posted on September 2, 2004 08:32:01 AM new
What do you do when you are in a public place and a young bible thumper comes up to you and starts preaching the salvation of the heaven and the great works of god?
I was in Metro Detroit last weekend, at a public event, and a bible thumper came up to the group of people that I was talking to. He was in an almost robotic state in the way he was walking and the way he spoke. It was almost like a rehearsed speech. "Sir, have you taken jesus as your savior for eternal life in heaven?" The guy that I was talking to stared at him for a minute and said "sorry, not interested". The thumper said "but if you accept jesus you will have ever lasting life". My friend said, "we are very busy here", and the thumper continued on to the next target.
Sometimes I feel like telling these people to get lost, but not that nicely. They make me sick. They are worst than tele marketers. At least you can hang up on the phone.
posted on September 2, 2004 09:00:32 AM new
"Sir, have you taken jesus as your savior for eternal life in heaven?"
If it was me yeager, I would tell them "Yes I have. Would you care to come over to my house and you can tell my gay lover and I more about what it takes to have eternal life".
If that doesn't scare him away or make him nervous I am not sure what will.
Let's have a BBQ, Texas style, ROAST BUSH
------------------------------
YOU CAN'T HAVE BULLSH** WITH OUT BUSH.
------------------------------
We the people, in order to form a more perfect Union....
.....one Nation indivisible, With Liberty and Justice for ALL.
posted on September 2, 2004 09:04:24 AM new
That might have worked, who knows. I was with a person who I repect for his religious views. If I wasn't, the thumper probably wouldn't have forgotten me for a long time.
Bigots are miserable people. Prevent Bigotry through Education.
posted on September 2, 2004 10:29:38 AM new
say excuse me and walk away.
I was with a person who I respect for his religious views How do you know his view because you stated you don't like bible thumpers and it seem that if you know his religious views he/she must have told you.
Then why can't you respect others that has those views. Oh so you pick and choose what ones you want. It seems like you have a double standard. I only have one view and it never changes. I do not believe in gay marriages.
edited because I spelled a word wrong
[ edited by Libra63 on Sep 2, 2004 10:31 AM ]
posted on September 2, 2004 10:48:34 AM new
You are soooooo right. And I have the complete right not to be bothered by lunatics that preach the bible in public places. I am under no obligation to even speak to him. However sometimes these people can't understand a polite no.
Bigots are miserable people. Prevent Bigotry through Education.
posted on September 2, 2004 12:12:14 PM newSometimes I feel like telling these people to get lost, but not that nicely. They make me sick. They are worst than tele marketers. At least you can hang up on the phone.
I'd bet that you'd say the same thing to a Girlscout if you didn't want to buy any cookies. I KNOW Logansdad would because he is a Girl hater.
posted on September 2, 2004 12:23:42 PM new
Yeager,
Up until today I always thought you used the term bible thumper as a derogatory reference to any religious person. (You probably didn't say that exactly - it's just what I inferred). I'm curious now, how do you differentiate what is a person with religious views you respect and what is a bible thumper?
Edited to answer the original question. I would say yes and tell them that I'm Catholic. Some will continue to talk - fine with me if I'm not busy and others will go away. But, bible thumper is not a term I normally use.
[ edited by cherishedclutter on Sep 2, 2004 12:25 PM ]
posted on September 2, 2004 12:37:22 PM new
Yeager, the best way to challenge a person is to put the ball back in their court by asking them questions like "you seem robotic to me, why is that?", etc., or (this is what I say to the Jehovah's Witness's) "you don't believe in blood transfusions because you say it's against God's will, right?", "then why are you wearing glasses?". Most of the time I just tell them I'm happy with my beliefs, smile and shake their hands, then point to my neighbours house and explain how they need saving.
posted on September 2, 2004 12:42:16 PM new
Cherished, I think Bible thumpers are the ones that come to you or you house, unsolicited. Talking about religion with friends is usually solicited. I think that's what Yeager means.
posted on September 2, 2004 01:10:12 PM new
yellow: I'd bet that you'd say the same thing to a Girlscout if you didn't want to buy any cookies. I KNOW Logansdad would because he is a Girl hater.
WRONG AGAIN YELLOW. I have bought Girl Scout cookies in the past and I am not a girl hater. I have said in the past I will not contribute to the Boy Scouts because of their discriminatory practices.
What makes these bible thumpers (aka religous people going door to door) think they can force their lifestyle on me??
