Christian Radio call-in time. Round 2.

I just got off the phone with Pastor Dean of the Midnight Miracle Hour on blogtalkradio. This is not an apologetics show, but Pastor Dean and his panel have been gracious enough to indulge me for a good 40 or so minutes before, and we repeated that tonight.

Last time we got very bogged down in the acceptability of textual evidence for miracle claims. Pastor Dean is a biblical literalist, and believes that the fact that the bible has been studied ad nauseum proves its legitimacy. That particular discussion got nowhere.

The program was opened with a challenge to atheists to say a specific prayer and then read a chapter from the book of John, a combination which was supposed to magically thaw our hearts and open them to god. Pastor Dean claimed that atheists would not do this because they were cowardly. He also insinuated that atheists have not read the bible. I have.

Tonight he tried to steer me back in the direction of biblical accuracy, pointing me to several well known and laughable apologists such as Lee Strobel (intelligent design proponent). I didn’t take the bait.

He then went on a tangent about how he beat alcoholism after god spoke to him. I’m glad he did and I told him as much. But I do think it’s a tragedy that Pastor Dean doesn’t believe he was strong enough to do such a thing on his own. I digress.

Pastor Dean then began to tell me that “secular colleges” are responsible for leading many young people astray. Particularly philosophy courses.

This was followed by a detailing of the numerous “healings” he has both performed and witnessed, asserting they were proof of god. This lasted a very long time, and I barely got a word in edgewise. An old apologetics trick is to rattle off an endless list of claims so that when one goes back to address the first there is plausible deniability that they spake what you claim they did.

I reiterated to him that I did not accept personal experience as proof of anything, deity or otherwise.

“Why?” he asked me in a soft but slightly pointed tone (Pastor Dean has experience in broadcasting, and he’s a pleasure to listen to. It’s quite calming.).

I asked him if he would believe me if I told him I was abducted by aliens. He said this was “a stretch,” but wouldn’t say why.

I then granted that medicine cannot fully explain why some people mysteriously get better, but this was not proof of anything except that fact. I asked him if perfectly healthy people keeling over and dying were proof that god doesn’t exist. He “didn’t see the parallel.”

Ultimately, I was told that we had to come to an end because 1) our conversation already spanned a commercial break and 2) the program is not an apologetics program.

Pastor Dan said he enjoys talking to me (Possibly because he proselytized for a majority of the call and didn’t give me much of a chance to speak. He lets dissidents speak, but not as much as those professing miracles). He also told me I had a remarkable vernacular for someone my age (No shit, Pastor Dean).

I was once again invited to call back, and I do not plan on shirking the offer. Hopefully next time we will delve into whether Pastor Dean supports slavery, the murder of witches, genocide, female submissiveness to their husbands or the stoning of homosexuals.

Even Jesus would be excited.

Ditty Dirty Coonery - Episode 04

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