30 September 2014

The category-error dodge (NEXT! #43)

by Dan Phillips

Challenge: "God"? What God? I've never seen any God. Real things weigh something. What does your Imaginary Friend in the Sky weigh? I'll just stick with reason and science.

Response: Really? What color is "reason"? How much does "science" weigh? Was that supposed to be an argument? How many millimeters was that argument? What atomic number is it on the periodic table? Does it taste like chicken?


(Proverbs 21:22)

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11 comments:

Doug Hibbard said...

Yum.

Chicken.

Tom Chantry said...

"What color is reason?"

- shades of Bahnsen-Stein on "the laws of logic"!

Very good.

St. Lee said...

If it had been a good argument it would taste like bacon.

Clark Dunlap said...

Can this answer be voiced in Kindness or do we have to snarl and sound like its "Talk like a Piarte Day"? I mean that would be more FUN, but...

DJP said...

The author expects readers to modify to their hearts' desires and situational requirements.

Anonymous said...

Nuh-uh. When you read a suggestion on the internet, you have to (a) follow it to the letter in slavish obedience; (b) object, and denounce it completely; or (c) criticize its "tone". Them's the rules.

Herding Grasshoppers said...

That is such an AWESOME response, that now I'm just WISHING for someone to say that to me.

Unfortunately, it would probably be my in-laws and I'm not sure I could use that response in a gracious tone of voice. Maybe if I practice...

Andrea said...

Yes, yes, yes, Herding Grasshoppers! Practice! I now want to start doing these Next Illustrations with my children as improvisational exercises so that we are all ready to pull some version of the responses out at a moment's notice. There are certainly enough unbelieving loved ones that might spring these challenges on us.

Maybe my theatre classes in college weren't a complete waste...

Angela said...

Hahaha!!! This is gold. It's so good that I can't wait for someone to challenge me, I'm just going to say that reply whenever possible in conversation. Stump them right out of the box, surprise attack

Robert said...

I have a much easier time understanding people who outright reject any moral authority and can admit they hate it than those who try to convince themselves and others that no such authority exists. Of course, they are just fulfilling what God has written in Romans 1.

Unknown said...

I think that it is only to the fallen mind that stuff and things seem more real and true. The more stuffy and thingy, the more sure and realistic. Seems crazy when you bring God into the mix.