I was accused, along with the heretical Kent, of being an offspring of Satan on a forum a few days ago :)
So beware, any who read here. I will try to lure you away to the dark side, from where God shall have no option or creative licence but to send you all to hell, forever and ever.
What seems funny to me these days is how irritated and upset I used to get at such comments previously. Maybe because I wasn't sure if they weren't right? Because whenever people would flame-throw me, in God-related areas, it would so easily throw me into the giant vat of shame that lived inside me. If someone made accusations about my character and using God to proof-text that, I would crumble and fall because hey, they were right, right?
Well, I suppose they were in one way. But they can't touch me that way anymore. That's the miracle.
I guess the problem is that most often the sort of person who flame throws in this way has hundreds of scriptures to back themselves up, and their righteous, wall-watching anger, their holy desire to purge from the ranks of Christianity the defiling agents to fuel them along. And while I can understand how they can see that in scripture, I just don't identify that way of looking at things any more with God I have come to experience in my own mind and heart and body. There are many other ditches for me to fall in, but the "turn yourself into a hate-filled hypocritical moron in the process of upholding God's integrity" is not one that lures me in any more.
I still get irritated at people in those situations. 'Cause really, some of the ugliest people in the world are Christians who are convinced they are right, who are convinced that they are God's elect, on God's holy road, being the mouthpiece of God's righteous requirements, the grace-filled beauties through which he shall impart to wayward believers the way back onto the narrow path.
That sort of person still irritates me, sure. But somehow, along the way, this big wall of anger and defensiveness is being dismantled brick by brick. It's a scary sort of dismantling, the walls you've built up. Each brick that comes down, you begin seeing in yourself horrendities that you really would prefer weren't there but which you have known have been there, simmering away inside. And you also recognise (somehow, at some point, without disintegrating under the slamming ball of shame) that inside of you is the very same propensity towards self-righteousness. So where do you end up standing in your irritation at that person? Looking at yourself in the mirror :) There is nowhere left to stand. The cross takes away that option for you. Another irritation :)
"It burns, it burns!" scream the wicked witches of your soul, melting into the ground :)
Cindi wrote yesterday about the protein molecules found in our bodies which are literally what is holding them together. This molecule basically glues our bodies together. Like Christ, who is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Most interesting is the shape of this lamin substance. Cool, huh? :)
You must read THIS if you didn't already.
ReplyDeleteSeriously funny shit...er...I mean...stuff. Am I going to hell for that?
Thanks a lot...tossing my heretical status even farther out on the world wide web for people to find :)
ReplyDeleteBreathing easier than I ever have in my life. Sue, there was something that really made me feel good that it was you and I that got called out together by such a character.
Ok so now I really want to know what happened. Care to e-mail me, Sue? Or is it private?
ReplyDeleteMe too! I wanna know! You can't just tell half the story like that, not to somebody as nosy as I am.
ReplyDelete"And you also recognise (somehow, at some point, without disintegrating under the slamming ball of shame) that inside of you is the very same propensity towards self-righteousness. So where do you end up standing in your irritation at that person? Looking at yourself in the mirror :) There is nowhere left to stand. The cross takes away that option for you. Another irritation :)"
ReplyDeleteI love what you wrote here...I find myself in this situation quite often...I think because I used to be one of those ugly christians who thought I knew everything and needed to make sure everyone else knew too! Yikes! If I could go back and apologize to all I have hurt...wow. How could I have been so presumptuous? Or self focused?
Nowadays, I think maybe it's BETTER to be labeled spawn of satan! Good for you ;)
I happen to think you are great, and you make me smile often. Thank you for that.
Ok, Erin...I just read that link that you posted! Hilarious! I almost peed my pants.
ReplyDeleteThat Kamp Krusty post was so hilarious :) (Apart from that Brant is a bit of a raunchbag really, isn't it.) Now, Kent, you really are going to hell, that's for sure. But before you do, maybe you could illuminate everyone and me too about this person on the forum? Because I'm not entirely sure what happened. I've only been posting back there for a few days, and suddenly I get labelled a sibling of you, ol' Satan spawn, and I'm not even sure why. And then I went back to read and the post has been dissected into two parts, and some posts have been deleted, etc etc etc so I really can't answer your curiosities, Erin and Heather.
