I was watching a video from Jonathan Pageau, an Eastern Orthodox YouTube philosopher of sorts, titled, "Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy Exist." In it he is trying to make the point that Atheists often use Santa and Tooth Fairy to argue against the existence of God. He tries to argue that these "spirits" do actually exist in a manner of speaking, and goes on this philosophical rant, perhaps to appeal to people who present this type of anti-religious argument. The video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXnef2Ltklg
My response to Jonathan is this:
Your idols that can neither hear, nor see, nor walk... No, Santa Clause is an idol that people make believe is seeing, hearing and walking. You can't philosophize him into being by saying the guy in the suit IS Santa Clause simply because he acts the part. Santa only exists as a construct of human imagination. He exists in people's minds and they act that out. That is the difference between God and Santa. God DOES exist and it can be proven when you experience Him personally as, for example, a response to prayer or the moving of His Spirit. Santa's "spirit" is moved by men and resides in the heart of men, manifesting from the human heart as an image (yet Santa is not an actual spirit like demons, for instance, who are disembodied souls). Don't confuse the "spirit" of an idea with an actual spirit. In contrast to Santa's spirit being moved by men, God is moved by no one. He manifested His heart in His Son, His Eikon, His Logos, who is very real and descends, extends and exists apart from God the Father. Man imposes himself on the idea, or "spirit" of Santa. God exposes Himself to man through His Son and His Spirit. Big difference. So when God says in Scripture that the Israelites were bowing to idols that can neither hear, nor see, nor walk, He is acknowledging they exist only in the minds of men. They are illusions just as Santa is, even delusions. Here is the heart of idolatry. It begins in the human heart and serves only a humanist purpose, especially if we try to impose that idea on God (golden calf - feast day unto Yahweh...). That is why anything that arises out the human heart is filthy rags to God. Only thoughts and actions which are led by His Spirit are just, worthy and good.
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