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Are you kidding me?! I was at an event for that was entirely composed of non-Christians and these two Christian girls come up to ME, make small talk, express sympathy for what we were meeting for, then engage me in a prayer that sounded good up until the "in the name of Jesus". They were not praying on their own, they wanted ME to be part of their prayer (ie these two girls facing me and me facing them--there was no joining of hands, but probably could have been). This is not an issue of public prayer, so calm down. It's an issue of people thinking that minorities have no right to take offense to people leading a prayer with them with reference to Jesus. They could have easily said a prayer in the name of the Almighty or something (that would have been acceptable). They could have also prayed on their own in whatever manner they liked, but they wanted me to be part of this 3 person group prayer. I can tell you that a good number of Southern Christians would have been peeved if they had someone approach them, ask if they can pray for their cause and at the end slip in a loud "in the name of Vishnu" or something.
You had NO PROBLEM with the prayer until they said Jesus' name? You're as completely intolerant of their beliefs as you're accusing them to be! Can you not see how completely hypocritical this is?
I'm not Mulsim, but if I was in the presence of someone who was and they prayed to Mohammed I wouldn't be offended -- I'd respect their belief. How is the situation you described one bit different? We're you wearing an "I hate Jesus" shirt? Do horns grow out of your head? How on earth did these horrible Christian vultures know to target you? And how do you know the gathering was "entirely non-Christian"? Was it a Wiccan convention? A pagan rally? No? You're whole argument is ridiculous.
How was this person being FORCED UPON to participate in a Christian prayer?! Was a gun held to their head? Were they restrained or detained in any way? Did they utter any part of the prayer? How can you "participate" in a prayer to a deity that you don't even believe in?
If this person was so offended, why didn't he / she just walk away? That's what's so ludicrous about this entire discussion. Everybody keeps saying how they felt "put upon" by Christians ... and that simply DOES NOT HAPPEN unless you allow it! When a Jehovah's Witness comes to my door I say "no thank you" and close it. Pretty simple huh?
Encouraged is a probably more appropriate word. If he said he wasn't Christian then nobody should have tried to "encourage" him to pray with them. I don't agree with Jevoah's Witnesses either. No religion should be trying to gain followers by interfering with them personally. That's like having the Democratic Party go to non-Democrats houses and asking them to join their party (nothing against Democrats just an analogy). If someone wants to join a religion they can do it on their own. You can be proud of your religion and perhaps talk about it but don't going trying to encourage or ask people to be apart of it. Not to mention it's quite rude and arrogant to ask other people to participate and be apart of your beliefs.
And no I'm not a southern hater or a Christian hater. I was raised Catholic and I have some family roots that trace back to the south. I've actually seen similar situations to 55degrees' happen in New York as well.
Encouraged is a probably more appropriate word. If he said he wasn't Christian then nobody should have tried to "encourage" him to pray with them. I don't agree with Jevoah's Witnesses either. No religion should be trying to gain followers by interfering with them personally. That's like having the Democratic Party go to non-Democrats houses and asking them to join their party (nothing against Democrats just an analogy). If someone wants to join a religion they can do it on their own. You can be proud of your religion and perhaps talk about it but don't going trying to encourage or ask people to be apart of it. Not to mention it's quite rude and arrogant to ask other people to participate and be apart of your beliefs.
And no I'm not a southern hater or a Christian hater. I was raised Catholic and I have some family roots that trace back to the south. I've actually seen similar situations to 55degrees' happen in New York as well.
You have a very shallow understanding of Christianity.
You have a very shallow understanding of Christianity.
Way to judge my understanding of Christianity. Christianity these days isn't about converting non-Christians like in the 1500s. We live in 2000s America where you have choice and freedom of personal religious beliefs and encouraging another person to be apart of your religion is just plain haughty and domineering, end of story. Now back to OP original topic.
You had NO PROBLEM with the prayer until they said Jesus' name? You're as completely intolerant of their beliefs as you're accusing them to be! Can you not see how completely hypocritical this is?
I'm not Mulsim, but if I was in the presence of someone who was and they prayed to Mohammed I wouldn't be offended -- I'd respect their belief. How is the situation you described one bit different? We're you wearing an "I hate Jesus" shirt? Do horns grow out of your head? How on earth did these horrible Christian vultures know to target you? And how do you know the gathering was "entirely non-Christian"? Was it a Wiccan convention? A pagan rally? No? You're whole argument is ridiculous.
