Christmas Should protestant Christians Celebrate?

[Tyburn]

Originally Posted by NateR

I'm guessing they were tears of joy?

Or maybe Dave is just a really bad singer?

I admit, I am not great as a Bass...but with this cough I am consigned to reverberate around in that manner

We were told they were tears of joy by members of Staff

Originally Posted by NateR

Well, I don't need to because I'm not the one making claims like: "nobody is lying to anybody in most cases" and "no parent sits a child down and tells them Santa is real."

well i really didn't think you could.
nice try though.

Originally Posted by Neezar

Is allowing them to believe not the same thing as saying he is real?

Are you saying that deceit is different from lying?

deep down i really dont think most children actually ever believe Santa is real.

i think its more like they hope then believe.
at least thats the way it was for me as far back as i can remember...the day i finally asked my parents if Santa was real i already knew the answer,but i asked anyway.

I have 3 sisters and 2 brothers and since this thread started i have asked them all about their beliefs in Santa as they were growing up and 4 of them told me they weren't sure if they ever really believed but they weren't going to rock the boat as long as the presents kept coming...kinda my sentiments exactly.
my 5th sibling said he did believe until our older sister told him flat out Santa wasn't real ...he said he was upset for a little while,about and hour or so he thought but has trouble remembering the exact amount of time that passed until he was back playing like nothing ever happened.

my parents didn't tell us that Santa was real...the only thing that was ever said was..be good or Santa wont bring you anything..
well to me it was more like we were playing a game with Mom and Dad...and us kids were winning.

but the thing that really stands out from my youth that made me realize that Santa wasn't real was 1 time my Father and i were taking a drive in the country (i was about 4 at the time) when a rabbit tried to run across the road in front of us and Dad ran him over...by accident..at least i think it was an accident,and Dad turned to me with a horrified look on his face and said...we just killed the Easter bunny !
well i was devastated for a while but when Easter rolled around and we were still getting candy from the Easter bunny i knew it couldn't be possible because earlier in the year we ran him over and killed him !
i knew then it was probably Mom and Dad that were actually the real Easter bunnies...that would kinda explain why mom liked salad so much i suppose.

so in conclusion if the Easter bunny wasn't bringing kids candy ( because my Dad ran him over and killed him ) and my parents were actually then impersonating said bunny...then there was a very good chance they were impersonating Santa as well...although i'm sure it wasn't because my Dad ran Santa over with the car and killed him...heck no..Santa was way to big and jolly to ever be hurt by our little car...i think it was probably more like a hunting accident...Dad was probably out doing a little night hunting when Santa sat his sleigh down in the middle of what he thought was a safe out of the way place so the reindeer could snack on some grass and thats when my father probably took aim at one of them reindeer,pulled the trigger...and shot Santa instead.

its just a theory though...and no i dont have any proof thats what really happend (hence the theory) but thats my story.

[TexasRN]

Originally Posted by bradwright

deep down i really dont think most children actually ever believe Santa is real.

i think its more like they hope then believe.
at least thats the way it was for me as far back as i can remember...the day i finally asked my parents if Santa was real i already knew the answer,but i asked anyway.

I have 3 sisters and 2 brothers and since this thread started i have asked them all about their beliefs in Santa as they were growing up and 4 of them told me they weren't sure if they ever really believed but they weren't going to rock the boat as long as the presents kept coming...kinda my sentiments exactly.
my 5th sibling said he did believe until our older sister told him flat out Santa wasn't real ...he said he was upset for a little while,about and hour or so he thought but has trouble remembering the exact amount of time that passed until he was back playing like nothing ever happened.

my parents didn't tell us that Santa was real...the only thing that was ever said was..be good or Santa wont bring you anything..
well to me it was more like we were playing a game with Mom and Dad...and us kids were winning.

but the thing that really stands out from my youth that made me realize that Santa wasn't real was 1 time my Father and i were taking a drive in the country (i was about 4 at the time) when a rabbit tried to run across the road in front of us and Dad ran him over...by accident..at least i think it was an accident,and Dad turned to me with a horrified look on his face and said...we just killed the Easter bunny !
well i was devastated for a while but when Easter rolled around and we were still getting candy from the Easter bunny i knew it couldn't be possible because earlier in the year we ran him over and killed him !
i knew then it was probably Mom and Dad that were actually the real Easter bunnies...that would kinda explain why mom liked salad so much i suppose.

so in conclusion if the Easter bunny wasn't bringing kids candy ( because my Dad ran him over and killed him ) and my parents were actually then impersonating said bunny...then there was a very good chance they were impersonating Santa as well...although i'm sure it wasn't because my Dad ran Santa over with the car and killed him...heck no..Santa was way to big and jolly to ever be hurt by our little car...i think it was probably more like a hunting accident...Dad was probably out doing a little night hunting when Santa sat his sleigh down in the middle of what he thought was a safe out of the way place so the reindeer could snack on some grass and thats when my father probably took aim at one of them reindeer,pulled the trigger...and shot Santa instead.

its just a theory though...and no i dont have any proof thats what really happend (hence the theory) but thats my story.

Funniest post in like...forever. That's exactly the kind of thing my mom would have done. She's one of the sweetest, kindest people I know but boy does she have a sick sense of humor.....


