Listening to some of the "Best of Bob Dutko" this weekend I couldn't help but laugh. He spent a long time talking with callers about the second coming of Jesus and the logistics of it. The Bible says that everyone will see him coming in the clouds of glory. Does this mean Jesus will use television and other man made technology, or will he not have any use for our the technology of us pathetic mortals.
Bob grilled his callers. A caller would say something like "Jesus has no need for mere human devices. He'll come and everyone will see." "But," Bob would respond "the earth has curvature. If he flies over Detroit, people in California can't see. They can't see clouds in Detroit." Bob would jump on these callers and their inconsistency.
Bob offered his own solution. Jesus will use some sort of refractory abilities so that everyone can simultaneously see his appearance in the clouds.
I wondered to myself, what if a foreigner, say perhaps a Chinese immigrant, was passing through Detroit listening. It must sound like seemingly intelligent people having a serious conversation about how Santa Clause manages to get up and down all those chimneys on Christmas Eve. People explaining and arguing about it. How does the tooth fairy manage to sneak into the bedroom and replace those teeth with money undetected? Grown men, the type of people you interact with every day in board meetings and design reviews arguing about the logistics of Santa and the tooth fairy. How bizarre it must sound to their ears.
A girl I'd met recounted her experience leaving the Catholic faith. She said that she had a roommate in college from China. One time they had a very brief conversation about religion. The girl explained that she believed in Jesus and how he died and rose from the dead for our sins. The Chinese girl said one word in response. "Seriously!?!" And that was it. They never discussed it again, but the Catholic girl for the first time stepped into the shoes of an outsider and started to see how bizarre it must sound to the ears of those not indoctrinated with it. And her faith crumbled.
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"The Chinese girl said one word in response. "Seriously!?!" And that was it. They never discussed it again, but the Catholic girl for the first time stepped into the shoes of an outsider and started to see how bizarre it must sound to the ears of those not indoctrinated with it. And her faith crumbled."
Am I supposed to believe that this girl had a strong faith to begin with, that it would crumble because someone else saw it as bizarre? Seriously?? Whether or not something appears to be amazing or even bizarre is not a logical basis for rejecting it. The question, "is it true", followed by a serious effort to engage the best arguments for and against whatever the matter might be -- that's a sensible reason to accept or rejecta proposition, not whether or not it sounds preposterous to someone else.
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