An atheist, a monotheist, and a panentheist
December 27th, 2007 Posted in Humor, SpiritualityAn atheist, a monotheist, and a panentheist walk into a smoke-filled, crowded bar. The bartender is at the far end, but the atheist can’t see him through the haze. Finally the atheist declares to his monotheist friend, "There is no bartender." He turns away from the bar, and takes out a bottle of Dasani he brought with him.
The monotheist diligently looks for the bartender through the smoke, catches a glimpse of him, shouts and waves to get his attention, and orders a Scotch whiskey. After relishing a sip, he chides his atheist friend. "You foolish unbeliever," he says. "You don’t see the Bartender because you turned away, but just ask him, and he’ll hear you and give you anything you want. In just a moment I developed a personal relationship with the Bartender, and this fine Scotch is proof." He turns to the panentheist for additional support and asks, "isn’t that right?"
The panentheist says, "Who cares? I’m stoned just from breathing the air in here!"
7 Responses to “An atheist, a monotheist, and a panentheist”
By Keith on Dec 27, 2007
That’s cute. However, it does show a misunderstanding of atheism. I don’t know of any atheist who says, “I can’t see gods, so they don’t exist.” Instead, they all bring up how illogical and naive the religious writings from millennia ago are, how if they were written by God or gods, they wouldn’t have so many factual errors.
By Margreet on Dec 28, 2007
I think there are as many different views in atheďsm as there are in theďsm of any sort. From what I’ve read/heard, some deny the existance of a god or gods, some reject the notion of the bible being the “inerrant word of God”.
The common denominator I see in all of their views is rejection of a god image that has been made illogical by a wrong interpretation (by christians!) of the bible. There is nothing inconsistant in the bible. It only looks that way if you read it with a wrong set of assumptions.
Let’s put it this way. At the beginning of the 20th century scientists discovered the very strange behaviour of subatomic particles. Heisenberg formulated his “uncertainty principle”, to which Einstein replied “God doesn’t play with dice!”.
But the thing is we don’t really have an explanation for this bizare behaviour. Could it be we are looking at it with a wrong set of assumptions? Is it possible to look at it in the right way at all? Perhaps we are too limited to see what’s going on. And yet, quantummechanic measurements are the most accurate to this day. It “works” remarkably well. I think the same sort of thing is happening when people “discuss” God.
By Darrell Grizzle on Dec 28, 2007
Great! Did you write this parable, Jon?
By Jon on Dec 28, 2007
Thanks. It came to me as I was trying to NOT get out of bed and start the day.
By MysticSaint on Jan 14, 2008
hahahaa… beautiful!
panentheist is the mystic, so often who are stoned just being HERE!
By Jon on Jan 15, 2008
By Wren on Mar 14, 2008
Great story. May I quote you?