Defying the Deity by AnthonyT

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Defying the Deity

POSTED BY: ANTHONYT
UPDATED: Tuesday, December 27, 2011 08:15
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Friday, December 23, 2011 2:07 PM

Freedom is Important because People are Important

Hello,

Usually I answer the door, tell them hello or good morning. If they come around speaking Spanish I will apologize that I don't speak enough Spanish to discuss this with them. This is true. I can order a meal or ask you where the toilet is, but the subject of God requires deeper language, and my Spanish has fallen into disuse, gutting my vocabulary.

If they speak in English I will tell them that I don't have time to talk about this right now, but I'd be happy to review their literature. They will typically hand me a pamphlet or two. Then they will leave. About 1-2 minutes invested. I usually thumb through the pamphlet to see if there is anything interesting. Sometimes they have a cool archaeological fact or other scientific curiosity on the last page of one of their pamphlets. (Watchtower, maybe? I forget.) Sometimes it's something I've not seen before. The pamphlet usually ends up in the trash, used as kindling, or used to pick up dog doo.

If I am in a big hurry, I might say, "I'm sorry, I don't have time to talk now" and wish them a good day while exiting in all haste to whatever I am doing. This takes perhaps ten seconds.

Only once have I had an obnoxious person who suggested that I was on a path to hell for not embracing their beliefs (or listening to them talk, presumably.) I said something to the effect of, "You are not God and you do not get to decide that." I must admit I rudely closed the door in their face that time.

When I was young, a Mormon came by the house while I was playing with a friend in the yard. I wasn't sure if 'Mormon' was the church that let you marry lots of women. I asked, and he became rather incensed with a vehement denial on the topic, saying something about slurs against his church and etcetera. I lost interest in his religion at that point, saying something like, "That's too bad" before resuming my game. He wandered off.

--Anthony

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"In every war, the state enacts a tax of freedom upon the citizenry. The unspoken promise is that the tax shall be revoked at war's end. Endless war holds no such promise. Hence, Eternal War is Eternal Slavery." --Admiral Robert J. Henner

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Friday, December 23, 2011 2:18 PM

DREAMTROVE

I agree with them. They find it flummoxing.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Friday, December 23, 2011 4:29 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

If I have time, I invite them in for a loooooong chat. Then we talk for an hour or more while they anxiously look at their watches. They're in a schedule, you see. They prolly have a quota to meet, and I find it amusing. Usually I send them out the door with a cheery.. "It's so nice to talk to someone who is as concerned about the world as I am!"

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Friday, December 23, 2011 6:13 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER

We have quite a few Joho's in our area. Very pleasant people to chat with. They don't come to our house anymore. In the past, I was very pleasnat but very firm if they knocked on my door. I'd tell the truth - that we had our own views on religion and we understood what theirs were, and never the twain would meet. They would usually leave us the Watchtower and I would read its nonsense and be glad I never had the discussion.

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Monday, December 26, 2011 1:16 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

I don't ever really have them come to the door, I don't often open the door if I don't know who's on the other side of it.

The discussion about inner voices is interesting and I agree with Magon's, its only a problem if the voices in your head are sounding like external voices, they've started suddenly and they're bothering you a lot, or if you can't tell that they are you anymore.

I suppose I have only one internal voice, I can't read any faster than it can say what I'm reading, I didn't know anyone else had that problem, I'm glad I'm not the only one who is that way. People should talk about these things more often.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Monday, December 26, 2011 9:15 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Last time a couple of them came to the door, when they found out I was a scientist they kept hounding on evolution as the source of my disbelief. After a while it sort of dawned on them they were pursuing the wrong topic. So they asked - well, what DID make you stop believing? So I told them - history, and geography. And closed the door on their astonished faces.

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011 2:26 AM

CANTTAKESKY

When the Jehovah's Witnesses come around, I tell them I've been disfellowshipped (JW's term for excommunicated). Then they're forbidden to come around to talk to me. This works in every new city I'm in. The word spreads that my house is blacklisted.

When Mormons come, I tell them I am very interested in their religion, but I have got to tell them up front that I do not believe that homosexuality is a sin. They never come around again to talk about religion.

(I did study with the Witnesses for 2 years, while I was still in AG. I thought seriously about converting, but at the last moment, decided against it. That was when they got mad at me and informally "disfellowshipped" me. Yes, I am very talented at pissing people off.)

The excommunication/disfellowship angle doesn't work so well on LDS because they still socially and religiously interact with excommunicated members. I admire that about them. But they aren't so big into trying to convert heathens bent on supporting gays.

-----
Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011 4:28 AM

PIRATENEWS

John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011 8:15 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Quote:
And Niki,I'm sorry, you're not making sense. You talked about these people "invading" your privacy. That's the only reason I wrote my post--if they don't invade your privacy, you might be better understood if you didn't say they do. I don't understand you, sometimes

Could you clarify that? I don't understand what you're saying. My last post was to explain how I deal with them invading my privacy, and if knocking on my door and making me get up to answer the knock isn't invading my privacy, I don't know what is. So I'm confused.

Sig, your method is funny, but I'm not about to spend a lot of my time trying it. They have nothing to say that I want to hear, and I have nothing to say they'd be capable of hearing, so I don't see the outcome of wasting my time thus as worth the time it would take. I like all the other ideas, and several made me smile. Interesting how different people deal with things.

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