Eve Moran
Eve Moran
Jul 20, 2017 · 2 min read

“BUT — and this I ask you personally, because it’s a response to your statement, if, as you suggest, “experimental data is experimental data, whether you use it as a physicist or as a child,” then what if (and this is common) A) a child (as many do) learns to pray as a child and through prayer experiences the reality of God. He has collected experimental data (prayers/answered prayers), and so has sufficiently demonstrated that God is real. Then B) the same child at 18 attends his first college philosophy class, where he is told there is no God, and given a dozen philosophical proofs to show that, logically, God can’t be real. He is told to doubt the results of his experimental data because the science world-story and the philosophy/logic world-story say God doesn’t exist. What should the kid do? Believe the results of his own experiments and experience? Or accept the testimony of science and philosophy?”

Ok, you say the child learns to pray and he experiences the reality of God. Someone told him about God and gave him the tool prayer to access God. You don’t give much detail other than that.

My children experience the reality of Santa Claus every year. Their experimental data is exactly the same: they ask Santa for stuff and Santa delivers.

My grandmother actually had a terrible experience with that. She was raised in a somewhat wealthy family in the South and they had servants. Part of their Christmas tradition was to have breakfast in the dining room with the doors closed. On the other side of the door, the servants prepared the tree and presents, with lots of sounds. Then the doors would be thrown open and ta da! Santa came!

This was so compelling that she believed in Santa long after her peers. She was alienated for her faith, teased and belittled.

You say what should the kid do? I am raising children now.

My parents remember my sister and I, sitting in the back seat of the car, working out our local theology. We knew Santa wasn’t real because we had found where my parents had hidden the gifts. We weren’t sure about the Easter Bunny yet.

I would like to point out that the stories I gave you are as true as I can make them. We do celebrate Christmas and Easter. My children seem to believe Santa and the Easter Bunny are real. They believe because they trust me. And I am lying to them.

Now I would like to know: was the story you told me true? Was there really a boy who knew God existed who was challenged by a philosophy professor out to murder the faith of any student he taught?

)

    Eve Moran

    Written by

    Eve Moran

    A Texan living in California. 2 kids, 2 cats, 4 chickens and a strong suspicion that most people are good.