pelin

So I am bothered by something. It began as a question posed by my 5 year old on our way to school this past week. He had asked: Mommy, who made god?

I didnt know how quite to respond so I asked him: Who do you think made god? His reply after some contemplation was: I think Santa Claus made god.

I thought about it and told him: That could be.

So it got me to thinking, how different really is the belief in God versus the belief in Santa Claus. Well you might say, of course Santa is imaginary, completely fictional, possibly even the brainchild of some capitalist bastard to increase toy sales over a particularly slow business quarter. There is no magic behind Santa Claus except for a childs short-lived belief in his existence. Santa is a manifestation by our society to bolster some sort of giving spirit that we apparently lack the ability to display throughout the remainder of the year. And all the while adding another weapon to a parents disciplinary arsenal by perpetuating the fear in children that they better be good for goodness sakes or suffer the consequences of being put on Santas Naughty list.

So what is so different about our belief in God then? God is supposedly this all-knowing, all-knowledgeable being that dictates mans moral and ethical codes aka our behavior. The belief is that we will be rewarded for being good and doing good deeds onto others. By following this Christian code of ethics (i.e. commandments), we are saved from an eternal damnation or what would be one helluva lump of coal.

So when you break it down, both are beliefs in something that we can not prove really exists. So back to what is eating my craw. If we know rationally that Santa Claus doesnt have his ass plopped up at the North Pole, how do we know that god is the creator of this universe and is some sort of all knowledgeable being that rewards the good and punishes the evil?

If you can rationally say without a doubt that Santa does NOT exist, how can you say that god does? I think it comes down to this.

Are you in a universe which is ruled by natural laws and, therefore, is stable, firm, absolute - and knowable? Or are you in an incomprehensible chaos, a realm of inexplicable miracles, an unpredictable, unknowable flux, which your mind is impotent to grasp?

So what side of the fence do you fall on? Pelin chooses the rational side. I believe we do not have to wait for the grave to find heaven and greatness. I believe it should be ours here and now on this earth.