October 13, 2003
Dr. Watson is the Greatest . . .
Dateline: Monday morning chapel, October 13, 2003.
I shall be brief, for the sake of those who were there, and thorough, for the sake of those who were not. Today's chapel speaker talked about various cults as an introduction to his next three speaking engagements here on campus. He touched briefly on each before moving on. When he got to Mormonism he was speaking chiefly about the cultist view of Jesus. He started talking about Lucifer as sibling of Jesus, etc. when there came a loud call from the back.
Some young fellow had stood to his feet and hollered "Question!" He proceeds to spill immediately into what basically amounted to a rather impressive tirade (and I don't mean he had lost his temper, he appeared reasonably cool), on various subjects related to the truth about the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (not the Mormons), the necessity to consult primary sources for yourself, the lack of credibility that the speaker possessed, etc. ad infinitum. Throughout this lengthy diatribe he made his way up the aisle until he was standing directly under the speaker, facing the audience, and (from what I could tell) never once paused for breath.
Random insertion: My Mormon name is Gared Bevalier. What's yours?
After about 60 seconds, Chaplain Carl got up and walked him out and the speaker resumed. He sounded very shaken at first (pretty much how I sound on the rare occasions when I have been involved in any kind of public verbal conflict with a person who is serious about what they are saying), but soon regained his composure. His response was rather fascinating. After expounding on his relations with the Mormon church and the lack of ill will he bears towards the Mormons he said, "I have attended a Mormon church a number of times, and I have never once interrupted a service." Wow. Zing
Pertinent direct quote from Dr. Jim Watson: "Dang! I missed it! . . . The one exciting chapel of the season, and I missed it!"
This brings me to a nice segue into today's English Lit class. Today's class was one of the top three classes I have attended this semester. The other two were Inklings classes. The subject was one that I was not initimately familiar with before today, but which I found very interesting indeed. We learned about the history of the English Bible.
I am not a huge fan of the KJV, but I didn't know before that I was probably giving it a little too much credibility as a highly viable translation. Although, as I said, I've never been a fan, I've never had a leg to stand on with people who act like it is either the best translation, or the only "Divinely Authorized" translation of the Bible into English. Suffice it to say that I can now effectively argue with anyone *cough* Uncle Doug *cough* who thinks that one of the above is true. Disclaimer: To his credit, Doug is of the former, rather than the latter, category. And we sure as heck won't be using it anymore to locate scriptural basis for Calvinist doctrine! Yeesh!
Back to English Lit and . . . The Batts Story! bum bum BUM . . .
The following paragraph will be a paraphrase with direct quotes from Dr. Jim Watson inserted as I remember them:
"Do you have time for a Batts story?" *receives an affirmative reply, as always* "I promised him I wouldn't tell this story any more, but it's just too funny." Dr. Batts is visiting England with a group of students some years ago, and they find themselves at the Tower of London. Dr. Batts somehow gets separated from the group and decides that he'll go have a look at the crown jewels. This is back when they have them on display down in the basement of the tower, so he makes his way down to the steps which lead down into the darkness. Somewhere in this vicinity is a rather large, especially solemn Beefeater (of the variety which never speak . . . ever) who he passes by on his way downstairs. After examining the crown jewels that are in the cases around the walls, he is a bit disappointed. He had an image in his mind connected to the phrase "crown jewels" of a dragon's-horde-like pile of gems and doubloons. So he makes his way to the guard and says, "Excuse me, could you tell me where the crown jewels are?" The guard eyes him and replies, "Wha'do ye think ye been lookin' at, mate?!" At this point, a student takes Dr. Batts back downstairs and they look again. The student basically says, "You see the crowns? You see the jewels in the crowns? Those are the crown jewels."
Dr. Watson: "You know Dr. Batts. He can't let things go. He's a Calvinist you know. A Puritan. *chuckle* This guard humiliated him, and by golly, he's going to have a word with him. So he goes over to correct him in brotherly love *pregnant pause* and says, 'Excuse me, but don't you think you were a bit rude to me just now when I asked you a simple question?' The guard eyes him again and says, with laughter in his voice, 'Did ye see 'em this time, mate?' *chuckles again* I love that story."
I love that story, too, Dr. Watson. But for now I have a speech to write, and a reading summary to summarize, and a few Bible journals to journal, so that's it for now. Later.