~Amy

[flo]

Originally Posted by bradwright

but the thing that really stands out from my youth that made me realize that Santa wasn't real was 1 time my Father and i were taking a drive in the country (i was about 4 at the time) when a rabbit tried to run across the road in front of us and Dad ran him over...by accident..at least i think it was an accident,and Dad turned to me with a horrified look on his face and said...we just killed the Easter bunny !
well i was devastated for a while but when Easter rolled around and we were still getting candy from the Easter bunny i knew it couldn't be possible because earlier in the year we ran him over and killed him !
i knew then it was probably Mom and Dad that were actually the real Easter bunnies...that would kinda explain why mom liked salad so much i suppose.

so in conclusion if the Easter bunny wasn't bringing kids candy ( because my Dad ran him over and killed him ) and my parents were actually then impersonating said bunny...then there was a very good chance they were impersonating Santa as well...although i'm sure it wasn't because my Dad ran Santa over with the car and killed him...heck no..Santa was way to big and jolly to ever be hurt by our little car...i think it was probably more like a hunting accident...Dad was probably out doing a little night hunting when Santa sat his sleigh down in the middle of what he thought was a safe out of the way place so the reindeer could snack on some grass and thats when my father probably took aim at one of them reindeer,pulled the trigger...and shot Santa instead.

its just a theory though...and no i dont have any proof thats what really happend (hence the theory) but thats my story.

Originally Posted by TexasRN

Funniest post in like...forever. That's exactly the kind of thing my mom would have done. She's one of the sweetest, kindest people I know but boy does she have a sick sense of humor.....


~Amy

I missed that until I read Amy's comment! I love it, great story, your dad had a wonderful sense of humor, Brad!!!

[NateR]

Originally Posted by bradwright

well i really didn't think you could.

Your arguments fall apart all on their own once held up to any form of logical scrutiny, I don't need to do anything to them.

Originally Posted by bradwright

nice try though.

I see what you did there. I called you out on the ridiculousness of your claims, so you deflect to me. When I don't take the bait, you then post "nice try though" with a wink smilie in order to make it appear that I am ducking you and thus make it appear that you have won some sort of victory in this discussion.

Sorry, it doesn't work that way. When you make irrational claims like:

nobody is lying to anybody in most cases...no parent sits a child down and tells them Santa is real.

in every single instance that i know of when the child starts to ask if Santa is real or not the parent says no...not sure how that constitutes blatantly lying.

...then the burden of proof is on you.

You are the one making wild claims that you can't back up with facts, don't try to turn it around on me when I call you out on it.

Originally Posted by NateR

Your arguments fall apart all on their own once held up to any form of logical scrutiny, I don't need to do anything to them.



I see what you did there. I called you out on the ridiculousness of your claims, so you deflect to me. When I don't take the bait, you then post "nice try though" with a wink smilie in order to make it appear that I am ducking you and thus make it appear that you have won some sort of victory in this discussion.

Sorry, it doesn't work that way. When you make irrational claims like:



...then the burden of proof is on you.

You are the one making wild claims that you can't back up with facts, don't try to turn it around on me when I call you out on it.

so then you are saying you have no proof that i am wrong ?....like i said before i didn't think you would have...not sure why you keep bringing that fact up though.

[VCURamFan]

Originally Posted by NateR

Your arguments fall apart all on their own once held up to any form of logical scrutiny, I don't need to do anything to them.

I see what you did there. I called you out on the ridiculousness of your claims, so you deflect to me. When I don't take the bait, you then post "nice try though" with a wink smilie in order to make it appear that I am ducking you and thus make it appear that you have won some sort of victory in this discussion.

Sorry, it doesn't work that way. When you make irrational claims like:

...then the burden of proof is on you.

You are the one making wild claims that you can't back up with facts, don't try to turn it around on me when I call you out on it.

NateR, after your post, you went back & corrected himself:

Originally Posted by bradwright

lol...okay Nate...nobody i know personally sits their children down and tries to convince them Santa is real.

but i suspect that the majority of people with children dont as well.

feel free to show me some evidence that i'm wrong though.

Instead of nit-picking over trivial hyperboles, let's return focus on the true heart of the matter. This thread isn't about in what manner what percentage of parents use Santa, because outliers from either extreme could be pulled in to create straw-man arguments in favor of/opposition to either position. The core of this issue is whether or not the classic Santa myth is a danger to a child's spiritual development. Once that answer is resolved, then, perhaps, we can go a level deeper & determine what the correct method of "teaching Santa" is (or isn't).

[NateR]

Originally Posted by bradwright

so then you are saying you have no proof that i am wrong ?....like i said before i didn't think you would have...not sure why you keep bringing that fact up though.

You need to provide some proof that you are right before I even attempt to look for some proof that you are wrong. I'm waiting on you.

[NateR]

Originally Posted by VCURamFan

The core of this issue is whether or not the classic Santa myth is a danger to a child's spiritual development. Once that answer is resolved, then, perhaps, we can go a level deeper & determine what the correct method of "teaching Santa" is (or isn't).

I don't even think that's the core of the issue. Even if it is not dangerous, my question is: is it beneficial? What long-term good could possibly come from allowing children to believe in Santa Claus?