Let me just explain first that I don't think my beliefs are any more valid, right or wrong, than anyone else's.
Everyone should be entitled to think what you want spiritually. Whatever. Your mind, your life, your choice.
But that also doesn't mean I'm an empty vessel pleading to be filled with crap either. I'm pretty much set with what I think, and I don't feel the need to impose that on others.
But...
Why is it, that these people come to my door and tell me I need to follow their faith?
And why is it when I say Athiest, that these types look down on me like some lost puppy?
One time I had this loudmouth yahoo ******** shove his foot in the door and push his way past me into my house, bringing his poor brainwashed family with him into my living room, telling me they won't leave until I repent to Jesus. "Amen!"
Another time I had a young well-meaning family ambush my family on Easter Sunday at a park, by sitting on our picnic rug without any invitation or a word, and immediately started by singing a hymn to us (which was kinda cute), and then went to reading from the bible to their kids, as if we wanted to be part of it. I told them very politely thanks but see you later.
They couldn't grasp the simple premise we didn't want them there preaching to us and took it upon themselves to convert us right then and there.
In both instances I felt like these people were using their kids like little human shields. I felt sick for them, those poor little brainwashed bastards...
Am I stupid to these people? Do my beliefs & values mean nothing to them? Or am I just a challenge, a nut to be cracked?
Is there some requirement that these religious types can't get into heaven or something unless they convert a number of heathen's, pagan's or what?
Seriously... WTF?! is it?
While most Christians don't go that far from my experience(it might just be where you live or bad luck), they do believe that they're helping you and that they are supposed to actively try to convert people (some branches/offshoots of Christianity actually do ask people to go door to door like that). I agree it's very annoying and all you can really do is ask them to leave you alone. Except when they say they won't leave, then you have a bit more leeway.
If someone ran around saying that the Earth was flat, wouldn't you try to correct him?
Kind of the same thing. To these people, your beliefs are both false and harmful.
Only if I somehow got into a conversation with this person.
The Christians described by OP honestly sound dangerous. Especially the ones who barged into his home. I would have called the police, sued them for trespass, and gotten an injunction ordering them to stay as far away from me as humanely possible.
If someone ran around saying that the Earth was flat, wouldn't you try to correct him?
Kind of the same thing. To these people, your beliefs are both false and harmful.
Only if I somehow got into a conversation with this person.
The Christians described by OP honestly sound dangerous. Especially the ones who barged into his home. I would have called the police, sued them for trespass, and gotten an injunction ordering them to stay as far away from me as humanely possible.
Agreed. A Christian myself..this is the absolute WRONG way to go about things. Want people to know about your beliefs? Be a good example of those beliefs. Don't shove them on others. I'm sorry you had to have those experiences.
I amuse myself sometimes by engaging with these types in a pleasant enough manner while I ask incredibly hard questions while smiling.
Meanwhile, they don't talk to anybody else.
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
But to echo, when someone believes, truly believes, in the core claims of their religion then, in many ways, they are engaging in a significantly more ethical fashion than the person who says they believe but doesn't really do anything.
I would agree with a lot of thoughts here. To me it is because they think you are wrong and they are right. And basically they are searching out a spiritual argument. The ones barging into the house are ridiculous the ones at Easter are silly. I don't have a problem with them trying to have a conversation either. But when you ask them to leave and they don't that's crossing the line and being pushy. They are trying to sell you salvation of their certain flavor. I have also noticed that these type of pushy Christians tend not to listen but want to be a pastor and preach to the masses or anyone they can force it on. To me they are no different than the guy on the street corner yelling for people to repent and then decide to follow you and yell it at you personally until you do it. It's childish and only pushes people further away.
One time I had this loudmouth yahoo ******** shove his foot in the door and push his way past me into my house, bringing his poor brainwashed family with him into my living room, telling me they won't leave until I repent to Jesus. "Amen!"
You should have called the cops.
And I find it rather funny that you write "Everyone should be entitled to think what you want spiritually", then follow that with "bringing his poor brainwashed family..." and "I felt sick for them, those poor little brainwashed bastards..."
Clearly you do not think everyone should be entitled to think what they want.
Am I stupid to these people? Do my beliefs & values mean nothing to them? Or am I just a challenge, a nut to be cracked?
Is there some requirement that these religious types can't get into heaven or something unless they convert a number of heathen's, pagan's or what?
Seriously... WTF?! is it?
Educate me please.
