Stupid things religious people say

[Fake Messiah]

[Fake Messiah]

That time my violin teacher tried to convert me to Christianity

“Do you believe in the literal truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ?”

We had just tuned our instruments, the way we did at the beginning of every lesson, when my violin teacher abruptly asked me this question. It was, I realized, Good Friday.

I had come into the lesson already nervous because I hadn’t practiced enough; I was 21, a junior in college, and life was regularly getting in the way.

We ended up spending the entire length of the lesson debating Christianity. Or, more accurately, I spent the entire lesson repeatedly saying “I’m Jewish” and trying to exit the conversation — perhaps I could play that concerto I hadn’t practiced? — while he spent the time lobbing arguments at me.

I majored in religious studies, so you might imagine I was really prepared for this moment, ready to refute each point he made. But academic religious studies is not particularly concerned with debating the factual evidence for biblical miracles. I was taking a course on religious symbolism in children’s literature that semester and had no idea what to respond when he asked me what my parents did — they’re lawyers — and proceeded to tell me that the number of witnesses who saw Jesus rise from the dead meant the case for his resurrection was winnable in any court.

I was thinking about that conversation this week when I saw that the Trump administration had announced new guidance on religious practice in federal workplaces, a document that says “attempting to persuade others of the correctness of their own religious views” is a protected form of religious expression.

To be fair, Christianity sees proselytizing as a core tenet of its practice. So any limits on proselytizing could be seen as impinging on their free exercise of religion. On the other hand, proselytizing often has the effect of ostracizing members of any minority religion; even in the most well-intentioned and accepting community, minorities can feel othered, and that’s without someone telling them to worship differently.

This is particularly tricky because, often, the proselytizing party sees themselves as doing good. As I got increasingly uncomfortable in the conversation with my violin teacher, he proposed a metaphor to try to explain why he was pushing me so hard: If you saw someone standing on train tracks, with the train barrelling toward them, wouldn’t you push them off?

He cared about me, he said, so he was trying to save me. (He didn’t specify what he was saving me from, but I think we can all infer that it was Hell.) I can’t remember what I said back. The conversation is a blur; most of what I remember is feeling claustrophobic and panicky.

It’s almost a religious contradiction to explain to someone who genuinely believes that accepting Jesus is the only way to be saved from hell that actually, their proselytizing is harmful.

https://forward.com/forward-newsletters/...sh-violin/

[The Grand Nudger]

They can proselytize to the toaster in the break room if they wanna do it at work. It'll have the same effect and be alot less dickish. I can see the satanic temple having fun with this though.

[Fake Messiah]

There is a new witch in the village. 🔥

Cynthia Erivo's 'demonic' portrayal of Jesus prompts outrage: 'Intentional blasphemy'

Many took to social media over the weekend to express outrage at footage of the three-night performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Jesus Christ Superstar" at the Hollywood Bowl that featured the bisexual black actress Cynthia Erivo as Jesus Christ.

"This is demonic," wrote Kevin Sorbo, a Christian actor who posted a video to X of Erivo carrying a crossbeam while wearing a crown of thorns during the show. The production also starred openly gay singer Adam Lambert as Judas Iscariot.

Many X users echoed Sorbo, noting that Erivo's long, talon-like nails evoked imagery historically associated with demons. The Federalist CEO Sean Davis, also noted the deliberately bald Erivo's resemblance to Nosferatu, a vampire made famous in the 1922 silent German horror film of the same name.

"LGBTQ+ Cynthia Erivo is playing Jesus in 'Jesus Christ Superstar,'" wrote Kristan Hawkins, a podcast host who serves as president of Students for Life of America.

"It's no surprise she looks exactly like how demons have always been portrayed. And let’s be real … if you dress like a demon, act like a demon, and mock God like a demon … don't be shocked when people call it what it is. This is intentional blasphemy from Hollywood."

Christopher Calvin Reid, who hosts a weekday radio show in Huntsville, Alabama, said casting "a woke liberal actress" as Jesus was "a vile assault on Christian doctrine" intended to mock the Incarnation.

"The Bible is unequivocal: 'The Word became flesh' (John 1:14), incarnate as a man, not a genderless symbol for progressive fantasies. Erivo's casting isn't just unbiblical — it’s a deliberate desecration, reducing Christ to a prop for cultural Marxism," he wrote. "This isn't art; it's evil — a blasphemous middle finger to God, cheered by Democrats who'd rather bow to Hollywood than the Bible."

https://www.christianpost.com/news/cynth...trage.html

[zebo-the-fat]

Simple, if you don't like it don't go to see the show!

[Fake Messiah]

Simple, if you don't like it don't go to see the show!

Ah, you know how it is: These people are perpetually in search of victimhood, creating their own alternate reality with phantom persecutors around every corner.

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So this Catholic priest claims that the souls of recently deceased people contact him in his dreams if they get stuck in the purgatory and then he and his prayer group help these souls get unstuck by praying for them.

Afterlife Interrupted: Priest helps souls who are stuck in purgatory

At least once a week, Roman Catholic priest Fr. Nathan Castle O.P., 69, is awakened by a vivid dream of a person’s death.

This tells him that the spirit of the deceased wants to move on but is trapped by their own issue. They’ve come to Castle for help.

“We think of ourselves — my prayer partners and I — as being the discharge staff at a medical center,” he said. “People die in lots of ways, but we get mostly the ones who die in a hurry, usually because of a trauma to the body and who needed to stay back a bit. Not everybody who dies in a car crash today will need this level.”

“The grandpa got his foot caught in something that was attached to the trailer. He was dragged not very far, but enough to hit his head and cause a hospitalization that ended in his death three days later.”

From the afterlife, the grandpa reached out to Castle.

Castle is very clear: He does not seek this out nor does he publicize any story that he does not have permission to tell.

He does not do readings and is not involved in the occult. He has prayer partners nationwide who take their spiritual lives seriously. They have a standing appointment once every two weeks to pray for the spirits of the people who have reached out.

Castle essentially relays messages.

“(The father and son) both felt very guilty,” he said. “The grandpa on the other side is saying, ‘They’re both grieving hard because they think it’s their fault and it was my fault. I was the one who didn’t watch where I put my foot,’” he recalled.

Catholics know this afterlife space as purgatory, but not the purgatory of the imagination or a Bosch painting. It’s a holding place where people get ready for the next step in their afterlife journey.

The first time Castle spoke with someone in the afterlife was when he was pastor of ASU’s Newman Center. He was on retreat and awoke from a dream —a vivid dream of a man on a radiator with his feet on the bumper of a late-model 1950s car. The man burst into flames.

The next morning, Castle and a friend, who had been a prayer partner and possessed the gift of prophetic speech, gathered to pray. The first thing they did was invoke protection through Michael the Archangel, Mary, various saints and the Holy Spirit.

“We don’t just dive into the spirit world unprotected,” he said.

https://www.phoenix.org/lovin_life/commu...e3765.html