Santa Persona vs. God Persona… 😵

At what point do children stop believing in Santa (the actual person, not the sentiment/idea)?  I’d guess maybe around 10 years old, though kids are different today than they were back in my childhood days.  We were still pretty “innocent minded” back in the ‘50s, when I was 10ish.  

Regarding the Santa persona, ideas in children eventually crop up like:

  • “How does Santa and his reindeer fly all around the world in one night?” 
  • “Why is Santa on every street corner during Christmastime, ringing a bell and asking for money?” 
  • “How does Santa eat all those cookies and drink all that milk that children leave him and not get sick?” 
  • “How does fat Santa get down and back up a chimney without getting stuck?”
  • “How do all those presents fit in Santa’s sleigh?”
  • “Why is there a sales tag on that present Santa left me under the tree?” 😮
  • “Etc.”

Yes, curious questions like these are bound to happen for the savvy/thinking kid.  At some point, incredulity sets in.  Or, at least it should, if they are (I’ll call it) “normal.”

Now let’s do an interesting comparison.  (I’m braced for impact, so let me have it.)

I think most people in the world, or at least in my neck of the woods (the U.S.), even many here on this blog, believe in God the Omni (granted, Gods vary with religions, but the “omni-idea” seems to apply across the board).

Like Santa, people have only read about their God in books; seen pictures of “Him” by way of His Son, Jesus; know that God is good, loving, well-wishing; etc., etc., and etc.  In other words, like Santa, it’s all hearsay with no categorical, first-hand proof of the God Persona; just so-called "circumstantial evidence."

But the hearsay has taken hold… in spades.  It’s taught from birth to death, passed down from generation to generation, pretty much with no or few questions asked, and by only those who dare.

So, in that way, I actually can’t help but compare the inconsistency of the child’s eventual “Santa conundrum resolution” (rejection) versus the adult’s eventual "God conundrum resolution” (acceptance).  I think there’s something fantastically incongruent/non-sequitur going on there.  What is it?

Q1: Like kids and Santa, shouldn't there come a point in life where God is, at minimum, questioned? Yes/No/IDK/Other

Q2: After review of the vastly missing evidence, and God is still accepted, what does that say about the believing person?  Hope-related, fear-related, I give up-related (i.e., too much work to pursue the conundrum), Other-related?

I ask in all sincerity.  What’s going on between the “no longer accepting of Santa,” but “still accepting of God" situation?”  Help me understand this.  It's fine (with me) to believe in [your] God, I just want to know the "why" of it.  Give as much detail as you can.

(by PrimalSoup)


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