The Everyday Club

8/15/10 Armando, mid 50's
At the park today I ran into Florentino, a believer I wrote about several weeks ago and have run into several times since. He keeps encouraging me to "keep up the good work". He wondered where I've been so I told him about my recent trip to Monterrey. Another man (Armando) who was sitting nearby was familiar with Monterrey which we talked about, and I went on to ask him about his beliefs. I would call him an atheist, though not so much by conscious decision but by neglect. He left school after second grade at age seven to begin working, and said he has been working ever since, though he has been laid off for the last year. I could tell my intellectual arguments for God's existance would mean little to him, so I, and Florentino, just stuck with a "what if "argument - "what if God does exist and the Bible is true?" "What if there is a judgment day and we will be held accountable for our actions?" I think this got Armando thinking, but he didn't know how to respond, grew uneasy, and stood up as if to walk away so I asked if he would like a few things to read. He did, but was unsure if he could. I gave him a Spanish Gospel of John, and he said he'd give it a try.