Jump to content

The Politics Thread


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 41.9k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Vee

    5821

  • DRW50

    5591

  • DramatistDreamer

    5278

  • Khan

    3198

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

  • Members

@Juliajms I should have actually worded that a lot differently so thanks for sharing your experience. Thanks to my grandmother, I spent a considerable amount of time in a number of different churches and denominations and I got the sense that overall, people liked instructions and not so much reading for themselves. Also from watching some evangelicals in action and their congregation's lack of reaction to some of the questionable things they proclaim, made me question whether some of them read scriptures themselves. I know there are those who memorize Bible verses and I know whenever I ended up in a setting where people were asked to recite one, I would often hear "Jesus wept."

 

Unlike you, I was exposed to some of the "Jews killed Jesus" crowd and they said it as though the Jews were a contemptible lot, as in we good Christians would never do a thing like that.

I just assume, probably incorrectly, that those "alt-right Christians" that are anti-Semitic don't know but I guess they might know and not see any type of contradiction in that. Maybe they saw a picture of blonde, blue eyed Jesus and the rest is irrelevant.

 

My grandmother would use Bible verses to scare me over going to hell if I didn't do whatever she said. I eventually learned that she'd never ever read the Bible. A month or so I ago I watched part of  A Little House on the Prairie episode in which a woman used the Bible to scare the entire little town of illiterate people into believing whatever she said. It turns out that she was illiterate too and had made up a bunch of stuff. It was kind of like my experience and I figured other people have probably been there as well.

 

I was thinking a teeny camera but that digital camera was very funny. I wish I would catch Obama taking pictures inside my microwave. Now I'm getting visions of him popping up in the smart phone and the smart TV...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Thanks Marceline. I'm grateful everyday I was lucky enough to escape the insane level of ignorance.

I'm sure region makes a difference too. I grew up in the mountains of upstate NY, which is more backwoods then some people realize, but it's not like being in the south. We were never taught to hate other races, but there was some stereotyping. It's really funny looking back because even into college I would have said I wasn't a victim of sexism, but now I see it was totally off the charts. I'm sorry your grandmother scared you with religion. I can totally relate. It's funny now, but my best friend and I were always worried about being left behind in the rapture. I remember once we walked into an empty room where a ball was bouncing and we looked at each other and she said "We've been left behind!". We were eight or nine and totally believed it.

Please register in order to view this content

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Maybe region does and sometimes denomination. The ones I can remember are Methodist, Seventh Day Adventist, Baptist, Catholic, and Pentecostal. We went to New Jersey once but mostly in Los Angeles and around Southern California, and also Phoenix. I mostly had fun with other kids but there were times when we'd have to sit still for hours.

 

My grandmother didn't actually need religion to scare me because I was scared of her anyway, but she used to threaten me with it anyway. I don't think I was ever scared of going to hell, but I believed that I would just because she said so. After I started to actually read the Bible, her threats became even more meaningless because I was convinced that she was the one going to hell. One day I told her so and she stopped threatening me with it.

 

Whether they be good, bad, or somewhere in between, I look at all my experiences as shaping who I am. Thanks for your empathy, but I'm not sorry about it. When I was younger everything was amplified by 1000%.  It's funny how many things seem quite intense and serious during the teen years. My mind probably protected me from a lot because things come back in spurts and I finally understand some of the things that happened, that I could not comprehend as a child.

 

Once I stopped believing I could go to hell, I started thinking that I was such a good child that surely I would end up in the best place ever.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy