Close Encounters of the Fundie Kind

[AVENues]

Guys, help, how do I tell a friend that her liking and sharing all the Debi Pearl facebook pages is making me ill? I'd just unfriend her but she's an actual RL friend who I *will* have to continue interacting with even if I unfriend her (we're members of the same dog club)

I feel you! I have a former friend who turned out to be a self-loathing, homophobic homosexual. He keeps posting homophobic stuff. He does not know about my fakebook, I'm laying low because of my ex husband, but this person is on my skype... I MUST go on skype, there are a few relatives of mine that I still love, I have a LOT of online friends and friends all over the world. I don't want to open another skype account. Whenever I block him... he keeps posting hissy shit on facebook and goes around asking my friends that he knows if they have been blocked, too. I know I just should stand up and tell him to get off my skype but I don't want him going on his shit stirring frenzies again. Fed up. I have gotten rid of a psychopathic boyfriend then a psychopathic husband and I cannot get rid of an online friend. :doh:

[AVENues]

Dogs, cats and children sound like adorable things that people love but sickos are appalled by, and love to make their lives a hell.

[AVENues]

Today in court, I whipped out my cellphone in the courthouse hallway as a fundie family (long denim skirts, sneakers, etc..) walked by. The mom actually stopped nearby and she pointed at me and told her kids, "Cellphones are of the devil! There's no telling what people might be doing in here on one of those things."

Um...giving my lost client directions? :?

I totally hate cell phones because they are an assault to my privacy and personal space (I mean, when people call me for no good reason whatsoever), but they are not of the devil. What does that mama think you were doing on that phone in the public? I assume, given the fact that these people are obsessed with fornication, that she thought you might have been having a conversation that was loaded with sexual content. They need brain bleach in large quantities.

[ILoveJellybeans]

I'm not going to take pictures from my friends private FB page to show here, but the Duggars were in Charlotte(or near Charlotte) last night for a meet and great and she went. I had no clue she was a Duggar fan. She is a working mom with two kids who isn't fundie at all, but she appears to adore them.

Anyway, Michelle is really tan now and her hair was straight not all curly. One of the little girls(the one before Josie that gets forgotten) was sleeping in a stroller. Josie was crying and looked like she was trying to escape Michelle, who was holding her. All the little kids looked completely miserable and the older kids had super forced smiles in most of the pictures.

This is no way for kids to live. Loving parents wouldn't do this to their children.

Aww poor kids, dragged around the world to be stared at by strangers. Its no life for a child, they need to be at home, with a proper routine, regular schooling, and parental attention.

Run Josie run!

Im not suprised shes trying to run away from Michelle, she abandoned her to the wilds of the house to roam free with Howlers after she thought she was actually the one Michelle loved.

[formergothardite]

Aww poor kids, dragged around the world to be stared at by strangers. Its no life for a child, they need to be at home, with a proper routine, regular schooling, and parental attention.

Run Josie run!

Im not suprised shes trying to run away from Michelle, she abandoned her to the wilds of the house to roam free with Howlers after she thought she was actually the one Michelle loved.

It has to be exhausting for these kids to constantly run from one place to another to be gawked at by strangers and when they are home parts of the time they are filming. It really should be illegal to do this to children. Some of these kids have had their childhoods exploited for money from the second they were conceived.

[ILoveJellybeans]

It must be, all they probably want to do is stay at home, ride their bikes around the garden, play with their toys and just be a kid without having to stand around being looked at and admired by strangers and used as props in their narcissistic parents lives.

It also helps reinforce to them that they are just one of the 19 Duggar kids, not 19 seperate people with their own personalities, hobbies, strengths and weaknesses.

[Hane]

Mango, some advice re objectionable FB posts from friends: I just click the Hide option. Do that often enough, and it will eventually have a positive effect on the content of your FB feed.

[ILoveJellybeans]

I think my siblings are playing either fundie or exorcist. One of them just shouted out something about sinful dancing and stuff and God and said that his brother needed to be exorcised, and is now pretending to crucify him.

Maybe the fundie sins he came up with is from Breaking Amish, which was on in the background...Im guessing the exorcism bit was from another TV show or something?

Kids are weird.

[Mama Mia]

Re the obnoxious facebook posts --you can also hide specific people from your newsfeed. You can still go to their page when you want, but you won't be forced to see every obnoxious thing they post

[SpicyCat]

I was traveling through East Tennessee and stopped at the Gatlinburg exit for lunch. We stopped at a Wendy's right off the road and ran into an older fundie couple. The woman was sitting to the side waiting for her husband while we were waiting in line. I was letting my grandson who is 16 months old run around and she kept looking at him with a weird mix of aww and disapproval. She gave me a very miniscule "polite" smile back when I smiled at her with my dopy in love with my grandson smile.

