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Is Santa claus real?

ReverendHellh0und

I don't respect you.
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"Eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York's Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history's most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps:



"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood."


Merry Christmas
 
Ask a 5 year old if Santa is real.

And, no matter how strongly they believe it, they're factually wrong. Wishful thinking does not produce truth.
 
Because we can't prove Santa doesn't exist .... he must!
 
Yes, Santa is real!

He lives in your heart (...or not).

While some will be Scrooging it up tonight, I'll be listening for the sound of reindeer on the roof.

And checking NORAD, of course.
 
You spelt Father Christmas wrong. Bloody colonials.

I saw Father Christmas at the shops yesterday and he is on half my Christmas cards. He is in my mind's eye right now. He sure is annoyed at Cephus. I won't tell you the gesture he is making. I'll let you imagine it.
 
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You spelt Father Christmas wrong. Bloody colonials.

I saw Father Christmas at the shops yesterday and he is on half my Christmas cards. He is in my mind's eye right now. He sure is annoyed at Cephus. I won't tell you the gesture he is making. I'll let you imagine it.

No need to imagine. "And laying his finger aside of his nose,/And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose." ;)
 
a bishop called nıcola had lived during the early christian period,of course he didnt use to throw children presents from roofs,but he had a heart of gold and helped lots of children and people,some of his favors made him a legend..
maybe he was more real than christ :)



The True Story of Santa Claus

Santa Claus is real. And this is his true story.

Born nearly 2000 years ago, not too long after the days that Jesus Christ walked the earth, Nicholas was born to wealthy parents in a tiny village in the country we today call Turkey.

Though Nicholas was a child of privilege, he was raised a Christian and at a very young age was devoted to the faith.

Nicholas' parents died while he was yet a boy. And not knowing what to do with himself or the fortune he inherited, he turned to his Bible and read the words of admonishment that Christ gave to a wealthy man: "Sell all thou hath and give it to the poor and follow me".

Nicholas went to his village priest, confessed his sins and expressed the desires of his heart. He wished to become a priest.

Because he was an orphan, the priest took him in. And soon he found that Nicholas was no ordinary boy. Legend tells the story of a young Nicholas visiting the Holy Land with his village priest. On the return voyage, over stormy waters, their ship was cast about and all aboard feared for their lives. Nicholas steadfastly prayed for the safety of the passengers and crew. His faith astonished those with him as the storm passed and the waters calmed.

The village priest was fond of Nicholas. But he knew Nicholas lacked the education and the credentials necessary to become a priest. He would need a miracle if it was to happen. And a miracle is just what he got.

In the not too distant city of Myra, the Bishop of the church passed away. As the authorities of the church assembled to consider his replacement, Nicholas was there. The man considered wisest amongst the authorities had a dream and was visited by a heavenly messenger. He inquired of the angel "Who should the new Bishop be?". The angel said that if the gathered authorities would just wait by the door of the church they should select the first person named Nicholas to walk through the doors. The church authorities had their answer, and Nicholas had his miracle and was named the youngest bishop of the church ever on record.

As a young Bishop, Nicholas was fearless in his defense of the faith. He became known as an outspoken caretaker of the people of his flock and as one very close to God, due to his faith. When the citizens of Myra came to him to complain of a difficult tax burden, he approached the Emperor for relief. Constantine, who was not Christian and who had previously cast Nicholas into prison for his vigorous public defense of Christianity, wrote a decree lowering the tax due to Bishop Nicholas' pleas on behalf of the people.

Bishop Nicholas took the written decree and cast it upon the waters towards the city of Myra. Sometime later, the finance ministers from Rome met with Constantine to change his mind about the tax. Constantine called Nicholas before him and asked for the written decree back. When Nicholas declared that he had cast the decree upon the water and that the change to the law had already taken affect, Constantine did not believe him. He sent a runner to Myra who returned a few days later to confirm that all Nicholas had said was true.

Nicholas was beloved of the people of Myra for his kindness especially to children. One such deed became a legend that has survived for centuries and is celebrated even now in a variety of cultures. In his town where he was Bishop, Nicholas once gave an anonymous gift to a man with three daughters. The family was destitute of means. The custom of the time was that each daughter would need to be provided with a dowry in order to marry. Because they were poor, the father of the three daughters was contemplating selling his children into slavery.

Nicholas heard of their plight and on a dark night soon after the eldest daughter came to marrying age, he tossed a small bag of gold through an open window (and some say he tossed it down the chimney), sparing her a life of misery.

As the second daughter came of age he repeated the deed, again doing so anonymously.

As the third daughter came of age the father waited up nights to catch the gift-giver in order to express his gratitude. His persistence paid off as he caught Bishop Nicholas in the act.

This story is recounted in many lands, although some of the details change from one telling to another. Some say it was not bags of gold but rather balls of gold that Nicholas left. Some say he tossed them into the chimney where they landed in the hanging stockings or the drying shoes of the unmarried girls. That is why some, to remember this event,celebrate Christmas was an orange in the toe of a stocking.

