Sent parents home without dinner
Sent in by Ted
My story is typical of everyone else.
I was raised in a fundy home. My father, who thinks he can sing, would occasionally torture, I mean sing for the church. He would have my siblings and I sit before him while he sang. This was an overt display to his "Christian friends" that he was a "godly family man."
My parents were number one first class hypocrites. Jesus says to give to the poor, but when my folks see a homeless person begging they turn their nose up at them saying, "The reason that they are poor is because they are lazy."
The final nail in the Christian coffin was when my older and favorite brother came out of the closet and said he was gay. My parents have been trying for years to "correct and to save him." I finally left Christianity when I started attending college, where I was exposed to a wide variety of people.
Anyway, last Thanksgiving my wife and I were planning a secular, non-religious dinner. Instead of praying to an invisible God we were going to be thankful for what it means to be human. My brother and his partner were invited along with my folks. My folks were specifically instructed to leave their religion at home. Of course when they showed up they tried to straighten out my brother and his partner by suggesting they attend a recovery class for homosexuals. I promptly showed my parents to the door and told them they could go to a local restaurant for diner. I suggested that my younger brother and sister, who are still living at home, were welcome to stay and could be picked up later. Of course my folks refused.
According to my younger sister, soon after they had an enormous prayer vigil at their church to ask God to free their family from the "grasp of Satan." They glorified themselves by claiming, "We have been persecuted in the name of Jesus!” Both my brother and sister have told me that they cannot wait to get out of that house.
I have one grown sister who is an atheist and one brother who still believes in Jesus, but only goes to church occasionally.
My story is typical of everyone else.
I was raised in a fundy home. My father, who thinks he can sing, would occasionally torture, I mean sing for the church. He would have my siblings and I sit before him while he sang. This was an overt display to his "Christian friends" that he was a "godly family man."
My parents were number one first class hypocrites. Jesus says to give to the poor, but when my folks see a homeless person begging they turn their nose up at them saying, "The reason that they are poor is because they are lazy."
The final nail in the Christian coffin was when my older and favorite brother came out of the closet and said he was gay. My parents have been trying for years to "correct and to save him." I finally left Christianity when I started attending college, where I was exposed to a wide variety of people.
Anyway, last Thanksgiving my wife and I were planning a secular, non-religious dinner. Instead of praying to an invisible God we were going to be thankful for what it means to be human. My brother and his partner were invited along with my folks. My folks were specifically instructed to leave their religion at home. Of course when they showed up they tried to straighten out my brother and his partner by suggesting they attend a recovery class for homosexuals. I promptly showed my parents to the door and told them they could go to a local restaurant for diner. I suggested that my younger brother and sister, who are still living at home, were welcome to stay and could be picked up later. Of course my folks refused.
According to my younger sister, soon after they had an enormous prayer vigil at their church to ask God to free their family from the "grasp of Satan." They glorified themselves by claiming, "We have been persecuted in the name of Jesus!” Both my brother and sister have told me that they cannot wait to get out of that house.
I have one grown sister who is an atheist and one brother who still believes in Jesus, but only goes to church occasionally.
Comments
Christianity teaches it's followers to reject family and friends that are outside of the faith, right? Well why shouldn't we have the right to do the same to them?
It's bad anytime religion causes hard feelings and pain among people, but, I applaude your having the balls to 'give em a taste of their own medicine'!!
I'm proud to be in your camp.
"By gawd, Old Man, you gonna stay under MY roof, and eat MY gawddam food, you're gonna obey MY rules, or you can just take your ass out of here!!"
How many of us, from a secular or Fundy household remember getting that ultimatum thrown in our faces?
I think if you read your bible you will find a loving man who ate with criminal tax collectors, saved a prostitute from death. He did not come to condem us he came to save us...
That just my take on it...
But the bible says that if we don't accept Jesus as our personal lord and saviour, then he won't save us, but instead CONDEM us to eternal punishment in hell....doesn't sound like a very loving man to me..
Jacstar
I've read the bible, the question is, have YOU?
And Andrew, Jeebus said if we didn't love him with all our fibers that he'd cast us out into Fire Lake. Now, maybe YOU like being abused by father figures, but a lot of us have broken free of that ultimate mind-fuck.
And if I don't have the right to say what I will allow and not allow in my OWN HOME, what rights do I have? Can I bring my Atheism to YOUR house? How about my Nudism?
But... I will agree with you about human groups not being so "open". A lot of Xian churches hate the Jews because they "killed Jeebus", John Hagee and his Ilk hate Catholics, Sudden Baptists (and others) hate the UU church because they won't hate Gay people, Ad Nauseum...
