Originally posted by epiphinehasRelax...She'll get over it. Into each life, some rain must fall! 😏
My daughter is about to turn five. For the past five years I've made it very clear to her that Santa does not exist. I'm raising her to be a follower of Jesus Christ and figured it would be counterproductive to spend the majority of her childhood spinning white lies about a person who doesn't exist while simultaneously teaching her about a Person Who d ...[text shortened]... f the ground. Good grief. Seeing is believing, I guess.
Have a happy Jesus day!
Originally posted by dystoniacMithraism and Christianity are very close to the same age. Historically speaking, they were equally popular around 300 when Christianity was given the nod as the state religion of the Romans. Hardly New Age.
Nobody stole December 25th! Christians began observing December 25th as the birth of Christ simply because it was convenient, nothing more. The birth of Christ is far less important than the death and resurrection of Jesus. Who is this god mithras? Is this a new-age entity? Jesus was the ONLY person born of a virgin. One doesn't literally eat of the ...[text shortened]... r during Communion by partaking of leaven bread and grape jiuce (or wine, if one is a purist).
No actually historical evidence for your resurrection myth.
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-Removed-My cousins grew up without the trappings of Christmas. Their parents took them to the store every year to pick out a couple of things, and they got home and that was that. They are in their late 40s and have never had any sense of pleasure or joy over Christmas because they never had any foundation of pleasant memories -- just that all their friends and relatives had joy and pleasant memories and they were left out. Since they never received, they have no concept of empathy that contributes to the motivation of givers: I felt joy (or whatever) when I received and thus want others to feel that too, so I will pick out something that will help them feel that. Since they never experienced that, it's not like they can pick up the pieces as adults and suddenly learn how to do it.
All holidays for all religions are based on something that came before, because traditions evolve from something just as languages do. What's relevant is the personal meaning of the person doing it. Otherwise brides would refuse to have their fathers "give them away" on their wedding day, as if they were chattel still.
The origins of current Christmas traditions may have nothing to do with Christianity. That doesn't mean that the current practices have no meanings within Christianity. Nearly all symbols of Christmas do, regardless of their original intent.
Originally posted by caissad4Baloney! According to the Bible, over 500 people witnessed Jesus post-resurrection. One has to be a magnificent con artist to convince over 500 people to go along with a hoax. Can you produce irrefutable evidence that Jesus did not rise from the dead? I didn't think so.
Mithraism and Christianity are very close to the same age. Historically speaking, they were equally popular around 300 when Christianity was given the nod as the state religion of the Romans. Hardly New Age.
No actually historical evidence for your resurrection myth.
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Originally posted by dystoniacIsn't this nice! Ignorance cleverly disguised as faith! 😵
Baloney! According to the Bible, over 500 people witnessed Jesus post-resurrection. One has to be a magnificent con artist to convince over 500 people to go along with a hoax. Can you produce irrefutable evidence that Jesus did not rise from the dead? I didn't think so.
Originally posted by dystoniacCan you produce irrefutable evidence that Thor, Zeus, Apollo, and The Great Pumpkin did not rise from the dead ???
Baloney! According to the Bible, over 500 people witnessed Jesus post-resurrection. One has to be a magnificent con artist to convince over 500 people to go along with a hoax. Can you produce irrefutable evidence that Jesus did not rise from the dead? I didn't think so.
I don't think so.
Originally posted by epiphinehaslol, the Irony. Replace "Santa" with "Jesus", and feel my pain.
Santa is built up in kids' imaginations as the jolly fellow who mysteriously knows whether you've been naughty or nice, whether you're sleeping or awake, etc., basically he's imbued with a certain Godlike omniscience. Parents routinely fool their kids into believing, wholeheartedly in most instances, that this guy actually exists.
I don’t know if this is on point or not, but what pawnhandler posted made me think of it.
It seems that, developmentally, the “age of imagination” precedes the “age of reason”. And sometimes, for children, what is imagined seems quite real. I am not talking about hallucination, but things creatively and playfully imagined, as well as imaginings presented by parents, culture, etc. Children seem sufficiently able to suspend their own disbelief—much as we must do when we attend a theatrical performance—as to grant a sense of reality to even their most playful imaginings it seems.
Now, if such imagination becomes pathological so that it prevents or suppresses developing reason, then there is a problem. But, at the same time, does one want to risk stunting or suppressing the wonderful capacity for creative imagination, in the interest of “truth”? I would think not.
How one, as a parent, tries to balance such considerations probably cannot be too generalized. Every child is different.
Just some thoughts…
Originally posted by caissad4Uh, did several hundred people witness seeing those mythical deities you mention after they died? I don't think so. To answer your question more directly, no, I cannot produce irrefutable evidence that Zeus et al rose from the dead because there is not one shred of evidence that they did.
Can you produce irrefutable evidence that Thor, Zeus, Apollo, and The Great Pumpkin did not rise from the dead ???
I don't think so.
Originally posted by caissad4Eventually I'll tell my daughter that Christmas isn't really Jesus' birthday, yes.
Have you bothered to tell your daughter that Jecus was NOT even born in December. Late September was more likely.
The God Mithras was born of a virgin on Christmas day and arose into the heavens. December 25 was stolen by Christians.
"Unless you eat of my flesh and drimk of my blood you will not be with me in the next world" Mithras
(part of the Vatican was a Mithran temple)
Christians are quick to point out myths except their own.
Originally posted by pawnhandlerThank you, I never thought of using Santa as means of spiritual education. Good idea.
Santa Claus is a part of our cultural mythology. Every culture has a few -- La Llorona http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_llorona is popular with my students. Not my place to say that she's not real, the Easter Bunny isn't, the Tooth Fairy, Santa, La Befana, Uncle Sam, Paul Bunyan, Russ -- OK, I do believe in Russ -- cultures have iconic myths for a reaso ...[text shortened]... have the entire package except one part and then say that part doesn't count.
I'm not totally against Christmas, BTW. We decorate a pre-lit plastic tree, give presents, sing Christmas carols, read A Christmas Carol, listen to Bing Crosby, etc. We just decided to talk about Santa as the fairy tale he is, on par with, say, Peter Pan, or Mickey Mouse, rather than bend over backwards to try to fool our daughter into thinking he's real. Personally, I'd feel guilty if I did my best to get her to believe Luke Skywalker is a real person. I don't see the Santa thing as any different.