I’m Ranting based on Hearsay from a Trusted Source

My very best friend in the world is taking care of her mother who is rapidly declining into dementia. She’s taking her to church, today, and Bestie and I have similar feelings about church.

Before I get into that, let me share with you the conversation she and I were having:

Her	I’m sitting in church with my mom watching people be brainwashed. I can’t send Brother or Sister-in-Law because they would be effected and bring this crap home.
Me	What can I do? Shall I send you things so you’re struggling not to laugh out loud?
Her	Lol They have support groups for families with LGBT kids
Me	Oh, God. We should start a support group for people with Christians in their family. We could call it Sanctmoni-non. “Hi. I’m J.” “(Hi, J)”.” I used to be a sanctimonious asshole, but I got over it. Sadly, my uncle is still trapped in the web.”
Her	Right? Mom’s all pissed that I’m texting
Me	🫤 If you don’t want to upset mom, I’ll stop. Or, I can just send you stream of consciousness stuff…
Her	We are in the fourth row
Me	Up close and personal.
Her	The pastor just said that the civil right protests in the 60s was caused by the victim mentality that any group has. Sin causes people to feel oppressed simply because they are ruled by others. WTF!!
Me	Holy shit!
Her	He compared it to Karl Marx riling up the masses against the ruling class
Me	Exactly. There shouldn’t be a ruling class in a democracy. Are there any people of color in that church?
Her	They are both on the worship team. I’m wondering how this is hitting their ears.
Me	Seriously! I know you’re not 9n a position to do this, but I’d get up and walk out.
Her	He’s now lamenting that so many families are divided because the righteous grandparents are cut off from their grandchildren. Well, I wonder why normal people would cut off these psychos! Usually I sit in the lobby. But mom’s friend is not here.
Me	You are a goddess.
Her	He’s basically saying that the reason for all division is that violence is that non-Christians are fighting against God. There can be no unity without God. It was sneaky racism to bring up the civil rights movement.
Me	Absolutely! I want to send him an anonymous letter telling him off.
Her	Well, he just lost half the congregation. He said Jonah and the Whale. Idiot. Everyone knows it was a big fish. Finally out of there. Now for Sunday school. I can definitely sit in the lobby for this one. The first week I came I attended the Sunday school. The teacher says, and we all know that the wars in Ukraine and Israel would not have happened if Trump had been president! Ever since then I don’t go in that room.

Now… Bestie had a different experience than I did, so she has completely rejected the whole idea of God. I have not. I still consider myself Christian, but I have little doubt that her mother, and my sanctimonious uncle would not. I don’t believe the Bible was ever intended to be a literal document. I don’t believe that God is a vain, wrathful entity who sits in judgement of humans for doing the best we can without any instruction manual (and don’t even try to tell me that the Bible is an instruction manual, because if you do, I’ll tell you that you obviously haven’t read the Bible. I am confirmed Catholic, despite my beliefs, and I still capitalize God and Him and Bible, because even though I don’t believe in a super natural God, I believe that God is literally the act of loving and Jesus embodied love and so I still consider Jesus a guiding light and that is why I consider myself Christian.

On to my rant:

🤯 “Support group for parents with LGBTQ kids?” Seriously? Love them, just like Jesus says to. The end.

🤯 “The pastor just said that the civil right protests in the 60s was caused by the victim mentality that any group has. Sin causes people to feel oppressed simply because they are ruled by others. WTF!!” Wow! Tell me you’re a racist pig without telling me you’re a racist pig. Ruled by others? This is America. None of us are ruled by any of us. That’s the whole point. And gee, why would people who have seen their family members murdered with no consequences feel like victims?
Hey, Pastor, sin also causes us to think we know God’s will, when in reality, we only know our own will and it is up to us to judge whether our will aligns with God’s.

🤯 “He’s basically saying that the reason for all division is that violence is that non-Christians are fighting against God.” Dear Pastor, the only ones fighting against God are people like you and others who have hijacked the name of Jesus for your own personal gain. I refuse to stand by and let these cult leaders manipulate people who are already in pain and looking for help. You’re not helping them. You’re just giving them more anxiety.
I know your anxiety. You are afraid of a world in which the white man isn’t the “ruling class.” So you’ve manipulated the word to soothe your own fear. You know who else fought against a ruling class? Jesus! Remember the money changers in the temple? They were part of the ruling class. Remember when Jesus told the story of an adulteress who was to be stoned to death? According to scripture, he said, “`Ω ς δέ έπέμενον έρωτώντες αντύν , [άνέκυΨεν καί, είπεν αύτο?ς], Ο ἀναμάρτητος ὑμῶν, πρῶτος (τὸν λίθον – «ἐπ’ αὐτῇ βαλέτω.” This translates roughly to, “Let those among you who are without sin cast the first stone.”

I am repeatedly baffled by the ways in which people can manipulate “God” to suit their prejudices, but when it comes to the words that are actually attributed to Him, they don’t seem to preach that very often: