As a Christian, I find that conversation humbling and honest. I have to ask myself if my cheerful willing great commission is to spread the truth of Jesus Christ as a good guy to know, how would I best do such a thing? These Christians are clearly failing and its not because the atheists are super charged by satan, either.
The atheist guy on the right comes across as compassionate to all people, articulate, and thoughtful.
For some reason the Christian caller refused to go to what Christians normally consider the strongest evidence for their faith, like fulfilled prophecy and the large quantity of accurate information in the Bible. Whether these are valid evidence-based arguments or not they would have very effectively muted the atheists' points. The caller instead advanced some of the weakest reasons for faith, such as the sense of community it provides and the good works they do. That's why it felt like a setup to me, even though I don't think it was.
Maybe God did complete creation in six days just 6000 years ago and maybe Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died on the cross for all our sins, but this has to be accepted on faith. Those who don't share this faith are not the spawn of Satan, but apparently for some Christians "the Bible says so" is the only excuse they need to behave in a decidedly unChristian manner.
Phat writes:
The atheist guy on the right comes across as compassionate to all people, articulate, and thoughtful.
Again, the caller was pitching him softballs, so of course he was hitting home runs.
For some reason the Christian caller refused to go to what Christians normally consider the strongest evidence for their faith, like fulfilled prophecy and the large quantity of accurate information in the Bible.
He started mentioning them, but stopped. He might have decided he didn't want to have that conversation, or wasn't confident enough in the specific prophecies and didn't want to look a fool for citing them and not knowing them.
I think the reason* the caller did launch into those 'softballs' could very well be due to the 'anxiety of the argument' or the well known feeling that 'Damn, I had all these arguments ready but I forgot them in the nervousness of the call.'
*Or it might be that those parts of his faith that he expressed in his call were consciously or subconsciously the most appealing to him.
For some reason the Christian caller refused to go to what Christians normally consider the strongest evidence for their faith, like fulfilled prophecy and the large quantity of accurate information in the Bible. Whether these are valid evidence-based arguments or not they would have very effectively muted the atheists' points. The caller instead advanced some of the weakest reasons for faith, such as the sense of community it provides and the good works they do. That's why it felt like a setup to me, even though I don't think it was.
A few things. This certainly wasn't a setup, the same guy called in the week before as well. Second, the guy on the right (Matt Dillahunty) used to be a Christian, but is now an Atheist. If the caller had brought up prophecy, he would've wiped the floor with him, because he has studied the bible, and that's exactly the reason he's an atheist now.
Anyway, if you want to catch more of these guys this is a link to the site of their tv show, they have archived shows going way back, some recent ones have Aronra in them as well. You could also check out their podcast (Non Prophets radio).
Again, the caller was pitching him softballs, so of course he was hitting home runs.
He can get a nit angry at times because of the lack of "honest" discussion some of the callers are doing. But on the whole, I've found him very reasonable and very good with words.