Theists, is MDB a hostile environment?

[_MrStakhanovite]

Santa Claus is immortal and brings about his purposes with the aid of unearthly mythological servants--- God is immortal and works through unearthly mythological servants

Santa Claus keeps a list of who has been naughty or nice then rewards them accordingly--- so does God.

Children and adults alike leave out cookies and milk and various other items depending on culture and tradition to please Santa
Santa Claus on a specific night--- God's favor was also gained by placing lambs blood outside your door on a certain night.


In order to bring about his purposes Santa Claus relies on magic and miracles----So does God

Santa Claus and God are both bearded men.

This is precisely what I’m talking about. Those parallels are terrible, and no Christian would ever identify with them, and will be convinced that you know absolutely dick about their faith.

If that’s what you seek to achieve, by trying to mock what very few people believe, then rock on.

[_Ceeboo]

It is very common for TBMs to use non-concrete, flowery terminology when they refer to their 'spiritual experience'. Something that obscures and makes pinpointing what they claim an impossibility. For examples, consider these:

"When I did that, the Spirit made a decisive entrance into my study of the [Book of Mormon], and into my life, And the unprecedented spiritual lift and understanding that came to me through that experience has stayed with me ever since."

"a mixture of intellectual analysis, empirical evidence, and what many would call flashes of intuition. (With my fellow Latter-day Saints, I would term these personal revelations.)"

"[I] read the Book of Mormon all the way through, reflect[ed] upon what I was reading, and then pray[ed] about it. I experienced a deep feeling of peace, which remains the ground for my testimony of the Book of Mormon to this very day."

Those are examples, Ceeboo, of what I mean.

Understood.

Much obliged!

Peace,
Ceeboo

[_reuigen verrater]

Santa Claus is immortal and brings about his purposes with the aid of unearthly mythological servants--- God is immortal and works through unearthly mythological servants

Santa Claus keeps a list of who has been naughty or nice then rewards them accordingly--- so does God.

Children and adults alike leave out cookies and milk and various other items depending on culture and tradition to please Santa
Santa Claus on a specific night--- God's favor was also gained by placing lambs blood outside your door on a certain night.


In order to bring about his purposes Santa Claus relies on magic and miracles----So does God

Santa Claus and God are both bearded men.

This is precisely what I’m talking about. Those parallels are terrible, and no Christian would ever identify with them, and will be convinced that you know absolutely dick about their faith.

If that’s what you seek to achieve, by trying to mock what very few people believe, then rock on.

Yes those parallels are just as horrendous as your Christian mode parallels. It was not a serious attempt nor do I think it is adequate to compare Jesus to Santa. To be fair though... very few Christians will identify with their God as a moral monster though the source for this conclusion is contained in their own holy writ. So when some Christians take offense to my classification of God as being a moral monster rather than the ultimate source of morality and conclude i don't know dick about their faith... I suppose I'll just have to shrug and conclude they don't know God from Santa.

[_Ceeboo]

Hey reuigen,

To be fair though... very few Christians will identify with their God as a moral monster though the source for this conclusion is contained in their own holy writ. So when some Christians take offense to my classification of God as being a moral monster rather than the ultimate source of morality and conclude i don't know dick about their faith... I suppose I'll just have to shrug and conclude they don't know God from Santa.

As I was going to reply to you, I noticed there weren't any question marks used in you post. (Sorry)

Peace,
Ceeboo

[_MrStakhanovite]

Yes those parallels are just as horrendous as your Christian mode parallels.

Uh…..No. What I said about God, almost any informed Christian would identify with. Yours on the other hand, they would not. For example:

Santa Claus keeps a list of who has been naughty or nice then rewards them accordingly--- so does God.

God does not reward based on merit in Christianity. That may be the case in Mormonism, but all major denominations I know of, from the Eastern Orthodox, to the Roman Catholic Church, to Dutch Reform and Baptists, only God’s grace is a gift you don’t deserve based on merit, that is why it’s called grace. The Monergism/Synergism debate make argue over how that grace is given, but it is not something that is earned.

Again, if you can’t tell the difference between kids leaving cookies and milk out for Santa, and God’s grace in Christianity, you are either unfamiliar with Santa, or are unfamiliar with Christianity.

Children and adults alike leave out cookies and milk and various other items depending on culture and tradition to please Santa
Santa Claus on a specific night--- God's favor was also gained by placing lambs blood outside your door on a certain night.

Huh? The Passover lamb wasn’t something to gain favor, it was a solemn meal and the blood was a sign so God would Passover the house when slaying Egyptian firstborn.

Do children leave out milk so Santa knows not to kill them in their sleep? I mean, where the heck are you getting this stuff?

[_Yoda]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSQczYEeB2w

[_reuigen verrater]

Uh…..No. What I said about God, almost any informed Christian would identify with. Yours on the other hand, they would not.

Yes kids that believe in Santa's real existence mainly identify with him as being a very fat man with sustained diabetes.

... oh wait they don't...

My parallels were not meant to be a serious correlation between God and Santa. I wouldn't expect a Christian to identify with those parallels.

[_sock puppet]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSQczYEeB2w

I've only seen about 10 episodes (face in hat translation, tom cruise coming out of the closet, Bono being #2 among them). I did not remember the swearing as much as there is in this clip.

But this is funny.

[_MrStakhanovite]

My parallels were not meant to be a serious correlation between God and Santa. I wouldn't expect a Christian to identify with those parallels.

Then why even post them?

[_reuigen verrater]

Because I can't identify with a Santa Claus with type two diabetes.