decafaholic Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 I was eating Chinese food with my parents today and guess who walked in but my former (and dad's current) pastor! We haven't exchanged more than a few words in several years. I was tense because he is well-known for putting people on the spot and saying rude things. He came over to our table, and to my surprise, just squeezed my shoulder and said "Bless ya girl!" and went on his way. I managed to not make eye contact. I talked with his wife though, who has always been nice to me. On my way out, She waved me over to their table and asked if I was still in college or if I had moved back home. I just explained that I'm still in college but the reason she may see me around town is that I'm home almost every weekend ("and not attending church, obviously", I thought). I actually made eye contact with my pastor then and I was surprised at how old he looked. I had never thought of him as someone who looked old, but he does. His features also seem very tired. In that moment, I was surprised to find myself actually feeling sorry for him. As much as he put me through and as long as it has taken me to deprogram myself from the poison, I feel sympathy for him. His son died two years ago in a tragic car wreck. His son had been on his way back from a woman's house he was having an affair with and he was drunk and ran off the road and pretty much died on impact. I cannot even imagine what a tragedy like that does to someone, much less someone who believes that God is in control. Sometimes when I get caught up in thinking about some of the awful things he said to me and what I would like to say to him, and how I would like for him to suffer, I remind myself that he has already suffered a horrible tragedy that will probably eat away at his heart every day for the rest of his life. No one deserves for their child to die. Thinking about that helps me to "let things go" so to speak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Overcame Faith Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Yes, an extremely sad story. I applaud your empathy for the man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitchu Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Seeing him as a tragic human being and not merely as your tormentor is such a mature vision. I wish I had this sense of charity more often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oddbird1963 Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 You see what you are capable of when you are not having to help sustain a religious delusion like christianity or some other religion? You were able to have empathy for people in all their tragic irony. When we don't have to take upon ourselves the burden of deciding who is in or out, heavenly called or hell-bound, sinner or saint we can look at people as just people. We can decide whether to hold onto a grudge, or to set it aside for the good of everyone involved. I really respect you for the way you dealt with that situation. I don't know if I would have seen things in such a mature way. But then we never know what we are capable of until we are in the midst of the situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollygolightly Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 ugh ... I live with a watered-down version of this every day. In a freak accident almost ten years ago I was permanently injured. My poor father who has converted from Mormonism to evangelical Christianity (after my accident ... and conveniently after all the damn faith healing b.s. didn't work). My mother has told me on multiple occasions that my father sees this whole thing as his fault ... either for raising us in the wrong religion or not being pious enough ... whatever. As a sort of insider on this kind of situation it is frustrating, infuriating, and horribly sad all at once. In the interest of full disclosure, however, while I was still a believer, I used to blame myself, or more to the point, my sins, for my injury. It is fucking horrible to even remember that I used to think that way ... ugh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
decafaholic Posted May 19, 2009 Author Share Posted May 19, 2009 I have to ask hollygolightly...tell me about your magical underpants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedah Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 Magical underpants ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollygolightly Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 I have to ask hollygolightly...tell me about your magical underpants. Are you at all familiar with any of the weird aspects of Mormonism? Well I was raised Mormon, and there is one particularly strange thing that they do. Once you have been married/sealed in the temple, (this is like the ultimate goal of any Mormon, by the way) you get "temple garments" to wear under your clothes from that day forward. The whole concept of temple marriage is bizarre so maybe I should start there. Mormon afterlife is a bit different than traditional Christianity. If you and your spouse are worthy of temple marriage (you have to go in front of committee as a sort of test of your faithful obedience) you can be married in the Mormon temple rather than just the church. Some are not worthy or don't do it from the start ... then you can be married in the temple, or sealed, any time throughout your life. The temple is *very* secretive. No visitors are allowed and members of the church can't even enter without a temple recommend. The temple is only for marriages/sealings or baptisms for the dead (yes ... the dead). Anyway, The sealing/marriage is a creepy secret ceremony where there are vows recited, and blood oaths mimed with your hand gestures (in which you agree that if you reveal the secrets that you are to have your throat slit ... no bullshit). You are