When I encounter someone who seems argumentative, I always keep an ear out for the straw man. I met a man named Martin today who wanted to argue about everything I brought up. I tried to hand him an Obama gospel tract but he wouldn't take it. He said that a Commander and Chief should have military service, therefore, he didn't vote for him nor would he touch anything with his face on it. I asked if he had a Bible and he lectured me on why he despises the King James Version. The straw man appeared when he began to tell me that he didn't like "my god." He said, "My god is a loving and merciful god. Your god is some possessive, domineering god who is waiting on me to mess up so that he can crush me!" Did you see the straw man? He built a god that he says I serve and then continued with his argument. Realizing what he did, I responded "I agree with you one hundred percent. God is loving and merciful. I would not want to serve a god like you had mentioned." This placed us both on common ground and eliminated a huge rabbit trail. However, as we continued in the conversation, it was quite clear that Martin did not serve the God of the Bible. As the conversation closed, I reminded Martin about the second commandment. I told him that idolatry is when we form a god in our own image to suit our own lifestyle, and unfortunately his god did not exist. To my surprise, he didn't argue with me.
No comments:
Post a Comment