Sunday Wrestle: …A Bible?

I love logic.  I thrive on arguments (in the classic Greek logic sense) that are precise, consistent and valid.  I have a low tolerance for ideas or arguments that are weak or fallacious. (Unfortunately our ‘modern’ world is dominated by invalid and simplistic reasoning -“No blood for oil!” “War is not the answer!!”.)

But when it comes to the following video, my dependence on logic is shaken. Don’t get me wrong, I love abstract, creative thinking as much as logical thinking (of course they are not mutually exclusive). Oftentimes it pays to dash logic to the rocks and sift through the shards of random patterns for new ideas.

But my logical mind would beat me back in a fierce way from doing something so simple- yet so obviously affecting and powerful- as giving Penn Jillette a Gideon’s bible.

Yes that’s the Atheist/Skeptic Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller. Co host of the HBO show “Penn and Teller: Bullsh*t!” The show where they dedicated at least one episode  to accusing the Bible of being bullsh*t.

So…just simply give this guy a bible?

How about a challenge to a debate? Or  how about I give him a finely crafted impenetrable argument that completely refutes his accusations that the Bible and Christianity are nothing but Bullsh*t?

But a smile, hand shake, kind words and a Bible? (And a little Gideon’s one at that…)

Well some guy did just that. And you can see in the video it really had an effect on him.

This video forces me to ask -what good am I not doing, what good am I refusing to do because to me, it just doesn’t make sense -it’s illogical?

At what point does the logical thing to do simply breakdown and give way to a deeper and more effective -more affecting- truth and reality?

As much as I love logic, I thank God there are people in the world that are not as constrained by it as I can be.