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Showing posts from December 20, 2022

Santa and God's Divine Majesty

  We must go back into the middle of the first century (AD) to learn of St. Nicholas of Myra (modern-day Turkey). His ā€œclaim to fameā€ was that he was noted for his extreme generosity to the poor. In most cases, he would secretly provide for people in need. Either way, his kindness and passion for the disenfranchised earned his reputation.   Here we are, several centuries later, and with the help of Thomas Nastā€™s iconic painting of ā€œSanta Clausā€ in 1881, with some help from the Coca-Cola bottling company, we have our ā€œjolly fat Santaā€ immortalized in our imaginations today. Given all the historical evidence of the ā€œrealā€ Saint Nicholas and all the stories and legends of the ā€œmythologicalā€ Santa Claus, he has to be, without a doubt, one of the most recognizable icons of the Christmas season.   Instead of thinking of Santa Claus as some blasphemous or sacrilegious replacement for the Christmas story of the baby Jesus, I honestly feel we can use the known characteristic...