If I take the bible and change every reference of God to Santa, Jesus to Easter Bunny, Satan to Tooth Fairy...

Question

and give it to a child raised in total seclusion, they are going to learn and believe all the biblical words and lessons, but when they go out into the world to discuss their religion, people will think they are absolutely insane.

Perhaps this gives an insight into how atheists view Christians?

(yes, I know it's a sick question. Thank you.)

Answer 1

In ancient Jewish tradition Satan is simply an angel doing the work that God assigned to Satan to do.

The word Satan means challenger. With the idea of Satan challenging us, or tempting if you will. This description sees Satan as the angel who is the embodiment of man's challenges. This idea of Satan works closely with God as an integral part of Gods plan for us. His job is to make choosing good over evil enough of a challenge so that it becomes clear to us that there can be only one meaningful or logical choice.

Contrast this to Christianity, which sees Satan as God's opponent. In Jewish thought, the idea that there exists anything capable of setting itself up as God's opponent would be considered polytheistic or setting up the devil to be an equally powerful polarity to god or a demigod.

Oddly, proof for The Christian satan/devil mythology is supposedly found in the ancient Jewish texts that were borrowed to create the bible. One can’t help but wonder how Christians came up with such a fantastically different interpretation of Gods assistant Satan in their theology.

Other hints about Satan’s role in human relations can be seen if you look at the name Lucifer. It’s meaning in the original tongue translates as Light bearer or light bringer. Essentially the bringer of enlightenment. The temptations of the Satan idea bring all of us eventually into Gods light. Hardly the Evil entity of Christian mythology.

Love and blessings
don

Answer 2

Good question. You've highlighted the difference of nouns compared to all the other word groups. Said child would have the same understanding of religion but have the wrong labels attached to the same objects. He would leave a tooth under the pillow for Satan and hear the tooth fairy when he played heavy metal records backwards. When something bad happened, he would say, "Easter Bunny!"...this doesn't have quite the same ring to it though.

Answer 3

I understand your parable of lying to a child raised in total seclusion.

But I do not understand the analogy to Christians.

Modern Bible translations are based upon first and second century documents available for all scholars to study.

Even the Dead Sea Scrolls testify to the accuracy of the people who, by hand, copied and recopied the Scriptures over the centuries. Despite minor errors, they show us that the Old Testament has not changed since it was compiled.

With love in Christ.

Answer 4

Then how can you explain the people who left Christianity by their own choice, knowing that the Bible made no literal sense and was written by men who are all flawed and easily corrupted, but still kept faith in God? God still exists without organized religion and some book. I made my own choice, with my own judgment...and it didn't lead to jumping on the Atheism bandwagon.

Answer 5

I completely understand the point of your question -- you're trying to make a statement that Christianity simply seems true because it is popularly accepted. Nevertheless, it's really true, so your question is an interesting intellectual exercise, but the basic premise is wrong.

Answer 6

It is possible to imagine that these Beings don't exist, however that doesn't change the fact that they do.
If you are about to be hit by a truck, and people warn you that it is coming, but you refuse to believe in the truck, will it still hit you? Or will it cease to exist because you say it isn't there?

Answer 7

Dear printninja, to the contrary, the stories of the easter bunny, santa clause and the tooth fairy, have no scientific, historical, or factual evidence of there existence of any kind, God however does posess these things, therefore is shall mention them breifly.

1.) evidence from cosmsology- Every cosmologist and scientitst today agree that somewhere in he past the universe and space had a beggining. Stephen hawkins even proclaims tht it would be foolish to think that at the rate our universe is running down, there was no begginging. he argues effectivley that for something to lose energy and run down, it must have had a catalyst or cause in begginging, it couldnt have simply existed, it was wound up at some time. energy like our sun and the stars are proof that the universe was at some point in the begging wound up and is now eventually running down, eventually to the point where there will be an end. For something to have a beginning it must have had a cause, the cause of the universe must be infinite, have knowledge and be supreme inits creation and craftiness. in other words, the catalyst that cause the begginign of the universe must be bigger than the universe itself, and this is exactly what the BIBle says about God. the BIble says God is infinite, he is outisde of time and space, and the recent knowledge obtained by scientist reveal that the begginging of the universe bears uncanny resemblance to the Genesis command.

2.) try to think of any explosion that has created order, does a terrorist bomb create harmony? of course not, big bangs cause chaos. how could an immense explosion create the birds, trees, sunsets, the seasons, animals intricately made with thier own desinge, and humans with eyes nose a mouthand detailled organs? Even a child can see ther is "grand design" infact the very person who made the theory of evolution revaled something you might want to know. Charles darwin stated "To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree." Even charles darwin, the one who created the theory of evolution was smart enough to see that there are evidences of grand design. if your in doubt about the acuracy of this quote, all you have to do is look up this quote in page 167 of his book "the Origins Of Species".

So for one to make a factual claim that God doesent exist he/she must have evidence, the fact of he matter is that it is aparent from the arguments above that the creation is 100% scientific proof there is a creator, I dont need "blind faith" to know thier was a creator, as charles darwin discovered, all you kneed is two eyes and a brain that works. If i see a building i know there was a builder, i see a painting, i know there was a painter.

Gods existence canot be disproven, this is true because one must be omniscent to disprove Gods existence. One should also be omniprescent (dweling every where at once) to be sure God dosent exist. Unless we have aboslute knowledge, we cannot state God dosent exist, because if there is any knowledge we havent yet come across, there could be evidence for the existence of God. therefore, because because your not omniprescent or omnipotent, it is you sir who take an illogicall leap of "blind faith" by trying to say God dosent exist. Therefore, your not an athiest but an agnostic, one who claims ignorance. but ignorance is willfull, it is simply true tha no thief would go searching for a Cop, if he found one, he would be subject to his/her authority. neither will an agnostic go searching for God, if God is real, then that has other implications, including the fact that this God might have authority in which you might have to submit, and this is an uncomfortable thought for many. so when it comes to who is being decieved and "brainwashed" i would suggest that is is people as yourselves. because the factual world bears wittnes to the existence of God and the creation of the ordered universe give us and even Charles darwin, the clue about our creators existence. So Now let me tune your stament around. If I take the evidence of the creation and history and the God given design of our world and chang every reference of ordered beginning to the random chance that Chemicals and energy fomed together to create some explosion from nothing, the evidence of desing to the process of evolution and natural selection, and give it to an agnostic who already has pressupositions about the abscence of God they are going to learn and belive evolutionary words and lessons, but when they go into the real world, to discuss their belifes people may not belive they are insane, but need to realize that the real test of any theory is whether or not it gives ansers to basic questions. some ell meaning, but misguided people beive it is a reasonable theory to explains mans questions, but evoluton cannot even account for the fact that one cell contains more information than all the volumes of the encyclopedia britanica combined. God can and has answered this question. he has numbered every hair and has formed us right down to the personallity and character of each individual. The Ony reasonablness I can find for the fact that evolution is so well known is because blind college students belive everything that comes out of the professers mouth, rather than investigating the evidence for themselves. the very thing you accuse christains of doing is happening every day in the universitites.
God Bless
WDJD

Answer 8

Excellent point. Well, I'm not an atheist...but it is how I view xtians. They seem to be infected with a very serious type of viral insanity. Highly contagious.....unless you have been vaccinated with knowledge.

Answer 9

perhaps, it also gives an insight in to how christians view atheists.

Answer 10

Satan - Santa
Same letters.
Coincidence?