I've been meaning to watch this since it was posted, and finally got the time. For most of the video, it was pretty much same thing I've seen/heard/read before: Churchgoing guy figures he can take down any atheist who challenges his faith, they have the answers to all his questions and counter-arguments to all his assertions, and he keeps changing the subject because everything he says to support his own position is almost instantly revealed as spectacularly weak. I suspect that this happens to people like him because they figure they've got God on their side, and then they suddenly find that God isn't actually helping them with this one.
But then, right at the end, something very surprising happened. It sounded as though the hostesses had actually made an impression on him. Somehow, it had gotten through to him that maybe, just maybe, the church and religion he so reveres does in fact have a few cracks in it. Kudos, of course, go to Tracie Harris and to Jen Peeples as well, for their eloquent and intelligent responses.
I really wish I could see what happened next at the caller's end. Maybe he thought about it for a bit and then shrugged it off; maybe it changed his life. Who knows? But even if the impression on him lasted only a few minutes, it was there for that brief moment. I'm going to remember this every time I hear someone say that it's pointless to try and argue religion with a believer, because they "can't be reasoned out of what they didn't reason themselves into" or whatever. Sometimes, a little applied logic and intellect really DOES have an effect!
I've been meaning to watch this since it was posted, and finally got the time. For most of the video, it was pretty much same thing I've seen/heard/read before: Churchgoing guy figures he can take down any atheist who challenges his faith, they have the answers to all his questions and counter-arguments to all his assertions, and he keeps changing the subject because everything he says to support his own position is almost instantly revealed as spectacularly weak. I suspect that this happens to people like him because they figure they've got God on their side, and then they suddenly find that God isn't actually helping them with this one.
But then, right at the end, something very surprising happened. It sounded as though the hostesses had actually made an impression on him. Somehow, it had gotten through to him that maybe, just maybe, the church and religion he so reveres does in fact have a few cracks in it. Kudos, of course, go to Tracie Harris and to Jen Peeples as well, for their eloquent and intelligent responses.
I really wish I could see what happened next at the caller's end. Maybe he thought about it for a bit and then shrugged it off; maybe it changed his life. Who knows? But even if the impression on him lasted only a few minutes, it was there for that brief moment. I'm going to remember this every time I hear someone say that it's pointless to try and argue religion with a believer, because they "can't be reasoned out of what they didn't reason themselves into" or whatever. Sometimes, a little applied logic and intellect really DOES have an effect!