"Fact, Fiction, and the Holy Bible" Revisited

So I'm cruising through Facebook yesterday when I come across a link posted by a good friend of mine named Jared. It's a link to a video of a very clever and well-performed "rap" by a religious lady, and while I may not agree fully with the message I thought the performance itself and her obvious passion were great. And I said so, which got me pulled into yet another religious conversation which, surprisingly enough, was the total opposite of the last one I had when I first posted "Fact, Fiction, and the Holy Bible" a while back. The lady with whom I was conversing, Julie, is a passionate believer in the Bible - ALL of it - and we were able to exchange thoughts, beliefs and ideas in a sane, mature, and interesting manner via the "comments" section of the original post in this blog. All was going pretty good for a while there.

And then Anne opened her mouth and ruined it all.

Seems she went to my original blog post and read it, and this is what she had to say on Facebook:

"In my humble opinion, very few people have ever been debated into a saving faith in Jesus. Even those who have arguments as weak as Ray’s cannot be convinced by debate. (“There is not one physical piece of proof that ANYTHING in the Bible ...actually took place…” That’s a ridiculous statement. There is archeological and historical evidence for the existence of many people, place, and events in the Bible.)

Ray, my prayer for you is not that you lose a debate, but that you are convinced by love. I hope your life is full of Christian people who demonstrate the true love of Christ in such an overwhelming fashion that you are absolutely overpowered by it and that you come to know God.

Jared, I feel like I should apologize for highjacking your wall. All I can say is Jesus made me do it."

Nice, very nice. Someone who professes to be a Christian insults me and then prays for me. Very nice. Here's my initial reply:

"Let me say this, and then I'm finished with this particular conversation.

Anne, you are the PERFECT example of a religious hypocrite. You criticize, ridicule, and insult both the opinions of those who disagree with your blind faith and the ...people themselves, then you throw salt in the open wound by saying you hope we "come to know God." You refuse to accept ANY other belief or depth of belief other than your own, and your hollow words of hope and "Christian love" do nothing more than prove what a hypocrite you really are.

I doubt very seriously if Jesus made you insult me and MY beliefs the way you have. If he did, then maybe that's not the Jesus I have known all my life.

But I doubt if Jesus had a damned thing to do with it.

Julie, thank you for an enlightening and MATURE discussion. It was truly a pleasure to be able to exchange differing ideas and ideals with another. I admire both your faith and your maturity.

Anne - kiss my ass."

In all fairness I will say that at this point Anne spoke up and said that she apparently "worded something wrong" and insulted me, and apologized. And I said yes, she sure did and accepted her apology.

So after making this post I go to the comments section of the original post and find that someone who chose not to give a name (but my bet is that it was Anne even though she denied it) has left a lengthy sermon there for me to read in what I can only surmise was an attempt to "save" me and have me "see the light." Of course, it didn't help at all that the sermon started out with the usual religious-fanatic claim/threat that I only have two choices, accept God and "be saved" or burn in hell for all eternity.

And then, to make matters even worse and even more ludicrous, in hopes of "saving" me the poster regaled me with quotes of scriptures from the Bible - the very book that I have clearly stated that I don't fully believe!

Yeah, THAT'S really gonna work!

To the poster that wasted their time writing the mini-sermon, I say this: Spare me your religious fanaticism and the near-lunatic raving that comes with it. You're wasting your time. As I've said clearly and on several occasions before this, I do not believe in the concept of "being saved" because that's one of the many hoops that MAN has created. If you want to jump through those hoops like a trained puppy, then you go right ahead - but not me. I've known God and Jesus Christ since I was 5 years old, and they've known me since before then. And that's all I need, now or ever. What I don't need is you or any other religious zealot telling me that I have to do this or I have to do that in order to "be saved" or I'll go to hell, and I don't need it for two reasons: first, I don't believe in hell or the devil, and second, I don't need saving regardless of what you may think. Besides, what YOU think is totally irrelevant - it's what God thinks that matters, and I'm pretty sure He and I are square.

Finally, dear poster, I don't object to your religious beliefs - I just don't agree with them. I respect your beliefs and will not say they're right or wrong, but I will say that I disagree with them and if you try to shove them down my throat I'm gonna spit them right back at you, and then some. If you're happy in your beliefs then that's all that matters; I'm certainly happy with mine, so how's about you just leave well enough alone and don't fuck with me, huh?

And now, on to bigger and better things.

IHC