even given secret names and taught a sort of secret handshake/symbol type of a thing. The kicker of the ceremony is that you and your spouse and any children you have are bound for "time and all eternity." None of this "till death us do part" business. The significance is that you will be a family in heaven ... and the man attains a sort of god status ... of his own planet. Wow I have never seen this all written down in one space ... it really is bat-shit crazy. So, once you have been sealed you are given temple garments, or what I call magical underwear, to protect you. These are meant to protect you from everything from knives and bullets to the devil himself. You'd think they'd be some space-aged technology but they really are just more comfortable, lighter, cotton versions of what look almost like late 19th century underwear. Women wear these sort of bloomer looking bottoms and a top with a sweetheart neckline and little sleeves. Men wear what look like long boxerbriefs and a tshirt. You arent supposed to take these off ... I've even heard some more devout circles that wear them to shower! I think ... maybe an exception I have heard was to swim, but that just may have been out of practicality because I grew up near miami. That, of course, brings up a whole host of new problems because there is this freaky fear of the water ... something about the devil having control or some other load of complete crap. So, that, in short, is a rundown of magical underpants ... bullet-proof cotton ... who knew! P.S. Are you a football fan at all? I only ask because a while back Steve Young, QB for the 49ers and prominent Mormon (descendant of Brigham Young) made a big to do about not wearing his temple garments during the games under his uniform. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitchu Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 If you aren't supposed to take them off how are you supposed to produce those children with whom you will be bonded for all eternity? (A horrendous outcome to contemplate, btw. Every parent I know is more than delighted to enjoy their grown children at a significant time-and-space distance from themselves. ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
decafaholic Posted May 21, 2009 Author Share Posted May 21, 2009 So, did you have a temple marriage? Also, my Mormon friend told me that unmarried mormon missionaries wear special underwear too. Are they the same kind? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ixolite Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 These are meant to protect you from everything from knives and bullets to the devil himself. Obviously they failed to protect Joseph Smith. SCNR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Good for you, decaf. Takes a lot of true empathy to do what you did. And holly, holyfuckinhell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loren Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Hey, the Pentecostals get a Holy Spirit Secret Decoder Ring, why shouldn't the Mormons have Special Magical Underwear? Fair is fair, after all. On reflection, it's kind of surprising to me that more sects haven't gone the way of Special Magical Underwear; Of the upwards of thirty thousand denominations of the One True Religion, most of them adamantly believe that Our Creator endowed us with Special Magical Genitalia. By way of demonstration, note the popularity in Christian parenting circles of the lovely little children's book on sexual "purity", The Princess and Her Vagina. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollygolightly Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 If you aren't supposed to take them off how are you supposed to produce those children with whom you will be bonded for all eternity? (A horrendous outcome to contemplate, btw. Every parent I know is more than delighted to enjoy their grown children at a significant time-and-space distance from themselves. ) well there is a handy little split-crotch feature and your regular pouch design for the men. I guess it could work, but it is no kind of way that I would want to have sex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollygolightly Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 So, did you have a temple marriage?Also, my Mormon friend told me that unmarried mormon missionaries wear special underwear too. Are they the same kind? hahahaha Hell no I didn't have a temple marriage. Even in my most faithful days, I was sort of an outsider. I mean I believed it all, but most of the others didn't associate with me because I was different. I asked too many questions and didn't dress like a damn pioneer. So while most of the girls my age (18) were getting married to various return missionaries I went off to college. As a teenager, I was worthy of a temple recommend, (meaning I passed their little board review test) and I held it for years. I have been to a few different temples on multiple occasions to perform baptisms for the dead (yeah, so not kidding). Also, I was sealed to my parents when I was about 16 during their temple marriage. Since we're not really supposed to discuss this stuff, and I never went on a mission, I don't really know if missionaries wear temple garments. It wouldn't surprise me, though. I have heard the terminology that while on their missions, missionaries are married to god. As such, it would stand to reason that they wear these crazy things for protection and whatnot. An interesting side-note: I had a friend that was an avid surfer and when he got his mission call it was to Hawaii. Surprisingly, he wasn't very excited about it. Then I found out that he wasn't allowed to go in the water because in the water, he couldn't be protected from (insert crazy demonic force hear). That would also fall in line with the temple garments on missionaries thing. If they protect you, and