Hi there NATHAN J...

Personally I don't have any truck with people who believe or disbelieve in God. Whether it's Christmas, Easter, or any other time, it's their business entirely.

On the question of the existence of God, most of my young life I was a casual believer, and a Christian. Then I joined the Oz Military and was soon sent away to fight in a war we had no right in prosecuting. I very soon learned the sorrowful truth concerning his (Gods) existence.

I have incontrovertible proof of his non-existence. For any God who claimed to love us, who idly stood by, and who would allow us paltry human beings to slaughter, bring down such havoc and misery upon one another, must be mightily misguided, downright ill-advised or labouring under some sort of defect of the mind.

But at times like Christmas, Easter and other notable times in the Christian Calendar I believe we should live and let live irrespective of our personal beliefs. Therefore I see nothing wrong in bringing children some well deserved happiness, in an increasingly tough ol' world, if all that is needed is to celebrate a myth.

I was talking to the Easter Bunny and he told me Santa was all crap! When I can confirm that with the Tooth Fairy, I'll let you know for sure.

The woeful lack of imagination in the modern generations has given us the internet.
Long may their imaginations thus stagnate.

o sung wu,

I would like to believe that the Christian God exists but, in my lifetime, I haven't had any experience or feelings that indicate that he does. Like you, I don't differentiate between dogmatic believers or non-believers.

However, any "war we had no right in prosecuting" is fairly and squarely down to mortals, and I'm not sure what God - if he exists - could do about it. Neither am I sure that he would want to interfere. The advice about what happens if we don't live a Christian life has been around for 2,000 years. All the bad things that happen are down to us humans.

God or no God, Jesus Christ was real, and I believe that if we had all abided by his teachings, life and society would be much better than it is today.

Most kids when they discover the truth about Santa
realize it's part of growing up and any emotional
upset is extremely short-lived. It does no harm in
letting kids have a fantasy. We indulge them in
reading Harry Potter books, dressing them up for
Halloween, taking them to see "Frozen" we're always
inviting children into fantasy worlds. It stimulates
imagination and creativity.

Anybody remember the film - "Miracle on 34th Street?"
It still works today.

Dear O Sung Wu,

I can understand your feelings about God and
questioning His existence after what you
must have seen and experienced in war.
For me having gone through several difficult
times health-wise - made me turn to God and
as a result brought me calmness and peace.
I would have found having to cope without God
in my life very difficult during those times.

I guess each of us deals with things in different
ways.