Oh lordy.
Now I get the email: It’s a weekly discussion.
This is what I get for being a nice guy.
The hell you say!
Are you going to go?
Any way to get all of us invited ?
Or – at least – “Wilma from Sweden ?”
I am not planning to attend the second one. I’m not in any way troubled by telling my FIL this.
The worst part is that I’d be happy to engage in a discussion. But this is terrible.
Monday the following question was posed: If you could ask god one question, what would it be? Leaving aside the presumptiveness of that, literally everyone asked “why so much suffering in the world?” Come on. Even I could give a religious answer to that. I asked “why does he wait 2000 years between visits?”
I seriously don’t think any of them wanted to discuss that.
They’d be happy to have you. They would not appreciate your contributions, I suspect.
Again, I’ll ask “Just you, and not your wife?”
Seems suspicious that you were invited, that you alone are getting the emails, that you are getting put on the spot*, and not your wife?
I mean, if it was “just a discussion”, why exclude her? What would dad’s reason be to not invite his daughter, but to make a point of inviting her husband?
One more clue that the plan might be “Let’s all gang up on the heathen, he’ll crack eventually.”
*(with Shadrach, Mesach and Abednego…)
Hey! Hands off she’s mine.
It sounded like a trap from the get-go.
I would do it with a bottle of Fireball clearly in the video. Every time he said the word “Jesus” I’d do a shot and smack the table and make that face cowboys make in westerns. Any emails from him would be met with an auto generated link to Fireball and sent to a dead letter folder.
My oldest brother would talk in front of our kids about how the earth was less than 10000 years old. That was until around 10 years ago, after his second marriage ended. He got into meditation, and became interested in Buddhism. He also became politically much more liberal. So it’s never too late to evolve.
Noping out of the weekly calls is the right decision. Good call by you.
Ironically, they’re arguing in bad faith.
I don’t know why just me. Maybe they think I’m the one that needs saving.
My wife doesn’t have a great relationship with her parents (which is part of why I don’t).
Initially I took him at his word that this was some sort of debate club and he wanted a non-catholic voice. Clearly he’s full of shit.
I don’t know if anyone cares, but there’s an update.
I skipped the next meeting. And, of course, I got a call from my FIL. I’ll represent as best I’m able:
I’m sorry you couldn’t make it. Was there a reason?
You said it would be a conversation about life’s big questions. And you wanted a variety of views. It seemed like a big commercial for Jesus to me. There was no discussion. You asked one question, it was kinda basic, and there was no actual discussion about the answers.
Well, you know this is important to me.
Well, you know I’m an atheist.
I do. I’d like you to give it another chance.
Look, I’m happy to discuss with you. With anyone. But I don’t need to be preached to.
In the end, I agreed to attend one more. Because he promised a discussion. And, frankly, because while my wife doesn’t LIKE her father, she loves him. And I’m really a pretty nice guy.
But here we are 20 minutes in, and its a goddamn fucking jesus commercial. I’m done, it’s obnoxious. And frankly, it’s clearly written from the perspective of someone who presupposes god exists. IF YOU WANT TO CONVERT PEOPLE YOU NEED TO BACK UP A LEVEL, YOU MORONIC GIT!
Sorry. I’m annoyed. I have a loooong fuse. But when it goes down, I’m an asshole.
Thank you SDMB for listening.
Aaaaaand there’s your mistake.
Hang up. If he calls and asks why, tell him it’s because you don’t appreciate being lied to; he’s had two chances, he don’t get no more.
100%
I don’t mind giving him an hour a week. But we’re done here. Fucking stupid.
Calling out hypocrisy is a viciously effective move. Use my link with scripture about lying and use it hard. It won’t change your FIL but it will give him sufficient cognitive dissonance that he may well give you a wide berth.
fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, where’s the beer.
I went to a religious grade school and am just fine with people who think Jesus is more important than football. But there is no way in hell I would have put up with joining a discussion group as an adult if I wasn’t interested. No sale, not interested, best of luck getting the winning lottery numbers from Jesus.
You are.
As a Christian, I’d just like to apologize. We can be idiots, but to outright lie is despicable (or maybe FIL’s got a massive lack-of-self-awareness… to a degree where he should be remanded to mandatory counseling).
What?!? Imagine saying “I’d like you to give it another chance” to someone who said “I’m a scientist” or “I believe in equality for everyone.” or “Well, you know I’m a heterosexual…”