebirth and saving faith.

Bible readers have pointed to Paul's use of competitive athletic analogies (running the race, winning the prize, or fighting the good fight) as a Biblical endorsement of competition. See 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 or 2 Timothy 4:7. Using these images, however, doesn't necessarily mean he endorsed the contests in his culture as God-pleasing. We don't want to make the passages bear more weight than they should.

Rather than seeing competition as inherently good or intrinsically evil, I prefer to stress the need and value to make distinctions in attitudes and purposes in things that are competitive by nature.

There is no doubt that competion can be and often becomes something unhealthy, unloving, and contrary to the second table of the law, loving one's neighbor as oneself. But competition may be seen as good or healthy in some ways, offering antidotes to sinful mankind including believers who retain their sinful natures. For example:

• it may lead to producing goods and services more economically and efficiently;
• it can curb laziness and even greed (by preventing monopolies);
• it can stimulate growth and increased personal accomplishments, encouraging excellence;
• it can improve the performance of all participants and work against chronic under-achievement.

Our task, then, remains the privilege of stressing motives and attitudes in a world that offers unavoidable competition. Often mentioned examples of healthy attitudes are these:

• the reward we ultimately compete for is the approval of God;
• our attitude during any competition is to be characterized by humility;
• the way we compete matters more than the outcome of the competition;
• winning by violating God’s moral or ethical principles is not acceptable;
• the outcome of competition should be service to something bigger than ourselves;
• the object of competition should not be to glorify ourselves.

I am not familiar with this computer game (or any others actually), but I am aware that many of them use terminology that is drawn from the occult and demonic activity. While I may not appreciate the kind of fantasy world being constructed here when so many others could have been chosen, I cannot say they are sinful in and of themselves. Classic fantasy stories like the Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis) and Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien), written by Christians and enjoyed by Christians, also use the imagery of curses or hexes and there is no evidence that reasonably mature believers confuse fantasy with reality or are seduced into the occult.

That does not mean that your husband's use of the computer games, as you describe it, is without sin, however. But more likely this is a sin against the principles of stewardship, time management in particular. I cannot defend wasting 4 to 5 hours a day on such stuff, for children or for adults, and say this is a God-pleasing use of the gift of time. There are so many opportunities to be doing other things that will better serve the gospel, my neighbor, and my family than to fritter it away in this manner. If someone else misuses time watching TV or doing something else with limited value or good for anyone, that does not excuse his waste of his time.

I suggest that you, perhaps your whole family, seek counseling and specifically advice on how better to use the time, talents, and resources God has given you to the glory of God and improvement of other people. I suggest that you sit down with your pastor to discuss these things.