For eight years Dave has lived in this house and not had anybody come by to tell him that Jesus is god.

Today that all changed:

Meet Jim and Agatha. I actually forgot her name, but we’ll just go with Agatha.

We invited them in and heard their pitch. Within about five minutes this transition took place:

* The bible is perfect, with nothing lost in transition. Scribes were very careful about this

* Ok, it’s possible there are errors

* Ok, there are some errors, but minor ones — like one verse saying a person walked to a place with another saying they ran

* Ok, a difference like saying a person killed 5 people vs another scripture saying it was 10 would be significant

* Ok, such scriptures exist

At one point Jim told us the only way to get answers was to familiarize ourselves with the bible. We proceeded to establish that both of us probably knew the book better than he. Jim was clearly surprised and, to be frank, unprepared for that.

We didn’t bash, didn’t raise our voices, just asked questions and expressed why we were skeptical (with several “Surely you can understand why I wouldn’t believe that” lines from me, to which Jim couldn’t help but nod).

We also used tie-downs. Tie-downs are when you know a counter example exists, but rather than just immediately showing it you raise it as a hypothetical: “So if a X fact exists, you’d change your mind, right?” Let them commit, then show them X fact and watch them struggle under the weight of their own prior commitment. Tie-downs are awesome in debates. Learn to love them.

When we shook hands at the end it was clear in their demeanor they knew we’d had better arguments. But that’s not the point. Hopefully that will marinate in their skulls and make them think harder about what they believe, even if they don’t change their minds.

For many Jim just said he’d have to research that. Ok. That’s not a defeat for him in my book (when his research turns up nothing to help him maintain his present position though…). We invited him to research it and come back.

We were friendly the entire time, praising them for their honesty and thanking them for their concern for us. At the end we invited them back again. Hell, bring your pastor along with you. I guess we’ll find out in the future if they were really concerned about our eternal souls or just filling their quota.