Dr. Bob Replies to a Critic

I wanted to start this post by quoting someone famous. I knew the line I wanted to use, but I didn't know who said it. G.B. Shaw? Ben Franklin? Mencken? So I did a search and alas...it's just an old saw. We've all heard it and no one knows who said it first so if I modify it to suit my purpose, it will be okay: There's a tragic element in a battle of wits between two men, one of whom is unarmed.

Someone called "Mark" made the mistake of questioning the authenticity of Dr. Bob's personal salvation moment. With more patience than me he replies to this critic.

There is a medical professional on the TV show CSI, the pathologist whose reports nail down the official forensic evidence that can be found in the remains of victims. This post reminds me of such a report.

The critic quoted Dr. Bob and commented thus:

“I have instead been transformed by a personal encounter and relationship with a Being far vaster than our paltry imagination and feeble intellects can begin to grasp.”

There’s no evidence for this encounter at all.

There is much more, but the doctor's reply is simply elegant. He says, in part:

This is an an extraordinary statement, yet not a terribly surprising one. Mark knows nothing of my genetics; nothing of the blessings and banes of my family of origin; nothing of my life experiences in childhood or adulthood. He knows nothing of my thoughts, my experiences, my successes or failures, nor the irrefutable, transformative effect of the power of spiritual relationship in my life. Yet he, presumably a secular scientist steeped in evidence-based knowledge, blithely dismisses all such experiences and evidence, and without even a hint of irony, assures me that there is “no evidence for this encounter at all.”

After you read this delightful post, you might take a look at an old link that Mark's unfortunate comments brought to mind, the Ultimate Stupidity Page.