Sunday, December 3, 2006

THERE IS A GOD

The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. (Psalm 14-1)

Ninety three million miles from the blistering surface of the sun hangs the planet Earth. A rotating sphere perfectly suspended in the center of the universe. The ultimate creation from an infinite mind. An unbelievably intricate complex design. A supernatural testimony, an irrefutable sign. That there is a God. The size, position and angle of the earth is a scientific phenomenon to see. A few degrees closer to the sun we'd disintegrate, a few degrees further we'd freeze. The axis of the earth is tilted at a perfect 23-degree angle and it's no mistake that it is. This allows equal global distribution to the rays of the sun making it possible for the food chain to exist.

Or take for example the combination of nitrogen and oxygen in atmosphere we breathe every day. It just happens to be the exact mixture that life needs to prosper, it doesn't happen on any other planet that way. You see, the Bible say the invisible things of God are clearly seen through His creation, to believe this is not hard. If there's a design, there's a designer, if there's a plan, there's a planner, and if there is a miracle, there is a God. There is a hope. There is a light. There is an answer to all answers. There is a flame that burns in the night. And I know, I know, I know there is a God. The scripture says the heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the work of His hands. If we allow our minds to drink in all the truth that just surrounds us, creation itself will help us understand. Did you know the moon controls the tides, it's the maid that cleans the oceans, and even the waves don't crash the shores in vain. The tides drag impurities into the depths of the sea, its nature's constant recycling chain. It simply boggles the mind to think that the stars will rotate with such exact precision that it's true.

The atomic clock with an error factor of less than three seconds per millennium is set by the way they move. Though they silently orbit, the sun, the moon, the stars are like celestial evangelists above whom circle the earth every 24+ hours shouting in every language that there is a God.

Atheism is the wedge under the foundation of our faith trying to topple our relationship with Christ. When the fool said in his heart, there is no God, he rejects the truth God painted on the canvas of the night. Atheism has never created an artistic masterpiece, never healed a fatal disease or calmed a fear. Atheism has never given answers to our existence; peace to a troubled mind or even dried a tear. For it is God who created heaven and earth and flung the stars in space and breathed in the handful of dirt and it became a man. It's God who sits on the circle of the earth and measures the mountains in a scale, and holds the seven seas in the palm of his hand. It's God who sent His only begotten Son to the cross of Calvary to save our souls from hell and the grave. It's God who creates, God who delivers, God who heals, and God who is worthy of a thunderous ovation of praise. There is hope. There is a light. There is an answer to all answers. There is a flame that burns in the night. And I know, I know, I know "There is a God!"

Submitted by Ben Vircant

Words were taken from the Carman CD

"R.I.O.T." R (righteous) I (invasion) O (of) T (Truth)

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

By Francis P. Church, first published in The New York Sun in 1897. [See The People’s Almanac, pp. 1358–9.]

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

Dear Editor—

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O’Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
About the Exchange

Francis P. Church’s editorial, “Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus” was an immediate sensation, and went on to became one of the most famous editorials ever written. It first appeared in the The New York Sun in 1897, almost a hundred years ago, and was reprinted annually until 1949 when the paper went out of business.

Thirty-six years after her letter was printed, Virginia O’Hanlon recalled the events that prompted her letter:

“Quite naturally I believed in Santa Claus, for he had never disappointed me. But when less fortunate little boys and girls said there wasn’t any Santa Claus, I was filled with doubts. I asked my father, and he was a little evasive on the subject.

“It was a habit in our family that whenever any doubts came up as to how to pronounce a word or some question of historical fact was in doubt, we wrote to the Question and Answer column in The Sun. Father would always say, ‘If you see it in the The Sun, it’s so,’ and that settled the matter.

“ ‘Well, I’m just going to write The Sun and find out the real truth,’ I said to father.

“He said, ‘Go ahead, Virginia. I’m sure The Sun will give you the right answer, as it always does.’ ”

And so Virginia sat down and wrote her parents’ favorite newspaper.

Her letter found its way into the hands of a veteran editor, Francis P. Church. Son of a Baptist minister, Church had covered the Civil War for The New York Times and had worked on the The New York Sun for 20 years, more recently as an anonymous editorial writer. Church, a sardonic man, had for his personal motto, “Endeavour to clear your mind of cant.” When controversal subjects had to be tackled on the editorial page, especially those dealing with theology, the assignments were usually given to Church.

Now, he had in his hands a little girl’s letter on a most controversial matter, and he was burdened with the responsibility of answering it.

“Is there a Santa Claus?” the childish scrawl in the letter asked. At once, Church knew that there was no avoiding the question. He must answer, and he must answer truthfully. And so he turned to his desk, and he began his reply which was to become one of the most memorable editorials in newspaper history.

Church married shortly after the editorial appeared. He died in April, 1906, leaving no children.

Virginia O’Hanlon went on to graduate from Hunter College with a Bachelor of Arts degree at age 21. The following year she received her Master’s from Columbia, and in 1912 she began teaching in the New York City school system, later becoming a principal. After 47 years, she retired as an educator. Throughout her life she received a steady stream of mail about her Santa Claus letter, and to each reply she attached an attractive printed copy of the Church editorial. Virginia O’Hanlon Douglas died on May 13, 1971, at the age of 81, in a nursing home in Valatie, N.Y.