by You never know if you can trust these snapshotted Facebook posts, but here we go:
So, how about the Santa vs. God comparison, is it a fair one?
The Atheist’s Argument
On the surface, this seems like a fairly strong argument.
- No one today sees God, and no one ever sees Santa. Oh sure, we see people playing Santa in the mall, but the “real Santa”, no one sees.
- We have a story written about the “real Santa” with multiple cultures practicing the tradition, and we have multiple faiths believing in multiple different gods.
- Santa rewards the good and punishes the evil. God is said to reward the good (or those that believe) and punish the evil.
So, on the face of it, it looks like a pretty good analogy, and why someone just stating that “you can’t prove [H]e doesn’t” isn’t a very good argument.
Where the Original Poster Went Wrong
I don’t know why people believe that they “can’t prove God exists”. This is the part where the tactical error was committed—which allowed for the Santa comparison.
You see, there are no adults that believe in Santa. There is no adults that believes that he flies around the world giving toys on Christmas. There is no evidence that Santa exists—perhaps a person like Santa existed, but he no longer does.
However, the evidence for God is abundant. The evidence that Jesus lived and died is strong. The evidence supporting the work in people’s lives is strong.
Don’t be trapped into accepting the concept that the only evidence is scientific evidence. Science is a process, it’s something that promotes discovery by repeated testing, and is bound by the morality of the scientists practicing it. Science doesn’t answer the question why, cannot determine morality, and is speculating when it moves into historical realms.
In fact, when scientists were seeking to calibrate their dating methods, they turned to historical records to verify their results!
So, don’t fall into the trap of allowing God be compared to Santa—there is just no comparison.
The santa subject has always been a hot button for me. I think it’s a great way for parents to lose credibility with their children…which ends up with their children viewing Christianity as a fairy tale as they grow older as well. I’ve seen it happen. And I have a niece who was pretty sure God was fat and wore a red suit. Very good post…and very sobering to point out that no adults believe in Santa.
I never had a problem differentiating between God and Santa– my parents played the game and when I figured it out, there was no question that God was still real. However, when I had the opportunity, my wife and I decided not to do Santa– but confusion wasn’t the primary reason. Our primary reason was that we didn’t want the kids to focus on Santa and secular ideas, but on God’s gift to us. We wanted them to know that their parents loved them and they got them the gifts. We still put them under the tree at night for the surprise factor, and they’ve seen some Santa movies, but we’ve never pretended he was real– historical maybe, doing magical deliveries now, no.
I don’t think any kid is going to deny God based solely on the fact that there is no Santa, but if God is built up to be Santa– somewhere you’ll never see, he sees everything, rewards you if you’re naughty or nice– instead of who He truly is, I could see it as a definite problem.