SIGNS ON MY BACK
Do you ever feel like you're the victim of that classic practical joke, where someone sticks a sign on your back and you don't know it's there until it's too late?
Today at work, I was unknowingly walking around with three signs on my back:
"Belittle me"
"Insult me"
"Save my soul"
My last table of the day decided to fill all three requests at once.
I don't know why it is that my tables frequently chat me up about my faith.
It's happened a few times, and I'm usually able to conduct myself appropriately, with respect and feigned interest.
This was not one of those tables.
First, the guy suckers me into the conversation by telling me that he and his wife have been married for 50 years. An impressive feat nowadays, so I congratulate them both, and then he turns the conversation to high divorce rates and how that's tied directly to taking religion out of the schools.
I cringed inwardly as these words left his mouth.
I knew this was going to be a long conversation with no chances of bowing out gracefully
and the only reason I had approached the table in the first place was the pick up their signed credit card slip so I could close out their tab, print my report, and go home.
This guy, Bud Something-or-other, spoke at length about philosophy and religion.
I'll sum up some of his basic points:
=It's disgraceful that college courses regarding Atheism are being taught.
=People who are poor or homeless are that way because of their Pagan beliefs.
=Homosexuality is unnatural and sick, in the same way that kleptomania is unnatural and sick.
=God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are all the same, but it's important to acknowledge that they're different.
=I need to stop looking to have all of the answers.
=I need to receive the Spirit.
=I need to stop breaking his heart by refusing to call myself a Christian.
Guess where he lost my attention and respect? I'll give you three guesses... =]
This conversation was drawn out for well over an hour, which is partly my fault. I was being purposely antagonistic by unabashedly stating that
I do not call myself a Christian,
I do not believe in the Bible [word for word],
I don't make any specific distinction between God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit,
I do not go to church,
I don't believe in Hell or the Devil,
I believe in karma and reincarnation,
and as a future teacher I fully support the separation of the Church from the state,
and that thus, high divorce rates are more a failing of the church than of the school.
I was not rude, but I was honest and blunt.
Bud was not deterred.
He even went to far as to hold my hand and ask me to accept Jesus Christ as my savior.
Right there in the middle of the dinner rush at a crowded restaurant.
And that, my friends, was the breaking point.
I believe my parting words were along the lines of
"I appreciate what you are trying to do here. I can see that God has touched your lives in countless good ways, and thank you for sharing that with me. But just because what I believe is different than yours doesn't mean that I'm wrong or that my beliefs are any less valuable than yours. I still have a lot of questions and things to learn about, and God understands that. She doesn't have a problem with where I am in my faith right now, and I know that because she told me so. So thank you for talking to me about this, and you've given me plenty to think about. But I really must be going now."
Of course, it was not as eloquent or flowy as that, but that was the gist of things. =]
But seriously, though, who do people think they are?!
And what's more, who do they think I am?
A godless heathen roaming the earth in desperate need of some Godly stranger to bump into me and show me the way?
Did they think I would gladly lap up everything they say and shed my own beliefs at the drop of a hat?
Well it didn't work. They only thing they succeeded in doing is creating one extremely irritated, frustrated, and highly offended waitress.
Every single person on the face of this planet has the right to place their faith in whatever pile of garbage they want to.
And I will fight to defend that right, which is theirs as much as it is my own, with every fiber of my being.
And I would never EVER dare to question, belittle, or devalue the personal beliefs of a perfect stranger.
Why is it that they can't grant me that same respect?
Do you ever feel like you're the victim of that classic practical joke, where someone sticks a sign on your back and you don't know it's there until it's too late?
Today at work, I was unknowingly walking around with three signs on my back:
"Belittle me"
"Insult me"
"Save my soul"
My last table of the day decided to fill all three requests at once.
I don't know why it is that my tables frequently chat me up about my faith.
It's happened a few times, and I'm usually able to conduct myself appropriately, with respect and feigned interest.
This was not one of those tables.
First, the guy suckers me into the conversation by telling me that he and his wife have been married for 50 years. An impressive feat nowadays, so I congratulate them both, and then he turns the conversation to high divorce rates and how that's tied directly to taking religion out of the schools.
I cringed inwardly as these words left his mouth.
I knew this was going to be a long conversation with no chances of bowing out gracefully
and the only reason I had approached the table in the first place was the pick up their signed credit card slip so I could close out their tab, print my report, and go home.
This guy, Bud Something-or-other, spoke at length about philosophy and religion.
I'll sum up some of his basic points:
=It's disgraceful that college courses regarding Atheism are being taught.
=People who are poor or homeless are that way because of their Pagan beliefs.
=Homosexuality is unnatural and sick, in the same way that kleptomania is unnatural and sick.
=God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are all the same, but it's important to acknowledge that they're different.
=I need to stop looking to have all of the answers.
=I need to receive the Spirit.
=I need to stop breaking his heart by refusing to call myself a Christian.
Guess where he lost my attention and respect? I'll give you three guesses... =]
This conversation was drawn out for well over an hour, which is partly my fault. I was being purposely antagonistic by unabashedly stating that
I do not call myself a Christian,
I do not believe in the Bible [word for word],
I don't make any specific distinction between God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit,
I do not go to church,
I don't believe in Hell or the Devil,
I believe in karma and reincarnation,
and as a future teacher I fully support the separation of the Church from the state,
and that thus, high divorce rates are more a failing of the church than of the school.
I was not rude, but I was honest and blunt.
Bud was not deterred.
He even went to far as to hold my hand and ask me to accept Jesus Christ as my savior.
Right there in the middle of the dinner rush at a crowded restaurant.
And that, my friends, was the breaking point.
I believe my parting words were along the lines of
"I appreciate what you are trying to do here. I can see that God has touched your lives in countless good ways, and thank you for sharing that with me. But just because what I believe is different than yours doesn't mean that I'm wrong or that my beliefs are any less valuable than yours. I still have a lot of questions and things to learn about, and God understands that. She doesn't have a problem with where I am in my faith right now, and I know that because she told me so. So thank you for talking to me about this, and you've given me plenty to think about. But I really must be going now."
Of course, it was not as eloquent or flowy as that, but that was the gist of things. =]
But seriously, though, who do people think they are?!
And what's more, who do they think I am?
A godless heathen roaming the earth in desperate need of some Godly stranger to bump into me and show me the way?
Did they think I would gladly lap up everything they say and shed my own beliefs at the drop of a hat?
Well it didn't work. They only thing they succeeded in doing is creating one extremely irritated, frustrated, and highly offended waitress.
Every single person on the face of this planet has the right to place their faith in whatever pile of garbage they want to.
And I will fight to defend that right, which is theirs as much as it is my own, with every fiber of my being.
And I would never EVER dare to question, belittle, or devalue the personal beliefs of a perfect stranger.
Why is it that they can't grant me that same respect?
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At least our "Judge me" signs color coordinate.