gnome@oliveb.UUCP (Gary Traveis) (07/24/85)
Is it my imagination or do most people need a religion or other organization to tell them what to do with their lives? In recent years, I have been noticing a lot of friends/co-workers getting in to what I call "invasive religions" - namely evangelical Born-Again Christians (BACs) and Jahova's(sp) Witnesses (JW's). I use the term "invasive" because they both have a built-in rule that their members must always be in the process of pushing their religion on non-believers. I'm faced with three cases of this, one evangelical BAC and two JWs. All three are married couples where one person from each couple has "found it" and caused an undue amount of stress in their relationships. When one gets into an invasive religion and the other doesn't, one of three things usually happen. 1) The marriage breaks up (either on paper or in their minds). 2) The non-believer must convert. 3) The believer must bend the rules to accomodate their relationship. #2 can take place over a long period of time. Usually starting out as a slow, tedious wearing-away of the person to be converted. This usually happens through 5-8 hours a day of intermittent preaching and nagging - 7 days a week. I call it conversion by osmosis. #3 very rarely happens because the religion is generally inflexible and provides a support network of other church members that can help the believer through these troubled times (see #1) and, if possible, move their relationship towards #2 (conversion). In one of the three relationships, the believer has decided to work part-time (or leave work altogether) in order to further spread the religion. This leaves the non-believer to support the family. I am just waiting for the stress to build up and hear the believer blame their mate's troubles on their lack of faith! I've also noticed that the more an individual get into an invasive religion, the less they can interact with other non-believers. Hardly five minutes can go by without them quoting passage&verse in relation to the weather, sports, politics, TV, color of hair, and shoe size. It's one thing to have a deep conviction to your religion, but when it turns a person into a biblical mynah bird I feel that there is something wrong. Oh well, enough flaming. Let me know what you think. Typed in without much forethought... Gary (hplabs,ihnp4,allegra)oliveb!olivee!gnome
purtell@reed.UUCP (Lady Godiva) (07/26/85)
In article <517@oliveb.UUCP> gnome@oliveb.UUCP (Gary Traveis) writes: >Is it my imagination or do most people need a religion >or other organization to tell them what to do with their >lives? [Some things about marriages, etc.] >I've also noticed that the more an individual get into an invasive >religion, the less they can interact with other non-believers. >Hardly five minutes can go by without them quoting passage&verse >in relation to the weather, sports, politics, TV, color of hair, >and shoe size. It's one thing to have a deep conviction to your >religion, but when it turns a person into a biblical mynah bird >I feel that there is something wrong. Ok - Here's what I think. I'm a Christian. I'm "born again" (a phrase that I dislike using greatly) in that I believe in Jesus Christ and I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit, although I must confess that I'm not a trinitarian (sp?) and believe that the Holy Spirit is the same thing as God, in essence. I'm protestant (as opposed to being Catholic) but I'm not any denomination. Furthermore, I completely agree with you. I've known many many people like this. And I've gotten a lot of flack from people like this because I spent so much time with non-believers just having fun with them and being their friend rather than trying to convert them. When I'm getting to know someone new I almost always ask them if they believe in God, because it is a part of what a person is and what their philosophy is and I find that interesting, and I'm always willing to tell them my religious beliefs if they ask. To me part of being a Christian is being a good friend, loving my friends, and showing it. And I think that most of the time I do this. I certainly try to. I don't think that being a Christian means that you have to, or even should, hound people with your beliefs. In fact, I think that it's outright wrong. Now - in defense of these people. They really do mean well. They believe that they have found eternal life and they want to share that with others. What's more, they are very in love with their God and they want to do what they believe he wants, and unfortunately they happen to think that that is it. Anyway - that's what I think. cheers - elizabeth g. purtell (Lady Godiva)