Let's have a BBQ, Texas style, ROAST BUSH
------------------------------
YOU CAN'T HAVE BULLSH** WITH OUT BUSH.
------------------------------
We the people, in order to form a more perfect Union....
.....one Nation indivisible, With Liberty and Justice for ALL.
posted on September 2, 2004 01:32:46 PM new
It seems this happens most often from the crackpot religions. I would be curious what his denomination is. I was seized by a Krishna the other day. My friend said, "I'm sorry but you're not a real religion in the Republican sense of the word." and we hurried away.
posted on September 2, 2004 05:44:04 PM new
WhenI was in college I ran into what you call bible thumpers every single day, as several would appear on the campus daily. I had two specific encounters that remain bright in my memory even after more than 20 years.
The first happened at CSULB (Long Beach), which had a man who wandered around campus every day carrying a large American flag while he proselytized. One day he focused in on me for some reason as I walked past. When I said "sorry, not interested" and went on my way, he proceeded to follow me for several minutes across campus screaming loudly "Don't you believe in God?!? Don't you love Jesus?!?"
How heartwarming that was...
Then, while I was at UCLA I had an even more heartwarming experiencewith a bible thumper. As I went up a walkway to class, I passed by a guy who was yelling at the people who walked past: "You may not know you're whores! You may not know you're whoremongers! GOD KNOWS YOU'RE WHORES AND WHOREMONGERS!!"
I went to the Dean and said I didn't appreciate being called a whore or a whoremonger, thank you very much. That particular fruitcake didn't appear on campus again.
____________________
"Bad temper is its own scourge. Few things are more bitter than to feel bitter. A man's venom poisons himself more than his victim." --Charles Buxton
posted on September 2, 2004 09:19:43 PM newsay excuse me and walk away.
I was with a person who I respect for his religious views How do you know his view because you stated you don't like bible thumpers and it seem that if you know his religious views he/she must have told you.
Because Yeager this is still a free country.
It's one thing to share your religious views with a friend. It's entirely another to be accosted by a total stranger in a public place, or worse, by a trespasser on your doorstep. You betcha it's still a free country, and as long as it is, proselytizers who dare cross my path will sure as hell be on the recieving end of my freedom of speech.
I've discovered that the best way to deal with these pests is to tell them I'm a practicing Orthodox Jew. Mostly, they just go away for some reason. I had a girlfriend long ago, whose tactic was to smile serenely, and say, in a very low and polite voice, with a sort of crazy gleam in her eye and a smile "go away now, or I'll scream that you touched my crotch".....
___________________________________
Our `neoconservatives' are neither new nor conservative, but old as Bablyon
and evil as Hell." --Edward Abbey
posted on September 2, 2004 09:43:56 PM new
I have never been accosted by anyone. I traveled a lot from O'Hare Field and the flower selling people were there and also the Hairy Christners. when they approached me as many did all I did was just that. Excuse me and walk away.
When they come to the door I politely tell them that I am not interested and they walk away. It is all in the demeanor that you approach these people and if you are not hostile they will leave. At least they did with me.
posted on September 3, 2004 04:14:21 AM new
Libra says,
Isn't that what you are doing in here with gay marriages? Or is it different? Please explain.
Now, when exactly was the last time anyone came to your door, or approached you in a public place and asked you to consider being married to a person of the same sex?
This of course is opposed to a person that has knocked on your door or approached you in public and thumped their "brand of religion".
For me, I have never been approached by a person in public asking me to consider being married to another male, but have approached many, many times by bible thumpers who want me to listen to them.
About 16 years ago while at Metro Airport in Detroit, a Krishna approached me and the woman that I was with asking for donations of money. We were in a hurry and told her NO quite firmly and we started to walk away. This person started to follow us and continually begged for money. I finally stopped and turn around and said to her quite loudly, "Get the hell off my back!" That did the trick.
Cherished clutter,
To me, the difference between a bible thumper and a person who practices religion is quite simple. The practitioner of religion is a person who believes it's a person event, between them and their god. The bible thumper is a person who thinks it should be a public event, everywhere and all the time. A person who is so absorbed into it that it consumes their lives and they can't related to anything in their lives without somehow connecting it to their religious beliefs. The type that says praise god after every sentence might be a good example.
Bigots are miserable people. Prevent Bigotry through Education.
Prevent Bigotry through Education.
[ edited by Libra63 on Sep 2, 2004 10:31 AM ]