Wow, 2 trolls in one thread, cool!
will also find him throwing a childish temper tantrum when he
sees the moneychangers at the temple, dissing his mother on occasion, cursing a fig tree (now if you saw someone yelling curses at a tree, what would YOU think about it?) and telling his followers to steal a horse so he can ride into Jerusalem.
That's assuming this man ever
existed.
And Ted, that's a great post. I come from a long line of fundamentalists, and I know how they love to claim they're "persecuted"; it gives them something to talk about in church so they can feel "holy".
What shallow lives they lead.
Twenty years of being involved in the inner circle of at least six ministries was unbelievable.
The backstabbing,polictical exclusion,meaness,lies and corruption was endless.
I could write a 200 page book on the negative experiences I had in ministries and churches.*Maybe I should.
Christians always expect a double-standard for themselves. Unlike the rest of us they don’t have to be polite, civil, or hold themselves to a promise when their cult is involved. It would have been great to have turned-the-tables on them and once they arrived at the dinner your brother and his partner could have taken them aside to show them information on where they could go to be de-programmed from their retarded and sickening religion.
and harsh doctrines of the bible?
Why doesn't anyone hold church leaders accountable to this intolerance,and to the devastation
it causes?
Christians,
Please leave your assumptions and polemics at the door. Don't preach in my house, and I won't think in yours.
But try adopt a low key approach toward your parents. Non-Christians or non-believers can still remain on good terms with Christians and other believers.
Just continue to remain steadfast to your beliefs, even though they do not coincide with the beliefs of others.
His Kingdom is real. Whether you ever believe it or not, the truth still exists. Therefore,don't let your feelings and circumstances dictate the truth to you. Suicide is one of the most selfish things one could do or consider. Selfishness not only will cause you to take someone elses life but ultimately your own. So stop being selfish, and change your way of thinking and your way of doing things. Believe in Jesus and learn more about Him so you can enter the Kingdom of God.(God's way of thinking and doing things.) May you find true peace from knowing and doing the truth.
Okay, BD, got an assignment for you. Kindly do the following, without resorting to scripture, commentaries on scripture, or your personal spiritual experiences.
1. Prove that gods exist. Any gods.
2. Prove that Hell exists.
3. Prove that non-belief actually condemns individuals to Hell.
4. Prove that no other means of salvation are possible.
And remember... No quoting the Bible, or Christian apologists, or your own touched-by-a-spirit feelings.
calm down big fella...
just put down the gun and come in off the ledge.......s'gonna be okay.
That just my take on it..."
Allan, I just wonder concerning the level of understanding you have of the Bible and the doctrine of the Trinity. Have you read the Old Testament? If you have, would you agree that God is portrayed as a barbaric, egoistic, cruel, freakish, infanticidal, insane, malevolent, racist, sadomasochistic, genocidal maniac? All this can be gleaned from reading the first five books of the Bible. And if you believe in the Trinity doctrine, you have to agree that all the evil God the Geezer committed as narrated in the OT was also committed by none other than Jesus himself. You cannor have your cake and eat it, too. Jesus and the Old Geezer are believed to be one and the same God. And there are numerous passages in the NT introducing the idea of eternal punishment in Hell - all from your Jesus. The weeping and gnashing of teeth, put forth in one passage after another, with apparent relish, also from your Jesus.
Have you any idea how the NT was put together? Read some of Bart Ehrman's books.
Savvy?
My invisible, mute god told me so.
Now, BigDummy, can you, as a follower of the NT, translate my tongues from the above passage and reveal to everyone what a glorious revelation of truth I just proclaimed?
...
...
...
...
...
...didn't think so. Go away.
I hope one day you see the error of your ways. Faith is mental bondage, and the more faith you have, the deeper in bondage you are.
All you have to do is start questioning the religion you practice, the Bible you read, and the god you believe in. You will find that none of them is tenable.
You are not searching for the truth, you are searching for God. You are deluded.
It's good that you are standing up to your parents about their religious hegemony. It took me a long time to stand up to my mom about it.
Sending them home during Thanksgiving dinner may have been a bit over the top, but I wasn't there and didn't see how the events unfolded.
I haven't yet resorted to harsh words with my mother, but I have let her know in no uncertain terms that Christianity is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of and that I resent her raising me with that sort of brainwashing.
Now, she doesn't preach to me and I don't ridicule her religion.
There's this really pesky problem in how the universe operates: saying something doesn't make it so. I know, it's a real bitch and believe me, I've put in my formal complaint. Haven't heard back from 'em yet. I mention this because you yourself seem to highlight this little snag in your OP.
So, now that we have that out of the way we are left with the question: what indeed does substantiate truth? And, the answer is (drum roll please) evidence.
Now, come back here like a big boy and give us some.
Some people here have warned against being so harsh to believers, but it sounds like you were quite justified. Some fundies just can't grasp that the rules DO apply to them!