Friday, July 17, 2009

Day 4: Second Base

Presumptuous questions are often awkward. What church do you go to? Some relatives asked this to my wife. Surprisingly, this was the first time they had met anyone that did not go to church. I would place the couple between 45 and 50 years of age. They never asked why we didn't go to church.
On another occurrence, a couple of adolescents dressed in suits approached my son (16) and his friend with a question. Do you want to experience to love of God? Again, presumptuous. People are already sliding into second base when they haven't actually tagged first base with their foot. How about establishing if there is a god first, or even asking if the person believes in a god or gods? Then go from there. Since they both openly admitted that they had no theistic beliefs, the conversation ended. The mother of my son's friend, who learned of the encounter through inquiry, strongly disapproved of him admitting his disbelief.

1 comment:

  1. Every atheist knows in his heart that God exists, and blah blah blah.

    Many theists automatically assume that everybody believes, because to them it is absolutely ludicrous that the god that has "revealed himself to them" isn't as evident to everybody else. Of course, we know that "personal experience" isn't always equal to truth, so we don't fall for that cheap trick.

    Since they both openly admitted that they had no theistic beliefs, the conversation ended.

    It seems that the only goal these people have is winning souls for their god, rather than forge friendships based on reality and mutual understanding.

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