Christianity holds the tenet that people who do not believe in Christianity will go to hell. The more enthusiastic and evangelical of them tend to think that letting people go to hell is bad, and so will try to prevent that by attempting to convert you.
I think using 'religious people' to describe very specific demographics, such as evangelical Christians, is a mistake.
Christianity and Islam are proselytizing religions. It is part of their faith to spread their religion - they aren't two major world religions despite being relatively young because people heard about them randomly and decided to convert. It's their job to preach and convert and 'save' people, although less forcibly than before.
But Christianity and Islam are not the only religions in the world, and it's pretty insulting that people constantly use 'religious' as a way of getting around calling out Christians (and evangelicals, at that) specifically.
A lot of people don't appreciate the difference between the various Protestant sects and the level of fundamentalist and evangelicalism of each church.
I fully agree that it's difficult for people who aren't Christians, and from my experience even Christians themselves often don't fully know, to know the difference between them. But it is pretty silly to think that all of them are the same.
That's like saying all Americans are the same, or all French, all Brits, etc. It doesn't work.
That's true. I've found Jehovah's Witnesses to be quite vociferous, while Mormons get a bad rap and are rather polite about their proselytizing. It seems like the smaller the sect, the more vehement.
If you saw someone drinking anti-freeze would you try to stop them? Would you do anything if they were about to be hit by a train?
Basically to some people, not believing in Jesus will bring you a worse fate than if you got hit by a train. If you get hit by a train, you die. If you don't believe in Jesus you spend all eternity suffering a torture worse than anything imaginable in the mortal world.
For those that believe this it makes perfect sense for them to not only try to convert you, but to do so even at risk of their own safety.
While heavily perverse by some, it's really no different than why some religious people try to prevent changing laws to allow gay marriage. If they believe that having gay sex is a sin, and that legalizing gay marriage might lead to more gay sex... they would also believe that by outlawing gay marriage they might save some number of souls from eternal damnation. (admittedly I have found very few people that had actually thought about it that far but there are some)
They believe they have a ticket to heaven, and that nonbelievers will suffer greatly for their disbelief.
I'm an agnostic (leaning atheist)
I hate organized religions, and think they are more harmful than helpful. That being said, I have way more respect for someone who
truly stands up for their beliefs.
They are literally reaching out to save you from hell in their minds. It can be annoying, and sometimes intrusive or destructive, but for any worthy cause I'd rather have 1 true believer over 20 wishy-washy sorta-believers.
Those people who just go to church on Sundays and then the rest of week they're hooligans...yeah, no respect.
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“Thus strangely are our souls constructed, and by slight ligaments
are we bound to prosperity and ruin.”
― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Mark 16:15-16. "And he said to them, 'Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.' "
That's why evangelical Christians believe what they believe. But if they believe this entitles them to violate other people's privacy or property rights, they are legally very, very wrong.
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candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
If someone ran around saying that the Earth was flat, wouldn't you try to correct him?
Kind of the same thing. To these people, your beliefs are both false and harmful.
Only if I somehow got into a conversation with this person.
The Christians described by OP honestly sound dangerous. Especially the ones who barged into his home. I would have called the police, sued them for trespass, and gotten an injunction ordering them to stay as far away from me as humanely possible.
I would have likely Beaten anyone barging into my home so badly they would need medical attention. This way the police know to check the hospitals for the guy with the inverted elbow. No amount of prayer will make that work correctly again.
Mark 16:15-16. "And he said to them, 'Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.' "
That's why evangelical Christians believe what they believe. But if they believe this entitles them to violate other people's privacy or property rights, they are legally very, very wrong.
I wouldnt even say they believe they are entitled to it... more like they just believe the risks are worth it. Not only do they believe they are saving their target from eternal damnation but also themselves. Getting slapped with trespassing is a small price to pay for eternal bliss in heaven.
Mark 16:15-16. "And he said to them, 'Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.' "
That's why evangelical Christians believe what they believe. But if they believe this entitles them to violate other people's privacy or property rights, they are legally very, very wrong.
I wouldnt even say they believe they are entitled to it... more like they just believe the risks are worth it. Not only do they believe they are saving their target from eternal damnation but also themselves. Getting slapped with trespassing is a small price to pay for eternal bliss in heaven.
Honestly? I don't think they think that far ahead. I think they're dumb and don't understand how shoving things in people's faces don't make them appreciate you.
They are literally reaching out to save you from hell in their minds. It can be annoying, and sometimes intrusive or destructive, but for any worthy cause I'd rather have 1 true believer over 20 wishy-washy sorta-believers.
No, I really don't think you would. Nor should you.
