Kansas Christian Daryl Jones was among the chosen few to be interviewed for a newspaper story about how the COVID crisis is deepening people’s faith.

No one told him that at most, he’s only supposed to quietly think that believing in God is like believing in Santa. Since Daryl didn’t get that memo, we all get to enjoy his honest thoughts on the topic.

Daryl Jones, a member of Heart of Christ and a self-described preacher’s kid, thinks of the pandemic as a test. “I believe this is a test of my faith — or of our faith,” he said. “At all costs, I will choose faith over fear.” That’s even though a Chicago cousin of his died from the coronavirus, and his brother-in-law is in the hospital following a stroke. Jones likens his faith in God to his belief as a child on Christmas. He never doubted that he would wake up to presents.

Uh-oh. Wait till fellow believers like Andy Bannister hear about this. Bannister, the director of the Solas Centre for Public Christianity, wrote a piece a few years ago about how tired he is of “smug atheists” likening his totally real God to the fictional Kris Kringle.

It’s much easier to ridicule the whole thing and pretend it’s not true,

… Bannister fumed.

At that point [you’re] not behaving like an adult, [but] like a child!

Margaret Wieland, writing for Creation Magazine, also rejected the scandalous comparison, and she can prove her case because she

… know[s] the truth about God from the only totally truthful source on this entire planet — the Word of God, aka the Bible.

That’s more or less where Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. came from, too, when he wrote in The Banner last year that

Santa Claus in his current incarnation is only a mythical figure… while God is an actual being. Unbelievers dispute this claim, but that has no bearing on its truth. God’s existence is attested by the witness of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, by Scripture, by the life and teachings of Christ, and by the testimony of saints and martyrs who have sung and prayed while their enemies set them on fire.

Ah, yes — the old “We know the Bible is true because the Bible says so” approach. And far be it from me to minimize the plight of those tortured or executed for their beliefs (a knife that cut both ways), but it seems to me that praying is pretty much all that Christians could do at that point.

Oh, and when tens of thousands of alleged heretics were put on the rack or burned at the stake by God-fearing believers, and the victims still didn’t cry out to the Almighty or confess their wickedness, is that conclusive evidence to Mr. Plantinga that atheists are correct that there is no God? I’d assume not. Then why would anyone believe his claim when he employs the same logic?

In any case, it sounds like poor Daryl Jones is going to have to return his Christianity card.

(Image via Shutterstock)

