I’m an agnostic/catholic(if thats possible)…I’ve been living at home while going to school for two months now. Since I live at home I (grudgingly) attend mass every Sunday. So today, I’m in church, and my younger brother and myself very quietly chatted for a brief moment. So this guy(asshole) in front of us, turns around and very sternly says to my brother, “you guys are really annoying”. My initial reaction was: who the hell are you you SOB! We knelt down moments afterwards like obedient christians, and i coughed on his suit, and whispered “faaaag”. When we offer each other “signs of peace” as the custom goes, he turned and extended his hand as a ‘peace offering’ and I just looked at him as if to say, “hell no, you pos”. I kind of felt guilty afterwards, but the point is, most people , as I saw in another thread, believe obedient believers to be tremendously happy individuals. But I find, that if you “disrespect” their beliefs, then suddenly you are possessed by satan. The way I saw it, all I had done, if anything, was disturb the social gathering. Growing up ADHD and Catholic, I’ve had my share of altercations in church.
When I talk to ‘happy’ super dooper positive believers(Campus Crusaders are infamous with this), they always come off as superficial. Does anyone else pick up on this?
Anytime I say to a believer that I think the ‘God of the Bible’ may just be myth, believers always get very angry, and I’m sure they think I’m “possessed by satan”, but I can’t help thinking what I think. What’s worse, I live with believers and all my friends believe, so I’m always in the minority. They famous quote I always get is, “you better watch out…God WILL strick you down!”
Does this seem ridiculous to anyone besides myself? Are Christians really content or is it just superficiality? Sort of off the subject; why would God bother with everyday human activities? Are we really that special?
There’s no single answer; some Christians genuinely seem entirely fulfilled and happy, others seem troubled by their faith, but remain committed, yet others are joyless legalists that seem to want nothing more than to drag as many others down with them as possible (and of course these aren’t three distinct groups either - it all blends together).
You know, I do find a great deal of peace, comfort and content in my religion. However, I’m human, and I have off Sundays. If, when I was having one of them, a day when I was feeling generally cranky and irritable, and the people behind me kept talking loudly enough to distract me from a part of the service I was trying to pay attention to, I would politely say something to them. If they responded with “fag” the way you did, I would have been offended. Using that term as an insult offends me on several levels. I would probably nevertheleass have tried to master my own sinful impulses and still try to shake hands with the person at the Peace. If I was rebuffed by the person, the way you did, that would not have improved my opinion of them. Depending on my mood and degree of general snarkiness, I may have taken you aside after the service and told you how offensive your behaviour was. You may have gotten off lightly.
I’m a practicing Christian. I figure if I practice it long enough, there’s a chance I might get it right one of these days. Human beings get irritated. It comes with being human. Your behaviour obviously irritated the fellow in front of you, and it would have irritated me, possibly on most days, although I wouldn’t have put things the way he did. Yes, religion is supposed to make people happy and content. Unfortunately, that happiness and contentment can be sabotaged by other people.
What, you mean that “theists” aren’t all 100% identical, cookie-cutter entities that can be easily swept into a single, perfectly homogeneous category?
Now you’ll be telling me that there are other types of music than what gets played by Clear Channel.