Forced to see a Minister.... UGHHH

[Mister Agenda]

I hop you reconsider the path atheism leads to. Hell is not a good place to go.

Christians would be much better witnesses if they listened to me, but they do more to make atheists and keep atheists than I ever could.

But I keep offering the free advice, secure in the knowledge that the ones who need it never listen:

Never bring up or imply hell. It's argument ad baculum, it's a fallacy (basically 'agree with me or else') and as nonsensical as a Buddhist trying to convince you to change your ways to avoid the hell of taking showers with bathtubs full of cats.

Suck your mark in first. Stick with the love and heaven and good morals and fabulous miracles. It's just stupid to bring up hell if you haven't convinced them of the other stuff first. Don't tell them about the horrendous torture in store for them if they try to leave the Family...er, backslide from adoring and worshiping Jesus, until it's too late for them to back out. It's just common sense.

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It sounds like you handled yourself well. I'm curious to know what, if anything, your parents had to say after your meeting. Is this the beginning of an ordeal, or will they back off a bit?

My mother is acting strange, It's like she expected me to come out a full believer again or something.

One of my steps to atheism was letting my brother-in-law get me to talk to a 'Navigator'. Apparently those are evangelical Presbyterians who belong to a club to train people to be better witnesses, kind of like a sectarian toastmasters.

What I walked away from that experience with was a resolve to stop being so tippy-toe sensitive about saying things Christians might find offensive, given how little consideration the more vocal ones give to not saying things non-Christians might find offensive.