It's not hypocritical. I don't have a problem with them having their own beliefs. I don't have a problem with them praying out loud on their own or with each other. I guess you wouldn't mind if someone sweet talks you, then asks to pray with you, makes a prayer that you're praying along with (mentally), then ends it with "in the name of Vishnu"? This is very different from them praying on their own next to you (even out loud). Don't ask to lead me in a prayer and then pray to someone that I do not recognize as God. And no one prays to Mohammed, you should know that by now.
It's not hypocritical. I don't have a problem with them having their own beliefs. I don't have a problem with them praying out loud on their own or with each other. I guess you wouldn't mind if someone sweet talks you, then asks to pray with you, makes a prayer that you're praying along with (mentally), then ends it with "in the name of Vishnu"? This is very different from them praying on their own next to you (even out loud). Don't ask to lead me in a prayer and then pray to someone that I do not recognize as God. And no one prays to Mohammed, you should know that by now.
Oh good grief.
No one made you pray to anyone in anyone's name. They were praying their prayer, not yours. It is not in their power to force you to actually pray to anyone.
Way to judge my understanding of Christianity. Christianity these days isn't about converting non-Christians like in the 1500s. We live in 2000s America where you have choice and freedom of personal religious beliefs and encouraging another person to be apart of your religion is just plain haughty and domineering, end of story. Now back to OP original topic.
Yes, Christianity IS about converting non-Christians! That's not changed since Christ walked the earth. It's the basic TENET of Christianity, which is a personal belief in a Lord and Savior named Jesus Christ. Again, you're understanding of Christianty is extremely shallow if you don't know that Christianity is about winning converts. That's ENTIRELY what it's about. It's NOT about religion, or rituals, or idols, or authority, or any one church and denomination, or simply being a good person or punishment for sins. It's about JESUS and sharing the good news of what He brought to this world with others. END OF STORY!
Yes, Christianity IS about converting non-Christians! That's not changed since Christ walked the earth. It's the basic TENET of Christianity, which is a personal belief in a Lord and Savior named Jesus Christ. Again, you're understanding of Christianty is extremely shallow if you don't know that Christianity is about winning converts. That's ENTIRELY what it's about. It's NOT about religion, or rituals, or idols, or authority, or any one church and denomination, or simply being a good person or punishment for sins. It's about JESUS and sharing the good news of what He brought to this world with others. END OF STORY!
So if you had Jewish, Hindu, and Muslim neighbors you would think it's alright for you to try to convert them to Christianity? Uh-huh
Your posts are ludicrous. Speaking about shallow, don't judge and assume my views on Christianity. My religious views are not your business and appropriate for this thread. Go discuss it on the religion form. Back to topic and end of story.
Last edited by ThinkingElsewhere; 12-13-2012 at 12:19 AM..
The incident has nothing to do with this thread. People's reactions to it on that thread ("she deserved to die") show that for many the friendliness is just a facade that covers views that are more extreme and unforgiving than you'd find in the North. Not that anyone thinks it's ok to steal, but there were plenty of "good riddance" comments there which I found repugnant. I don't need anyone acting friendly to me but secretly being a compassion-less jerk underneath.
No, I'm not being a hypocrite. I've lived among Christians my entire life and was never purposely made to feel like an outsider until I moved South. The audacity of some people to just assume that since they are a majority, they get to push their "in the name of Jesus" stuff on people. I once was at a gathering of non-Christians in a public place, two really sweet seeming Southern Christian girls came to talk to me and my family. They said all kinds of polite stuff, then at the end they asked if they could pray with me for the cause of the gathering. I said ok (with some apprehension) and they said a nice prayer but marred it with "in the name of Jesus". Seriously, they clearly knew none of us were Christian and wouldn't appreciate that. I've also had similar stuff happen at work too.
I think there's a problem with expecting Christians NOT to pray like that. How does what they believe "marr" your day?
My sister had an issue with something similar. We went to my aunt's funeral some years ago (our aunt was mentally retarded and physically handicapped and died fairly young.) My sister is not Christian--she meditates and is into astrology but does not believe in a deity. After the funeral on the way to the cemetery, she just kept bitching about how my grandmother's minister went on and on about Jesus when not everyone believes in Jesus. My response was "But NANA believes in Jesus, and so do all the rest of our aunts and uncles and our mother, and our dead aunt lived her entire life going to this church, so why would you expect them to NOT mention Jesus at her funeral?????"
Last edited by Mightyqueen801; 12-13-2012 at 01:38 PM..
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