Christians disgust me sometimes... Me schooling a Christian

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2005-11-27 02:31am

Tonight I went to do some studying at a local Barnes and Noble/Starbucks. About an hour after I got there, an older man with long hair came wobbling up next to me looking for a table. He looked like he was very poor or maybe even homeless, although he didn't stink or anything. He looked like he was in his eighties. All the tables were full, so I told him he could sit at my table if he wanted.

He carefully sat down and asked me what I was studying. His voice was pretty weak. I told him I was studying Spanish and showed him my notes. I often need help with pronunciation and grammar, so I said, "you don't speak Spanish, do you?" It turned out he was of Latin descent and speaks fluently. He helped me learn a couple of things and gave me some advice.

Now this girl at the next table was sitting talking to someone, and she had a Bible out in front of her. She kept giving me this disgusted stare, as if to ask what I was doing with such a disgusting person. I thought maybe she was thinking of something else, but she just kept glaring at him and at me.

I asked the guy if I could buy him a cup of coffee for helping me out. He agreed and I spent 3 dollars so he could get a mocha. When I was walking up to the counter with him, that girl kept staring. When we got back to our table, he told he was about 83 and that his health was failing. It was pretty sad. He then noticed another table was free and said he wanted to get up and move. I thanked him for his help.

As I was getting up to leave, I stopped in front of that girl. I said, "hey, you know what?" I pointed to her Bible. "I'm not a Christian, but I can tell you what Jesus said about those who are least among us." I felt like saying more, but I decided to just leave.

I really wonder how someone can be a Christian, or try to be one, yet not comprehend the most basic principle of Christianity. Her ego must have been the size of Alaska, and she's reading a Bible? After a childhood of being forced to go to church, and seeing people like Fallwell or Robertson, all I can say is that I am so disgusted with religious people. Christianity seems to be a cancer to the world. Instead of helping, it just makes things worse. Bleh.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2005-11-27 02:55am

There are two kinds of religious devotion: ideological and tribal. Over the years I've come to realize that a lot of Christians in America are Christians by tribal allegiance only, without any real ideological similarity to that long-haired hippie pacifist freak Jesus character.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2005-11-27 03:02am

Darth Wong wrote:There are two kinds of religious devotion: ideological and tribal. Over the years I've come to realize that a lot of Christians in America are Christians by tribal allegiance only, without any real ideological similarity to that long-haired hippie pacifist freak Jesus character.

Right. It's like the whole Republican/Christian paradox. Take a hard look at those core values and tell me they don't conflict.

Fire Fly · Post by **Fire Fly** » 2005-11-27 03:09am

Did you get any insight as to why she react as such? Did she not like you? Not like the old guy? Not like him because he is Latin and therefore Catholic? It just seems weird; people don't behave like that for no reason.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2005-11-27 03:11am

Fire Fly wrote:Did you get any insight as to why she react as such? Did she not like you? Not like the old guy? Not like him because he is Latin and therefore Catholic? It just seems weird; people don't behave like that for no reason.

It was because he looked homeless. Her reaction was something to the effect of, "why are you helping a bum?"

Zadius · Post by **Zadius** » 2005-11-27 03:12am

It's nice to know there are good people like you out there who will give a dirty look right back at them, so to speak.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2005-11-27 03:14am

Zadius wrote:It's nice to know there are good people like you out there who will give a dirty look right back at them, so to speak.

Thanks. I really felt like saying more about her "Christianity," but what's the use? I made my point.

Trytostaydead · Post by **Trytostaydead** » 2005-11-27 10:37am

Superman wrote:
Fire Fly wrote:Did you get any insight as to why she react as such? Did she not like you? Not like the old guy? Not like him because he is Latin and therefore Catholic? It just seems weird; people don't behave like that for no reason.
It was because he looked homeless. Her reaction was something to the effect of, "why are you helping a bum?"

Isn't that an assumption? She could've easily as been disgusted by you or something

The Spartan · Post by **The Spartan** » 2005-11-27 10:51am

Trytostaydead wrote:
Superman wrote:
Fire Fly wrote:Did you get any insight as to why she react as such? Did she not like you? Not like the old guy? Not like him because he is Latin and therefore Catholic? It just seems weird; people don't behave like that for no reason.
It was because he looked homeless. Her reaction was something to the effect of, "why are you helping a bum?"
Isn't that an assumption? She could've easily as been disgusted by you or something

But what are the odds of that being the case? It's far more likely that she was disgusted by Supes being nice (read: human) to the older gentleman that sat with him if not outright disgusted by the older man.

