- ji on Was Jesus Married? Where Was He Born? The Restored Gospel and the Quest for the Historical Jesus: “I am satisfied to accept the story as it is given. As you say, it is an incredibly moving story. The “theologians” among the Latter-day Saints in Deseret had a great many ideas which I might charitably think of as “innovations,” essentially all of which were for the purpose of justifying polygamy. I think essentially all of those innovations were human thoughts with zero benefit from revelation, and I reject them all. I think the description in 2 Timothy 4:3 applies to essentially all of these Deseret theological innovations. These speculative theologians, as you style them, were good people. I hope many of them may yet qualify for a celestial reward, so I do not condemn them — I just choose not to accept their speculative innovations. I am satisfied to accept the story as given.” Dec 26, 07:30
- on Bah Humbug: Why We Don’t Do Santa: “I have a son on the autism spectrum and Santa was never an issue for him. But while we enjoyed the myth, we didn’t go overboard. We didn’t take the kids to sit on Santa’s lap (unless we happened to be at a party where that was occurring), we didn’t tell the kids that they had to be good or Santa wouldn’t bring them presents, we didn’t leave out milk and cookies, etc. At the point when each child started naturally questioning, we didn’t prolong things or try particularly hard to keep them believing. I usually put it back to them: “What do you think?” At point when I could tell my daughter knew he wasn’t real but desperately wanted to keep believing, I told her, “If you really want to know the whole real story, I will tell you. But you have to be sure you want to know.” She replied that she didn’t think she was ready. We had this conversation several times over a year’s time and finally she said yes, she really wanted to know the whole truth, and I told her. My view of this is very similar to what Carey F. shared. I also think that believing in mythical creatures is a very normal developmental thing for children, particularly young ones, and I’d even go as far as to say it’s a *good* thing. I also think it’s important for children to hear fairy tales and other such stories, which are actually deep stories that speak to them and teach truths on an inner level. I think they outgrow these stories when they are ready. I personally think that to deprive children of these rich and imaginative experiences is to their detriment. (I’m not saying that Santa in particular has to be specifically part of those experiences…) As far as organs, there are a number of LDS chapels that have pipe organs and even some that look somewhat like the one in the picture. What gives away the fakeness of the one pictured is that it has three keyboards.” Dec 25, 21:58
- on Bah Humbug: Why We Don’t Do Santa: “Oh, so I suppose it was my parents who punched Arius during the Council of Nicaea, huh?” Dec 25, 18:35
- on Bah Humbug: Why We Don’t Do Santa: “Perhaps this does a good job of “threading the needle”—or perhaps not. That’s for each individual [parent] to decide. I’ll hasten to add that I’m not a parent [and likely never will be in this life], so it’s not a dilemma I’ll ever have to confront. Whatever your view, for your reading pleasure, I give you … https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/12/24/yes-virginia-there-is-a-santa-claus-11/ Merry Christmas, everyone.” Dec 25, 14:07
- on A Christmas Gift for the Restoration: A Beginner’s Guide to B. H. Roberts: “True… but it wasn’t beloved by me, and I was thinking more about theology when I was working on this. That’s a miss on my part, Kent. I guess we’ll leave that one to Ardis unless I get around to a second edition (https://a.co/d/aYtEkTT)” Dec 24, 21:14
- on A Christmas Gift for the Restoration: A Beginner’s Guide to B. H. Roberts: “Uh, no fiction excerpts??? Roberts wrote one of the most enduring works of LDS fiction, which was adapted over and over again.” Dec 24, 21:06
- on Bah Humbug: Why We Don’t Do Santa: “I think the picture is AI because although Santa has all five fingers, there is something wrong with the fingers on that guy sitting on the stand. They are interlaced, but he has two fingers where one should be. Zoom in and you can see it. As for all the other AI proof, well, it could be a fireside for stake presidents and their wives, which would explain the enthusiasm of sitting on the first row. But it for SURE isn’t Sacrament meeting because it is all adults of about bishopric and stake presidency age. And there are a few very old buildings that do have pipe organs, my husband knows of one in Austria if it still exists. We did Santa with the explanation that, yes, it is pretend and pretend can be fun, so don’t ruin it for others. But thinking back, my parents did the same, only my autism spectrum brother didn’t understand “pretend” and was disillusioned at 12. And I suppose that my children were the same with their children, but one granddaughter was disillusioned at 11 when her parents had to sit her down and explain, but I swear that kid is also on the autism spectrum. It runs in my family, and even if her parents refuse to get her tested, I have a degree in psychology and she has the symptoms. So, even being clear that it is a game can still leave children who have learning/social disabilities confused. But stating angrily that the pretend is a “lie” is also morally reprehensible because it isn’t a “lie” unless it is presented as truth, and most parents give hints that it is a game, and the pretend nature of the whole thing is pretty obvious after you live a normal life, unless the person has a problem picking up social clues, like autistic kids do. I mean, you see it in movies and there is a Santa in every store who is obviously a guy in costume, so unless the kids are clueless most kids catch on. My autistic daughter was not slow realizing that Santa in no more real than the Grinch. Well, at my house he was always more real than Santa, cause we didn’t say Grinch was pretend.” Dec 24, 12:42
- on A Christmas Gift for the Restoration: A Beginner’s Guide to B. H. Roberts: “Yay! Kindred Spirits” Dec 24, 09:16
- on A Christmas Gift for the Restoration: A Beginner’s Guide to B. H. Roberts: “Thanks Chad! Merry Christmas. Started my first ever B. H. Roberts read and I think we are kindred spirits.” Dec 24, 08:26
- on Bah Humbug: Why We Don’t Do Santa: “‘Santa’ always filled a stocking at our house but there was never an illusion of Santa being anyone other than the parents for much the same reasons as the OP. We did ‘Santa crawls’ – like a pub crawl but getting to as many department store Santas as possible in one day – and so onto make sure it was clear. But there’s a downside – if no one ever believes there’s no obvious cut off and so we’re still doing stockings for anyone at our house on Christmas Eve ?” Dec 23, 19:49
