MerryG Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I've mentioned before that I have a lovely older Christian friend who has a not-so-lovely Christian son. My friend, though extremely naive and gullible about her religion, is a kind, gentle, dedicated person who makes every effort to live by what she considers to be Christian values. Her son -- well into adulthood -- is another matter. He's been a devout, "bible-believing," bible-reading Christian all his life while pursuing a "career" as a burglar. He spent his teenage years in and out of boys homes and has spent his adult years in and out of prison for a multitude of property crimes, drug crimes, and general "stupidity offenses" (though he's actually quite intelligent). My friend, of course, always hopes for the best. Last time he was in prison (burglary again), she remarked that he was doing really well on rehabilitating himself, "Even giving bible lessons to his cellmate, who never heard the gospel before." I had to bite my tongue to avoid pointing out that he was a Christian while committing all his crimes. And naturally, shortly after getting out of prison, he went right back to the old path -- stealing from the people he lived with, dropping out of school shortly before getting his GED, and getting arrested for dumb sh*t like taking his mother's car and driving it around without a license. His prison and jail terms have always been mercifully short, which in retrospect seems a shame. Just last week he finally got busted for a pair of serious offenses. He was beating the crap out of his girlfriend and the ruckus was so bad a neighbor broke in to stop him. When the cops came, they found large quantities of meth and other indications that he was dealing. He ought to go away for a good long time, this time around. And this time my friend finally realizes that all his bible-reading means nothing at all. (This is his first violent offense and she's horrified that her son would attack another living being. I should add that I don't think drug use or dealing ought to be a crime, but perhaps his level of sheer, vicious stupidity should be.) Evidently he told the girlfriend that the bible required him to beat her or he wouldn't be doing his job as a man and as the leader of the household. Clearly, this guy isn't your typical Christian, and clearly he's also got a couple of screws loose. Yet he's absolutely typical in one way: using those parts of the bible he likes (e.g. the authority to beat a woman to within an inch of her life) while ignoring some very obvious other parts. ("Thou shall not steal.") I don't really know what my point is here. Mostly I'm just venting. I feel really bad for my friend (though also glad that she's finally pushed past her long years of denial). I was raised by parents who, though they gave no more than lip service to their religion, used similar pseudo-biblical justifcations for child abuse ("spare the rod and spoil the child") and general authoritarianism. ("God is watching and he'll send you to hell forever if you're bad.") So perhaps this is just a sore point with me. But I wonder, I really do, how people can pull such phony, hypocritical crap without a shred of consciousness or conscience. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator TheRedneckProfessor Posted January 14, 2014 Super Moderator Share Posted January 14, 2014 Religion really does screw things up for people. My sister spent 20 years with a drunk crack-addict because "the lord hadn't released her to divorce him." She felt like she had to stay because of jesus, even though he put her in the hospital several times and nearly caused her to lose her home. The children are completely screwed up now. I hate to hear that your friend is going through this, but it does appear to be good news that her stained glass blinders might finally be coming off. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
◊ crazyguy123 ◊ Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Your friend's son sounds like a piece of scum. I hope that he gets brutally murdered by an inmate while he's locked up. The world would be better off without him. I'm also hate this cancer that Christians call religion and how it destroys peoples' lives. If it didn't even exist, women who are in abusive relationships wouldn't stay trapped there because they're afraid that Jesus is going to get upset if they try to divorce the monster they're living with. I wish Christianity would just go the fuck away and never come back. I wish that other disgusting religions that cause harm would go away with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pawn Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Christians are hypocrites, all of them. I was no exception, I cherry picked the bible, and wasn't "perfect" like the holy-spirit filled, born-again, blood-washed super Christ-followers they are supposed to be...it's all bullshit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pantophobia Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Ah, I see you've met my family. Keep in mind, gays are going to destroy the sanctity of marriage. However, my 23-year-old cousin who was raised by God-fearing parents marrying for the third time--to someone met three weeks previously in a Christian chat room--with five kids between them by multiple exes, is an example of how the Lord is blessing them and their family with love! And, it turns out, two months later, with another beautiful new life in His image due just before their first wedding anniversary! (Follow-up: they didn't make it to their first wedding anniversary.