The Santa Claus Deception
Words could never explain the amount of anger I have towards the Christian church, for all of the damage that I and countless others suffered at the hands of those said to have been ordained by the “almighty” himself.
The reason behind the deep seeded hatred that I harness for my church isn’t much unlike any other anti-religious member of the community. But I won’t pretend like my experience was more traumatizing than the next persons. After all, the mental and emotional damage that most of us suffered at the hands of those claiming to be “led by god” was at most the cause of all kinds of dysfunction present within us still at this very moment.
Low self-image
Depression
ADHD
Low attention span
Rage
Anger
Jealousy
Hatred
Envy
Mental illness
It is likely that at one time or the other you have suffered from one or more of the issues that I listed above.
The reason that I am writing this particular piece about this particular subject is obvious…
I intend to show how Early Religious Imprinting (ERI) plays a very substantial role in the lives that we live as adults. Our values, ethics, morality and our overall judgment is based upon a belief in “god” and not on our natural intentions and human moral fiber.
When we were younger we are taught that if we close our eyes and pray “ there is a magic man in the sky that will listen to whatever we say to him. He may not answer when you want him to but, he’s always on time.” Usually the entire congregation says it all together as a brainwashed chant, and it isn’t until you get older that you discover that it was just a chant because “god” just plain and simply neglected to answer.
We believe that no matter what we face here while we’re here on earth, there will always be a place that we can look forward too after we die; up in the sky with our heavenly father that watches over our every move. When I’m at school, when I’m in my car, when I’m in my bedroom, when I’m in my bathroom
Wait…..
Now this dude just sounds creepy if you ask me.
I started reading further into this sacred book called the bible. Amazingly, the more I read the more confused I became. One verse would say “Thou Shalt Not” and the next would say “Well only if god asks you to”.
None of it made any sense.
I was no longer convinced
The same “god” that searched the world and saw absolutely no good from the creation that “he” made in the first place, goes homicidal and drowns all of mankind, alongside innocent children that have no “free will” choice in the matter, but he’s still considered a loving and forgiving god?
If you ask me this dude sounds like a terrorist.
The more I read, the more I understood why some people believe that god is instructing them to kill in his name. Certain parts of the bible give very specific instruction to kill your entire opposition, kill those who doubt the existence of god, kill all the enemies of god.
“Through You (god) we will push down our enemies; through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, nor shall my sword save me. But You have saved us from our enemies, and have put to shame those who hated us. In God we boast all day long, and praise Your name forever.” (Psalm 44:5)
“It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of deer, and sets me on high places. He teaches my hands to make war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze … I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them; neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed. I have wounded them, so that they were not able to rise; they have fallen under my feet. For You have armed me with strength for the battle; You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.” (Psalm 18:32, 37)
What is someone supposed to make of an instruction such as this? How does one apply this to everyday life without interpreting it to mean complete annihilation for those who oppose you?
The problem is that every one’s book say’s the same thing.
Which means everyone is everyone’s enemy.
That is the only success that religion has had in the centuries of its existence; division.
People are willing to commit some of the most horrific crimes known to man in the name of God, Allah or Jehovah.
We all reach the point in our own lives where reason and logic begin their journey to our brains, but the imprint that religion has made on our minds can sometimes be irreversible.
The heavy weight that those who are questioning religion carry is far beyond that of an atheist, agnostic or non-believer who have already accepted reason. Un-like these three individuals, they are still searching for truth and are more concerned with the whys? And why Not’s?
Most often times even when they have all of the evidence needed, there is still apart of them that cries out for “god”, the child in them that also still believes in Santa Claus. How else can all those presents just magically appear under the tree, and how else can we live and breathe, if there is NO GOD?
I challenge you to begin too break down the process of how the presents got under the tree. At some point you had to be deceived into going to sleep early. That’s where the story comes in of how Santa passes up the house of those children that are not fast asleep in their beds. You grow up and you find out or in most cases were told by an older brother or sister that this Santa character wasn’t real.
The entire time that you were sleep in your bed, dreaming of dancing elves in a small dwarf like workshop, your parents were downstairs busy at setting the stage for your illusion. The level that they were willing to go to deceive you was astonishing.
Then as you get older you start to witness that the lie continues on throughout the entire year.
“Santa doesn’t give presents to bad boys and girls.”
“Do you want a lump of coal in your stocking this year Timmy?”
“Santa is going to cross you off of his list of good girls and boys.”
It’s amazing to me how we start selling our children on fear at such young ages. Which causes them to live their lives according to what this one day in the year will bring them. One day, meant to control their behavior the entire year long. One day, that is based on a complete lie.
When we give children choices based on the belief that they will receive some sort of reward for the good choices they make, does that teach them to make good choices based on nothing more than having a good ethical system?
Does it give them the clear view of who they should be because it is in them to do good, to accomplish, to help and to strive for excellence?
Or does it set the standard in their life that there is always something to gain from being good, and if there is nothing to be gained, then there isn’t any plausible reason to make good choices?
I view atheist, agnostics and other non-believers as those big brothers and sisters that have come to reveal Santa as the fraudulent and mythical character that he is. But the truth has always been that whether we were the absolute greatest children on earth, it wouldn’t have made his existence anymore real to those who are already aware of his nonexistent.
This is where a small fraction of my anger derives for the church.
What is known as “The Deception Factor”. The philosophy that, if you go upstairs, get in bed and close your eyes, presents will be under the tree in the morning.
Well, suppose one gets older and wants to know how the presents got under the tree?
Religion has a solution for that as well. Let’s make up a story about what happens to children if they are not fast asleep in their beds when Santa is arrives at their houses, matter a fact we can teach them a song to go along with the story.
“You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I’m telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town
He’s making a list
And checking it twice;
Gonna find out Who’s naughty and nice
Santa Claus is coming to town
He sees you when you’re sleeping
He knows when you’re awake
He knows if you’ve been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake!
O! You better watch out!
You better not cry
Better not pout
I’m telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town
This is very similar to the way that religion has gotten its practitioners to avoid seeking out truth. Through a little something called the “Fear Factor”.
By keeping people afraid of the consequences of gaining truth they will always remain ignorant to its existence through the fear of ever seeking it out in the first place.
It is no accident that the very first story in the bible was about Adam & Eve being kicked out of the Garden of Eden because of their curiosity. The serpent came and offered them a chance to understand “god” and to know what” god” knows.
However, their inability to obey” gods” hands off rule is what caused them to know that they were naked and then caused the separation of man and “god”, Right?
To accept this fact, you must also accept the fact that god is the taunting father that places the cookie in the toddlers face, instructing them not to eat it after which he then leaves the room.
However much you’d like to explain this action away as love is your own business, I however am among those who believe that even if the “god” of the” bible” exists, he is not something that I would want to devote my life to following.
At very best, the better part of him would have been Jesus, who no one cares to be like in this day in age anyhow.
After all, it was Jesus who taught compassion, understanding, love and peace. Take a look around you. Men fighting their brothers for the chance to prove that their “god” is bigger and better than the next and the next.
Religion is the common place for most war.
Behind every sword wielding knight was a “god” that commanded them to destroy everything that stood in their path of righteousness. Behind every major world disaster infiltrated by man was a “god” that told them it was alright to hurt, torture, enslave and murder on genocidal levels all in his name.
Why then is “god” said to be the only judge if he calls upon man to act on his behalf. Isn’t he said to be “all powerful” and capable of doing things all on his own?
I get sick just trying to make any sense of these preposterous claims anymore. The fact that “god” is all knowing, all powerful, benevolent, supreme, omnipotent and omnipresent alongside a host of other contradicting terms is beyond me.
It’s like me designing a play pen for my pit-bull puppies to roam free, then placing a juicy steak in the corner with a “do not eat” sign over it, purposely not adding a way for them to get out and relieve themselves outdoors.
