Things Christians say, part 40: Eventually God will touch your heart.

A weekly series of responses to the things Christians say to atheists, based on the video reproduced here on 30th January 2012.  The aim is to tackle one every weekend, to give both a moderate, polite response to each question ('Piano'), followed by a more forceful rebuttal of the same question ('Forte'). 

Eventually God (or Jesus) will touch your heart

Piano

I find this argument very similar to the one that I described in part 24 of this series.  Just as Christians claim that God or Jesus will find a way into my heart, other people have told me a similar story about other invisible entities.  One friend has assured me that their spirit guide has informed them that they will be able to convince me of the possibility of speaking with the dead.  I would be surprised if that is the case, but not surprised any more than I would be if Jesus did find a way into my heart.

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Forte

For a start, I disbelieve in the possibility of the existence of a theistic God of the type that Christians claim.  Even if he did exist, then he is surely a cruel and barbaric being, hardly deserving of a place in my heart . . . whatever that expression really means anyway.

The very phrase "a place in your heart" is a rhetorical device harking back to ancient times when the heart was credited with roles other than pumping blood, and although there is nothing specifically wrong with rhetoric in itself, it is more like a catchphrase to convince the credulous than an accurate description of a state of being.

I expect everyone would describe it slightly differently.  That's the beauty of rhetoric isn't it?  It doesn't actually have to be accurate to achieve its aims.


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