It's one thing to say that a commitment to one's beliefs and convictions is admirable, to a certain extent that's true. That being said, having a full commitment to a belief that is false is not "being a true believer," it's denial, and it certainly isn't preferable to the alternative.
For example, I am certain that the person who denies evolution and affirms creationism has a great deal of conviction in his beliefs, but none of that is a good thing if it involves him denying basic facts that are right in front of his face. Meanwhile his neighbor in the pew who finds himself conflicted based on what he has seen and experienced versus what others have said around him is, in my opinion, the truer believer of the two. His beliefs may not be firm, but at least he admits it.
It's one thing to have conviction in that which one honestly believes, but it's another to go towards a belief system because that is a system one has been given, rather than that system being an affirmation of one's own inner convictions. I would take an honest atheist over a person who parrots a belief in God because someone else told him it was true any day of the week, because dedication to the truth begins with being honest to oneself and about oneself.
The believer we should be affirming is the one who is truly honest. This includes, as you say, not lying about himself, but it also means not lying to himself. Those who misrepresent themselves to others, preaching one course of action and behaving in an entirely different manner, are misrepresenting themselves and are lying to others. Those who take on belief systems and forms of behavior because they have been told by others to do so, and not because it came from their own hearts or own minds, those who cease their own exploration and discovery of the truth in service to a form that someone else taught them are lying to themselves. Both are dishonest, and thus neither can be called a "truthful" person.
Why is it, that these people come to my door and tell me I need to follow their faith?
Proselyting is a major part of most successful religions (surprise surprise.)
Jehovah's Witnesses and Morons (as well as many others), for example are REQUIRED by their faith to try and go out and save others in order for themselves to be saved. Those two groups, for example, even have a quota they're pressured to keep.
And why is it when I say Athiest, that these types look down on me like some lost puppy?
Because they think you've opted for hell. I mean, if you talked to someone and they told you they were on the path to jump in a lake of lava, how would you feel? Think about it from their perspective. You just told them you were planning on dying painfully when they have the cure for that called "Jesus."
Unenlightened perhaps. Most of them--subconsciously or consciously--have bought into some form of Pascal's Wager, so your conscious choice to go to hell seems foolish to them.
Why is it, that these people come to my door and tell me I need to follow their faith?
Proselyting is a major part of most successful religions (surprise surprise.)
Jehovah's Witnesses and Morons (as well as many others), for example are REQUIRED by their faith to try and go out and save others in order for themselves to be saved. Those two groups, for example, even have a quota they're pressured to keep.
See that just sounds like self-interest to me. They're not trying to save me because I'm about to fall into a lake of lava, but because they're afraid of falling into a lake of lava. That sounds...really selfish on their part.
Why is it, that these people come to my door and tell me I need to follow their faith?
Proselyting is a major part of most successful religions (surprise surprise.)
Jehovah's Witnesses and Morons (as well as many others), for example are REQUIRED by their faith to try and go out and save others in order for themselves to be saved. Those two groups, for example, even have a quota they're pressured to keep.
See that just sounds like self-interest to me. They're not trying to save me because I'm about to fall into a lake of lava, but because they're afraid of falling into a lake of lava. That sounds...really selfish on their part.
Actually it would be they are saving you to stop both of you from falling into a pit of lava. Like if they let you fall not only do you die but you splash a little bit on them.
If someone ran around saying that the Earth was flat, wouldn't you try to correct him?
Kind of the same thing. To these people, your beliefs are both false and harmful.
Nope. You can't fix stupid.
If someone wants to believe that the world is flat, despite the world having moved on and proved it incorrect centuries ago, why would I care?
So to turn that around to your point, why should it matter if I'm blissfully ignorant of this utopian, afterlife alternative?
To these sorts of people, I fear science and free thought is harmful in their eyes.
I would have likely Beaten anyone barging into my home so badly they would need medical attention. This way the police know to check the hospitals for the guy with the inverted elbow. No amount of prayer will make that work correctly again.
I don't do violence unless necessary mate. Besides, with the Wife and kids in the room, it wouldn't have ended well.
And if I had, how would it have looked to the kids?
Oh, and I work in an ED dept., so not only would I get to see ding-a-ling a second time > if I did dislocate an elbow, you're right.
They very rarely go back in without some form of long term problems, not to mention that if you gave them a supracondylar fracture they could potentially lose the arm if not treated quickly...
And I find it rather funny that you write "Everyone should be entitled to think what you want spiritually", then follow that with "bringing his poor brainwashed family..." and "I felt sick for them, those poor little brainwashed bastards..."
