By Klym ~
Hey fellow Ex-C friends! I have missed you all for the past several months and am just now getting back to a regular reading of your magnificent posts! I went back to check on my previous article, The Virtuous Woman, written last June 2013, and found a posting by "Michael" that plainly told me I am going to hell and that he will pray for me. How considerate of him!!! Here's what he posted, three months after my article was published:
Dearest Michael,
Yes, go ahead and pray all you want since you might as well be praying to Santa Claus, but if it makes you feel better about yourself and the world you live in, go for it. I am not afraid of hell, since there is absolutely no proof that it exists. I am afraid, however, of "virtue", as described in Proverbs 31. That type of virtue is not good or healthy for women. I know, because I have lived it. Also, don't bother about praying specifically for my conversion, because I converted over and over again in the Christian church, and it never took. Been there, done that. Apparently I am a lost cause, according to your theology.
It would take me reams of paper and millions of words to explain to you how the Christian worship of their God has hurt me, so I won't even go there. Suffice it to say that millions of people have been hurt and prosecuted throughout the ages in the name of your God.
Furthermore, condoms are a good thing. Who knows, they might prevent a young woman from giving birth to someone like you. Your Lord knows we don't need another hate-filled fundamentalist in the world.
As for an answer to your question, "What is wrong with you (me)?" Absolutely nothing. I am a loving, kind, compassionate, and tolerant human being who ministers to others on a daily basis. (Well, I'm tolerant of everything but intolerance & the promotion of hate, that is.)
Surprised that an ex-christian/atheist cares about others? Maybe you need to pray about that.
Michael, oh Michael, please open your mind and heart and don't worry about the likes of me. Why in the world do you frequent this website anyway? All of us on here have struggled mightily to overcome the hatefulness of Christians like you and we would really rather not be bothered anymore. Go find yourself a virtuous woman and leave the rest of us alone.
By the way, it may sound like I hate you, but I don't. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about you. I've struggled with forgiving all the well-meaning Christians of my past (and present) who traumatized and brainwashed me, and so I struggle with how to handle someone like you. At first, people like you make me really, really angry, but there is hurt underneath. Hurt that you can view humanity in such a dualistic way that you see part of us as surely headed for hell. I don't see you or anyone else going to hell or heaven because I don't believe in an afterlife. I do, however, believe in love and tolerance, which to my thinking, you did not demonstrate in your comment to me.
Have I demonstrated love and tolerance towards you? No, because I cannot support hate in any way, shape, or form. And your comment was full of hate, although you tried to sugarcoat it or excuse it by quoting from the Bible, which you believe is holy.
I find hate to be most unholy and unsacred in every way. If I dip a cow patty in chocolate and coat it with gold, it's still sh*&#$ and it still stinks. I don't have any feelings one way or another about cow dung, but I don't pretend it is anything but what it is. Therefore, I can't view your response as anything but hateful, no matter how you wrap it.
Actually, your response to my article did just the opposite of what you intended. It assured me that I have made the right choice in walking away from Christianity and Christians like you. It made me even prouder to be a non-theist. It filled me with blessed relief that I no longer have to do the mental gymnastics required to see the world as you do.
So, maybe my attitude towards you is one of gratitude. Yeah, I think it is! Thanks so much for reminding me of the kind of person I never want to be again, and that I am ashamed I ever was. Yes, thank you indeed, Michael. I think I'll use your own words to me, with a couple of parenthesized additions, to end this article:
"Get over it (Michael)! The world is made up of lots of different people and some of them (don't) worship (your) God."
Michael • 3 months ago− +
One of your statements: "I'll be damned..." may be more true than you know. One of those annoying little bible sayings is that "whoever denies me (Christ) will be denied by my Father in Heaven). Yes, I'm guilty of taking that line out of context because that is what your entire article is about, taking the promotion of virtue out of context. For Heaven's sake, what is wrong with you? You are so upset over OUR tax dollars being spent to promote virtue for women. How is that any more insane than OUR tax dollars being spent for schools to be promoting condoms? Get over it! The world is made up of lots of different people and some of them worship God.. and that hurts you how? And by the way, read the constitution: Separation of church and state is not mentioned. It says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." So two take-aways here: First, don't prohibit my religious rights! Second, once you turn your secularism into an ism, you have made it a state religion which is, of course, prohibited. The worst punishment I can offer you for your egregious commentary is to pray for you. Denying God is the saddest of all human outcomes. Yep! I'll pray for your conversion but just in case, you should relish every breath you take. Michael.
Dearest Michael,
Yes, go ahead and pray all you want since you might as well be praying to Santa Claus, but if it makes you feel better about yourself and the world you live in, go for it. I am not afraid of hell, since there is absolutely no proof that it exists. I am afraid, however, of "virtue", as described in Proverbs 31. That type of virtue is not good or healthy for women. I know, because I have lived it. Also, don't bother about praying specifically for my conversion, because I converted over and over again in the Christian church, and it never took. Been there, done that. Apparently I am a lost cause, according to your theology.
It would take me reams of paper and millions of words to explain to you how the Christian worship of their God has hurt me, so I won't even go there. Suffice it to say that millions of people have been hurt and prosecuted throughout the ages in the name of your God.
Furthermore, condoms are a good thing. Who knows, they might prevent a young woman from giving birth to someone like you. Your Lord knows we don't need another hate-filled fundamentalist in the world.
As for an answer to your question, "What is wrong with you (me)?" Absolutely nothing. I am a loving, kind, compassionate, and tolerant human being who ministers to others on a daily basis. (Well, I'm tolerant of everything but intolerance & the promotion of hate, that is.)
Surprised that an ex-christian/atheist cares about others? Maybe you need to pray about that.
Michael, oh Michael, please open your mind and heart and don't worry about the likes of me. Why in the world do you frequent this website anyway? All of us on here have struggled mightily to overcome the hatefulness of Christians like you and we would really rather not be bothered anymore. Go find yourself a virtuous woman and leave the rest of us alone.
By the way, it may sound like I hate you, but I don't. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about you. I've struggled with forgiving all the well-meaning Christians of my past (and present) who traumatized and brainwashed me, and so I struggle with how to handle someone like you. At first, people like you make me really, really angry, but there is hurt underneath. Hurt that you can view humanity in such a dualistic way that you see part of us as surely headed for hell. I don't see you or anyone else going to hell or heaven because I don't believe in an afterlife. I do, however, believe in love and tolerance, which to my thinking, you did not demonstrate in your comment to me.
Have I demonstrated love and tolerance towards you? No, because I cannot support hate in any way, shape, or form. And your comment was full of hate, although you tried to sugarcoat it or excuse it by quoting from the Bible, which you believe is holy.
I find hate to be most unholy and unsacred in every way. If I dip a cow patty in chocolate and coat it with gold, it's still sh*&#$ and it still stinks. I don't have any feelings one way or another about cow dung, but I don't pretend it is anything but what it is. Therefore, I can't view your response as anything but hateful, no matter how you wrap it.
Actually, your response to my article did just the opposite of what you intended. It assured me that I have made the right choice in walking away from Christianity and Christians like you. It made me even prouder to be a non-theist. It filled me with blessed relief that I no longer have to do the mental gymnastics required to see the world as you do.
So, maybe my attitude towards you is one of gratitude. Yeah, I think it is! Thanks so much for reminding me of the kind of person I never want to be again, and that I am ashamed I ever was. Yes, thank you indeed, Michael. I think I'll use your own words to me, with a couple of parenthesized additions, to end this article:
"Get over it (Michael)! The world is made up of lots of different people and some of them (don't) worship (your) God."
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