I know they were fundy because of her dress, his very judgy look, and the fact that they left a "God loves you" tract on the table. Also I vaguely recognized them. I'm almost positive I've seen them in a picture somewhere. She had long wispy white hair. Anyone know who the fundies local to that area are?

[greentree31]

I hate when people leave those stupid tracts in public places. The worst of the fundies will leave a tract instead of a tract in place of a tip in a restaurant. What makes the fundies think that a server is going to read a tract and think, "Wow, those cheap ass customers in the bad clothes stiffed me on my tip that helps pay my bills and feeds my family really show the love of god--I think I'll become one of them."?

[SpicyCat]

The funniest part of it to me was that as soon as they left the lady cleaning the dining area picked it up and threw it away without looking at it. I had a bit of a giggle over that. But yes, I also hate those things. Yesterday I had one of those church trifolds put on my mailbox.

[FeministShrew]

My sister & her husband leave tracts on the table, but she at least leaves a tip too. I also caught her leaving tracts in a restroom. I came out of the stall right as she was putting one on top of the hand dryer. After she went out I looked & she had left one in the other stall, too. I ripped them up & threw them away. :twisted:

[FeministShrew]

A small IFB church near me sent out a mailer a few weeks ago. It was strange, didn't give service times or really invite anyone, it just said, "We are sending this mailer to all households within a seven mile radius of our church. Seven because that is God's number. Once you have read this postcard you will have no excuse if you die and go to Hell." The other side had the standard fundie presentation of the gospel, & a phone number if you were "convicted" by the mailer & wanted someone to come & show you how to be saved. :?

I can't help but think that the money wasted on those high-quality mailers could have bought groceries for a hungry family.

My sis told me that when most IFB's go "soul-winning" as she calls it, they really don't expect a positive response. They're basically just covering their own asses, because if they tell you about Jeebus, then it's not their fault if you go to hell. Leaving tracts & sending out mailers is just a lazy way to get sinners' blood off their hands. :evil:

[thetabmeister]

A small IFB church near me sent out a mailer a few weeks ago. It was strange, didn't give service times or really invite anyone, it just said, "We are sending this mailer to all households within a seven mile radius of our church. Seven because that is God's number. Once you have read this postcard you will have no excuse if you die and go to Hell." The other side had the standard fundie presentation of the gospel, & a phone number if you were "convicted" by the mailer & wanted someone to come & show you how to be saved. :?

I can't help but think that the money wasted on those high-quality mailers could have bought groceries for a hungry family.

My sis told me that when most IFB's go "soul-winning" as she calls it, they really don't expect a positive response. They're basically just covering their own asses, because if they tell you about Jeebus, then it's not their fault if you go to hell. Leaving tracts & sending out mailers is just a lazy way to get sinners' blood off their hands. :evil:

from my experience with the ifb, this is spot on. right before i left the last ifb church i ever attended, leaving ifb for good, they had a huge campaign of door hangers. their goal was to distribute door hangers on every residence in our town and the adjoining one (well over 50,000 ppl) they dropped tons of money on the shiny things and we were just supposed to put them on ppl's doors, not knock and they even said not to talk to the residents. the last night i was at that church (w/ my brother from out of town) the pastor spent the b etter part of the service campaigning for the door hangers. this church met in a small room with about 25 in attendance, we cxould all see each othre. he asked at the end, "so who's going to take a stack of doorhangers and distribute them this week?" we were also supposed to get printed maps of the areas to cover so we could be sure to get every door in S- and L-towns. everyone raises their hands except me and my brother, who are sitting on the front row/. the pastor gives me a concerned glance and then says, "i am going to ask it again, who's going to dustribute doorhangers this week?" everyone raises their hands except me and my brother. the pastor looks right in my eye and i don't flinch, i can't. at this point (i had finally made the emotional decision to leave ifb-dom, after 22 years, my whole life) no pastor will ever manipulate, control, or hurt me again. he asks really loudfly, "everyone who is going to distribute these doorhangers, stand up for our closing prayer!" everyone stood up except me and my brother. they prayed. we walked out, and never went back. i've only been to an ifb twice since then, it was m y brother's church and he and his wife have since left after a manipulating fiasco of their own. down with the independent fundamental baptists, they are poison!

[RachelB]

A small IFB church near me sent out a mailer a few weeks ago. It was strange, didn't give service times or really invite anyone, it just said, "We are sending this mailer to all households within a seven mile radius of our church. Seven because that is God's number. Once you have read this postcard you will have no excuse if you die and go to Hell." The other side had the standard fundie presentation of the gospel, & a phone number if you were "convicted" by the mailer & wanted someone to come & show you how to be saved. :?