Mr. Coffee · Post by **Mr. Coffee** » 2005-11-27 11:06am

You're a good man, Sup. First you offer the man a seat at your table, then you buy him a cup of coffee. For not being a Christian, you demonstrated a better understanding of certain values Christ taught far better then little Miss Fundiesnob. That's good to go, man.

Gil Hamilton · Post by **Gil Hamilton** » 2005-11-27 11:45am

"Whatsoever you do to the least of my children, you do unto me" isn't a very modern Christian concept.

I remember this well from when I was in youth group and watched many of the "WWJD" bracelet wearing types cross the street back and force (taking twice as long to get to where they were going) in order to avoid the homeless in East Liberty. Interestingly, we stopped going to East Liberty in youth group to volunteer at the Men's Shelter, because one of the Fox Chapel moms who took over the Youth Group thought it inappropriate for a church youth group to serve dinner at a homeless shelter.

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2005-11-27 12:25pm

Darth Wong wrote:There are two kinds of religious devotion: ideological and tribal. Over the years I've come to realize that a lot of Christians in America are Christians by tribal allegiance only, without any real ideological similarity to that long-haired hippie pacifist freak Jesus character.

That puts it pretty well. I was going to say 'elitism' but I guess it boils down to the same thing anyways. The sheer presure to 'conform' and 'join in to fit in' that happens in religeous areas is staggering. For many years, my kids thought I was an asshole for not letting them go to church since all their friends got cookies and candy when they went.

As they get older, these assholes do everthing together, making you feel 'left out' (not a problem for me, but meh) Home night, Church Dances, Triker Treating in the Church parking lot (trunk or treat), get to gethers, book clubs, ect.

It's almost a sad display of highschool like mentality of 'if you want to do stuff with us, you have to do everything we do' shit.

Sriad · Post by **Sriad** » 2005-11-27 01:53pm

Gil Hamilton wrote:"Whatsoever you do to the least of my children, you do unto me" isn't a very modern Christian concept.

I remember this well from when I was in youth group and watched many of the "WWJD" bracelet wearing types cross the street back and force (taking twice as long to get to where they were going) in order to avoid the homeless in East Liberty. Interestingly, we stopped going to East Liberty in youth group to volunteer at the Men's Shelter, because one of the Fox Chapel moms who took over the Youth Group thought it inappropriate for a church youth group to serve dinner at a homeless shelter.

You know, there's probably a market for WWJRDYHA braclets out there...

(What Would Jesus Really Do You Hypocrytical Ass?)

Adrian Laguna · Post by **Adrian Laguna** » 2005-11-28 01:17am

What Would Jesus do? Well for one thing, he wouldn't be running around wearing a "What Would Moses Do?" t-shirt.

Darth Raptor · Post by **Darth Raptor** » 2005-11-28 02:16am

She's probably just an uppity snob who uses her religion for her own conformist purposes. As mentioned above.

However, she may be a Calvinist, in which case that bum deserves his position in life (even though God made him that way with complete foreknowlege)- and you're opposing Him by facilitating the poor man.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2005-11-28 02:55am

It could be she was studying the bible for a school class and her disgust had nothing to do with religion, in which case she's at home telling her friends about the fundie asshole who was nice to a homeless guy and yelled at her for "no reason".

Metatwaddle · Post by **Metatwaddle** » 2005-11-28 03:28am

Sriad wrote:You know, there's probably a market for WWJRDYHA braclets out there...

(What Would Jesus Really Do You Hypocrytical Ass?)

Hell, I'd buy one of those and I'm an atheist.

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2005-11-28 08:53am

So yesterday I went to church, to toe the party line and keep mums dear happy....