Nicholas was known for many such deeds. Miracles were attributed to the Bishop of Myra because of his great faith.

Some were individual stories, like the man with three daughters. Others were stories of Bishop Nicholas acting on behalf of all the people. One very famous story had to do with a terrible season of famine in Myra. The drought was so bad the people there were starting to go hungry.

Bishop Nicholas approached the captains of the ships ported in Myra, for he knew the ships contained grain destined for faraway places. But the captains were reluctant to help. They were paid for full cargos and they explained to Bishop Nicholas that they had to deliver them as they received them. Nicholas promised them that if they would share but a small part from each ship, the credit they required for full delivery would be granted them. They agreed, and Nicholas took the food to the people and fed them for two years with it, even having enough left over to plant for seed when the famine passed.

But when the ships took to sea and arrived at their destinations, the captains of the ships found their holds full upon arrival and declared the event a miracle. This caused the reputation of Nicholas to spread. He became, over time, the patron saint of children, of sailors, of the unmarried, and of innocents wrongly accused or persecuted.

So famous did Nicholas become that no other name in the church, save Jesus and the Virgin Mary only, was so widely known or respected. More than 2000 churches in the Old World bore the name of Saint Nicholas. And his legend only grew as the centuries passed.

This is just the beginning of the story of Santa Claus. The genesis of the man we anticipate each Christmas came from the good Bishop of Myra -- a man in red robes, a man with a long beard, and a man known for anonymous giving -- especially to children.
 
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But, of course, none of that is the Santa Claus that has become popularized and believed in by little kids. So whatever the kernel of truth in the origins of the story, the story itself, as a whole, is still false.
 
Ah, Cephus, may I offer you a cup of peace-on-earth-and-good-will-toward-humanity?
 
Santa Claus is as real as the Easter Bunny, ghosts, goblins, demons, devils, angels, banshees, dracula, werewolves, swamp-thing, and Dr. Octopus.
 
And, no matter how strongly they believe it, they're factually wrong. Wishful thinking does not produce truth.
Santa exists outside of space-time. Thats the reason he can deliver presents to the entire world in just one night.
 
Dayum. They even hate-on Santa.
 
Cephus' last comment is so redundant and stupid. Does anyone actually think Father Christmas will deliver gifts to the world's children tonight? I like pseudeo-intellectualism as much as the next man, but did we really need to be told that.

What is just as telling though is how he equates myths only with such historical action, as if that is the only way a myth may have validity, use or truth.
 
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Cephus' last comment is so redundant and stupid. Does anyone actually think Father Christmas will deliver gifts to the world's children tonight? I like pseudeo-intellectualism as much as the next man, but did we really need to be told that.

What is just as telling though is how he equates myths only with such historical action, as if that is the only way a myth may have validity, use or truth.

Children believe it, isn't that the point? The real problem here, as with religion, is that people think that by redefining a commonly understood term and touching only on the minuscule kernel of truth at the center, they can they re-expand the term back to the commonly understood term and think that said term, as commonly understood, has validity. It does not. Just because there was, at one time, a Saint Nicholas, has nothing to do with the modern interpretation of Santa Claus. As such, the existence of one has zero to do with the existence of the other.

The same goes for gods. Santa Claus is just as bad an example as deities are.
 
Children believe it, isn't that the point? The real problem here, as with religion, is that people think that by redefining a commonly understood term and touching only on the minuscule kernel of truth at the center, they can they re-expand the term back to the commonly understood term and think that said term, as commonly understood, has validity. It does not. Just because there was, at one time, a Saint Nicholas, has nothing to do with the modern interpretation of Santa Claus. As such, the existence of one has zero to do with the existence of the other.

The same goes for gods. Santa Claus is just as bad an example as deities are.
But you are simply assuming that historicity determines utility, validity and truth.
 
In FORTRAN, any variables starting with the letters I, J, K, L, M and N, are of the INTEGER type, and any other variables are of the REAL type, unless explicitly declared otherwise.

Since Santa Claus starts with an S, he is REAL, unless he is explicitly declared to be otherwise.

See Fortran 95 language features - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
 
But you are simply assuming that historicity determines utility, validity and truth.
No matter how many times it is explained to scourge and Cephus, they just can't jettison the mental shackles.
 
And, no matter how strongly they believe it, they're factually wrong. Wishful thinking does not produce truth.

Indeed.

If I ever had any children, I'm not going to tell them those gifts are from Santa Claus. I think it's wrong, and it sends the wrong message, to tell my kids that some other guy is going to give them gifts once a year just because that's what he does.

Instead, I would tell my kids that those gifts came from me. I bought those gifts with money I worked hard to earn. And I spent my hard earned money on them not because I have to and not because I'm their father and they're my kids.

I did it because I love them, and I love them unconditionally, and want to make sure they're happy and taken care of.

I think that's a better Christmas message than Santa Claus could ever be.
 
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