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Transcript 002B — Is the Sharing of Gifts at Christmas Unbiblical?
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Hi, Mr. Camping. I wanted to ask you a question. I recently got married, and my husband and I have been talking about how we're going to raise our children in the light of the Bible. And we have been thinking that we don't want to teach them anything, like the world does, about Santa Claus, etc., at Christmas time. But even though we really want to teach them biblical things, we in our family exchange gifts as part of, we have a dinner and we have a celebration, and we do exchange gifts because we just want to. And I really would like to know your opinion about that. What do you think about it?
HC: The question is, on Christmas is there anything unbiblical about exchanging gifts? And the answer is no, there's nothing unbiblical about that at all. The Bible doesn't design Christmas day for us. The Bible doesn't even talk about Christmas day. It is a day that we have kind of arbitrarily selected as a day to celebrate the birth of our Lord, and it's not uncommon that when we're happy, when we're rejoicing, that we do exchange gifts. And as we give gifts to our children, it is really in a sense commemorating God's great gift to us, the gift of salvation. Spiritually we are His children. And that might hold forth.
However, if we're really going to make Christmas meaningful, and of course you've already indicated that you're not interested in Santa Claus. That is totally pagan. That is a denial of the Scriptures altogether. Santa Claus has no part in the life of the believer. But if you're really going to make Christmas meaningful, as you give gifts to your children, talk to them about this, that "Now you've received that toy [or whatever], and we gave you these gifts, but now we're going to sit down and we're going to talk about a gift that God has given to us." And you can really get into the whole message of Christmas, and go through everything that you know about it, about the shepherds and the Magi, and about the manger, that there was no room for Him in the inn. And discuss with your children everything you can about it.
It's a remarkable time, you know, right in the context of the gift-giving, to get into the whole matter of what the birth of Christ really means to this world and to us who have come to believe on Him.
CALLER: Thank you very much.