Sarcasm And The Modern Christian Evangelist

[Purple]

The entire question is kind of in the title and description. We've seen it here and I've seen it in other web sites. Dripping sarcasm, snarkiness even down right disdain. From the evangelist toward the non-believer. I doubt they would find it cool to treat a fellow Christian that way, why is it ok with a non-believer, especially if you are trying to show them the light, truth and love of your God.

 

 

If you are a christian and have done this, is it ok to you? If so why? If you've done this and it is not ok with you, have you gone back and apologised? If not why not?

[Shyone]

The entire question is kind of in the title and description. We've seen it here and I've seen it in other web sites. Dripping sarcasm, snarkiness even down right disdain. From the evangelist toward the non-believer. I doubt they would find it cool to treat a fellow Christian that way, why is it ok with a non-believer, especially if you are trying to show them the light, truth and love of your God.

 

 

If you are a christian and have done this, is it ok to you? If so why? If you've done this and it is not ok with you, have you gone back and apologised? If not why not?

If you can dehumanise us, it becomes easier to kill us.

[oddbird1963]

The notion of "Christian" love and understanding is a cult myth. It is classic religious and cult conditioning to paint your own group as possessing the inside scoop on positive, humanistic traits.

 

In fact, treating "the others" kindly, with what is called "grace" and understanding is a mature human trait that is difficult to come by, requires personal discipline and a strong sense of empathy and fair play.

 

As with the general populace, most Christians fail to develop it . More precisely, few are those who choose to develop those traits. Fewer still are those who have matured far in that process.

 

This is just as true of the mouthpieces for Evangelical Christianity as for any other segment of Christianity. Preachers, evangelists and apologists don't possess the respect, empathy or understanding traits in any more abundance than any other group.

[Michael]

I guess it is a modern kind of evangelism. They want to preach "without shame", want to be offensive and show how cool they can be. And: They have discovered, that they can ignore the facts and reality if they are cynical. That makes evangelism more easy. The one who challenges the faith will be ignored and mocked.

[ghost_warlock]

I guess it is a modern kind of evangelism. They want to preach "without shame", want to be offensive and show how cool they can be. And: They have discovered, that they can ignore the facts and reality if they are cynical. That makes evangelism more easy. The one who challenges the faith will be ignored and mocked.

 

Sort of, I guess. I largely see it as their way of dealing with not being able to just have us executed for blasphemy anymore.

[Kyle]

Like many, I was one of those. I felt justified in my disdain. I thought I belonged to a superior class of people. I equate it to racism. Here in the south, white people are raised to feel a superiority. While not everyone wears a hood and swastika, subtle racism is everywhere. Whispered jokes and other small talk that is just accepted by those growing up in the deep south.

 

I found my deconversion made me a much better person. I see people as people. I get frustrated by the religious who look down on others because I've been there. Christians talk about being "free from sin" or "joy with the lord". They have no idea what true freedom is until they break free of religion. I call it the ability to just be good because it is the right thing to do. Not because it is mandated.

[nightflight]

edit.

[ebonileigh]

It's called Aggressive Christianity, and every bit of it comes from their book, the book of myths and horror stories, the bible, there is no love in that book.

[par4dcourse]

Aaaaaahh! Feelin' that xian love!

[ColorMixer]

This was a huge theological problem I had. I saw that xians really didn't act any differently with regard to their words that other people. Though they might not say the big swears or whatever (fuck, shit etc.), there were eager to apply a generous helping of sarcastic "humor." It's so counter-intuitive to what the bible even says (ephesians, corrupting talk etc).

 

I was big on this when I was a believe, and I still am. Sarcasm seems to get a free pass so often and I dislike it. You would think xians would be doubly against it... guess xians love their modern tv shows just like the rest of us. So much for being not "of the world".

[Realist]

The entire question is kind of in the title and description. We've seen it here and I've seen it in other web sites. Dripping sarcasm, snarkiness even down right disdain. From the evangelist toward the non-believer. I doubt they would find it cool to treat a fellow Christian that way, why is it ok with a non-believer, especially if you are trying to show them the light, truth and love of your God.

 

 

If you are a christian and have done this, is it ok to you? If so why? If you've done this and it is not ok with you, have you gone back and apologised? If not why not?

 

.... I think the answer to that is that in the modern age of 'reason' Christianity stacks up extremely poorly! Christian's arguments just do not wash which is seen over and over again in these forums. If you do not have the answers sarcasm is often a by-product of that.

