A few weeks ago, these two Jovies turned up on my doorstep. Being in a good mood that particular day, I told them that if they could prove that god existed, I'd become a Jovie - and I meant every word.
They gave me two documents which they asked me read and told me that they'd be back in a week. The first was called "Was Life Created?" and the second was called "The Origin of life - five questions worth asking".
I read them and, quite frankly, felt insulted. If these two documents were meant to prove the existence of god, then I despair.
The only people that believed in god after reading these two documents were probably Jovies already because sure as hell, I wasn't convinced by any of its contents. That said, they were cleverly written in that they caused the reader to answer questions posed by the documents in such a way that they gave the wrong answer which, eventually, led to the conclusion that there must be a god. Let me give you an example: "The answer to the question, Where do babies come from? is well-documented and uncontroversial. Life always comes from preexisting life. However, if we go back far enough in time, is it really possible that this fundamental law was broken? Could life spontaneously spring from non-living chemicals? What are the chances that such an event could happen?"
The way that these questions are posed are meant to cause us to think that life cannot spontaneously spring from "non-living chemicals" and that the chances of this happening is slim to none. We are therefore meant to think that it must have been god that created life.
However, life exists and, if god didn't create it, it must have been created spontaneously. Also, the chances of it happening are slim but they aren't ZERO. That's the point, if we have enough attempts to create life, eventually, we will succeed. Also, I have a Chemistry degree and I have never heard of a 'non-living chemical'.
The Jovies came back to talk to me and I demolished them and they went off with their tails between their legs.
It wasn't a waste of my time though. I was also curious about Jovies. It's almost impossible to destroy their faith and, believe me, I've tried. So why is their faith so steadfast? Well, it's because they don't really get preached to. They get asked lots of questions which they answer. However, the questions are posed in such a way that the answers that they arrive at are wrong. BUT, they arrive at the wrong answers themselves and therefore believe them. Pretty soon, they have an incorrect view of the world in which god exists and has done all of these groovy things such as created the universe and life, yada yada.
