Frankly Answered Questions - FAQs

How can you question the legend of the candy cane?!

Q: I was searching for information regarding the meaning behind candy canes and ran across a link to your site about the legend of the candy cane. Your notion that there is no meaning behind the candy cane amazed me. Your explanation provides absolutely no evidence that a candy manufacturer in Indiana did not design the modern candy cane. Do you really think that the stripes on the candy cane are a coincidence? Did you know that Mr. McCormack's brother-in-law was a priest and the one responsible for automating the manufacture of candy canes? Maybe Mr. McCormack or his brother-in-law designed the modern candy cane with its repudiated meaning. What's wrong with people believing in the candy cane legend? Is it so bad that a person might reflect on Jesus and his sacrifice for us every time they see a candy cane? I'm disappointed that you would spend time on such an issue, and even more disappointed that you would make such a notion without any evidence.

A: All I am interested in doing is separating fact from fiction. I LIKE the story of the candy cane, but let's tell it as a story unless we can prove it as a fact.

The burden of proof is not on me. That's not the way evidence works. The burden is on someone to show me ANY evidence that there was a candy cane maker in Indiana. I've looked and asked for many Christmases and NO ONE has been able to give me a name, a date, or a specific location where this was supposed to have happened.

You see, I talk to non-Christian people all the time who think Christians are a bunch of loonies, because we gullibly believe anything (especially urban legends it seems) and then we turn around and promote fiction for fact. For non-Christian people this calls into question our most important message, the greatest fact of all: Jesus lives, Jesus died for our sins, Jesus rose, Jesus is coming again.

If we can't get the details right about minor things, how can people outside the Christian faith believe the most major thing of all (1 Corinthians 14:8)? Because of this I will always have a passion for getting the facts straight, even if it disturbs the comfortable imaginations of some Christians. If you want myths, become a Hindu! Hinduism is not concerned about historical fact. But Christianity is not about cleverly invented stories (2 Peter 1:16). It's about a real God, who sent His Son in time and space, who really died for sin, and really rose from the dead! So this web site will always be dedicated to sorting out truth from fiction.