Why are believers dedicated to proving the existence of their gods, but not so the existence of Santa Claus?

Question

Where ARE the true Clausians?

upsman: <>

Why yes, I am.

<>

No, I don't 'believe' I exist. The world isn't an illusion but, your verbosity aside, much that occurs is illusion.

<<..I know there is A God.>>

No, you don't know. You believe it.

<>

In your opinion. Our opinions differ.

Answer 1

santa's not real?!?!?!?


LIAR!!!!

Answer 2

I read your profile. You're a real non-believer aren't you. You don't believe in anything. Do you believe you exist or is the world just an illusion?
I don't know about "their gods(plural) but as a christian I know there is A God. Anybody who says there is no God is just not thinking straight In your brain there are 100 billion neurons. Each one of those neurons(remember, there's 100 billion of them) is connected to 1000 other neurons. That comes out to 100 trillion connections in your brain. These connections send electronic signals(and you can measure the electricity) from one place to another. If part of the brain is damaged and you lose some function that is controlled by that part of the brain, the brain can actually re-wire itself and let other neurons in the undamaged part of the brain take over so that you can get back that function. That's only the connections in the brain, not the rest of the body.
Our bodies also have tons of information in the DNA. You have enough information in your DNA to fill encyclopedia sized books stacked from here to the moon and back 500 times. The information storage capacity of DNA is far superior to any computer that humans have ever built. DNA can hold more information in a fifth of a teaspoon than a trillion CD’s. Do you really think that came about by just random chance........kind of like a monkey typing out the works of Shakespear just by randomly plucking away at the keys?
The universe obeys certain rules-----laws to which all things must adhere. These laws are precise and many of them are mathematical in nature. Natural laws are hierarchical in nature; secondary laws of nature are based upon primary laws of nature, which have to be just exactly right in order for our universe to be possible. There are one billion trillion stars in the universe. Not 1 trillion, not 10 trillion, not 100 trillion but 1 billion trillion stars. Yet there are great distances between each star. The closest star to our sun is proxima centauri. It is 4 light years from our sun or nearly 6 quadrillion miles. Yet this unbelieveably large universe operates with such perfect order that we can predict the very day and the hour and minute that we’re going to have an ecclipse 1000 years from now. There are constants(gravitational and cosmological and others) in our universe which must be exact within infinitesmal parameters in order for life to exist(that’s called the anthropic principle). But, where did these laws and constants and great order come from and why do they exist? If the universe were merely the accidental by-product of a big bang, then why should it obey orderly principles----or any principles at all for that matter? Since when does order come out of an explosion? Chaos comes out of an explosion. By the way, what, exactly, did explode? There was no matter there to explode before the big bang since the big bang is the start of all matter and energy as well as the 4 dimensions(3 dimensions of space and one dimention of time). The atheist cannot account for these laws of nature(even though he agrees that they must exist), for such laws are inconsistent with naturalism. Yet, they are perfectly consistent with the bible. We expect the universe to be organized in a logical, orderly fashion and to obey uniform laws because the universe has a creator God who is logical and has imposed order on His universe(Genesis 1:1).
To compare the belief in the existence of santa claus with the belief in God is like.......I'd like to say like comparing apples to oranges but it's really more like comparing apples to galaxies.

Answer 3

Simple. Because the story of Santa Claus doesn't claim to have as big threats to non-believers (coal in stocking).

Answer 4

The only God that matters is the God who created us. Start there and the need to invent gods never arises.

If I am created, I can deduce some things about my Creator from examining my own human nature. For example, somehow I know that love is better than hate and justice is better than injustice. If I am created, then it is very likely that my Creator put that knowledge into my nature. And if my Creator put that knowledge into me, then I can deduce that He must also possess those qualities of love and justice.

Answer 5

Santa is self-evident to every child with the Christmas tree and the will to use it!

At least until the skepticism sets in. Why can't we be as practical on other things?

Answer 6

I'm not dedicated to PROVING to anyone that God is real, that's your own job to find out.
Isaiah 55: 3
God said, "Incline your ear, and come unto me..."
It's your choice to "go" to him and see and hear of him for yourself.

My mom and dad told me there was no Santa Claus, it was just them two. They even made me take part in being Santa for my little sister...so sad, I wasn't even 10. : (

Answer 7

Gods are to save people's crops or souls. Santa brings gifts.

Answer 8

then maybe it's YOUR job to prove Santa's existence. what do you think?

Answer 9

Ehhh... you never noticed? Santa is code for the devil!

BEWARE SATAN CLAWS!

Answer 10

ur question is funny but in a sad way

Answer 11

“St. Nicholas Day”—Where Did It Come From?

WALK through the streets of Belgium in early December, and you will see a captivating sight: small groups of children going from house to house, singing short rhymes called “St. Nicholas songs.” Householders respond to the charming youngsters by rewarding them with fruit, candy, or money.

The occasion? “St. Nicholas Day”! In the United States and other lands, “St. Nicholas,” or “Santa Claus,” is connected with Christmas day. But in Belgium, the bearded “saint” has a day of his own. Indeed, “St. Nicholas” (Sinterklaas, or Sint Nicolaas), whose day of festivity falls on the sixth of December, is one of the most popular “saints” in Belgium and the Netherlands. Many a church, chapel, street, or housing quarter has been named after him. He is traditionally known as “the great friend of the children” who readily distributes gifts to them on his feast day.

The evening before that holiday, the young children place one of their shoes or slippers near the chimney while they sing their little rhymes. They have been told that “Saint” Nicholas and his black servant (called Black Peter) will arrive that night by steamship from Spain. Afterward, the “saint” will ride his gray horse across the rooftops, followed by Black Peter, who carries a rod and a large bag containing toys and sweets. Nicholas also brings apples, nuts, and other produce of the field. Often he leaves a kind of brown, spiced biscuit called speculaas, or bishop’s biscuits, which are baked in special, cleverly designed shapes.

