Last night I was visiting my friend, Paul, who owns the local mini-mart. I was joking around with him about Halloween, saying my wife and I were going to try to think up a good costume for him. Overhearing our conversation, one of the regular customers remarked that Halloween started off as a Christian celebration. Here's sort of how the conversation went from there.
Me: I don't know about that, but the pagans must have taken it over. Go pagans!I'll share the second part of our conversation in a subsequent post.
Customer: You know, as a Christian, you shouldn't say such things!
Me: Did I identify myself as a Christian?
Customer: You are one, aren't you?
Me: Nope. I'm an atheist.
Customer: You don't really mean that.
Me: What do you mean by saying, I don't really mean that? That IS what I mean. I don't believe in God. I don't believe in the Bible.
Customer: But you do believe in Jesus, don't you?
Me: Well, I believe that a guy named Jesus probably existed at some time, but he died a long time ago.
Customer: Don't you think you'd be better off believing in God than not believing in God?
Me: Obviously not.
Customer: Look at it this way. It would be better for you to believe in Him and then discover that he's not real as opposed to not believing in him only to discover that he IS what is advertised -- your blessed Heavenly Father.
Me: Aah yes, the "cover your bases" argument.
Customer: Good. You see my point.
Me: Actually, no. From my standpoint, it's a dumb argument. If, as you say, God is real, wouldn't he KNOW that I believed in him simply to "cover my bases?" Don't you think he would be smart enough to see through this little ruse of mine?
What fun! These people still exist?
ReplyDeleteYes, they seem to congregate in my little town. :-)
ReplyDeleteThis brings to mind a certain Monty Python scene....
ReplyDeleteDAD: Hohh, it's not as simple as that, Nigel. God knows all! He'd see through such a cheap trick. What we do to ourselves, we do to Him.
GIRL: You could have had them pulled off in an accident.