Are You a Good Person?

[Jason Jarred]

I'm not really sure how to say what this is, except to say that I've been listening to *dozens* of episodes of Way of the Master (with Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort) and heard this technique so many time I've just been itching to respond.

The recipe is somewhat as follow:
1 Part serious analysis
1 Part flippancy
2 Parts sillyness

Shake and stir - and feel free to input how you would respond if Ray asked you these questions. (Template taken from Iron Chariots Wiki).

Original Content

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* Apologist: Have you ever told a lie?
o Unbeliever: Well yes, everybody has at some point...
* Ap: What are you called if you tell a lie?
o Un: A liar.
* Ap: Have you ever stolen anything, regardless of its value?
o Un: A little thing when I was young.
* Ap: What do you call a person who steals?
o Un: A thief.
* Ap: Jesus said that anybody who looked at a women in lust is guilty of adultery in his heart. Have you ever looked at a woman with lust?
o Un: Well, yeah.
* Ap: Have you ever used God's name in vain?
o Un: Yes.
* Ap: You've taken the name of the God who gave you life as a cuss word and that's called blasphemy.
* Ap: So, by your own admission, you are a lying, thieving, adulterous, blasphemer, and when Jesus comes again on judgment day, how do you think he's going to treat you? Would you go to heaven or hell?
* Ap: If you were flying on a plane and knew it was going to crash and you had a parachute under your seat? What would you do?
o Un: Put it on.
* Ap: You wouldn't just believe in it, you'd put it on.
* Ap: Jesus is that parachute.

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My responses

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• Apologist: Have you ever told a lie?
o Unbeliever: Yes
• Ap: What are you called if you tell a lie?
o Un: What am I called? It depends who’s judging me. If it’s *you* judging me, then you’d call me a liar. If it’s somebody else, they may describe my behaviour instead of labelling me based on a single instance of that behaviour.
• Ap: Have you ever stolen anything, regardless of its value?
o Un: Sure
• Ap: What do you call a person who steals?
o Un: Human. I personally wouldn’t label a child who steals a piece of candy from the store a ‘thief’, as that label has more serious overtones associated with larger scale theft and a habit of taking objects that don’t belong to you. If I’m having a bad day and feeling depressed, it doesn’t mean I’m Bipolar, it just means I’m having one instance of depression. Your habit of putting people into categories based on a single instance of behaviour, without assessing the severity or consequences of that behaviour, is not healthy. You cannot make sweeping generalisations of a persons character in so simple a fashion and to be honest, such simplistic and categorical thinking scares me to hell.
• Ap: Jesus said that anybody who looked at a women in lust is guilty of adultery in his heart. Have you ever looked at a woman with lust?
o Un: No
• Ap: Are you a homosexual?
o Un: I wasn’t before, but looking at you Ray…damn. You got plans tonight? Seriously though, committed adultery in my heart? Sorry bud, I don’t believe in thought crimes. Whatever God you believe in, if he punishes for thought crimes – he’s not a God I would want to spend eternity with in any event.
• Ap: Have you ever used God's name in vain?
o Un: Which God? Vishnu, Thor or Allah? Ok yes yes, let’s just say I’ve used all of the God’s names in vain.
• Ap: You've taken the name of the God who gave you life as a cuss word and that's called blasphemy.
o Un: If you believe there *is* a God, which is a discussion all on it’s own that you and I could have for many hours and still not agree on. Until we agree on those basic points, we’re already getting *way* ahead of ourselves here.
• Ap: So, by your own admission, you are a lying, thieving, adulterous, blasphemer, and when Jesus comes again on judgment day, how do you think he's going to treat you? Would you go to heaven or hell?
o Un: I think you need to rewrite your script
• Ap: If you were flying on a plane and knew it was going to crash and you had a parachute under your seat? What would you do?
o Un: I think the answer you want is “put it on”
• Ap: You wouldn't just believe in it, you'd put it on.
• Ap: Jesus is that parachute.
o Un: Wait a second… I “put on” Jesus? Isn’t that kinda….you know…gay?

<Awkward silence>

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