day no. 15,709: is it a sword or not?

The following conversation is documented in Weapons and Tactics by Jim Wilson regarding a conversation he had with a man named Vic Jensen in 1954 while stationed in the Navy near Yokosuka, Japan...

"I brought my Bible."

"You can't use that," he said.

"Why?"

"For two reasons: First, the Bible is not allowed in intercollegiate debate, and second, I do not accept it as an authority."

"First, this is not intercollegiate debate. It is war, and the rules are different. Second, I do not care that you do not accept it as an authority. Suppose I have a two-edged sword in my hand, and I say to you, 'Jensen, I'm going to chop off your head.' You laugh and say, 'You can't chop off my head because I don't believe that's a sword.' Then it's my turn to laugh. 'I will have your head.' If I sheath the sword because you don't believe it is a sword, that does not prove it isn't a sword; it only proves that I don't believe it's a sword. 'The Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing asunder between the soul and spirit, joints and marrow, discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart.' I'm going to have your head."

There is nothing I don't like about that. That is just straight, up-the-middle, first-class Gospel-sass.