The recipients? Children who have been good during the past year. The disobedient ones, though, will supposedly get the rod; or worse, they may be put into Black Peter’s bag and carried off! Understandably, then, the children are eager to appease these nocturnal visitors. Thus, a glass of gin awaits the “saint,” and a carrot or a few sugar cubes are laid ready for his horse.

Many parents in Belgium consider “St. Nicholas Day” the most joyful time of the year. They delight to watch the expectant faces of their little ones who are eager to find out what the “good saint” has brought them! So they pass on the legends to their offspring, little knowing where these customs originated. If they knew, perhaps they would be shocked.

“Saint” Nicholas and Odin

The Oosthoeks Encyclopedia explains: “[St. Nicholas’] celebration in the household sprang from the church festivity (including surprises for the children) which in turn sprang from pre-Christian elements. Saint Nicholas, who rides on the rooftops, is the pagan god Wodan [Odin]. . . . Saint Nicholas was also the leader of the wild chase in which the souls of the dead visit the earth.”

Yes, the Teutons believed that Odin, or Wodan, their chief god, led the souls of the dead on a furious cross-country ride during the “twelve bad days” between Christmas and Epiphany (January 6). The resulting gale carried along the seeds of the produce of the fields, stimulating fertility. The apples, nuts, and other autumn produce given around “St. Nicholas Day”? These were symbols of fertility. Ancient people believed that they could appease their gods by giving them presents during the cold, dark winter days. This would result in increased fertility for man, animal, and soil.

Odin was accompanied by his servant Eckhard, the forerunner of Black Peter, who also carried a rod. As recently as the Middle Ages, it was the popular belief that certain trees and plants could render humans fertile and that merely striking a woman with a branch of such a tree sufficed to make her pregnant.

The book Feest-en Vierdagen in kerk en volksgebruik (Holidays and Celebrations in the Church and in Popular Customs) mentions a few other similarities between Odin and “Saint” Nicholas: “Wodan, too, filled the boots and wooden shoes placed by the chimney but with gold. For Wodan’s steed, hay and straw were also placed in the wooden shoe. The last sheaf of the field was also for the horse.”

The book Sint Nicolaas, by B. S. P. van den Aardweg, points to a few other striking similarities:

“St. Nicholas: a tall, powerful figure on a white horse. He has a long white beard, a crosier in his hand, and a miter on his head . . . with a wide, flowing bishop’s cloak.

“Wodan: a person of tall stature with a white beard. He wears a wide-brimmed hat pulled deeply over his eyes. In his hand he holds a magic spear. He is clad in a wide mantle and rides his loyal gray horse Sleipnir.

“There are more of these apparent similarities: Wodan rode his gray horse through the air and shuddering people offered cakes with filling in addition to meat and produce of the fields. St. Nicholas rides on the rooftops and children prepare hay, carrots, and water for the horse. Gingersnaps and the rod were symbols of fertility long before the beginning of the St. Nicholas festivities.”

Modern-Day Fertility Rites

A number of other customs in connection with “Saint” Nicholas likewise betray their pagan origins. For example, in northern areas on December 4, young boys from 12 to 18 years of age appear on the streets. Dressed in grotesque costumes adorned with feathers, shells, and other regional products, the masked boys represent “little Saint Nicholases,” or Sunne Klaezjen. During the evening of the following day, men 18 years and older get their turn. In the early evening, they rove the streets. Using brooms, buffalo horns, and cudgels, they drive away all the women, girls, and little boys they happen to meet. Young girls are made to dance or jump over a stick.

The purpose of all of this? Again it was fertility—the ever-recurring concern of ancient cultures. Winter was a dark and anxious period, and it was often viewed as the time during which the fertility god was asleep or dead. It was thought that by various means the deity could be given new life or that the god or goddess could at least be given some assistance. Gifts, dances, noise, blows from a fertility rod—all of these were viewed as ways to expel wicked spirits and increase fertility in humans, animals, and the soil.

So when young girls jump over the stick, they mimic their ancestors who believed that the height to which they jumped would be the height to which flax would grow. By driving out women and children, the young men reenact the rite of driving out wicked spirits.

A Decision for True Worshipers

Why have such rites become a part of so-called Christianity? Because centuries ago, church missionaries did not insist that their converts follow the Scriptural command: “Get out from among them, and separate yourselves . . . and quit touching the unclean thing.” (2 Corinthians 6:17) Instead of eliminating pagan practices, Christendom’s missionaries actually perpetuated these customs by modifying and using them. Such customs were then spread throughout the world.

Dutch emigrants who settled in North America took the “Saint” Nicholas celebration with them. In time the name was corrupted to “Santa Claus.” The stately bishop was transformed into a red-cheeked, obese fellow dressed in a bright-red suit. His bishop’s miter was exchanged for an elf’s hat and the white horse for a sleigh pulled by reindeer. Santa Claus, however, continued to be a gift bringer, although his visitation was shifted to Christmas Eve.

In Protestant areas of Germany, the Catholic “Saint” Nicholas was replaced by the more neutral “Father Christmas.” The pagan elements, however, remain clearly discernible to this day.

Jesus Christ said that “true worshipers will worship the Father with spirit and truth.” (John 4:23) For sincere worshipers, “Saint” Nicholas customs present a real challenge: Will these worshipers continue to perpetuate the ancient practices of the Odin cult, or will they break free from vestiges of heathenism? This is a good time of the year to think about that serious question