[Guest I Love Dog]

The entire question is kind of in the title and description. We've seen it here and I've seen it in other web sites. Dripping sarcasm, snarkiness even down right disdain. From the evangelist toward the non-believer. I doubt they would find it cool to treat a fellow Christian that way, why is it ok with a non-believer, especially if you are trying to show them the light, truth and love of your God.

 

 

If you are a christian and have done this, is it ok to you? If so why? If you've done this and it is not ok with you, have you gone back and apologised? If not why not?

 

I suspect that many people who behave that way are not completely secure in their beliefs, because if you are, then you don't need to resort to those sort of tactics.

 

Another thought is that those people seek refuge in religion because they are nasty people anyway and they know it and perhaps they think religion will change them. Just a thought!

[Guest I Love Dog]

The entire question is kind of in the title and description. We've seen it here and I've seen it in other web sites. Dripping sarcasm, snarkiness even down right disdain. From the evangelist toward the non-believer. I doubt they would find it cool to treat a fellow Christian that way, why is it ok with a non-believer, especially if you are trying to show them the light, truth and love of your God.

 

 

If you are a christian and have done this, is it ok to you? If so why? If you've done this and it is not ok with you, have you gone back and apologised? If not why not?

 

I suspect that many people who behave that way are not completely secure in their beliefs, because if you are, then you don't need to resort to those sort of tactics.

 

Another thought is that those people seek refuge in religion because they are nasty people anyway and they know it and perhaps they think religion will change them. Just a thought!

[Guest ephymeris]

The absolute commonality of poor behavior by Christians was the main catalyst for my leaving the church (though not the faith at that time). I always feel slightly amused at their (obviously self justified) abuse of others because I know what effect it had on me. They don't generally care about the status of our "souls" as much as they just want to hear other people tell them they are right and earn the ego brownie points that comes with bringing another victim into the fold.

[Purple]

The entire question is kind of in the title and description. We've seen it here and I've seen it in other web sites. Dripping sarcasm, snarkiness even down right disdain. From the evangelist toward the non-believer. I doubt they would find it cool to treat a fellow Christian that way, why is it ok with a non-believer, especially if you are trying to show them the light, truth and love of your God.

 

 

If you are a christian and have done this, is it ok to you? If so why? If you've done this and it is not ok with you, have you gone back and apologised? If not why not?

If you can dehumanise us, it becomes easier to kill us.

 

 

I 100% agree with this. First you dehumanise, then you demonise, then you can do whatever you want with them or to them.

 

bay and by doncha just hate people that never come back to their own threads? LOL

[Purple]

The notion of "Christian" love and understanding is a cult myth. It is classic religious and cult conditioning to paint your own group as possessing the inside scoop on positive, humanistic traits.

 

In fact, treating "the others" kindly, with what is called "grace" and understanding is a mature human trait that is difficult to come by, requires personal discipline and a strong sense of empathy and fair play.

 

As with the general populace, most Christians fail to develop it . More precisely, few are those who choose to develop those traits. Fewer still are those who have matured far in that process.

 

This is just as true of the mouthpieces for Evangelical Christianity as for any other segment of Christianity. Preachers, evangelists and apologists don't possess the respect, empathy or understanding traits in any more abundance than any other group.

 

Absolutely, and I myself fall into the group that tries but usually fails. Not a "Christian", but still a person, and a member of certain sub groups I identify with. This us and them think, as you said is a part of every segment of Christianity, and every other kind of human group. Men vs. Women, Adults vs. Teens, Race A vs. Race B on and on. Yes I fully agree it is something that is a part of all humans.

 

The thing is, doesn't Jesus, in the story of the Good Samaritan, specifically ask his followers to NOT be this way? Yet, they do, and they are. So, how do they justify it?

 

 

[Purple]

The absolute commonality of poor behavior by Christians was the main catalyst for my leaving the church (though not the faith at that time). I always feel slightly amused at their (obviously self justified) abuse of others because I know what effect it had on me. They don't generally care about the status of our "souls" as much as they just want to hear other people tell them they are right and earn the ego brownie points that comes with bringing another victim into the fold.

 

 

I did not leave the relegion, or the church over people. I came to, in my walk, accept that people were flawed. The thought fits well into the we are all sinners teaching and explains everything, or does for a while.