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prometheus Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Perfect examples of the one thing Christianity does best: entirely fuck over spiritual critical thinking skills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mydisplayname Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Yeah, I know a similar person. He beat up his pregnant girlfriend a couple of times. Once she even ended up in the hospital. Oh, but he still works for the church full time doing gods work. It really makes me feel sick just to think of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milesaway Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 So glad to hear that your friend's starting to see what's been going on for what it really is. I hope he gets locked up for the rest of his life for what he's done. Unfortunately, none of it surprises me at all. One look at this website, and you'll see that shit like this is way more common than you'd think. This is only what makes the news. Imagine what doesn't. http://moralcompassblog.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravenstar Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 He sounds like a sociopath. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryG Posted January 16, 2014 Author Share Posted January 16, 2014 He sounds like a sociopath. That's what I'm increasingly coming to think, too. Although I know him slightly, I mostly know him through my friend's eyes, and of course she's always seen him as her sweet little boy who somehow went astray. (The drugs did it or bad company did it, or whatever.) But the violence and his justification for it make me wonder whether this guy is just cold-evil. And that, coupled with the fact that he's now sitting in jail blaming everybody but himself make me think that my friend herself could be in danger from him if he gets out again. Might not be an issue any time soon. He's jailed with a very high bail that I doubt anybody in his family will pay. I just hope, hope, hope that this time he gets a serious prison sentence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryG Posted January 16, 2014 Author Share Posted January 16, 2014 So glad to hear that your friend's starting to see what's been going on for what it really is. I hope he gets locked up for the rest of his life for what he's done. Unfortunately, none of it surprises me at all. One look at this website, and you'll see that shit like this is way more common than you'd think. This is only what makes the news. Imagine what doesn't. http://moralcompassblog.com/ Holy cr*p. That's some interestingly depressing reading. Of course I know that lots of Christians commit crimes (and pastors, priests, and their ilk seem especially prone to become criminals), but seeing so much together in one blog is ... wow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryG Posted January 16, 2014 Author Share Posted January 16, 2014 Ah, I see you've met my family. Egads. I had no idea these kinds of people were so prevalent. I really thought I was posting about some oddball outlier. Religion. How useful it is as a justification for any damn thing somebody wants to do. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milesaway Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 So glad to hear that your friend's starting to see what's been going on for what it really is. I hope he gets locked up for the rest of his life for what he's done. Unfortunately, none of it surprises me at all. One look at this website, and you'll see that shit like this is way more common than you'd think. This is only what makes the news. Imagine what doesn't. http://moralcompassblog.com/ Holy cr*p. That's some interestingly depressing reading. Of course I know that lots of Christians commit crimes (and pastors, priests, and their ilk seem especially prone to become criminals), but seeing so much together in one blog is ... wow. When you're raised in a system of ideas that tell you nothing's ever your fault and that a god will forgive you for anything and everything, this is what happens. Throw in a huge sense of entitlement and arrogance, and it's guaranteed they'll start acting out sooner or later. These churches don't give a shit about the safety of their congregations, all their hoopla about "protecting god's children" and whatnot is all talk. They can say this all they want, but their actions tell the whole story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator TheRedneckProfessor Posted January 16, 2014 Super Moderator Share Posted January 16, 2014 Ah, I see you've met my family. Egads. I had no idea these kinds of people were so prevalent. I really thought I was posting about some oddball outlier. Religion. How useful it is as a justification for any damn thing somebody wants to do. If you knew the number of kids I grew up with in church who turned out to be drug addicts, and the number of people I went to the christian college with who are addicted to drugs/alcohol, and the number of preacher's kids I've known over the years who have spent some time "on the inside", then nothing, absolutely nothing, would ever shock you again in your life. The goal of the church is to churn out good god-fearing people; the reality is that it churns out more socio- and psycho- types than anything else. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llwellyn Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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