Many parents have done it. Threatening children with Santa as a behavioral modification tool. Most American parents think that Santa should have both a "nice" and a "naughty" list, and that those on the "naughty" list should get coal for Christmas. However, the fact of the matter is that enlisting Santa for behavioral modification alone is child abuse.
God's Law on child abuse is spelled out in Colossians 3:21 KJV:
Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.
The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and refers here to offenses or damages, namely the slightest of personal offense perceived by a child, stemming from entitlement. Threatening for Santa to bring coal for Christmas hurts children's feelings, and is officially an offense once defended in open court. If you have said this, tell children "I talked to Santa, and he never brings coal ever. I was wrong". Avoiding offense in children is the key to a happy Christmas season, and that starts by apologizing for hurting your child's feelings in the slightest. If you are a child, fearing not getting presents that you pine for as a form of punishment always hurts a child's feelings, and when you defend Santa's so-called "right" to punish "naughty" children with a bucket of coal, you are entitled in your offense of a child. This commandment cross-references the Eighth and the Tenth Commandments, with the Apostle Paul here convicting a group of Greek Christian parents who brought into the church their pagan custom of patrias potestas, which is a Latin phrase roughly translated to "power to the parent", including the power to threaten children, even in a feigned way. Paul, contrary to popular legend, opposed any and all punitive treatment of a child in his secular writings.
Christian parents in the Early Church were prosecuted merely for threatening children with punishment, and that included feigned threats. Any time a parent feigned a threat to punish a child, they were investigated and prosecuted by the church authorities. Today, this moral law can be applied to threatening children with Santa Claus bringing coal for Christmas. Threatening children with punishment hurts the child's feelings, and is officially an offense when the parent defends this tactic as a so-called "right".
Most parents plan on giving children their presents anyway. However, children can't tell the difference between a feigned threat and a real threat. I myself was made to worry about getting coal for Christmas, as I was a prideful child that always was getting into fights with adults. I actually had reason to believe that I would be punished by Santa for my behaviors.
No child should have to fear getting coal for Christmas. No child is "naughty" enough not to deserve presents. Children are going to shout. Children are going to cry. Children are going to pout. Santa should be forgiving to all of this, and should deliver their presents as asked.
Children growing up in the Early Church were not taught to believe in a gift-giver. Instead, Christmas was a simple day off from work to spend time with family and friends. At Christmas dinner, parents gave their children presents, and were grateful for giving to children. There was never a recorded case of parents refusing gifts to "naughty" children. Instead, the gift giving was symbolic to the gifts given by the three kings to the Christ child. All child births were a big party then, but Christ's birth was special in a harrowing way, as everyone knew the fate of the Christ child. Mary was worried sick for baby Jesus, because she knew that the Christ child would be executed for a crime He didn't commit. Mary was an attachment parent, and tried to script Christ through all of His being tested, but He knew what to say before she could finish her sentence. Christ was religiously astute by the age of three, before even studying the Bible on His own. Christmas should simply be a solemn observation of Christ's birth, with Christmas gatherings being a birthday party for Christ.
The depraved and entitled parents who provoke their children to anger through threatening children with Santa will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them descend into the abyss which is the ever-burning lake of fire and burning sulfur, prepared for Satan and his accomplices! Repent!
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