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One friend who had never been even slightly religious in his life told me that the Wizard of Oz and Harry Potter were evil because the witches in them meant they spread witchcraft. He said I didn't "get it" when I disagreed and that I was "lost." He had joined a super-strict sect of evangelical Christianity.
In another case, I was told by a Catholic friend to tell a woman we knew who had just given birth to a terminally deformed baby (with a few days of life expectancy) that if her baby wasn't "Christened" before it died, it was going to "purgatory" to suffer forever. The mother wasn't even religious. I said I didn't feel comfortable passing such a message along. She replied, "Well, just secretly sprinkle water on the baby." Needless to say, I didn't do this.
And one more: a friend who joined a church that believes in the "Science of Mind" said that cancer was caused by "negative thinking." When I asked why then do babies get cancer, he said, "It's because the mothers have negative thoughts." The lack of compassion and victim-blaming stunned me.
I have a dear friend who is Christian. I'm Agnostic. I understand how much his faith means to him and gives him comfort, etc., and I respect that, which I've told him.
I've made it clear that I am an Agnostic and not Christian. Although, I read spiritual books as part of my morning meditation, etc., which I've told him.
We speak on the telephone at least once a week. Unfortunately, it seems that he's on a mission to convert me. I've told him many times that I respect how much his faith means to him, but that I don't share it.
I think it's time to tell him I don't want to discuss it any further and to please stop trying to "help me find my God," etc.
But, I worry it's going to be a friendship ender. Since he's convinced that his God is real and that I'd be happy if only I "knew Him," etc., I worry that he won't give me the same respect I've given him regarding his religion, with an equal respect of my lack of one.
I'm spiritual, but I don't like organized religion. I've told him this, but he seems intent on converting me.
My experience with organized religion has taught me that most are cult-ish. You are believers, or you are under the influence of the dark side. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of acceptance of non-believers.
Have any of you lost a friend over religion?
I do have Christian friends. And I tell them that I am perfectly willing to listen to their side of the story if they are willing to listen to mine. It usually takes about a half an hour of explaining my side of the story to convince them it's probably better not to go there.
I couldn't relate to him much unless we had similar hobbies or something. I wouldn't have the patience for the conversion talk.
I agree with the poster who said you needed to set the boundaries with him when you first became friends. It may be too late now....
I have a dear friend who is Christian. I'm Agnostic. I understand how much his faith means to him and gives him comfort, etc., and I respect that, which I've told him.
I've made it clear that I am an Agnostic and not Christian. Although, I read spiritual books as part of my morning meditation, etc., which I've told him.
We speak on the telephone at least once a week. Unfortunately, it seems that he's on a mission to convert me. I've told him many times that I respect how much his faith means to him, but that I don't share it.
I think it's time to tell him I don't want to discuss it any further and to please stop trying to "help me find my God," etc.
But, I worry it's going to be a friendship ender. Since he's convinced that his God is real and that I'd be happy if only I "knew Him," etc., I worry that he won't give me the same respect I've given him regarding his religion, with an equal respect of my lack of one.
I'm spiritual, but I don't like organized religion. I've told him this, but he seems intent on converting me.
My experience with organized religion has taught me that most are cult-ish. You are believers, or you are under the influence of the dark side. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of acceptance of non-believers.
Have any of you lost a friend over religion?
Lots of Christians don't realize that it's God who does the converting. Not them. They don't have enough maturity to know they need to be a conduit for God, and not the other way around. I once talked to a guy in my military unit one night over dinner because he asked me about my belief. It was a one hour conversation. And that was it. About a year later, he called me up in the middle of the night... literally... so excited to tell me that he'd been thinking about God since we'd last talked, and he'd decided to make the leap. That was 25 years ago, and he's a Nazarene pastor now with his own church. I'm sure your friend is really nice, but if it's just him doing the talking... it's not going to work.
I was raised Catholic with a vengeful god. I can't buy into a god that lets bad things happen to people or who takes revenge on anyone.
So, any religion that preaches that their religion is the only one, and if you don't believe in their religion you will go to some kind of eternal hell, I have no time for whatsoever.
When I was in high school, by then my parents were no longer practicing Catholics, and a friend of mine got me into going to the Catholic cathedral in SF with her family, where people spoke in tongues. I showed up, tried my hardest to fit in, but never spoke in tongues. I was honest and told the church leaders that I believed but didn't know why I didn't speak in tongues at the services. They "invited me" to never come back.
What I've told my friend, is that I don't believe in any man-made religions. If you just look at the sheer number of them, and how they got started - by someone who didn't like the options available, so they wanted to start their own version - and you can think objectively, you can see that man-made religions were all started to serve the purpose of whomever started it.
So, I'm starting my own and I'm quite happy with it, thank you very much. And I promise to not try to convert you, so don't try to convert me to yours which was started by whomever in whatever year because he didn't like his parents' religion.
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Most of them that are that extreme, do so with the honest intention of "saving" you. Their thought process is that if you died tomorrow without "him", you're going to spend forever in hell.
I'm not defending that, I've been there myself and for those that tried to convert or "reconvert" almost every time you saw them, that's their thought process.
I love (in my own way) Jesus, but why does it seem that his followers are the most aggressive when it comes to sharing their faith (other than maybe LDS members)?
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