IN AMERICA,

WE ARE FREE

TO CHOOSE

HOW WE BELIEVE

SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN

“Santa Claus is coming tonight!”

“...and the Easter Bunny will bring Easter eggs and candy for us!”

“If I put my tooth under my pillow, the tooth fairy will come take it and leave me some money!”

“At night, when it’s really dark, the bogeyman will come out from under my bed and get me!”

“Accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you will be brought into the kingdom of God and share the glory and the power for ever and ever!”

Yes, Zach thought, I said and believed all of these things when I was younger. I was sure there was a Santa Claus that brought all good boys and girls presents on Christmas Eve, flying through the air on his magic sleigh with his wonderful reindeer, with Rudolph leading the way.

Yes, I just knew that the Easter Bunny came every year with his basket of goodies, and hid eggs and candy throughout the yard so the kids could go Easter egg hunting. He always got away before we could catch him, or even see him, but the evidence he left behind - the eggs, the candy, the other goodies - was all I needed to convince me that he was real.

I remember being happy to lose a tooth. I didn’t think about the pain, or the blood, or the vacant space it would leave. I was thinking about the shiny new quarter that I would find under my pillow the next morning, because I just knew the tooth fairy would be paying me a visit.

Then there were those sleepless nights when it was dark and eerie, and I just knew the bogeyman was waiting for me. He was under my bed, or hiding in the closet - I wasn’t sure exactly where he was, but I was sure he was out there.

At thirteen years old, I accepted Jesus Christ into my life. I just knew by what everyone told me and by what it said in the Bible that I needed Jesus in my life. My pastor, my Sunday School teacher, my parents, my friends - they all talked about the love of Jesus and how being saved was such an important part of my life.

So I really believed in Santa Claus and I really believed in the Easter Bunny. I had no doubt that the tooth fairy was real, and that the bogeyman lurked in the darkest corners of my room, just waiting to get me. And I truly believed in Jesus Christ as the one and only way to be saved and to go to heaven.

Then I grew up.

I began to think. I looked at the evidence. I observed with my eyes and my ears, and paid attention to everything around me. I listened to my heart. I listened to my logic. I listened to my mind. I took into account what others were saying and doing. I read and I studied. I discussed ideas and philosophies, doing my best to understand. And always, always, I was thinking.

By thinking, as I grew in mind and body, I came to my own conclusions. By thinking, I wove through the morass of thoughts and ideas, through the facts and opinions of a big world. And I, with the use of my mind and intellect, decided what I believed.

So, I realized that Santa Claus was a fictional character who did wonders in books and movies and in the minds of children. But there was no real Santa Claus in a red suit who had flying reindeer and visited every child in the world in the span of one Christmas Eve night, and somehow managed to squeeze his rotund body through the skinny little chimney.

I realized that there is no giant Easter Bunny who hops around the neighborhoods, hiding eggs and candy in the bushes, the grass and low lying tree limbs.

I understood that there was no tooth fairy. No, Mom and Dad would quietly (or so they thought) tiptoe into my room, remove the tooth from under my pillow, and leave me a shiny new quarter.

I no longer feared the dark, afraid my arch nemesis, the bogeyman, would come and get me. I knew he was the invention of imaginative minds, making up stories to scare and entertain. No, the bogeyman was not real.

And I realized Jesus Christ was also the creation of some imaginative minds. The stealth combining of many myths and stories from throughout the ages created a myth perpetuated by well-meaning religious leaders and by power hungry, manipulative religious leaders.

When you take a look at the evidence, there is no doubt. There are many people left in our world who believe there is one and only one true God, one and only one true religion, one and only one true way to eternal salvation. They have believed what they have been told. They have believed what they have read. They have believed what they have seen on the movie screen and in their church.

If only they would open their eyes and their minds and their hearts, get the information they need to make an informed decision, and then believe what their hearts and their minds tell them is the truth. Yes, right now, as you read this, there are people who believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. There are people who believe in the tooth fairy and the bogeyman. And there are people who believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Just like me, they believed in all of these things when they were young and innocent and didn’t know any better.

Hopefully, someday, they also will grow up.

HOME

To explore these issues and more, read the new mind-expanding, thought-provoking book, TrueTruths

We want to know what you think. Email us at truetruths@earthlink.net

Random- Previous- Next- List- Join