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My best friend, Josh

created by creases

(idea) by creases (5 hr) (print)   ?   (I like it!) 1 C! Mon Aug 14 2000 at 13:54:25

It was one of those times where my brain was twenty minutes too late.

The doorbell rang. "Wow!" I thought. "Maybe it's some salesman peddling high-quality wares!"

"Hi there! My name is Bob, and I'm up from the United States doing my missionary work. I was just wonderin', do you know The Lord's Prayer?"

"Oh fan-freaking-tastic," I thought, "a JW."

But all I said was,

"No."

"Oh. Um, heh. Well, why don't I just leave you this."

I took it, if only to speed his impending departure. As soon as I left, I leafed through his tract so as to titter at what a crazy mixed-up world it is in which we all live, and then I ripped it up. Then I went back to making my lunch.

But twenty minutes too late, I realized what I should have said.

"Okay, man, I'll take your tract. But first, I want to tell you about my best friend, Josh. Now, I know you've never met Josh. Actually, I've never met Josh, but he's still my best friend. Let me tell you why.

"One day I was walking down the street and I saw some graffiti. It said:

Dear World,

If you be my best friend, I will build you a house.

Love, Josh.

"I thought, Damn, sweet deal! All I have to do is be Josh's best friend, and he'll build me a house! So right there on the spot, I accepted Josh as my best friend.

"Now, in order to be Josh's best friend, I have to only act the way he thinks I should act, and not do things Josh thinks aren't cool. Since I haven't met him, for these essential clues I look for other graffiti which is signed 'Josh.' Sure, I don't know how or when he'll build me the house, but because of that graffiti I have faith in him.

"I guess you'd probably think I was pretty crazy for waiting around for Josh to build me a house. And you'd probably think even less of me if I asked you to accept Josh right now as your best friend for your own good. I mean, it's a pretty weak pitch.

"Now, what if I told you that Josh was

...invisible...

...filled the universe with his power...

...and instead of a house he was going to give me eternal life?

"What the heck kind of pitch is that?"


(idea) by der_wolf (4.5 y) (print)   ?   (I like it!) 1 C! Sat Jan 13 2001 at 9:56:06

This comes dangerously close to being a Pascal's wager argument. In fact, lets just call a spade a spade.

Standard Rebuttal: their are allot of mutually incompatible belief systems out there, and you can only bet on one, or at most a narrow grouping.

Parableized Rebuttal: Pig A and Pig B are have dreams, in which a wolf comes and decimates the pig population. Pig A builds a strong, sturdy house of bricks, and invites in the other pigs. Pig B builds a simple house of sticks, picks up a AK-47, and invites in the other pigs. Pig C doesn't believe in wolves, and thus builds a Margaritaville franchise with her limited resources, and invites the other pigs over for cheeseburgers in paradise.

Choosing the best option requires a bit of knowledge: is the wolf in fact coming, and if so, would one be better protected by bricks or firearms. Since neither of these bits of information is available, there isn't much left to go on.

Personally, I'll go to the burger bar, and keep an extra sammich on hand to distract the wolf.




printable version
chaos

Pascal's wager sammich Orthodoxy and heresy: A parable involving pigs How to tell the difference between Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses
Cheeseburger in Paradise How to get rid of Jehovah's Witnesses Call a spade a fucking shovel Flaws with Pascal's Wager
A hollow longing in her that will last Best friend Jehovah's Witness What doesn't kill you can only fuck you up for a really, really long time
Two Guys and a Girl Responses to Jehovah's Witnesses The Pixies True Love Can Wait
dog cancer Jesus Christ Sex with your best friend When life gives you lemons
roguelike affect vs. effect Pascal's Wager vs. the Soul Mate Platonic
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