imagine we are both little kids and I come rushing over and tell you that I just found out, there is no Santa Claus?
What do you think the scene would be as I explained that I saw Mom and Pop placing the toys under the tree?
The five stages of loss are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

So you would tell me you don’t believe it, it can not be. What? Was there a worldwide conspiracy to trick kids into believing in Santa? What purpose would it solve? Besides, you personally saw Santa riding his sled in the sky. Or was that just a movie?
Then you might argue with me, telling me that you will not be my friend anymore.
Then you will bargain. You might say well, there is still a Santa but because you were bad, your parents had to buy your toys.
Then you would mope as you started to figure all these things out for yourself. The little slip ups and indicators that told you I was right.
Finally, you accept it.
Now you might say why on earth would I tell you something like that and your questioning is right but when you are friends with someone, you tell them everything.
I remember visiting my father in the bank (He was head of security) He was speaking to a woman he knew and she had her granddaughter with her. I had my daughter. The lady turned to my daughter and asked something like, “Are you looking forward to Santa’s visit”? In which my daughter replied, “There is no Santa, daddy buys my presents”. Well, the lady turned blue and whisked her granddaughter away while giving us a look as to say, What kind of demon daughter do you have?

The truth has that kind of effect on people. I never told her that there was a Santa because I did not want her to think I was lying about God.

Let’s face it, we tell our children about Santa, the Easter Bunny, the tooth fairy and God. One by one they are discovered so what will the conclusion on God be?

When I was aa boy I was baptized Protestant as my Pop was. When school time came I was baptized Catholic as my mom was and it was the best school. Neither parents went to Church.

If the public schools were better, I might have been of the Reformed faith but I adopted Catholicism.

As the years went by someone told me that the Catholic Church was all wrong. He said you don’t go to heaven by being good. He said, Jesus is not in those wafers and Mary was the mother of Jesus the man, not the God part.

I went through the five stages. I first denied what he had told me. Then I was angry at him , I started bargaining with him by many what if’s and how then and so on.I became depressed. My family is Catholic. How can I possibly, no longer believe? But then came acceptance. I accepted the fact that God became a man and paid the price for my sin on the cross. With acceptance came one more step, proving that what I believe is true.

So I studied the Bible for myself and learned so much such as God said, he who searches for me with all his heart will find me. That was quite a difference from an hour on Sunday and out the door.

There are so many religions so there has to be a way to find the right belief system. All can not be right especially when they contradict each other. How do we know there is a God? It is something that we know instinctively and by looking at the wonders of creation we have physical proof of a creator. We then have the Bible written by many authors at different times in different places yet all 66 books of the Bible, agree. We have over 2000 prophecies that have been fulfilled. We have the Prophets and we have Jesus.

Jesus said, “Joh_14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. ” That eliminates so many who do not believe in Jesus as the son of God who was God.

I could go on but the closest thing to Christianity is Catholicism but it is so far off it fails also. Mary is not the mother of God nor a co redemptrix. We can not pray to her or “Saints”. Saints are all believers not those who a pope said were saints. That goes on and on.

So don’t get mad when I reveal the truth and if you want to believe what you believe, go right ahead. My way gets you eternal life. Yours gets you the opposite.