I have an iphone that I patiently waited to buy for two years. Then I got a side job which allows me to afford the iPhone and all the trimmings and fund my hobbies. Actually I gave myself most of the credit for obtaining such a geeky prize.
I have a Christmas tree ball that has a painting of Santa on it...
Called the Fourth Wise Man, Santa is kneeling to the Christ child lying in the manger...
I love it...
Would like to get a sweat shirt made...
Well if you had a personal relationship with Santa, and could feel his power in life, maybe yes.
parsy.
And Santa died for our sins, how?
Like children who discover there is no Santa, the atheists try to convince us there is no God.
They do not believe—— a joy has been taken from them and they wish to take this joy from others.
Maybe God is Santa Claus, or vice-versa.
Atheists are ignorant people who, rather than make any real effort to enlighten their ignorance with knowledge (which takes time and effort) decide instead to worship that ignorance and defer to it in all matters. I have no interest in trying to convince atheists of anything. They have their reward and are content with it - even delight in it - and will carry that forward through all their existence. They are like imbeciles squatting in a corner playing with a shiny little top. They can go for a long time like that because they are so enthralled with the little top that nothing else is noticed. Eventually the top breaks or they grow bored with it. At that point they either convert (like C.S. Lewis or Muggeridge) or they simply collapse in a welter of grief and disbelief but with nothing to fall back on for comfort or succor. Poor people.
Santa is helpless to justify this sinner before a Holy God....
Just because you believe in one unprovable concept doesn’t mean that you must believe in all unprovable concepts. You are free to believe in any or all as you see fit. Whatever floats your boat. I just wish that folks wouldn’t spend a lot of bandwidth on a Conservative site expounding on their unprovable beliefs not related to conservatism. I swear I am developing carpal syndrome mousing past those colorful, never-read foot long posts that some drobots post weekly.
What do the True God and the fake Santa have in common? Nothing at all. Indeed, Santa is almost an idol, even though he is not mentioned in God’s Word.
Santa introduces children to a moral basis for living that is below the standard set by the Ten Commandments. And the only role that faith plays is in whether Santa exits or not.
Sheeh...everyone knows that God and Santa Claus are both real. My kids better believe at least until they are seniors if they want any presents that is for sure. Although my oldest is 11 and probably only has another Christmas until he stops believing, I will use the same method my parents used on us kids. If you don’t belive in Santa than the presents stop. It worked very effectively and the younger kids enjoyed believing in Santa much longer.
The reason we are less threatened by an adult invoking God as a reason than Santa is that virtually all of us learn at some point that Santa is our parents or other caretaker. We figure it out or find the presents in the closet or sneek a peek and catch them in the act.
But as we mature, we learn that the more we learn, the more there is to learn, and we will NEVER know all the answers to Life, the Universe, the Human Question, and Everything. We don't even know all of the questions. We do know that some things are out of our control no matter our wealth, power, or social systems, so how do we come to understand them. Everybody experiences this. Some chalk it up to fate, some to God, some to other people.
The heavens declare the glory of God. The Bible declares Who He is.
From nature alone, whether you are looking with the naked eye, a telescope, a microscope, or the naturalist’s notebook, should tell the observer that there is a supreme intellect behind it all. You see design. Rocks can’t turn into people, I don’t care how long you give it to occur.
The Bible tells us that God cares about us, that He wants to communicate with us, that He wants to have a relationship with us, that He wants to redeem us. Furthermore, the Bible proclaims projections about the future. Dozens of those predictions were fulfilled to the letter in the first Advent, the appearance of God in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ. Gainsay it if you wish, pooh-pooh it if you wish, pish-tosh it if you wish, harrumph about it with other atheists all you wish; but it happened; and many good people who witnessed it were martyred with the truth of it still on their lips.
Furthermore, the same Bible that reveals Who God is also predicted the scattering and regathering of a people, the Jews, over a period of some 2600-3300 years. And it happened — in a day — you cannot make this stuff up; nor can you say it and bring it to pass. It is unprecedented and it is incontrovertible.
None of this has anything whatsoever to do with unicorns or Santa Claus or spaghetti monsters or anything of the kind.
Do the research with an open mind, and I guarantee — if you are a true seeker, you will find.
Are Christian websites being overtaken by conservatives or does it only happen the other way around?
When it comes to these things, how can anyone tell if someone really believes something, or they just say they believe?
Is it possible to make yourself truly believe something that is considered by most, to be unbelievable?
This all gets filed under philosophy. Philosophers strike me as people who like to talk a lot, like to string words together in a kind of magic loop designed to leave the listener with no good answer, and like to satisfy themselves that somehow they have proved or disproved some aspect of existence. Like magicians, they set up a situation in which they control the props and manipulate them to produce an expected outcome. The manager at WalMart in the example is such a prop. Words. Like a magician’s smoke, fog and mirrors.
Question for philosopher/atheist: Why do you give a rat’s ass what I do or don’t believe? Do something productive with your time.
Yes, I believe in Christ & in Santa!!