Upon my return I get mad at them because they ate the steak and then pooped inside the play pen.
I decide to punish them for what I gave them no other choice to do. I have found fault in my pit-bull puppies, who acting out of their adolescence did exactly as I planned for them to do in the first place.
Being all knowing I already knew that “mission pit-bull puppy play pen” was a sure fail, however I thought by giving the pit bulls “free will” it would deter them from eating the steak that I placed in the pen and keep them from choosing to relieve themselves as well.
But in the end it still leads back to me because I am the “all knowing” god that designs people to fail “all knowingly” doing so and then “all knowingly” blaming them for doing what I “all knowingly” designed for them to do.
Doesn’t make sense??
Didn’t make any to me either that’s why I started out on my journey. To expose religion for the complete hoax it is, and to also uncover it as being the flame that ignites the fire to some of the more dangerous complexes that we as humans develop through its belief systems over time.
Growing up I was beaten down continuously by the bible and its scriptures. Everything that I did had some deadly consequence in the bible. If I stared at someone too long, my grandmother would slap me saying “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor”.
The older women in my church thought that a woman wearing pants went against the bible, which specifically states that cross dressing is a sin against “god”.
Wouldn’t that be contingent upon the days and times that we are in?
What would be considered cross-dressing here in 2012, wouldn’t have been in the 18th century, when men wore long dresses, stockings and wigs much like women do today.
So wouldn’t the sin have already been committed when men decided to change their garments from their original design in the first place?
Oh I see, it’s because the bible left little to know room for evolution for the woman. So while the man goes out and conquers and discovers, we are to be in the kitchen or in the bedroom making slaves of ourselves to the men that “god” has commanded can only do his work.
“But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.” (I Corinthians 11:3)
”For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.” (I Corinthians 11:8-9)
The Bible’s decree of male supremacy has kept women inferior to men for centuries. For the religious, it comes as a sad fact that a human must have a penis to receive any respect or power within the church. All women should realize that such phrases in the Bible have not only justified the reason why many Christian men exercise their supremacy over women using it as a reason to sexually, physically and mentally abuse women and in some cases commit murder.
There are still places in this world where women are killed every day at the hands of their husbands, who are legally able to commit such abhorrent crimes because their religious doctrine gives them power to do so.
I assure you that leaning on the power of the contents of your bible even for one more second makes you an assessor to the crime that is taking place all around you.
The Crime of Religion
Man’s excuse to act however he wishes as long as it was” god” that told him to do so. However, I also believe that if someone walked into a neighborhood diner and killed everyone claiming that “god” told him to do it, he would receive the same penalty of someone who had committed the same act without claiming any religious instruction.
Do you know why?
Because we already know that Santa Claus is made up, so any claims of Santa sightings made by our brainwashed children are quickly dismissed. We attribute it to a creative imagination and not truth, an imagination which was instilled by the very parents that already knew Santa Claus was a myth when they first introduced it to us.
Yet and still they went ahead with the deception, much like our religious officials do and for much of the exact same reason.
As a means to control and/or keep under control
This accusation by itself is what led to me seeking out some very profound statistics about Christianity and religion.
Question:
Is it true that children that grow up in very strict religious homes turn out to be a heap of a lot better than their non-believing friends, raised in more lenient circumstances?
Answer:
Absolutely not and in most cases I found it was exactly the opposite.
Many adults with very strict religious upbringings said that it was in fact the cause for most of their rebellion towards their parents and churches and in some other cases led to their experimentation with drugs and alcohol.
While many adults that grew up in households where religion was not strictly enforced, had proven to make better choices in life.
Furthering their education
Staying out of trouble with the law
Becoming assets to their communities and homes
Leading sober lifestyles
I guess that would explain why less than 2% of America’s prison population is non-believers, atheist and agnostic, while the other 98% are those who believe in the existence of a higher power.
In prison I’m afraid god is necessary for survival. If there is no belief that one can at least atone for one’s sins and have a chance to live a better life on the other side of creation, then what would keep lifers from killing themselves and each other out of nothing more than complete boredom?
