crazy parents and their "religion"

[mrWr0ng]

so, i'm gettin pretty sick of my folks and their "religion".
don't get me wrong. i'm not mr crazy "I'M ATHEIST UR GOD IS DEAD ILL SEE U IN HELL HAW HAW UR ST00PID!" or anything, but they need to stop.
i've been pretty supportive of them since they got into the church. for example, when my mom first started going she "demanded" i go with her. i went. and she asked if i wanted to go again, and i kindly said no, i don't want to be religious. and she gave me some long speech about my soul, yadda yadda.
then i went to my mom's baptism. again, it was a voluntary decision. she asked if i would go, i said i would support her. i go, and show my support for her decisions, and then she again tries to get me to start going to church. AGAIN, i politely decline, saying that i choose not to be spiritual, do not believe in god, etc. etc.
SOOOOO this year for christmas my parents got me THE BIBLE. yes, THE BIBLE. they said i should read it, just like i should have read the other 30 bibles that they and various other members of my family (my father's side is VERY religious) have gotten me and never read.
my dad said "if you like scary movies, son, you should read the new testament. there's a lot of scary things in there."
ARGH! i am getting tired of this. the new testament bible they got me was all full of little "worship cards" and other praying/saving/streetfighterIIsuperultraturboXrevival(i wish) related things. and i politely thanked them for the gift, and told them i had a lot of other books to read (i had just finished k-pax, was still reading song of solomon and wanted to read on a beam of light afterwards) so now they keep coming by, asking if i've started reading the new testament yet.
ARGH. i've told them that i'm not interested in religion, that i looked into the bible, read through it, answered my questions, and had since moved on. they REPLY to that with "there are people at the church you should come talk to. they've studied the bible their whole lives, and can answer all your questions and put things in a better light for you."
it's like living with MORMONS or scientologists or something! THEY WON'T QUIT. i am getting tired of being polite an trying to find ways to tell them i am not interested without stomping all over their religion, but i cannot win.
argh.
that is all.

[jwreck]

That sucks. I had a similar situation except I was raised religous and then left it. Talk about the shit hitting the fan!!! My Mom hit the roof!! You're going to hell, I raised you better than this, disowned, whole nine yards. Over 2 years later and we just now get along OK again, as long as no one brings up religion!! Hope you have better luck than i did.

[little_darkling]

i can relate to this. my dad is a born-again, the rest of my family is catholic, and i am neither. but when my dad first became a BAC, he was SO insistent on us going with him. or else he'd say something, "oh you can go [insert place here] with [inster name here] if you go to chruch with me this sunday." BULLSHIT. to make it short, i ended up HAVING to be very rude and well disrespectful to his beliefs in order for him to stop. every now and then he'll still bother about it, but maybe the only choice you have is the one you don't want to do, which would be to ..... *sighs* intentionally hurt their feelings to make a point. but then you're also risking alot, ala jwreck.

[Guitarophile]

Not so long ago, around the time of a dear friend's death, my mother turned to God for answers. I was raised in an agnostic household, and biblical influences were minor. I'd read The Holy Bible, just to satisfy my own curiosity, but found it to be more akin to Aesop's Fables than any holy spiritual experience. There are some good morals in there, some interesting stories, but I'd never really believed in it all.

Well, my mother decided we were all Methodists, and as such, we should all go to church. My sister and I were both baptised and confirmed, whether we liked it or not. I frustrated my pastor at every opportunity, asking him the uncomfortable questions that really didn't prove or disprove anything, such as: "Did Jesus and Judas really make out?", "If God knows everything, why did he create Lucifer, just to watch him fall, and thus bring evil to Eden?" You know, stuff like that. I usually got the "God works in mysterious ways" litany, which only put me off more.

Anyway, about 10 more friends and family die in the next 5 years, and more and more of my family start looking to the Church for answers. I've since gone through the stages of anti-Christian, athiest, nihilist, non-thiest, eventually arriving at philosophical taoist, and now I'm a happy boy. I've found that if I can at least claim to belong to *some* school of thought, they'll leave me alone.

