Day 65: I'm An Asshole, So Shoot Me

I just sent this email to a woman who keeps trying to converse with me about God. I've tried telling her that such a conversation would be pointless, but she just keeps insisting. So finally I sent the following. (By the way, a friend of mine read this and thought that it was much too harsh. "You sound like an asshole," he said. "Of course I do," I replied. "I am an asshole.")

Jennifer,

The truth is, believing in Jesus is no different than believing that The Wizard Of Oz actually happened. To discuss such a possibility with someone who believes it is to converse with a crazy person. There is no point to it. You have found a path to happiness. Good for you. The fact that it's utter nonsense doesn't really matter. But I really don't want to talk to you about it, because in a very real sense, you are crazy. I don't mean that as an insult. It's just that you need this belief of yours so badly you've warped your sense of logic to make it somehow fit into your otherwise "real" world. Trust me, you are incapable of actually challenging these beliefs, because they are essential to your emotional survival. You, of course, think I'm exaggerating, that you really do have an open mind, that I'm the one who is closed to other's opinions. But as a very wise man once said, "There is but one true prophet -- deception."

Because you are in possession of "the truth," because that's your starting point, all of your discourse on the subject of God can amount to nothing more than rationalization. Trust me, you don't want to discuss theological issues with me, you want to convert me. Or, at the very least, come to understand why I am so blind to the beauty and greatness of God.

Rick