Rick Warren Cautions against Over-Emphasis of Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman

Carrie Dedrick | Updated: Dec 22, 2016

Rick Warren Cautions against Over-Emphasis of Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman

Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren has issued a warning against placing too much emphasis on traditions such as Santa Claus and Frosty the Snowman. The Christian Post reports Warren cautioned against these secular traditions in a Daily Hope devotional published Tuesday (Dec. 20). 

Warren wrote, "We have so many Christian traditions. They just keep adding up: Santa Claus, Rudolph, Frosty, and Elf on the Shelf. We have new tradition after new tradition, but no one is talking about the real reason for the season.” 

He continued, "None of those traditions will make a real, lasting difference in your life. But a relationship with God will."

The problem with Santa, Frosty, Rudolph, and everything else is that it distracts us from Jesus. Warren says that the religious authorities of Jesus’ day were also distracted at the time he was born--none of them were present for his birth. 

"The religious leaders of Jesus' day knew every religious tradition by heart, but they wouldn't walk five miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to witness the birth of God's Son," Warren wrote.

"People today will put up lights, have parties, give gifts, and send out cards. They'll participate in every single Christmas tradition they can squeeze into December."

It all amounts to too much tradition, and not enough cause for traditions. 

Do you agree with Pastor Rick Warren on this issue? 

 

Photo courtesy: Thinkstockphotos.com

Publication date: December 22, 2016



Rick Warren Cautions against Over-Emphasis of Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman