DON’T CONFUSE ME WITH FACTS; I HAVE ALREADY MADE UP MY MIND!
I thought I was having a cordial conversation with a young man I had recently met. During our exchange, he revealed to me, that he was a Christian. Out of curiosity, I asked where he attended church.
His boastful response was, “I’m into Jesus; I’m just not into church. I worship God all day long, every day; I am constantly praising God and talking to Jesus. I don't have to go to church to worship God.”
This kind of mindless drivel is akin to another hackneyed phrase that I have often heard - "I don't have to go to church to be a Christian."
I don’t generally go out looking for a doctrinal fight on purpose. And it has been a long time since I engaged in an intellectual debate with an unarmed man. BUT I just couldn’t help myself on this one. I jumped headlong into it.
The actual content of the conversation is irrelevant here, except to make this general observation -- His entire attitude and his arguments clearly demonstrated a rejection of the sovereign authority of the Word of God.
When I answered one of his objections with scripture, his response was, “I disagree.”
So I reminded him that my arguments were not my own inventions, ideas, or opinions but they were, in fact, scriptural and that his disagreement was not with me but with God’s Word.
That’s when he employed the classic, inane, non-argument. He said, “SHOW ME IN THE BIBLE WHERE IT SAYS I HAVE TO…………..” .
You can fill in the blank on this one; it doesn’t really matter what you insert there.) I have noticed that whenever a person has a problem with the authority of God in his life, he often deflects to this kind of stupid demand.
Needless to say, I lost the debate. Not because my arguments lacked substance, principle, or even Truth. I lost because, in his final effort to outdo me, he stripped me of nearly 70% of my ammunition in one statement. He said, “…and don’t give me any of that Old Testament stuff either; we are in New Testament times.”
That’s when I knew the debate was over. Without God’s Word, any supporting arguments we may have, on any subject, are reduced to our own opinions. And that’s where he wanted me; on an equal playing field in the emotional arena of subjectivity and personal preferences.
“O.K!” I ended the argument and I turned to walk away. And that really made him mad.
I learned, a long time ago, the futility of trying to argue against stupid or emotional beliefs. Introducing facts into a debate with a fool makes very little difference; people will believe what they want to believe regardless of evidence or truth.
“Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him.”
Proverbs 26:4
2 comments:
When someone says they know what the Bible says, but they disagree, they are on dangerous ground. I know of a church where the head deacon demanded the pastor not again mention election, predestination, God's choice, Calvinism, or any other such term. The pastor took him to Ephesians 1 and read a few verses. The deacon's response was, "I know what it says, but we don't believe that here." What more could the pastor say?
By the way - Show me in the Bible where it says I have to go to church... oh, wait... I guess it does.
Amen and amen! I've grown up in a denomination that basically embraces the idea of personal interpretation. So you will often hear, "I disagree with that verse," or "I'm not convicted by that." Well, okie dokie then. What exact part of the Bible did you say again that you took literally and saw an inerrant cause I'm confused?
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