Well. Music, the collection, the usual. And then the pastor starts sermonizing. Mother of God! >.<

He begins by talking about how 'Christmas is for Christ, nothing else'-- some such tripe. Then he begins ranting about 'broadminded liberals', how they would add extra numbers and equations to 2+2 when all you need is just those two numbers to make 4; how they'd tell you that gravity doesn't work, fly in the face of scientific laws; and my mind's rebelled against most of it, but I can attest to the majority of it being huge massive fucking red herrings, strawmen, and no-true-scotsman fallacies.

How I dearly wish I had a transcript...

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2005-11-28 12:25pm

Elheru Aran wrote:So yesterday I went to church, to toe the party line and keep mums dear happy....

Well. Music, the collection, the usual. And then the pastor starts sermonizing. Mother of God! >.<

He begins by talking about how 'Christmas is for Christ, nothing else'-- some such tripe. Then he begins ranting about 'broadminded liberals', how they would add extra numbers and equations to 2+2 when all you need is just those two numbers to make 4; how they'd tell you that gravity doesn't work, fly in the face of scientific laws; and my mind's rebelled against most of it, but I can attest to the majority of it being huge massive fucking red herrings, strawmen, and no-true-scotsman fallacies.

How I dearly wish I had a transcript...

This is one reason why I stopped attending Worship Service in my teens

Pint0 Xtreme · Post by **Pint0 Xtreme** » 2005-11-28 02:38pm

The other day, I attended a wedding for the first time. What I didn't know was that a god damned sermon was the precursor to the actual 'wedding' part of the ceremony. During his entire speech, the pastor was making statements about how a good marriage isn't about 'arguing' but 'loving each other' and he somehow (don't ask me how) tied it to genesis while reciting the 'god made a man and a woman' mantra over and over again. He even managed to fit the "woman from the man's rib" part into his speech. The rest of his sermon was quite unintelligible. I reckon you had to have some kind of retarded fundie mindset to translate what he was actually trying to say.

Oh btw, the bride had just came out of a previous relationship and the groom had just finished processing his divorce papers from his previous marriage. Each of them had two kids from their previous relationships. I had a feeling that the pastor was saying "Don't fuck up this marriage". So much for the sanctity of marriage.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2005-11-28 02:47pm

Elheru Aran wrote:So yesterday I went to church, to toe the party line and keep mums dear happy....

Well. Music, the collection, the usual. And then the pastor starts sermonizing. Mother of God! >.<

He begins by talking about how 'Christmas is for Christ, nothing else'-- some such tripe. Then he begins ranting about 'broadminded liberals', how they would add extra numbers and equations to 2+2 when all you need is just those two numbers to make 4; how they'd tell you that gravity doesn't work, fly in the face of scientific laws; and my mind's rebelled against most of it, but I can attest to the majority of it being huge massive fucking red herrings, strawmen, and no-true-scotsman fallacies.

How I dearly wish I had a transcript...

Most churches will record sermons for those who can't attend. If you wanted, they could get you one.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2005-11-28 04:07pm

Elheru Aran wrote:So yesterday I went to church, to toe the party line and keep mums dear happy....

Well. Music, the collection, the usual. And then the pastor starts sermonizing. Mother of God! >.<

He begins by talking about how 'Christmas is for Christ, nothing else'-- some such tripe. Then he begins ranting about 'broadminded liberals', how they would add extra numbers and equations to 2+2 when all you need is just those two numbers to make 4; how they'd tell you that gravity doesn't work, fly in the face of scientific laws; and my mind's rebelled against most of it, but I can attest to the majority of it being huge massive fucking red herrings, strawmen, and no-true-scotsman fallacies.

How I dearly wish I had a transcript...

You're a stronger man than I am. I cannot willingly be part of garbage like that. Sounds like someone should report him to the IRS. He's clearly spouting political views.

drachefly · Post by **drachefly** » 2005-11-28 04:49pm

CaptainChewbacca wrote:It could be she was studying the bible for a school class and her disgust had nothing to do with religion, in which case she's at home telling her friends about the fundie asshole who was nice to a homeless guy and yelled at her for "no reason".

:P

"hey, you know what?" I pointed to her Bible. "I'm not a Christian...

Utsanomiko · Post by **Utsanomiko** » 2005-11-28 04:56pm

The girl was probably another one of those damn affection-deprived kids looking for a father figure in Jesus again, and was skimming the Bible for the lovey-dovey quotes that most Christians stick to quoting.