“I know the Tooth Fairy is real, because when I put my tooth under my pillow at night, I wake up the next day and there’s a quarter.”

“But were you awake in the night to see who traded your tooth for money?”

“No.”

“Then how do you know?”

“Because I asked my parents, and they told me so.”

oh.  

“I know Santa Claus is real, because I go to bed on Christmas Eve and when I wake up the next morning there’s all these presents under the tree and the tag says ‘from Santa’.”

“But were you awake in the night to see a bearded man in a red suit putting presents under the tree?”

“No.”

“Then how do you know?”

“Because I asked my parents, and they told me so.”

oh.  

“I know the Easter Bunny is real, because when I get up on Easter morning, there are eggs hidden all over the house.”

“But were you awake in the night to see an Easter Bunny hiding eggs in the yard?”

“No.”

“Then how do you know?”

“Because I asked my parents, and they told me so.”

oh.

“I know Jesus is real because …. ”

“Because why?”

“umm… because they told me so.”

Don’t take someone else’s word for it.  Jesus is not real, there is no evidence; there’s just a bunch of made-up stories to explain the world for simple-minded people to understand.   Now that you’ve grown up and have the capacity for learning and research and critical thought, it is time to let go of the fairy tales.

There is no Great Physician, just modern medical science and technology; they do the best they can, they aren’t always perfect, and sometimes they fail to save a person who is dying.  That doesn’t mean medical science is wrong or bad; it just means there are more questions to explore.   There is no place called heaven to go meet loved ones who already died.

I feel sad for people who get excited about going to a placed called Heaven instead of relishing their lives here in this world.  This is the only world for us to live in.  It is harsh and cruel, and was not created for our care.  We have adapted to survive in it, and we have created cooperative societies to sustain our species.  This is all there is that we can be sure of.  Those who look forward to going to some imaginary “better place” are truly to be pitied for their inability to accept reality on reality’s terms.