I took that test with utmost sincerity as a young man. That's when the clarity I now enjoy really started to blossom and the shackles of a false God and the fictional infrastructure which supports it came crashing down. I never met a religious person who could argue their way out of a paper bag on the issue. My favorite is Billy Graham who relates the story of a non-believing student who started hurling bad language at Billy just before Billy was leaving to catch a plane. The troubled young man asked Billy why he should believe in his God and the answer came to Billy. This was on national television, this is Billy Grahams strongest case for Christianity and he loves to tell this story:
Billy: "If I told you there was a 50% chance the plane I was going to get on was going to crash would you get on it?"
Kid: "Why, no!"
Billy: "What about a 10% chance?"
Kid: "No way!"
Billy: "Well, if there is even a 1% chance that I am wrong about Jesus being the savior of man why would you forfit the chance for eternal life and risk eternal suffering?"
Kid: Duh... dat sounds logical, doh!
What if David Koresh asked you that question? What if Jim Jones or Jim Baker asked you that question? What if Charles Manson asked you that question? What if a Satan worshiper asked you that question? What if I collected 99 more plausible religious arguments. There would be a 1% chance that each of those would be true, too, using Billy's, ah, logic. That's when I realized that Billy Graham was about as bright as a burned out lightbulb. Then again, there are no practical arguments, only absurdities. |