Clearly you do not think everyone should be entitled to think what they want.
Clearly, you haven't thought this through.
You're arguing what, exactly?
God is a scary thought for little tackers.
Do you actually think healthy kids as young as 3 and 4, even think about life after death? Spirituality? The meaning of life?
No, they're too busy thinking about material wants like video games, Ben10, Barbies and other fun stuff like farts, sticking bogeys on their older brother and squashing snails with rocks.
Are these kids even allowed a choice? Or is brainwashing young children okay with you?
Answer THAT and then tell me I don't have a right to think these kids deserve a choice to think what they want.
Depending on what they believe, they think that by convincing you they'll bring you salvation, truth, eternal life, very probably a better life on Earth and make you a better person. It's not that they think you're stupid or a challenge (though you'll find some of them that do), but I think, primarily, in their opinion, they're doing you a favour.
I guess this is where the thread seems to be heading.
They're trying to help me, in their own way.
Thanks for the education boys and girls > but because I'm still not too sure how to approach the fundamentalist individuals (ie. the people who don't seem to take no for an answer), is there any way I can simply get them to respect my choice and leave me alone? I don't care if I have to lie, I already know I'm going to hell afterall....
Thanks for the education boys and girls > but because I'm still not too sure how to approach the fundamentalist individuals (ie. the people who don't seem to take no for an answer), is there any way I can simply get them to respect my choice and leave me alone? I don't care if I have to lie, I already know I'm going to hell afterall....
Next time they show up at your door just tell them you are catholic or something... that should get them out pretty quick. Heck save the pamphlets from the last guy and when a different religion shows up try to give them the other pamphlets, haha.
Thanks for the education boys and girls > but because I'm still not too sure how to approach the fundamentalist individuals (ie. the people who don't seem to take no for an answer), is there any way I can simply get them to respect my choice and leave me alone? I don't care if I have to lie, I already know I'm going to hell afterall....
If you're fine with lying, then do that. I was reading a post the other day about being non-Christian in a heavily Christian community and the point the Christians in question (particularly the author's children's school choir teacher) were getting across is that you should learn to pretend to be Christian if you want to avoid being singled out or treated differently. Though I personally hate the idea, if you're willing to lie about it, that's the easiest solution.
The post I referenced is primarily concerning the effects of the Christian mob mentality on children, but that part seemed to apply here,
Clearly, you haven't thought this through.
You're arguing what, exactly?
God is a scary thought for little tackers.
Do you actually think healthy kids as young as 3 and 4, even think about life after death? Spirituality? The meaning of life?
No, they're too busy thinking about material wants like video games, Ben10, Barbies and other fun stuff like farts, sticking bogeys on their older brother and squashing snails with rocks.
Are these kids even allowed a choice? Or is brainwashing young children okay with you?
Answer THAT and then tell me I don't have a right to think these kids deserve a choice to think what they want.
You missed the point. You wrote "Everyone should be entitled to think what you want spiritually", and then you judged them for their beliefs. It is a blatant contradiction and it's funny.
And children are "brainwashed" every single day by their parents. We just use a different word for it. Why is religion an exception that must have the term "brain-washing" applied to it?
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Could you guys and gals educate me here?
Let me just explain first that I don't think my beliefs are any more valid, right or wrong, than anyone else's.
Everyone should be entitled to think what you want spiritually. Whatever. Your mind, your life, your choice.
But that also doesn't mean I'm an empty vessel pleading to be filled with crap either. I'm pretty much set with what I think, and I don't feel the need to impose that on others.
But...
Why is it, that these people come to my door and tell me I need to follow their faith?
And why is it when I say Athiest, that these types look down on me like some lost puppy?
One time I had this loudmouth yahoo ******** shove his foot in the door and push his way past me into my house, bringing his poor brainwashed family with him into my living room, telling me they won't leave until I repent to Jesus. "Amen!"
Another time I had a young well-meaning family ambush my family on Easter Sunday at a park, by sitting on our picnic rug without any invitation or a word, and immediately started by singing a hymn to us (which was kinda cute), and then went to reading from the bible to their kids, as if we wanted to be part of it. I told them very politely thanks but see you later.
They couldn't grasp the simple premise we didn't want them there preaching to us and took it upon themselves to convert us right then and there.
In both instances I felt like these people were using their kids like little human shields. I felt sick for them, those poor little brainwashed bastards...
Am I stupid to these people? Do my beliefs & values mean nothing to them? Or am I just a challenge, a nut to be cracked?