I can't help but think that the money wasted on those high-quality mailers could have bought groceries for a hungry family.

My sis told me that when most IFB's go "soul-winning" as she calls it, they really don't expect a positive response. They're basically just covering their own asses, because if they tell you about Jeebus, then it's not their fault if you go to hell. Leaving tracts & sending out mailers is just a lazy way to get sinners' blood off their hands. :evil:

So, hypothetically speaking, if you are saved after they tell you about Jesus, do they get credit for it? Because I've seen bumper stickers that say "Jesus Saves!," but I haven't seen any that say "J. Random Tract-Pusher Saves!"

Frankly, I find evangelism kind of odd, in that it treats a biblical directive as an ironclad law, without thinking at all about the goal underlying that directive. Those of us in the U.S. live in a culturally Christian nation. Yes, we've heard of Jesus. It's hard not to. I happen to think the relationship between God and myself is the business of God and myself, not the business of people at the bus stop (the preferred soul-winning location where I live).

[purpleeee]

"Once you have read this postcard you will have no excuse if you die and go to Hell."

So if you don't read it you have a good excuse? How handy. :shifty:

[EmmieJ]

That is why, my husband and I contemplate retiring in that area, especially if Kansas keeps spiraling out of control.

This is my area - northern California. There are fundies. I occasionally see a clearly fundie group at my locally owned market. But they are vastly outnumbered by all the other sorts of people who live in this area.

[MrsYoungie]

It must be, all they probably want to do is stay at home, ride their bikes around the garden, play with their toys and just be a kid without having to stand around being looked at and admired by strangers and used as props in their narcissistic parents lives.

It also helps reinforce to them that they are just one of the 19 Duggar kids, not 19 seperate people with their own personalities, hobbies, strengths and weaknesses.

Bolded: This is it. They are like the Borg collective. Sorry Josie - you will be assimilated!!!

[EmmieJ]

I hate when people leave those stupid tracts in public places. The worst of the fundies will leave a tract instead of a tract in place of a tip in a restaurant. What makes the fundies think that a server is going to read a tract and think, "Wow, those cheap ass customers in the bad clothes stiffed me on my tip that helps pay my bills and feeds my family really show the love of god--I think I'll become one of them."?

Here's how I feel about it. When I die, one of at least three things could happen:

1. There is nothing. No after life, no heaven, no hell. Just "dust to dust." I'm dead, don't know the difference and at least no longer have to deal with the occasional fundie and their literature.

2. There is a heaven and the fundie's god lives there. I don't make the grade, so I go elsewhere. Still, I'm away from the fundies, so it's okay with me.

3. There is an afterlife, and the diety running things is not at all amused by the way her loving message has been twisted and used for selfish purposes. Fundies are sent elsewhere. Hopefully I get in - if for no other reason than I treated my son like the blessing he was, never hit him, beat him, trained him with a ruler, made him raise his siblings, and otherwise mistreated him. Oh, and for not selling his privacy to a tv network, and playing at holier than thou. (fingers crossed!) I get to spend the afterlife free of fundies and others who spent their life twisting the meaning of Christianity.

I'm clearly rooting for #3.

1.

[auntsally28]

I don't think I have read anything about a Christian God that says hating and condemning people is ok. I thought it was all about love....but maybez I am not reading the right Bible or something....

[Swamptribe]

The problem is, the Duggars treat their children like preforming monkeys. They parade them in front of crowds of strangers as entertainment. The children are being raised as zoo animals. That is not any way for a child to grow up. They are human beings, not side show attractions. The worst part is that now a second generation of Duggars is being raised this way. The children have no choice in this, they are being used by their parents who should be ashamed of themselves. Honest to god, it's like a true life "Trueman Show".

[TXDuck]

Y'all will never guess where I saw a whole fundy family. Granted, they were a younger fundy family, so just 2 kids...under 2. But anyway, it was Sea World this last weekend. And not just the main part of Sea World, the water park Aquatica. I got to see the Michelle Duggar swimsuits. When standing next to a Muslim woman, the full ridiculousness of that "swimsuit" was revealed. The Muslim could, ya know, actually move about unencumbered. But there was the fundy woman trying to navigate a tube ride in what was essentially a calf length dress. Worth the price of admission right there.

In the interest of full disclosure, we are a tankini/swimshirt sort of family. But that's mainly so I don't have to spend all day slathering the kids in sunscreen.

[Ralar]

This dog's butt looks llike Jeesus (typo, but I decided to leave it).

Another Jeebus dog butt:

[Lillybee]

Lol, does his poop have sacred qualities.