ReplyDeleteKari, I reckon the system as Christianity that we all fell into taught you how to be that way, encouraged it. I would even go further and say it's the crap theology we have, but then you really will see how heretical I am, with my "all shall one day be saved" leanings and other such sundrinesses :) Thank you for your lovely compliment, you have quite warmed the cockles of my heart
well, it was strange to say the least. this person had only been around for a couple weeks and I hadn't interacted with him much at all. Maybe once or twice. I had added a couple things to the conversations he was in and he had responded in a respectful manner.
ReplyDeleteHe then began to get more aggressive and sharp and condecending. Once he called a forum member a spiritual harlot along with many other things I sent a message to a friend who is a moderator to see if he was aware of it. The moderator was already on it and deleted the comment and sent him a warning that if he continued to speak that way to others that he would be banned.
That was around the time Sue popped into the forum and if I remember right had just made one post and it was to the one that had been called a SH but Sue hadn't seen that post before it was deleted.
Sue just leaves a post that was supportive of the person the guy had called a SH......along with some of her observations about christianity and her frustrations with how christians treat each other and people in the world.
I then followed Sue with some quotes from people in leadership positions that have influenced me that are so humble and gracious and handle the Bible in such a way and teach in such a way from the reality that they "only see in part" and that we are more accurately pursuers of Truth, not possessors of Aboslute Truth.
Then came this
"Will the real Jesus please stand up? You all are great, lost, deceived, children of disobedience but fun to chat with"
he goes on to refer to the pharisees as being of Satan and then ends with this before he got banned.
"I see some of the offspring of them right here, welcome Kent, and Sue, and others"
That was the highlights of how Sue and I got accussed. It really wasn't that juicy :)
He seemed to just be one that enjoys and sees it as his job to scripture slap people into his version of truth.
Sue: I've come across plenty of people like that. I always restrained myself, but the thought that a good slapping might be their best medicine was never far away.
ReplyDeleteIf you're the spawn of Satan, then I must be your brother!
Oh and thanks for sharing, Kent.
ReplyDeleteOoh ooh ME TOO!
ReplyDeleteI would much rather be called a heretic and a spiritual harlot and make mistakes and aaalll that than to think I know everything...that God is just wrapped up in a nice little box with a bow on it...and I can carry it around with me to show people and beat them over the head with it. Yes, there is spiritual truth, but it is not absolute...because saying we understand God is putting ourselves right up there with him....
Even the best, most knowledgeable Christian possesses a rubber chicken compared to the reality of God.
A verse from Isaiah has been lodged in my mind for while now.
ReplyDelete"So ti whom will you compare me, the incomparable? Can you picture me without reducing me?" Isaiah 46:5 (Message) (God talking to Israel)
The religious seem to want to try and create God in their own image and put Him in a box and say, "This is how it is!" and think they have it all figured out. Erin, I like the image of people hitting each other over the head with their god-boxes. Really, some of them seem to want to create an image of God they can use as a weapon - I have felt like I was being beaten over the head with God.
That verse seems so plain to me, now (it would have gone right over my head in years past - did actually, as I've read through the book many times. lol), ANY attempt by us to imagine what God is like will, of necessity, reduce Him from the reality of Who and What He is. We are not capable of imagining Him anywhere near fully or understanding a fraction of what He is up to.
So... if someone thinks they have God all sewn up (I used to be near there myself), they only have a fraction of a sliver.... at best. :-)
And by the way, those various pretty (or ugly, as the case may be) little boxes we make for Him? If we look, we will find they are empty, every time...
Anyway, my heretical 2 cents worth.
i know your Dad wasnt the best, but I wouldnt go that far......anyway this guy seems like another one of those "Christians" who love to use God to justify their fears and hatred...
ReplyDeleteYou people are so refreshing to me. People who don't think they know much are really attractive.
ReplyDeleteAndi - maybe he was referring to Mum? :)