Is there some requirement that these religious types can't get into heaven or something unless they convert a number of heathen's, pagan's or what?
Seriously... WTF?! is it?
Educate me please.
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Kind of the same thing. To these people, your beliefs are both false and harmful.
Only if I somehow got into a conversation with this person.
The Christians described by OP honestly sound dangerous. Especially the ones who barged into his home. I would have called the police, sued them for trespass, and gotten an injunction ordering them to stay as far away from me as humanely possible.
Agreed. A Christian myself..this is the absolute WRONG way to go about things. Want people to know about your beliefs? Be a good example of those beliefs. Don't shove them on others. I'm sorry you had to have those experiences.
Meanwhile, they don't talk to anybody else.
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
But to echo, when someone believes, truly believes, in the core claims of their religion then, in many ways, they are engaging in a significantly more ethical fashion than the person who says they believe but doesn't really do anything.
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You should have called the cops.
And I find it rather funny that you write "Everyone should be entitled to think what you want spiritually", then follow that with "bringing his poor brainwashed family..." and "I felt sick for them, those poor little brainwashed bastards..."
Clearly you do not think everyone should be entitled to think what they want.
Christianity holds the tenet that people who do not believe in Christianity will go to hell. The more enthusiastic and evangelical of them tend to think that letting people go to hell is bad, and so will try to prevent that by attempting to convert you.
Christianity and Islam are proselytizing religions. It is part of their faith to spread their religion - they aren't two major world religions despite being relatively young because people heard about them randomly and decided to convert. It's their job to preach and convert and 'save' people, although less forcibly than before.
But Christianity and Islam are not the only religions in the world, and it's pretty insulting that people constantly use 'religious' as a way of getting around calling out Christians (and evangelicals, at that) specifically.
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I fully agree that it's difficult for people who aren't Christians, and from my experience even Christians themselves often don't fully know, to know the difference between them. But it is pretty silly to think that all of them are the same.
That's like saying all Americans are the same, or all French, all Brits, etc. It doesn't work.
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Basically to some people, not believing in Jesus will bring you a worse fate than if you got hit by a train. If you get hit by a train, you die. If you don't believe in Jesus you spend all eternity suffering a torture worse than anything imaginable in the mortal world.
For those that believe this it makes perfect sense for them to not only try to convert you, but to do so even at risk of their own safety.
While heavily perverse by some, it's really no different than why some religious people try to prevent changing laws to allow gay marriage. If they believe that having gay sex is a sin, and that legalizing gay marriage might lead to more gay sex... they would also believe that by outlawing gay marriage they might save some number of souls from eternal damnation. (admittedly I have found very few people that had actually thought about it that far but there are some)
They believe they have a ticket to heaven, and that nonbelievers will suffer greatly for their disbelief.
I'm an agnostic (leaning atheist)
I hate organized religions, and think they are more harmful than helpful. That being said, I have way more respect for someone who
truly stands up for their beliefs.
They are literally reaching out to save you from hell in their minds. It can be annoying, and sometimes intrusive or destructive, but for any worthy cause I'd rather have 1 true believer over 20 wishy-washy sorta-believers.
Those people who just go to church on Sundays and then the rest of week they're hooligans...yeah, no respect.
Thanks to Xenphire @ Inkfox for the amazing new sig
“Thus strangely are our souls constructed, and by slight ligaments
are we bound to prosperity and ruin.”
― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
That's why evangelical Christians believe what they believe. But if they believe this entitles them to violate other people's privacy or property rights, they are legally very, very wrong.
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
I would have likely Beaten anyone barging into my home so badly they would need medical attention. This way the police know to check the hospitals for the guy with the inverted elbow. No amount of prayer will make that work correctly again.
Infraction for advocacy of violence.
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I wouldnt even say they believe they are entitled to it... more like they just believe the risks are worth it. Not only do they believe they are saving their target from eternal damnation but also themselves. Getting slapped with trespassing is a small price to pay for eternal bliss in heaven.
Honestly? I don't think they think that far ahead. I think they're dumb and don't understand how shoving things in people's faces don't make them appreciate you.
It's one thing to say that a commitment to one's beliefs and convictions is admirable, to a certain extent that's true. That being said, having a full commitment to a belief that is false is not "being a true believer," it's denial, and it certainly isn't preferable to the alternative.
