Checkmite
Skepticifimisticalationist
Has anyone here been Officially Condemned? Certainly, everywhere you can find declarations that all non-Baptists (etc) are going to Hell. I'm not talking about those; nor am I speaking of impersonal message board or chatroom discussions. I'm talking about the real, face-to-face kind where the person actually looks you in the eyes and informs you that you are going to burn forever because of reason "X".
It happened to me today, for the first time.
I was at the mall with a friend, and we happened upon another friend who was there with her little brother, and we all decided to "chill" together; played a few games in the arcade, and eventually sat down in the food court for a steak sub or what have you. Being early in the evening and a Monday, the mall was rather not-busy, so we were taking it easy. We started talking about religious beliefs, and we were all something different - I being a deist, of course; the friend I came to the mall with was Baha'i; the other friend is atheist and her little brother "wasn't really anything", so I'll call him agnostic. We were chatting peacefully when somebody three tables away got up and rebuked us for being so openly blasphemous near his children. "My children are raised to love the Lord," he exclaimed.
My Baha'i friend offered to speak more quietly, but I guess this Falwell-wannabe was in full tilt, as that wasn't enough. He said we were all lost in sin and endangering the soul of "the child" (that would be our female friend's brother) by not setting an example in going to church and stuff.
At this point, I broke in with the point that I do go to a Unitarian-Universalist church. That usually shuts most people up because they don't know what a UU church is and "any church is a good church"; but this person apparently did know. He declared that UU isn't a real church and that it "mocks God" by allowing anyone of any belief to join and that we "allow pagans, homosexuals, atheists and idolaters" to take part in an act specifically denied them by God ("worship", presumably, although a UU service can't fairly be called worship by any means). Various other niceties included the accusation that we "offer a nonexistent alternative to salvation through our Lord Jesus", that we're the real "First Church of Satan" (good one), that we're secular humanists in disguise to lure the faithful, and that, necessarily, we were all condemned to suffer eternal burning torture at the hands of the Enemy and his demons. He also addressed his kids a couple of times while referring to us as "those people". We got up and left, which naturally was an example of how the power of the Lord triumphs over Satan. I'm sure his children were taught this valuable lesson.
Looking back at all this, it seems surreal, like a movie. Were I to write a satirical piece, I would've penned the Angry Fundamentalist character in a manner identical to the way this guy acted...almost word-for-word. It was incredible, it was offensive, it was uncivil, and it scared the hell out of our friend's younger brother. People like this need to have the Hell beat out of them. But nobody ever does it because "they love the Lord, so they are our friends". Any act is excusable.
I know there must be people here who've endured similar roastings. Let this be your OWGTT (Official Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth Thread). Let's all get together and plan our glorious days in the regions below.
It happened to me today, for the first time.
I was at the mall with a friend, and we happened upon another friend who was there with her little brother, and we all decided to "chill" together; played a few games in the arcade, and eventually sat down in the food court for a steak sub or what have you. Being early in the evening and a Monday, the mall was rather not-busy, so we were taking it easy. We started talking about religious beliefs, and we were all something different - I being a deist, of course; the friend I came to the mall with was Baha'i; the other friend is atheist and her little brother "wasn't really anything", so I'll call him agnostic. We were chatting peacefully when somebody three tables away got up and rebuked us for being so openly blasphemous near his children. "My children are raised to love the Lord," he exclaimed.
My Baha'i friend offered to speak more quietly, but I guess this Falwell-wannabe was in full tilt, as that wasn't enough. He said we were all lost in sin and endangering the soul of "the child" (that would be our female friend's brother) by not setting an example in going to church and stuff.
At this point, I broke in with the point that I do go to a Unitarian-Universalist church. That usually shuts most people up because they don't know what a UU church is and "any church is a good church"; but this person apparently did know. He declared that UU isn't a real church and that it "mocks God" by allowing anyone of any belief to join and that we "allow pagans, homosexuals, atheists and idolaters" to take part in an act specifically denied them by God ("worship", presumably, although a UU service can't fairly be called worship by any means). Various other niceties included the accusation that we "offer a nonexistent alternative to salvation through our Lord Jesus", that we're the real "First Church of Satan" (good one), that we're secular humanists in disguise to lure the faithful, and that, necessarily, we were all condemned to suffer eternal burning torture at the hands of the Enemy and his demons. He also addressed his kids a couple of times while referring to us as "those people". We got up and left, which naturally was an example of how the power of the Lord triumphs over Satan. I'm sure his children were taught this valuable lesson.
Looking back at all this, it seems surreal, like a movie. Were I to write a satirical piece, I would've penned the Angry Fundamentalist character in a manner identical to the way this guy acted...almost word-for-word. It was incredible, it was offensive, it was uncivil, and it scared the hell out of our friend's younger brother. People like this need to have the Hell beat out of them. But nobody ever does it because "they love the Lord, so they are our friends". Any act is excusable.
I know there must be people here who've endured similar roastings. Let this be your OWGTT (Official Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth Thread). Let's all get together and plan our glorious days in the regions below.