 

After I left though I got real fed up with xians calling me out on any behavior, calling it sin, call me a sinner or worse, claiming, while knowing nothing that that was why I left. All while making all manners of excuses for their own behavior. Saying "I'm not perfect, just frgiven." while maddening in it's own way, pissed m off less than thouse that do what, by their own standards is wrong, but then twist their standards, again, all the while calling any non-christian who tempers their morality with reason and in context as having "situational ettects" Those excuses just bug me no end, and I enjoy pointing them out to the wayward Christian that stumbles in here. To me, honest, genuine people, see what they are doing and back off or start to I dunno, wonder. Not many of those though.

[oddbird1963]

The thing is, doesn't Jesus, in the story of the Good Samaritan, specifically ask his followers to NOT be this way? Yet, they do, and they are. So, how do they justify it?

 

I believe the typical Christian response is, "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven."

[Guest ephymeris]

Yes but the absolute failure of Jesus to work any sort of miraculous change in the lives of his followers was what stunk to me, not that my feelings were hurt. It was a glaring failure of a supposedly all powerful god's influence. Christian behavior was no different than the general populous.

[nightflight]

Yes but the absolute failure of Jesus to work any sort of miraculous change in the lives of his followers was what stunk to me, not that my feelings were hurt. It was a glaring failure of a supposedly all powerful god's influence. Christian behavior was no different than the general populous.

 

There it is.

[Franko47]

Yes but the absolute failure of Jesus to work any sort of miraculous change in the lives of his followers was what stunk to me, not that my feelings were hurt. It was a glaring failure of a supposedly all powerful god's influence. Christian behavior was no different than the general populous.

 

There it is.

 

 

 

Second the motion. I once read a Sci-fi novel where this guy makes contact with this super alien intelligence; this alien is super advanced mentally and telepathically, and warns this guy that if he makes even momentary contact with is "mind" that he will be changed forever. So the guy goes ahead anyway, and is zapped with an incredible change in his consciousness with just a mere momentary telepathic contact....touching the hem of God's robe so to speak... and becomes this enlightened dude who now understands his own feelings better, the folly of man, and starts even healing people with his new-found loving consciousness....anyway, you get the idea.

 

 

So what is this "I'm in contact with the LORD OF THE UNIVERSE" business, and yet, you're the same olf prick you really always were ? Self-serving and smarmy, just now with a self-satisfied smile ? And how many sick people have you gone to visit in hospital lately to show your new found "cosmic consciousness"?

 

Yes, this is what I began to notice after a while. Every Christian, Buddhist, New Ager, Environmentalist, Sikh, Hindu, Bible Nut........in the end, they all seem to relapse into a groove not much different than the way they were going in. Self-absorbed, ego motivated, choc full of fabulous "ideas" about how "loving" they are, but when it comes time to translate that into the real world, oh wait....they're busy working, or doing something else, or "helping" in ways that are often ambiguous if you took the time to investigate what they're talking about.

 

You'd think that someone who has touched the "mind of God, creator of the Universe", an entity that is trillions of times more advanced and superior to us, that you would receive more than just a faint "buzz". I mean really. Heck, I've had life-changing experiences just watching a good film, for crying out loud.

 

This is where the whole "God Game" tends to break down. These people claim that God is such a big part of their lives, it's an ongoing relationship, they're being "guided" by this cosmic mega-entity, yet they still can't get past their infantile obsessions, fanatical selfish emotionalism, their fears, insecurities, or their greed, in any way, shape or form.

 

There comes a time when you just squint and realize that this is in fact proof of a grand delusion; a self-serving system of ego-centric fascination, but really not manifesting anything remotely close to anything I would envy.

 

Sure, there are religious people who do selfless things, go on missions to war-torn countries, but they were sort of inclined that way to begin with. I've never really seen or known a self-centered "hedge my bets" person convert to religion and suddenly become a self-sacrificing heroic Ghandi or something.

 

"You shall know them by their works", as the saying goes. No, you will know them by their sweetly rationalized self-centered bullshit. Why didn't you give that homeless man your old worthless jacket just now ? Why aren't you helping console people dying in rest homes or hospitals. Why aren't you even say, rebuilding the elderly lady's fence next door after being blown down in the wind ?

 

The answer ? Because you're not in contact with any God at all. Just what you imagine it might feel like to be in contact with a God. Sometimes I think that atheist perhaps see a more refined and subtle God better than the religious; it's funny how often that the introspective atheist enjoys making people feel good instead of brow-beating them even further into the ground with their pious egocentric nonsense.

 

*rant....rant......*

 

Sorry, needed a good rant. If you read all that, feel free to bill me.

