Last Saturday night, my fiance Tara, her friend Jess, and I went to Ft. Collins to celebrate Jess's 21st birthday. While Tara and Jess were drinking & dancing inside of a club, and given that I was the designated driver, I thought I would take a stroll throughout the downtown area.I happen to walk by a table surrounded by young adults who were offering free hot chocolate. Since the weather was cold enough to harden my nipples to the point that they could cut glass, I welcomed the offer and started chatting with two of said young adults.
A warning sign came in the form of how they greeted me, the "outsider," with a cult-like enthusiasm. After engaging in a few minutes of civil discourse, my eyes happend to identify the trademark orange, pocket sized copies of the New Testament that have become synonymous with Christian distribution (salesmanship).
The discussion would go on to cover many topics, as they expressed their beliefs and I expressed my ideas. Most importantly, I tried to help these kind young individuals understand the dangers of interpreting scripture as literal truth and investing too much credence in the words that comprise today's "New Testament." I also asked them to be open to the probability that the Bible is in fact not a divinely perfect book, but one that is full of examples of human errors and ecclesiastical politics.
I made a point of being very courteous and respectful throughout the discsussion, and the kind distributors of free cocoa and I parted on good terms. We concluded our chat by recomending books to each other. I recomended Misquoting Jesus by Bart Ehrman. They recommended The Case for Christ, which I happened to already own. I thanked them for their recommendation, but I explained to them that this book ultimately reinforced my agnostic tendencies, because the author only interviewed scholars who inherently supported the views that he was trying to express, rather than presenting both sides of the argument.
However, I have to hand it to the Christians, they made a damn fine cup of hot chocolate. For that, I was thankful.
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