For example, I am certain that the person who denies evolution and affirms creationism has a great deal of conviction in his beliefs, but none of that is a good thing if it involves him denying basic facts that are right in front of his face. Meanwhile his neighbor in the pew who finds himself conflicted based on what he has seen and experienced versus what others have said around him is, in my opinion, the truer believer of the two. His beliefs may not be firm, but at least he admits it.
It's one thing to have conviction in that which one honestly believes, but it's another to go towards a belief system because that is a system one has been given, rather than that system being an affirmation of one's own inner convictions. I would take an honest atheist over a person who parrots a belief in God because someone else told him it was true any day of the week, because dedication to the truth begins with being honest to oneself and about oneself.
The believer we should be affirming is the one who is truly honest. This includes, as you say, not lying about himself, but it also means not lying to himself. Those who misrepresent themselves to others, preaching one course of action and behaving in an entirely different manner, are misrepresenting themselves and are lying to others. Those who take on belief systems and forms of behavior because they have been told by others to do so, and not because it came from their own hearts or own minds, those who cease their own exploration and discovery of the truth in service to a form that someone else taught them are lying to themselves. Both are dishonest, and thus neither can be called a "truthful" person.
Jehovah's Witnesses and Morons (as well as many others), for example are REQUIRED by their faith to try and go out and save others in order for themselves to be saved. Those two groups, for example, even have a quota they're pressured to keep.
Because they think you've opted for hell. I mean, if you talked to someone and they told you they were on the path to jump in a lake of lava, how would you feel? Think about it from their perspective. You just told them you were planning on dying painfully when they have the cure for that called "Jesus."
Unenlightened perhaps. Most of them--subconsciously or consciously--have bought into some form of Pascal's Wager, so your conscious choice to go to hell seems foolish to them.
See that just sounds like self-interest to me. They're not trying to save me because I'm about to fall into a lake of lava, but because they're afraid of falling into a lake of lava. That sounds...really selfish on their part.
Actually it would be they are saving you to stop both of you from falling into a pit of lava. Like if they let you fall not only do you die but you splash a little bit on them.
Nope. You can't fix stupid.
If someone wants to believe that the world is flat, despite the world having moved on and proved it incorrect centuries ago, why would I care?
So to turn that around to your point, why should it matter if I'm blissfully ignorant of this utopian, afterlife alternative?
To these sorts of people, I fear science and free thought is harmful in their eyes.
I don't do violence unless necessary mate. Besides, with the Wife and kids in the room, it wouldn't have ended well.
And if I had, how would it have looked to the kids?
Oh, and I work in an ED dept., so not only would I get to see ding-a-ling a second time > if I did dislocate an elbow, you're right.
They very rarely go back in without some form of long term problems, not to mention that if you gave them a supracondylar fracture they could potentially lose the arm if not treated quickly...
Clearly, you haven't thought this through.
You're arguing what, exactly?
God is a scary thought for little tackers.
Do you actually think healthy kids as young as 3 and 4, even think about life after death? Spirituality? The meaning of life?
No, they're too busy thinking about material wants like video games, Ben10, Barbies and other fun stuff like farts, sticking bogeys on their older brother and squashing snails with rocks.
Are these kids even allowed a choice? Or is brainwashing young children okay with you?
Answer THAT and then tell me I don't have a right to think these kids deserve a choice to think what they want.
I guess this is where the thread seems to be heading.
They're trying to help me, in their own way.
Thanks for the education boys and girls > but because I'm still not too sure how to approach the fundamentalist individuals (ie. the people who don't seem to take no for an answer), is there any way I can simply get them to respect my choice and leave me alone? I don't care if I have to lie, I already know I'm going to hell afterall....
Next time they show up at your door just tell them you are catholic or something... that should get them out pretty quick. Heck save the pamphlets from the last guy and when a different religion shows up try to give them the other pamphlets, haha.
If you're fine with lying, then do that. I was reading a post the other day about being non-Christian in a heavily Christian community and the point the Christians in question (particularly the author's children's school choir teacher) were getting across is that you should learn to pretend to be Christian if you want to avoid being singled out or treated differently. Though I personally hate the idea, if you're willing to lie about it, that's the easiest solution.
The post I referenced is primarily concerning the effects of the Christian mob mentality on children, but that part seemed to apply here,
WURMiraclesRWU
UBRCruel ControlRBU
If you're having fun, I'm not.
You missed the point. You wrote "Everyone should be entitled to think what you want spiritually", and then you judged them for their beliefs. It is a blatant contradiction and it's funny.
And children are "brainwashed" every single day by their parents. We just use a different word for it. Why is religion an exception that must have the term "brain-washing" applied to it?