[Guest ephymeris]

Yes but the absolute failure of Jesus to work any sort of miraculous change in the lives of his followers was what stunk to me, not that my feelings were hurt. It was a glaring failure of a supposedly all powerful god's influence. Christian behavior was no different than the general populous.

 

There it is.

 

 

 

Second the motion. I once read a Sci-fi novel where this guy makes contact with this super alien intelligence; this alien is super advanced mentally and telepathically, and warns this guy that if he makes even momentary contact with is "mind" that he will be changed forever. So the guy goes ahead anyway, and is zapped with an incredible change in his consciousness with just a mere momentary telepathic contact....touching the hem of God's robe so to speak... and becomes this enlightened dude who now understands his own feelings better, the folly of man, and starts even healing people with his new-found loving consciousness....anyway, you get the idea.

 

 

So what is this "I'm in contact with the LORD OF THE UNIVERSE" business, and yet, you're the same olf prick you really always were ? Self-serving and smarmy, just now with a self-satisfied smile ? And how many sick people have you gone to visit in hospital lately to show your new found "cosmic consciousness"?

 

Yes, this is what I began to notice after a while. Every Christian, Buddhist, New Ager, Environmentalist, Sikh, Hindu, Bible Nut........in the end, they all seem to relapse into a groove not much different than the way they were going in. Self-absorbed, ego motivated, choc full of fabulous "ideas" about how "loving" they are, but when it comes time to translate that into the real world, oh wait....they're busy working, or doing something else, or "helping" in ways that are often ambiguous if you took the time to investigate what they're talking about.

 

You'd think that someone who has touched the "mind of God, creator of the Universe", an entity that is trillions of times more advanced and superior to us, that you would receive more than just a faint "buzz". I mean really. Heck, I've had life-changing experiences just watching a good film, for crying out loud.

 

This is where the whole "God Game" tends to break down. These people claim that God is such a big part of their lives, it's an ongoing relationship, they're being "guided" by this cosmic mega-entity, yet they still can't get past their infantile obsessions, fanatical selfish emotionalism, their fears, insecurities, or their greed, in any way, shape or form.

 

There comes a time when you just squint and realize that this is in fact proof of a grand delusion; a self-serving system of ego-centric fascination, but really not manifesting anything remotely close to anything I would envy.

 

Sure, there are religious people who do selfless things, go on missions to war-torn countries, but they were sort of inclined that way to begin with. I've never really seen or known a self-centered "hedge my bets" person convert to religion and suddenly become a self-sacrificing heroic Ghandi or something.

 

"You shall know them by their works", as the saying goes. No, you will know them by their sweetly rationalized self-centered bullshit. Why didn't you give that homeless man your old worthless jacket just now ? Why aren't you helping console people dying in rest homes or hospitals. Why aren't you even say, rebuilding the elderly lady's fence next door after being blown down in the wind ?

 

The answer ? Because you're not in contact with any God at all. Just what you imagine it might feel like to be in contact with a God. Sometimes I think that atheist perhaps see a more refined and subtle God better than the religious; it's funny how often that the introspective atheist enjoys making people feel good instead of brow-beating them even further into the ground with their pious egocentric nonsense.

 

*rant....rant......*

 

Sorry, needed a good rant. If you read all that, feel free to bill me.

 

I quite enjoyed this rant Thank you so much! Yes, christian cruelty was what spurred me on to wonder why weren't they changed? How could they act so callously if they were really people of god?? Not that they were all assholes, just that there was the same likelihood of meeting a jerk in church as anywhere else. Even if they weren't outward jerks, they were certainly unconcerned with the plight of others around them. If you were homeless, hurting, or broken, as long as it didn't effect them, the sheeple went on with their charade and looked away from any unpleasantness. Where was the change that "accepting jezus" had worked in their hearts? Absent because there is no change, no miracle, no reality to christian dogma. It's not real. It's just a lie.

 

Looking back, now free and aware, that's so glaringly obvious. I just don't like being dismissed as someone weak just because it WAS the acts of other believers that made me look up from my bible and see that what was going on around me was just a show. I left my church because I was intensely hurt, the anger came later, but I earned my abandonment of christianity even later on, through earnest searching. The shit-eating prayer faces of christians were the catalyst but the joruney of my search is what absolutely cleaved me from the fold.

[Dagan]

Good rant Frank!

 

I will say that I have seen someone go from being a selfish person to being a very selfless person after converting to Christianity. But whether this was a religious experience, or a case of growing older and wiser, I don't know.