One day one of my pupils, apparently quite seriously, asked me, “Sir, what are the odds that two people could live exactly the same life and have exactly the same things happen to them?” I said that I thought the odds were slim but asked him to whom he was referring. “The Chaplain and Jesus, of course!” came the reply.

You have to consider the preacher’s reality – he believes that it is his duty to convince his audience of God’s message, and really, isn’t the truth a small sacrifice to make to achieve that goal?

And he isn’t really doing anything differently from anyone else. Every book you’ve ever read, every speaker you’ve heard, has in some way stretched the truth in order to convince you of the overall message. This isn’t malicious – it’s simply how people convince others (and just as often themselves) of their point. The trick is to see through the bullshit as much as possible and measure the message for what it is, not for how it’s delivered.

Sadly, in this case, the message claims even less truth than the preacher’s anecdote.

I apologize if I rant – this subject has been on my mind a lot lately.