(no subject)
random experience of the day:
i try to sit in the sauna after swimming workouts to get the chlorine out of my skin, but couldn't make it this morning, so after my workout this afternoon i go into the sauna. it already has one user, but no big deal, i brought a magazine. i should probably insert here that i hate conversation with strangers in saunas - if i go in with a friend it is fine, but i don't really enjoy meeting people when i am sweaty and naked...maybe it's just a personal thing, but that's how i am. anyway, i don't even get to open my magazine before the man across the way starts to talk to me - harmless topics, why i'm in the air force, what i want to fly, who i'm working for while i'm waiting for pilot training, etc. and then, all of a sudden, latching onto my answer of being raised as a roman catholic (i can't exactly remember how he steered me there), i am sitting in the sauna of christ with this naked, middle-aged man as my preacher.
i don't agree with new age, evangelical christianity for one simple reason: all of the hardcore christians in that sector believe that, because of a very certain passage in the bible ("all those who want to enter the kingdom of god must go through me, the son of god" - i know that's wrong, i apologize for not being able to quote the bible verbatum), which basically means you have to give yourself to jesus in order to be saved, and being saved is the only way you will go to heaven. if you don't go to heaven, it is an eternity of torture and pain in hell, but not the homoerotic hell of south park. because of this verse, most of these believers are forced to admit (when pressed) that they rationally (in their paradigm) think 2/3 of the world is going to hell for the simple reason that they aren't christian. this is regardless of whether they know christianity exists or not. (for the record, catholicism does not believe this, but there are millions of other things that easily criticized in the catholic church besides that...).
despite making this belief rather clear at the beginning of our christian conversation, the man doesn't stop (i shouldn't have presented myself as a challenge or an independent thinker, i guess). what's more, he gets so into his argument that he begins to shift his position repeatedly on the wooden bench, holding his knee with his arms and exposing himself and all his sweaty glory to me in multiple ways, which is especially infuriating when you can't just stare at the wall when engaging yourself in a debate. we talk more, he asks those lovely little questions that you are supposed to mess up so they can chastise you for being a bad christian/person and misunderstanding what the bible has to say. usually i am up for these debates because of my general objection to this form of christianity and being lectured by people who do not know me, but i'm hot, sweaty, and naked with a man who is the same condition. so, i shut up, let him blab, and eventually walk out when i have been in long enough. maybe its just me and the innate sense of reverence that has been instilled in my by the catholic tradition, but this whole scenario seems wrong wrong wrong, and i pretty much wanted to scream "shut up" at the man the entire time and shove him face down into the hot coals, but i hating proving people's points for them, so i resist my violent tendencies. i'm happy that you live for christ - we all should have something to live for, and i'm even happy that you want to discuss him, hell, i'll throw a few points out myself, but in this situation and time, is it really necessary or even wise to try and recruit christians, naked, and in a sauna?
i think this could easily serve as a metaphor for my entire week.
i try to sit in the sauna after swimming workouts to get the chlorine out of my skin, but couldn't make it this morning, so after my workout this afternoon i go into the sauna. it already has one user, but no big deal, i brought a magazine. i should probably insert here that i hate conversation with strangers in saunas - if i go in with a friend it is fine, but i don't really enjoy meeting people when i am sweaty and naked...maybe it's just a personal thing, but that's how i am. anyway, i don't even get to open my magazine before the man across the way starts to talk to me - harmless topics, why i'm in the air force, what i want to fly, who i'm working for while i'm waiting for pilot training, etc. and then, all of a sudden, latching onto my answer of being raised as a roman catholic (i can't exactly remember how he steered me there), i am sitting in the sauna of christ with this naked, middle-aged man as my preacher.
i don't agree with new age, evangelical christianity for one simple reason: all of the hardcore christians in that sector believe that, because of a very certain passage in the bible ("all those who want to enter the kingdom of god must go through me, the son of god" - i know that's wrong, i apologize for not being able to quote the bible verbatum), which basically means you have to give yourself to jesus in order to be saved, and being saved is the only way you will go to heaven. if you don't go to heaven, it is an eternity of torture and pain in hell, but not the homoerotic hell of south park. because of this verse, most of these believers are forced to admit (when pressed) that they rationally (in their paradigm) think 2/3 of the world is going to hell for the simple reason that they aren't christian. this is regardless of whether they know christianity exists or not. (for the record, catholicism does not believe this, but there are millions of other things that easily criticized in the catholic church besides that...).
despite making this belief rather clear at the beginning of our christian conversation, the man doesn't stop (i shouldn't have presented myself as a challenge or an independent thinker, i guess). what's more, he gets so into his argument that he begins to shift his position repeatedly on the wooden bench, holding his knee with his arms and exposing himself and all his sweaty glory to me in multiple ways, which is especially infuriating when you can't just stare at the wall when engaging yourself in a debate. we talk more, he asks those lovely little questions that you are supposed to mess up so they can chastise you for being a bad christian/person and misunderstanding what the bible has to say. usually i am up for these debates because of my general objection to this form of christianity and being lectured by people who do not know me, but i'm hot, sweaty, and naked with a man who is the same condition. so, i shut up, let him blab, and eventually walk out when i have been in long enough. maybe its just me and the innate sense of reverence that has been instilled in my by the catholic tradition, but this whole scenario seems wrong wrong wrong, and i pretty much wanted to scream "shut up" at the man the entire time and shove him face down into the hot coals, but i hating proving people's points for them, so i resist my violent tendencies. i'm happy that you live for christ - we all should have something to live for, and i'm even happy that you want to discuss him, hell, i'll throw a few points out myself, but in this situation and time, is it really necessary or even wise to try and recruit christians, naked, and in a sauna?
i think this could easily serve as a metaphor for my entire week.