>From: "Peter McWilliams" >Subject: Discussing Christianity III >Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2000 14:10:26 -0800 >X-Mozilla-Status: 8003 >X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 > >Another interaction with "My Favorite Christian," in which I lower the boom. > >Enjoy, > >Peter > > > > > Someone wrote the Christian: > > > > Lets see where do I begin? First, your recent posts is overall what I > > find wrong with many people who proclaim they are Christian. > > > > The Christian responded: > > > > You made my point, Charles: You look to find fault with individuals in > > order to denigrate Christianity itself. > >My comment: > >Jesus did say, after all, that by its fruit a tree is known. There has been >a downpour of rotten fruit from the fundamentalist Christian tree since 1980 >when it helped put Reagan into office and its beliefs began finding their >way into our code of laws, so one has the right to question the nature of >that tree -- if Jesus has any say in the matter, that is. > > > You say Christians force their > > belief of others. Now how can they do that, Charles? How can anyone > > force you to believe anything? That is such a ludicrous comment, yet > > few take the time to analyze exactly how anyone can force their beliefs > > on anyone else. > >You look for the weakest (the clinically depressed) and feed them false >promises of happiness here and hereafter. It's called deception. The "force" >is when someone says, "No," and you continue to rattle on. And on. And on. >The fact is, you need to sell your "faith" to others because you don't quite >believe it yourself. It's a psychological fact that by selling something you >get sold yourself. "Converting" keeps the converted converted -- one of the >best tricks in the Christian bag. And when no one is converted, you get >filled with a smug self-righteousness that is as intoxicating to the >miserable as marijuana is to the healthy. You get a chemical high from >hating in Jesus' name. It permeates your prose. You, sir, are addicted. > > > If you are complaining about my exercising my right to publish my > > opinion on the matter, then you are against the right of others to free > > speech you disagree with. But don't cloak your attempt to censor > > another's opinion by declaring that they are attempting to force their > > beliefs upon you. > >No one ever said you should not publish. I find your diatribes entertaining. >I also watch TBN and the 700 Club for amusement, too. It's fascinating to >see how crazy crazy people can get and still be able to walk around and not >bump into the furniture. > > > The fact is that you and yours don't like the message and you don't like > > being reminded of it. > >Speaking for myself, I have considered your message fully and have rejected >it, as I have rejected the validity of the Drug War, racism, censorship, and >antiSemitism. I need no further facts or information, thank you. > > > The message makes people uncomfortable who have > > rejected God's laws, so they lash out at the messengers, accusing them > > of forcing their beliefs upon them. Poor babies. > >You are getting your "fix" of self-righteousness at the expense of others, >that's all. It's like the exhibitionist who gets off on the rejection but >wouldn't know what to do if someone said, "Hey! That's lookin' good! Let's >do it in the road!" That doesn't make us "babies," poor or otherwise. It >makes you a sadly misguided addict who gets off on other people's rejection. >Your "religion" has made every bad feeling you have a sacrament, a stepping >stone to Heaven, a nail in the cross you carry with Jesus, so you seek >rejection like a smoker seeks a cigarette. Don't you understand there is a >cure for all that pain and the cure is called antidepressant medication? > > > Maybe if you kick and > > scream somebody will make the bad messengers go away and you can live > > your lifestyle without being reminded that it might not be the best > > thing for you, innocent others and society in general. > >Do take that last message, apply it to yourself, and pretend Jesus sent it >to you FedEx. > > > > >================================================================ > >This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to > the mailing list . >To unsubscribe, E-mail to: