The Imperfect Community

DietCokeHead · Queen of Imperfection Joined: 29 Apr 2002 Posts: 3805

Scout- That's how I feel too. The "We are praying about which private school to send Simon too" or whatever. Question

I just dont get it.

MainstreamMom

OMG! Nobody and I mean NOBODY talks like that here. People would look at you like you had three heads and were some kind of holy roller if you said some of those expressions (in my small circle of family/friends). BUT, people will say that they are keeping a loved one in thoughts and prayers during illness, times of trouble and in death. I think that's totally different though. We run from the holy types in these parts LOL!

J/J NOT trying to offend anyone!!!!!!!!

ExCareerGal

I kind of get the praying on it part (though for trivial matters I kind of feel selfish asking the big guy for answers for everything . . . ie: Dear Lord, should I buy Jif peanut butter since I like it better or buy Peter Pan on sale?).

What I do not get is the "G-d fearing" part. I do not fear him (partially since I am ambivilent about his existance) but also since I figure if he exisits and had something to do with creating me- then he understand my confusion and will not punish me for it. I mean didn't he make me this way? Doesn't he love me too - even if I am agnostic?

MainstreamMom

It is so completely foreign to me. I think I'm shelterd up here in the "godforsaken NE" Laughing

new053105

Scout

I can understand praying for guidance, like "help me make the right choices," but to me that's different than "Lord, please let Trey get his raise so he can buy that Suburban he wants and feel like a good provider."

This is kind of tangential, but one day at lunch, we were talking about something having to do with gay people (oh yeah, a guy asked me if Calvin was in boyscouts and I said we wouldn't do scouts because they discriminate), and this one guy I work with got *so* extremely worked up. I was shocked because he's normally a pretty mild-mannered guy. He turned really red in the face and was sputtering and finally blurted out "I think if you're a flaming faggot, you need to be just tied to another flaming faggot and burned alive!" I said "That's really a repulsive, disgusting thing to say. I can't understand why you would feel so strongly about that." And he said "Because Jesus said it's an abomination to the Lord." At which point I had to point out that Jesus never said that, but that he did say "you are an adulterer and you force your wife to commit adultery because you are divorced and remarried." He argued that Jesus never said that, and I was like "I can show you mine, can you show me yours?" Laughing

I clarified that *I* was not calling him an adulterer because those aren't my beliefs, but that I didn't see how he could just pick and choose which scriptures to live by and which to ignore. Me thinks the lady does protest too much, if you KWIM. Wink

prescott

I would also hope that even an "abomination" would not require burning at the stake.

WTF century are we in?!?

Were you at lunch offsite or was this in the teacher's lounge? If I went off spouting about "flaming faggots" to a coworker at the office, I would be severely reprimanded, if not fired. His comment is no less offensive than saying "those fucking Jews should be strung up". Unreal.

prescott

Sewingsiren

Damn you, Scout! I'm still laughing about the lady praying about her dog

. The next time someone tells me they're "praying on" something or other I'm probably going to bust out laughing , like an asshole, because I'll be thinking about that lady and her strange acting dog.

Jessica

The Chicagoland is so incredibly diverse ethnically and religiously that religious beliefs are kept extremely private. That's just how it is.

If I see someone at work wearing a cross, a co-worker, I might ask and then we might talk about it. It's something that secretly forms a symatico with people but not much more.

The people praying about trivial stuff cracks me up. They really are in their own little world, aren't they?

Scout

Prescott, I eat lunch in a classroom with 5 or 6 other teachers, so that was the setting. I think he realized pretty quickly that he had lost it. We just kind of let it drop. My neighbor (of the "J The Christ" tshirt) said something about how we're all sinners, we all fall short, etc. and that was it.

Sewing Siren, Laughing

DietCokeHead · Queen of Imperfection Joined: 29 Apr 2002 Posts: 3805

You are correct, that's from the old testament, Leviticus 18:22 -- "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination."

This is from the same section of Leviticus where God is handing down all the rules to Moses about not having sex with a woman when she's "unclean", not to get a tattoo, the various laws for obeying the sabbath and keeping kosher, etc., etc. that some Christians seem to have abandoned except for the ones that serve their agenda.

Do you have the Bible memorized or what???? First the Glynda link, now this???

prescott

Hey, I'll admit, I looked up the exact verse, but I did know it was in there!

What can I say, just because I'm an atheist doesn't mean I never studied the bible. Growing up in an evangelical household and going to church 2 times a week and youth group once a week imparted a little Christian knowledge... Laughing

Bow2PrincessAnnabelle

Typically I feel quite comfortable talk about the Lord with most anyone. I live in the bible belt and pretty much everyone is a christian (or atleast calls themself one). So it comes up quite a bit and isn't ever out of place. I enjoy talking about God because it's usually an uplifting topic. I have quite a bit of family in California from Vallejo to SF to LA. I visit them yearly and particularly enjoyed talking about God to aquancieces there who were not believers. Mostly they had a lot of questions, seemed interested, and didn't mind talking about it. Other times people would get quite uncomfortable and I would just make it a more light hearted talk to bring them around.