A few weeks ago, my company hired a new guy. We're a small office, only nine people, three of whom are part-time. The new boy, it turns out, is a rather outspoken Christian. I had my first inkling about this just a few days after he started working, when I noticed a book of daily Bible readings on his desk.
He's made one or two statements meant, I'm sure, to bait me. The first was after he pounded two nails into a wall in order to hang a framed picture, hitting studs each time. This was, he stated, because that picture was "meant" to be hung there. Not accepting my non-committal "uh huh," he proceeded to tell me he knew this was true because "one Creator - God - oversees everything."
My reply was, "Rubbish."
There followed a slight bit of Bible trivia, in which I determined that this gentleman may, as he claims, have read the Bible cover-to-cover several times... but he knows diddly-squat about it as a book. For example, though he could easily quote me chapter and verse of just about any passage I'm likely to toss his way, he's utterly ignorant of the fact that the writings of Paul predate the Gospels attributed to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. He's apparently under the impression that they were written in the order presented. He's also convinced that the Gospels were actually written by those four men, and will not accept the fact that we simply don't know who wrote them.
There are many facts about the Bible that this guy doesn't know. This makes him, sadly, just like the vast majority of Bible-thumpers out there. I was really hoping for someone to spar with who actually knew what he was talking about. No such luck.
On the other hand, I learned just this past Friday that he's also anti-evolution. When I asked him why he tries to poke holes in evolutionary theory, he said that it was because it made him more certain of his own beliefs. I pointed out that this is illogical. Even if he could show evolution to be false, it wouldn't make his beliefs correct. There aren't just the two options.
But this fellow lives in a little black and white world, where there are always just two options. He refuses to accept that the universe is, rather, a variety of wondrous colors.
Oh, and this devout Christian has also made subtly racist and anti-gay statements. Imagine that...a Christian bigot. Who woulda thunk it?
Anyway, it'll be entertaining to debate with this guy. Not very challenging, mind you, but worth a few laughs.