[ChaoticThoughts]

Mr.Wrong, you are right.
The bible at xmas was a step too far. I would not have put up with all this bullshit. At the age of 7, I demanded that I would no longer go to church, it served no purpose for me. Before long, nobody in my immediate family was going to church.

Born again christians are the WORST, now that they have been convienced, "saved" etc., they will pass on the "favor" to the next person...you.

I doubt she would be rational enough to listen to you, but I would try. I would point out that you are glad they found their "path" , but you do not have any spirual needs right now.

Most likely, they are being pressured by other members of their church "Where is your son?"...

Anyhow, if you have to live with them for a few more years, I would plan a full denfensive assult. There are books that dissect the bible, and rightfully critisize it. Your parents will think you are learning about the bible, but you are really preparing yourself with knowledge that will dismiss anything religious they throw at you. For example: Tho shall not kill. How many died by the hands of the good?

I would also look up about the controversial copper scrolls. Written by jesus himself, he said something to the affect of: The church is within, you need not go to a temple to talk to god, etc. Anyhow, it could get you out of attending church. However, the roman church does not accept the scrolls, because it could lead to lesser attendance and donations.

Good luck dealing with this crap, I know it would drive me nuts.

[jwreck]

I would try to downplay everything first, hopefully the newness will wear off and they'll back off. What CT suggests is good for strangers, but I think it'll only make things worse between family. Until you have to get into a Holy War with them, I would try to avoid it. The amazing thing with Christians is that when they are badgering and harrassing you, its just them looking out for your soul. As soon as you argue back, you are attacking their beliefs, an agent of the devil, yadda yadda yadda. It really sucks. Hopefully this is just a phase with them that will pass (at least them pressuring you).

[James]

If you can't beat 'em ... start showing up at the house for family gatherings armed with a stack of carefully selected books, and a can of gasoline. Tell 'em you've been inspired by the Harry Potter book burnings, and have discovered your spiritual calling .... to cleanse the world with fire.

Put on a good show (invite a couple of friends as "new converts") and soon they'll avoid discussing religion with you, lest you start burning the Betty Crocker Cookbook! "Mom ... you ever look closely at Betty Crocker's eyes?! She's obviously possessed ... and look here on page 47 ... Deviled Eggs!!!" In the words of Abbie Hoffman ... it's Monkey Warfare time.

[Snouter]

Being forced to do anything is the tough thing to deal with psychologically. But there is nothing scarey in the New Testament except the last book, The Revelation To John.

Don't expect pastors to be Bible experts, they are more like social workers. There may be serious Bible study groups who meet at the church, plus the church may have organizations you can get involved in to help those less fortunate. You never know who you might meet.

So much art, literature and even story lines for movies are based on info in the Bible, you are cheating yourself if you don't read it.

For example, the story line of the movie The Matrix is based on the Gospels.

[Cd.]

I have a suggestion, try educating yourself on the Bible and then every time your father brings up the bible you can outsmart him. If you read the old testiment cover to cover you would learn that the Isrealites were warmongers who overtook the "promised land" by force and slaughtered the inhabitants without mercy. You will learn that Moses was a total power freak who made Usama Bin Laden look like Mr Rogers. You would learn that David was a man who killed a man to get his wife (and it happened more than once). You would also know that Solomon killed his brother to get the throne.

Now while Jesus was a pretty decent fellow, he did say some rather nasty things to that woman of Sidon("why should we give food to the dogs when the children are hungry?").

Now you got the idea. Just fight fire with fire.

[ChaoticThoughts]

Originally posted by jwreck
What CT suggests is good for strangers, but I think it'll only make things worse between family.

I suppose, but I would do it to my family. Some people would try to avoid conflict, but I welcome it, so I can get it over with. Avoiding it could cause constant passive agressive crap and continued pushing of religion. Just my opinion.

[Rayney]

All I can do is offer my symapthy here, my family arent really religious and when my mother found out my chosen path she just gave me a disappointed look and told me to be careful. We no longer mention religion of any kind - we are a very "if we dont talk about it, it doesnt exsist" family Im afraid.

Rayne.