As for Bitchick: you say you enjoy a "good debate" but I am afraid your style of debate is very childlike. I used to be like you. I went to Bible College and stood on street corners, full of starry-eyed love, "just sharing my faith" with the unsaved. What I didn't grasp is that I was coming across like a total nutjob. And while I (and no doubt you) viewed the "unsaved" as blind fools, they in fact were viewing me as exactly that. And while that may make you feel empowered, it in fact hurts your case, and reduces your ability to bring anyone to believing faith. Much of what you say is trite, as you aptly pointed out (in sarcasm). But it is. You need to remember you are discussing things with intellectuals here. At least that is the demographic they are coming from. You cannot convince an intellectual with paragraphs of unicorn and rainbows chatter. And that is exactly how they see your words. If you want to convince an opposing party of your viewpoint, you need to speak in a language that they can understand and respect. Not repeatedly brag about how you have the inside scoop, and because you and Jesus are best buds, you're the only one with "wisdom" and "eyesight" to see that what you're saying is right. You're wasting your energy, because you are not engaging these people in a manner that is going to result in a changed viewpoint.
You are probably right. I have posted on several boards in the past and tried to get into "intellectual" discussions here but truth be told my IQ probably is much lower than most here for sure, even though mine is well above average. My husband has a pretty high IQ and I have a hard time following him sometimes. There have been studies that show that it is hard to have a meaningful discussion with anyone that is beyond 30 IQ points so I am probably pushing it on this board!
That said, thankfully Jesus did not come just for the geniuses. In fact, He says that the humble and low in spirit are the ones that he listens too. I guess I am bold in my relationship with Him because that is one area I am bold about and feel certain of in this crazy messed up world. Also, I think all Christians appear like "nutjobs" to most non-Christians. And if they don't maybe their faith has been watered down too much?
At this point I am at a loss for words about the barcode issue. I guess it really is a non-issue anyway, just something I find really interesting. I just thought perhaps it would cause some to step back and think that there may be something to it.
You two are probably never going to convince the likes of me that Jesus is the Lord the all the bible stuff. It's not a matter of IQ as much as patterns of thought (though there is probably a correlation between these two things.)
What you can do is demonstrate that Christians are all over the board in terms of their attitudes, actions, activities, etc, and that it is unfair and incorrect to associate all Christians with abortion clinic bombers, people who paint crosses on the gun barrels of their tanks as they kill Iraqis, and that sort of thing. Of course a lot of us have enough experience to know that this is the case, but even so I find it especially pleasing to see a devout person who is also a very good person. Fortunately I live amonst a lot of them.
As for things like the barcode deal (which I've not looking into a whole lot) I find such things delightful and fun to think about and look for explanations for, but I don't take them to seriously.