When my children were small, we used to enjoy reading the “Little House” series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. If memory serves, I believe it was in the first book titled “Little House in the Big Woods” and about four chapters in, where we came to the part of the story where Mrs. Wilder was describing their family preparations for Christmas. The entire chapter was devoted to the excitement of the young girls as they were anticipating the holiday. Christmas Eve was approaching, and she went into great detail talking about the eminent arrival of Santa Claus and his entourage of flying reindeer.

I paused before I began reading this section. I had never lied to my children before. I wasn’t sure how this story would be received since I had never exposed my children to the Santa Claus myth. I was tempted to skip the chapter. But then I decided, no, I’m going to read this chapter and then we’re going to talk about it. After hearing in great lengths what Mrs Wilder described, with the flying reindeer and traversing the entire earth in one night to visit all the children celebrating Christmas, I asked my six-year-old daughter what she thought about that? I was mentally preparing for a long and complicated explanation to help her work through it all. Instead, my daughter pondered a thought for about a half a minute before she replied, “Only God could do that!”

There it is! The simple logic of a small child who has been taught about the true Eternal God of the Bible without the confusing elements of mythology mixed in. Immediately the words of the Psalmist came to me: “Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength…” (Psalms 8:2) A small child was able to voice a principle drawn from the very first of God’s Ten Commandments that states "You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3) This small child had uttered wisdom that seems to escape so many adults: teachers, parents, and Bible scholars alike.

The story of Jesus Christ as told in the Bible, his birth and his life and all the details surrounding that, are so dramatic and inspiring and full of wonder that mixing lies and mythology in with that is simply not worth it. Why ruin this beautiful story of truth with silly mythology? If you would like to learn more about how to separate these shallow falsehoods and mythology from the inspiring truths of the Bible, visit the United Church of God website and request your free study guide entitled Holidays or Holy Days: Does it Matter Which Days We Observe?

By Lynn Leiby