{"id":830,"date":"2014-12-02T20:27:49","date_gmt":"2014-12-03T02:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/focuspressblog.com\/?p=830"},"modified":"2014-12-02T20:27:49","modified_gmt":"2014-12-03T02:27:49","slug":"merry-mythmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2014\/12\/02\/merry-mythmas\/","title":{"rendered":"God or Santa Claus &#8211; Who&#8217;s More Realistic?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Each year the American Atheists organization attempts to commandeer the holiday season to make their point about the existence of God and the truth of the divine life of Jesus Christ. They&#8217;ve placed billboards in Times Square and all over the country in past years. (You can read more about that\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/post-nation\/wp\/2014\/12\/01\/here-is-this-years-provocative-war-on-christmas-billboard\/\">here<\/a>\u00a0and see their press release\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/news.atheists.org\/2014\/12\/01\/atheists-promote-skip-church-christmas-billboards-in-south\/\">here<\/a>.) However, in their attempts to mock belief in God, they often just make the case for belief even stronger. Consider the billboard depicted above.<br \/>\nThe billboard makes an obvious play on the issue of Santa Claus, with the implication being that even he is more believable than God. To them, the Bible and the arguments for God are merely fairy tales, no more realistic than the thought of a man in a red suit climbing down your chimney to drop off gifts. So, why don&#8217;t we put that theory to the test?<br \/>\n<strong>If\u00a0Santa Claus is just as real as God&#8230;<\/strong><br \/>\nWhy is there no evidence of his existence? We don\u2019t have to see or talk to Santa Claus to know he\u2019s real, we just need signs that show us he is. Presents under the tree on Christmas morning that weren\u2019t placed there by anyone in the family would be that kind of evidence. We don\u2019t have that. On the other hand, though we don\u2019t see God or converse with Him, the design we see in every single creature in nature (something we highlight each month in the \u201cWeeThink\u201d section of \u201cThink\u201d magazine) is more than enough evidence that a Designer worked on the world we inhabit.<br \/>\nWhy are there no archaeological finds that back up the legend of a North Pole workshop? Because there are plenty of finds that have found the Bible to be true, even when \u201cexperts\u201d disagreed right up until the finds were made.<br \/>\nWhy aren\u2019t the Santa Claus stories packed with references to real world events that display inexplicable foreknowledge legend attributes to Santa (\u201cHe knows when you\u2019ve been bad or good\u2026\u201d)? Because the Bible has a number of scientific facts that only an omniscient God could\u2019ve known at the time.<a href=\"#_edn1\" name=\"_ednref1\">[1]<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>If Santa Claus\u2019 existence is just as believable as Jesus\u2019\u2026 <\/strong><br \/>\nWhere is Santa&#8217;s genealogy? Because Jesus has a genealogy that went back dozens of generations and thousands of years before Him, filled with people who were historically recorded long before He lived (Matthew 1:1-17, Luke 3:23-38).<br \/>\nWhy does the majority of the world measure history by the life of Jesus Christ and not Santa Claus?<br \/>\nWhere are the prophecies of Santa Claus&#8217; birth and life? Jesus fulfilled more than a few.<a href=\"#_edn2\" name=\"_ednref2\">[2]<\/a><br \/>\nWhere are documentations of Santa Claus\u2019 existence from his associates, contemporary historians, and governing authorities? Because Jesus has plenty to document both His life and enduring work.<a href=\"#_edn3\" name=\"_ednref3\">[3]<\/a><br \/>\nWhile I admittedly write this from a bit of a tongue-in-cheek perspective (I can\u2019t say I thought I\u2019d ever include a lyric to \u201cSanta Claus is Comin\u2019 to Town\u201d in a post for this site), the fact is that there are really people who think God, Bible, and the history of Jesus Christ are no more believable than Santa Claus. We need to be ready to answer these people, and we need to take advantage of the opportunities given us in our daily conversations. Now is a great time to focus on evangelism as atheists, believers, and everyone in between seem to be discussing Jesus right now. Let\u2019s help them sort myth from miraculous.<br \/>\n<strong>By Jack Wilkie<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref1\" name=\"_edn1\">[1]<\/a> Wayne Jackson, \u201cThe Incredible Accuracy of the Bible: An Argument for Inspiration,\u201d Christian Courier, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.christiancourier.com\/articles\/82-incredible-accuracy-of-the-bible-an-argument-for-inspiration-the\">https:\/\/www.christiancourier.com\/articles\/82-incredible-accuracy-of-the-bible-an-argument-for-inspiration-the<\/a>.<br \/>\n<a href=\"#_ednref2\" name=\"_edn2\">[2]<\/a> Tim Chaffey, \u201cFulfilled Prophecies at the Birth of Christ,\u201d AiG, <a href=\"https:\/\/answersingenesis.org\/jesus-christ\/birth\/fulfilled-prophecies-at-the-birth-of-christ\/\">https:\/\/answersingenesis.org\/jesus-christ\/birth\/fulfilled-prophecies-at-the-birth-of-christ\/<\/a>, 24 December 2012.<br \/>\n<a href=\"#_ednref3\" name=\"_edn3\">[3]<\/a> \u201cExtra-Biblical Historical Evidence for the LIFE, DEATH, and RESURRECTION of JESUS,\u201d West Ark church of Christ, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.westarkchurchofchrist.org\/library\/extrabiblical.htm\">http:\/\/www.westarkchurchofchrist.org\/library\/extrabiblical.htm<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Each year the American Atheists organization attempts to commandeer the holiday season to make their point about the existence of God and the truth of the divine life of Jesus Christ. They&#8217;ve placed billboards in Times Square and all over the country in past years. (You can read more about that\u00a0here\u00a0and see their press release\u00a0here.) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,60],"tags":[57,23,24,440,441],"class_list":["post-830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all","category-existence-of-god","tag-atheism","tag-jack","tag-jesus","tag-myths","tag-santa","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>God vs. Santa Claus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jesus Christ - Santa Claus-like myth, or historical figure?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2014\/12\/02\/merry-mythmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"God vs. Santa Claus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jesus Christ - Santa Claus-like myth, or historical figure?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2014\/12\/02\/merry-mythmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Focus Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-03T02:27:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"focus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"focus\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/2014\\\/12\\\/02\\\/merry-mythmas\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/2014\\\/12\\\/02\\\/merry-mythmas\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"focus\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tampaseo.expert\\\/focus\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/410e95ca4492328087bb414318cdbf13\"},\"headline\":\"God or Santa Claus &#8211; 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