A Preacher is at My House

[Fluffywolf]

I've driven preachers before. (In the taxi. -_-)

I've always found discussion religion with them very intruiging. Find out his viewpoint on the many religions. Of other religions besides the one he preaches. And try to catch him on the slightest hypocritical thing I can find, in a soft humorous jacket.

I usually end up laughning with them.

 

[Wiley45]

^ The above just sounds so much more open minded and relaxed than setting up an entire week's worth of "I have a well laid plan to beat you down in your stupid arguments, fool." If you are already comfortable with the way you view the world, why do you need to work so hard to prove your point with someone you already know is going to disagree?

 

[Kalach]

what? that wouldn't work they'd look at you like you were nuts? and it makes no sense. Because, your type doesn't determine whether or not you believe in god, it might influence it in someway. so even if he knows MBTI he could easily dismiss that argument.

wait are you joking? please tell me you are I can sleep better if you are.

It's a pet theory.

But more importantly, since the essence of faith is, well, faith, if one really wants to strike a blow for anti-religion, one must aim to sever in the believer the connection between the act of faith and the content of the faith. It doesn't actually hurt the gambit that it will be nonsensical to most people, you just have to say it like you believe it. And actually using a trick like this needs one to want to be genuinely mean. Maybe if the preacher does it first, like with something like, "God loves you, even if you don't admit it."

 

[JocktheMotie]

What kind of preacher is he? And why do you care so much?

Christianity touched him in bad places, apparently.

 

[Totenkindly]

You know, they're people like any other. it's not like they're going to eat your face.

Aw.

Probably.

Yay!

I've always found discussion religion with them very intruiging. Find out his viewpoint on the many religions. Of other religions besides the one he preaches. And try to catch him on the slightest hypocritical thing I can find, in a soft humorous jacket. I usually end up laughning with them.

^ The above just sounds so much more open minded and relaxed than setting up an entire week's worth of "I have a well laid plan to beat you down in your stupid arguments, fool." If you are already comfortable with the way you view the world, why do you need to work so hard to prove your point with someone you already know is going to disagree?

That's what I recommend.

Use it as a learning experience. Find out what he believes and why. He'll be shocked and relieved at being treated like a human being, and you might learn something in the bargain. That's the behavior you probably would love to see from religious people, so why not set the example?

 

[ajblaise]

You could ask the preacher about these passages:

“And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished. Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money” (Exodus 21:20-21).

"Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" (Jude 1:7).

“And if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you” (Leviticus 20:14)

“And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire” (Leviticus 21:9)

"Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ" (Ephesians 6:5).

 

[Wiley45]

Oh god. I'm having horrible flashbacks of eight hour long discussions where I defended passages like these. Gah.

 

[onemoretime]

You could just have a conversation with the guy, and see where it leads. Who knows, he might like discussing sports much more than religion.

At some point, religion becomes a job just like any other.

 

[Kra]

Most sensible people know that, in a faith-based religion, the person has to come to it on their own for it to mean anything.

Winning an argument is the challenge of the ego, not of a faith. So if he insists on talking about it, I'd just converse with him. If nothing else, discussions on religion and philosophy can be entertaining.

Just be civil, and odds are, so will he. If you are content in what you believe about yourself, just remember that, and he shouldn't be able to bother you if he is one of the evangelicals.