Kissing the Devil
by Summerbreeze
Why, oh why, do the majority of Christians think that when a person leaves Christianity / belief in God, surely they must be in league with the Devil!?
The Devil did it. The Devil seduced them. Why don't they resist the Devil? They have willingly turned toward THE DARK SIDE.
This inane thinking reared its ugly head toward me about a month ago, while camping in beautiful " Great Lakes Country " in Northern Michigan.
My believer husband has a childhood friend ( who I'll call Joe ) who lives aboard a large boat half of the year, at a marina in one of the cute-sy pie towns. Joe is a life-long bachelor, and a retired school teacher (Catholic schools). His brother is a priest, and two nieces are nuns--he is very religious.
We see Joe every year, and spend quite a lot of time with him, as we camp about 20 miles away.
One of my favorite places to go to, is a tiny town with a 100 yr. old plus General Store. Well known atheist, Ernest Hemingway, spent many days of his early youth there because his relatives had a summer cottage near the town. Ernest liked to fish in the creek there, and every time I crossed over it on the two lane black-top, I thought of his quote "All thinking men are atheists."
A year ago, in the Fall of `08' while we were visiting Joe, I told him that I was a non-believer, and why I was a non-believer. He had sat there with a frozen smile on his face, and as I can recall, the topic of conversation was quickly changed!
This year, on our last night camping, we decided that the three of us would drive to another town, on a bay, to have dinner together. We ate at a restaurant that had a sign that said: "Ernest Hemingway never ate here, but the food is good." Joe knows that Hemingway was an atheist, and he knows about the areas' connection with him.
While dining that night, he told us about how the local gossip said that there were "strange people," maybe even Devil Worshipers in and around the town with the old General Store that Hemingway had frequented. His eyes bore down on me as he told this to us--was he trying to convey a message to me?
Meanwhile my husband was oblivious to what was being intimated, he was sitting next to Joe and couldn't see his incriminating eyes.
IF there is a group in that area getting together, my hunch is that it could be non-believers, hoping to find camaraderie in fundie land. But Hey! Let the torches be lit! After all, it's almost Halloween!
I didn't start an argument with Joe that night, out of consideration for my husband who has major health issues with his heart... that's all he would need, right, to watch his wife and friend duke it out.
My question to you is : Why is it always a given with fundies, that in their black & white world, non-belief equates to kissing the Devil? For the life of me, I can't figure it out.
Why, oh why, do the majority of Christians think that when a person leaves Christianity / belief in God, surely they must be in league with the Devil!?The Devil did it. The Devil seduced them. Why don't they resist the Devil? They have willingly turned toward THE DARK SIDE.
This inane thinking reared its ugly head toward me about a month ago, while camping in beautiful " Great Lakes Country " in Northern Michigan.
My believer husband has a childhood friend ( who I'll call Joe ) who lives aboard a large boat half of the year, at a marina in one of the cute-sy pie towns. Joe is a life-long bachelor, and a retired school teacher (Catholic schools). His brother is a priest, and two nieces are nuns--he is very religious.
We see Joe every year, and spend quite a lot of time with him, as we camp about 20 miles away.
One of my favorite places to go to, is a tiny town with a 100 yr. old plus General Store. Well known atheist, Ernest Hemingway, spent many days of his early youth there because his relatives had a summer cottage near the town. Ernest liked to fish in the creek there, and every time I crossed over it on the two lane black-top, I thought of his quote "All thinking men are atheists."
A year ago, in the Fall of `08' while we were visiting Joe, I told him that I was a non-believer, and why I was a non-believer. He had sat there with a frozen smile on his face, and as I can recall, the topic of conversation was quickly changed!
This year, on our last night camping, we decided that the three of us would drive to another town, on a bay, to have dinner together. We ate at a restaurant that had a sign that said: "Ernest Hemingway never ate here, but the food is good." Joe knows that Hemingway was an atheist, and he knows about the areas' connection with him.
While dining that night, he told us about how the local gossip said that there were "strange people," maybe even Devil Worshipers in and around the town with the old General Store that Hemingway had frequented. His eyes bore down on me as he told this to us--was he trying to convey a message to me?
Meanwhile my husband was oblivious to what was being intimated, he was sitting next to Joe and couldn't see his incriminating eyes.
IF there is a group in that area getting together, my hunch is that it could be non-believers, hoping to find camaraderie in fundie land. But Hey! Let the torches be lit! After all, it's almost Halloween!
I didn't start an argument with Joe that night, out of consideration for my husband who has major health issues with his heart... that's all he would need, right, to watch his wife and friend duke it out.
My question to you is : Why is it always a given with fundies, that in their black & white world, non-belief equates to kissing the Devil? For the life of me, I can't figure it out.
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