So in a situation where man needs complete control over the human, religion is even more essential. That’s why 2/3 of the prison activities are religiously related.
Even Alcohol and Narcotics Anonymous are headed by the infamous “Serenity Prayer”, Begging god for the ability to be able to distinguish between that which can be changed and that which cannot, when the human brain was designed to decipher that all on its own without the existence of god to narrate it along.
Meaning…
With or without the belief in god people are still abundantly blessed, wealthy, healthy and functioning and the same can be said for those who are sick, suffering, poor and poverty stricken. Believing in god does not change ones circumstances in life. However, education, demographics and resources have been shown to greatly affect the outcome of a person’s overall happiness.
For example:
If two people were dropped off in the jungle for an extended period of time, where it would take a unique set of skills to survive, the man who spent his entire life behind an office desk might not experience the same level of happiness as the man who was raised to be an outdoorsman, the same can be said of the outdoorsman in an office setting.
This is where knowledge of one or more ways of living is the answer to being adaptable in more than one situation.
The more a person knows, the more liberated they become.
I believe that it is easier to control a Lion inside that very same jungle used in the example above, than it is to control the mind of an intelligent person.
After all it is only through the willingness to break the ties of religious traditionalism that we start to see just how brainwashed we actually were, how are beliefs were based on absolutely no evidence at all and were rather based on the inherited beliefs of our equally brainwashed parents, who passed it down to us like it was passed down to them.
The Santa Claus Effect
I could live a million years and I would still remember the effect finding out that Santa Claus didn’t exist had on me.
I sat in my window watching as the snow fell onto the roof tops and I can remember thinking to myself,
“Why would my parents lie to me?”
I tore up all of the letters I’d received from Santa through the years, obvious forgeries; I stripped my room of all its holiday cheer and I never looked to the sky hoping to catch a glimpse of him ever again.
The next morning my anger subsided and I made my way down the steps slowly for the first time in history.
Amazingly I still found presents under the tree. Nothing had stopped because of my life altering discovery, everything had continued on as planned.
My mother handed out each gift, my brothers fought over every one of them and my father sat back and filled the living room with laughter as he had done for many years before.
It was then that I realized; it would’ve been more beneficial for me as a child to live in truth.
The truth that I had parents that cared enough for me to make sure that I had a wonderful Christmas, despite the rough terrain that we often encountered and moreover the truth would have kept me from experiencing the heartbreak that came associated with uncovering the lie.
Now here I am at the still very youthful age of 32 and I am yet again experiencing heartbreak, but this time on a much larger scale than Santa Claus. I am unaware of the existence of a “god” and/or “god’s”, super gods, demi gods, goddesses or anything that has been deemed a deity, saintly, all knowing and/or all powerful supreme being.
I have seen absolutely no evidence that would lead me to believe that such claims are true.
Much like I never saw Santa’s Sleigh traveling about in the sky.
Although, I never actually caught my parents delivering presents under the tree. The idea that my parents put them there is much more plausible than the idea of a jolly, fat white guy dressed in red, squeezing through a mock-chimney.
The truth is that our big brothers and sisters never needed to really tell us that Santa was made-up. We would have finally come to an age where our logic and reason would no longer support the existence of Santa Claus.
That can be said of religion as well, there comes a time in everyone’s life where your mind is calling you to intelligence.
The nagging doubts in your head
The constant questions
The voice of reason that show’s up and doesn’t go away
All of these examples are your minds way of trying to get you to wake up to the fact that the belief in a “god” the way that religion has continued to exploit it, is not only absurd but it also has long lasting effects on the lifestyle of the one who falls victim to it.
How else can we begin to make sense of the on-going suffering that has plagued the black church, as well as the black community with the church as its head?
80% of believers are women and 75% of the church is African American. I believe that this is also by design and not by accident. If you have ever visited a black urban area, you will see that on just about every corner there stands a liquor store that is usually adjacent to a Missionary Baptist Church. Other than the fact that the same people have admitted to frequenting both, I believe that things were set up in these kinds of communities in order to continue the control passed the Santa Claus years.
