I'm So Angry Because...

[Guest Theta]

I'm so angry because I realize that all along, my church is full of money-grubbing control freaks! After I questioned some of their un-Christ-like behaviors last fall (because I'm a "tool of Satan," you know), I was rewarded with a nasty letter from the elders (after I had been put on trial before them, of course) telling me that I am not allowed to participate in any of their current or future ministries, but I can still come to "worship and communion only". (So technically they did not excommunicate me.) I guess I'm allowed to attend, as long as I don't talk to anyone. Nice.

 

(I admit I do show up every 2 months or so, but don't take communion. I like the idea that some of them seriously cringe when they see me.)

 

Just to fuck with them, I asked (in writing all four times) for "permission" to keep giving money to my pet projects there, to see what they would say. (I anonymously give a huge chunk every year to sponsor a youth for the annual national gathering; I anonymously sponsor a low-income single mom to send her child to our preschool, which is a tidy sum every month; I anonymously donate free tickets for low-income families to attend our annual fancy Christmas party; and I contribute a lot of time, money, and creativity to their annual fund raiser for their pet missionary project.) I'm thinking these efforts of mine would be "participating" in those ministries by supporting them financially. But... you guessed it! Giving money is OK! All four times, they gave me permission (in writing) to continue giving money.

 

I have shared this information with various people in the congregation who I thought could do something about this sick policy. (I guess the elders are right, I am "malicious and divisive." Muwahahahaha!) Has anything come of it? Hell no. (Well, not that I'm aware of, since I have gotten the hell away from there.) Those people are still there, still doing all the activities and Bible studies, still giving their money.

 

As Bhim pointed out in another thread... Stuff like this would be funny if it weren't so deadly serious! What a manipulative mind fuck for the people still there!

 

I even told the head elder (via a civil email exchange several months ago) that I see that "My presents are acceptable, but not my presence." No response.

 

However, about a week ago I received an email invitation from this same head elder to connect to him via LinkedIn. What the fuck?

 

I can laugh about this now, and I look forward to snarky comments from you guys/gals about this. Let 'er rip!

Reminds me of this guy at work, who, was mad that his donate ticket that was decorating the restruant along with a bunch of other peoples tickets had gotten ripped down.  The asshat talks about god alot, and I wanted so badly to remind him about about the pharisees praying on the streetcorner and how that is looked down upon.

[RenaissanceWoman]

Yes, Theta, that Pharissee praying on the corner has received his reward in full. I took that passage very seriously (since, you know, I had actually read the Bible, and was trying to do everything perfectly!). That is why I did all my big donations anonymously, and the only people who knew were the few who cashed my checks. (Well, there is always gossip, so who knows who really knew, but my heart was in the right place.)

 

Even when I revealed myself to the elders on these points, they were surprised every time that it was me. I'm hoping that over the several months that I played out this experiment, each time they thought, damn... that donation was her too? I seriously thought that they would -- just for a second -- have a change of heart and think, wow, this woman is a valuable asset, and she plays by the rules and does the right thing... we need to apologize to her and beg her to come back! (Not that I would come back. Like I said, I was running this experiment just to fuck with them and see what they would do.) But no.

 

Now I'm thinking that they might just be scared because I know and follow the Biblical rules better than they do, and I am not afraid to call them on it. They better get rid of me, right away! Ha ha!