you're not supposed to wear them while you swim ... ugh my head hurts from all of the crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollygolightly Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Hey, the Pentecostals get a Holy Spirit Secret Decoder Ring, why shouldn't the Mormons have Special Magical Underwear? Fair is fair, after all. On reflection, it's kind of surprising to me that more sects haven't gone the way of Special Magical Underwear; Of the upwards of thirty thousand denominations of the One True Religion, most of them adamantly believe that Our Creator endowed us with Special Magical Genitalia. By way of demonstration, note the popularity in Christian parenting circles of the lovely little children's book on sexual "purity", The Princess and Her Vagina. Good grief! I would be surprised if she carried all of those kids to term. After a while, wouldn't they just fall right out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitchu Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 By way of demonstration, note the popularity in Christian parenting circles of the lovely little children's book on sexual "purity", Blurb on this book: One day, 5-year-old Vashti Bishop came home from kindergarten to announce, “Mom, all my girlfriends have boyfriends. I need a boyfriend, too.” What would you have said to your daughter? Jennie Bishop wasn’t sure, either. So she prayed for a way to teach her young daughters about saving themselves for marriage. The answer came as an idea for a children’s story about a princess who saves her kiss … for a man who saved his kiss for her. The Princess and the Kiss was published by Warner Press in 2000, and the rest is history. Through word-of-mouth the book’s popularity grew and sales began to spread throughout the country. By 2007 this simple parable had sold over 200,000 copies worldwide. In 2001, in partnership with Revive Our Hearts, a 21-lesson study from the book, Life Lessons from The Princess and the Kiss, was published. The book included a simple purity ceremony for girls 8-12, and became a valuable tool for mothers teaching their daughters about purity of heart and body. Now The Princess, its translations and related resources are used worldwide in purity training for children, parents and individuals. A lifetime approach to purity, Planned Purity, has developed through teaching opportunities created by the story. This model for purity training is facilitated by PurityWorks, a not-for-profit group dedicated to lifetime purity training on a global scale. Sweetjeezislordgawdinhevvin!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 What amazes me is that, in the baptist church that I went to, we had a 10-week study on cults. Mormonism was one that we studied.... Oh the irony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seeker630 Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 What amazes me is that, in the baptist church that I went to, we had a 10-week study on cults. Mormonism was one that we studied.... Oh the irony Let me guess---one of the others was Catholics? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dagan Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Hey, the Pentecostals get a Holy Spirit Secret Decoder Ring, why shouldn't the Mormons have Special Magical Underwear? Fair is fair, after all. On reflection, it's kind of surprising to me that more sects haven't gone the way of Special Magical Underwear; Of the upwards of thirty thousand denominations of the One True Religion, most of them adamantly believe that Our Creator endowed us with Special Magical Genitalia. By way of demonstration, note the popularity in Christian parenting circles of the lovely little children's book on sexual "purity", The Princess and Her Vagina. Oh noes! It's teh Prayer of Jebus Jr! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilentLoner Posted May 25, 2009 Share Posted May 25, 2009 By way of demonstration, note the popularity in Christian parenting circles of the lovely little children's book on sexual "purity", Blurb on this book: One day, 5-year-old Vashti Bishop came home from kindergarten to announce, “Mom, all my girlfriends have boyfriends. I need a boyfriend, too.” What would you have said to your daughter? Jennie Bishop wasn’t sure, either. So she prayed for a way to teach her young daughters about saving themselves for marriage. The answer came as an idea for a children’s story about a princess who saves her kiss … for a man who saved his kiss for her. The Princess and the Kiss was published by Warner Press in 2000, and the rest is history. Through word-of-mouth the book’s popularity grew and sales began to spread throughout the country. By 2007 this simple parable had sold over 200,000 copies worldwide. In 2001, in partnership with Revive Our Hearts, a 21-lesson study from the book, Life Lessons from The Princess and the Kiss, was published. The book included a simple purity ceremony for girls 8-12, and became a valuable tool for mothers teaching their daughters about purity of heart and body. Now The Princess, its translations and related resources are used worldwide in purity training for children, parents and individuals. A lifetime approach to purity, Planned Purity, has developed through teaching opportunities created by the story. This model for purity training is facilitated by PurityWorks, a not-for-profit group dedicated to lifetime purity training on a global scale. Holy crap...its 5 years olds for fuck's sake! Who takes that seriously? I remember back when I was in kindergarten we used to do that as a game, except it was pretend husbands/wives. We'd get married in the yard during recess then the kids would share snacks to celebrate. I think I had a pretend husband - can't remember who though. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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