Being spiritually intoxicated has the same damaging effects as being intoxicated from alcohol. Both impair the brain and keep people from being able to think in a rational manner. Both produce ignorant action on part of the intoxicated person, and last but not least both have the ability to leave you feeling hung over the next morning.
It is much easier to charm me out of my finances when I am drunk off the “spirit”, and it is also much easier to get me to strap a bomb to my chest and walk into a heavily populated area when I am high off of a hit of god’s love.
Incapable of rationalizing even my own behavior, I lean on man’s written interpretation of god’s word as my guide and just as it was intended to do it leads me to some of the darkest corners of life, places where I am stripped of logical explanation of human existence and replaced instead with mythical creatures, talking animals and false hope of a place that is said to have flowing rivers of milk and honey.
Once again we have been sold Santa Claus. The wondrous gleam of his enchanting Sleigh led by his disciples, I’m sorry I mean reindeer, headed out across the land to deliver gifts to all of the good little boys and girls.
I once wrote a letter to Santa when I was about five or six asking him if he could find his way to Africa. I had just seen a National Geographic Special on starving children in villages located in Nigeria.
Not knowing how to answer the question correctly I presume my parents just responded…
“I only have enough gas in my sleigh for the children in America”.
I suppose they thought that was the correct way to answer a six year old, but it only made my curiosity worsen.
Why do some of us have so much and others of us have nothing at all?
Did “god” run out of gas too?
Or is religion just our parents downstairs eating the cookies we intended for Santa?
Much like the ministers, preachers and priest that benefit from the money that their congregation has left for god?
God is big business.
Matter a fact I will go as far as to say that it is probably the most lucrative business ever made. When stress levels go up, we run to god, when threats to our nation arise, we run to god, when we mourn, we run to god, when we need help, we run to god, when we are sick, we run to god and so on and so forth.
Meaning, no matter how much one is suffering in their lives, there is no shortage of belief in the almighty “god”, who by the way has already admitted that he designed your cancer and/or the death of your loved one from the very beginning of time.
As he has designed everything before and after it, right?
Prayer in itself is a clear contradiction.
The bible says that “god” cannot change his mind about the choice he previously made for you to get sick and die in pain in the hospital.
1 Samuel 15:29
He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind.”
Yet, people still line the pews in the hopes that something can be done about their situations, and in most cases are willing to travel very far and spend an endless amount of money trying to persuade “god” to change his mind.
So the question becomes “Why do Christians pray anyway? When the bible clearly states that they are supposed to abandon their self and take on the will of “god” instead.
“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord …” (Psalm 37:23)
So then wouldn’t it make more sense for the “good” Christian to fully accept where “god” has led them, even if it is in his will for them to die a painful, horrific death alongside their children trapped in a car, coming back from a religious conference.
http://blog.godreports.com/2012/02/pastor-and-family-killed-in-highway-pileup-in-florida/
The God business
Online Christian retailers sell everything from crosses to holy water blessed by father touchy feely. Even through the recession, these religious exploiters have managed to stay well above those who are closing their doors due to economic crisis.
We live in a world where people would rather buy a good luck charm and pray that it will bring them wealth and prosperity, then to out and actually gain the education that provides them with the opportunity to bypass the charm and go straight to the dealership or the real estate agent themselves.
This brings me to a quote that I absolutely love.
“Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer.”
In Conclusion
I believe that the only way to begin to put the pieces of such a broken world back together is for those who reside in truth to reveal that Santa does not exist to the rest of the world that is still searching for his sleigh among the planes in the sky.
Then and only then will we be able to unclasp our hands and begin the lengthy process of recovery and healing for a world that has been devastated by religious war, tyranny, death and genocide all in the name of god.
I will close this piece with my final scripture. I am hoping that through reading it, you’ll will start to see the dangers of religion all on your own.
“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.’ And ‘a man’s foes will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:34)
