To OldOlds - Do you have something that you are passionate about? Something that is very important to your life? It could be a sports team, or craft beer, or Lord of the Rings, you get the picture. I recommend that you set up a ZOOM call on this subject with a number of your friends who share this passion, and invite (insist, in the name of family cohesion) that your FIL attend. If this thing were something that your FIL was not exactly on board with all the better. On the call, you and your friends can extol the virtues of said thing, and discuss in detail the minutia and internal disputes. But most of all, you must INSIST that love of this subject is the only way to live, how can anyone NOT find this appealing?
Sounds absurd, doesn’t it? (Or you could share this commentary with your FIL).
Not exactly the same situation, but I used to get glurge emails from a Christian friend along the lines of “So-and-so and such-and-such had 13 children, had to eat wallpaper paste because they couldn’t afford food, and lost 10 of their children due to malnutrition, smallpox, and getting eaten by sharks. Such-and-such is pregnant again. Would you recommend an abortion? If you said yes, you just killed who’s-his-face, who went on become a doctor and save 10 million people from disease X.”
So, I sent this to his email chain: “A 48-year old man marries his 24-year old niece. They have 4 children, all of whom die shortly after birth. Now she’s pregnant again. Would you recommend an abortion? If you said no, you just allowed the birth of Adolf Hitler.”
My mother-in-law was similar. We started out with just cutting her off, and progressed to laughing hysterically and recording her for the kids to share with their buddies. To be clear, that was a 26 year progression so we didn’t just hop straight to laughing. There is no way that I was letting her teach my kids that God created the Earth 4,000 years ago, Adam and Eve were the first people, evolution isn’t real, and that God gives us good parking spots. Not. Happening.
I almost pitted my mom here a month or 2 ago. Obnoxious evangelical born again…also filled to the brim with racism and hatred for all except a few fellow christians.
I feel for you. I’ve dealt with it my whole life. You have to tread a fine line between being true to yourself and keeping some sort of peace in the family.
The key is to always disconnect while you are talking. Even if you have to interrupt someone to start a long speech, then mash the disconnect button right at the crescendo. No one ever suspects you of hanging up on yourself. The same thing works on telephone calls.
Catholics are not at all “lukewarm” about Jesus, but they’re definitely not into proselytizing, that’s for damned sure. Or if they do, it’s more the missionary type, like helping orphans down in Guatemala or some shit like that.
Is your father-in-law the old-school, Mass in Latin type, OldOlds?
I meant “lukewarm” in the sense that Jesus is not the beginning and end of their faith, and their obsession, like it is for most fundamentalist types. Except for Jehovah focussed Witnesses of course.
My church is conducting services on Zoom instead of in the chapel. Periodically Zoom announces “This meeting is being recorded” and we all hear that announcement.
Hmm. What I meant was that the host is the only one who can initiate recording. Yes attendees get a recording warning – I had one just last night for a Zoom Southwest Paleontological Society meeting that was also a talk from an expert on photogrammetry techniques.
I don’t know for sure because I’ve never tried or looked into recording a meeting myself.
He abandoned Catholicism and became a fundamentalist Christian about 25 years ago. (He now believes the Catholic Church is the “Devil’s Church.”) When we would visit, he was constantly proselytizing to our children. Told them the Earth was 10,000 years old (or whatever), Jesus this, Jesus that, etc. When he discovered he wasn’t converting them/us to his beliefs, he cut off all communications; I assume it’s because he doesn’t want to hang around with anyone who doesn’t believe what he believes. In fact, he has pretty much alienated his entire family. He is now a sad and lonely man, and still tries to convert every person he encounters.
Depends on his age - over about 50 in order Marine, pilot, still fit enough to do cross fit, healthy because of the vegetarian diet. Under 50, over 30 I would say Marine, Pilot, Cross Fit, Vegetarian, and under 30 Marine, Pilot, Vegetarian, Cross Fit.
Once a Marine, always a Marine [y’all can tell a Marine, Y’jist c’ain’t tell’m much] and generally once a flyboy, always a flyboi. They will always come first [unless particularly born again maniac, then they will pound a bible at you for a while first, and definitely mention how Jayzebus kept them alive during the Battle of Wherethefuckistan]
