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As many will know I used to be a minister, and am still a dedicated Christian.
*** START OF RANT ***
Why do Christians place chrome fish on the back of their cars, then proceed to be obnoxious drivers?
Today I was driving for Uber / Lyft, and was cut off by a ****** (make of car censored) driven by two teenage ****** (gender of teens censored). Basically, I wanted to change lanes, and signalled my intention, only to have the (censored make and model) speed up and pass me, then show me the fish on the back. What kind of a witness is this? "You need what I have! Look how obnoxious I am! Doesn't it make you want Jesus?"
I love my Savior and I try not to be that kind of example. Granted, we make mistakes, and sometimes we are in a hurry. It's the blatant cutting people off that gets to me. Stomping on the gas when someone signals, then cutting them off is not "in humility treating others better than yourself."
Comments
I have felt the same way when
I have felt the same way when I was in youth group way back then.
The same kids who bad-mouthed everyone—including me—would be singing in the youth choir and later sit next to me talking about all the great things they’re doing and the love they share for others and I’m there wondering what kind of two-faced junk is this?
That hurt my faith in the heart....
I spent first grade to fifth
I spent first grade to fifth grade in Alaska, then moved to Newport Washington for sixth grade. Well, Priest River Idaho was the school system. I was quite the musician by that time, playing probably 6 or 7 different instruments, and Priest River was, and still is, a logging town.
Needless to say, I was not a jock. Lol! Even the church I attended was basically a clique all of it's own, and part of that hyper-masculine logging mentality prevalent in the town.
Even when I became an adult and had a real job, the mentality there was, hey, let's go close down Kings! (The local bar).
I had no desire to go to a bar with these... I'll be nice and say people. If they knew who I was inside I would have been treated much worse than I was as a musician.
The church there went through many pastors in my time there, and unfortunately, when they wanted a new pastor, allegations would be made about whatever.
I say all this to say, I understand what you are talking about. I was badly hurt as well. I even had a pastor that I was talking about being trans with in confidence, talk to someone in the church about it.
One of the things I have said while in a ministerial position, is we're all human. It's very hard to take that approach when people do something horrible to you, because of the hurt.
That hurt is so bad, and I know exactly what you mean about hurting your faith in your heart. When my pastor and friend talked about me to others in the church, I quickly found that my chances of ever getting a paid position in that denomination we're gone. My credibility was gone. Accusations, on the other hand, were flourishing.
For a long time, getting me to go to church was very hard. I still have a hard time trusting anyone, but I've come to the point that if someone knows I'm trans, I could care less, but not by much. ;-)
We are to be imitators of Christ, yet Christ treated those looked down on by the Pharisees as good people. And then He called out those who looked down on others for their hypocrisy. To find out the difference between the way the Pharisees practiced their religion, and how we should, read the sermon on the mount. It talks about the difference between merely abstaining from treating others wrong and feeling like it.
I don't understand how so many people have missed that, or choose to ignore it.
Don't let people like that change your view of Christianity. Those of us who have taken to heart what Jesus said, and try to do what He said to do still make mistakes. But when we do, we stop, pray about it, and apologize for what we did to hurt someone else.
I can't say that we don't mess up, because we are all human. But we try as hard as we can to not.
Love ya and God Bless!
P.S. Glad to see you're posting "Who I Am" again. I love that book!
Hugs!
Rosemary
Another day another hypocrite
I’ve given up on ranting about the hypocrisy of a lot of ‘religious’ folk of any faith.
To summarize, they all expect their sins to be forgiven after they’ve had their joyride in life by merely asking for it.
Well, I have a problem with that as I think as the offended party, their penitence should be shown to me and forgiveness should come from me too.
Just Hugs...
Hugs... Just Hugs...
Love tmf
Perhaps it's aporcyphal
Perhaps it's an apocryphal quote from Gandhi. "I like your Christ." He says. "If only your Christians were more like him."
Your friend
Crash
Don't Let Evil cause you to stumble
Rose, there is no use to be a minister.A church isn't needed to witness. You're looking at those who wrap themselves up in God's Word. The worse evil does that proclaiming to be Christian. Get your faith close, hon. Christianity is a two edged sword and evil has learned better than anyone how to use it.
To those who ask I'm a Christian because they wouldn't understand the truth as it wouldn't resonate. I am a disciple of Christ. I am not a true Christian but a child of faith. God nor Jesus taught Christianity. They taught, teach faith. Never once did they say, your Christianity will save you. Many times they did say your faith will guide you or your faith will save you.
This is going to not set well with a few on this channel but. Are you sharing your life and talking it over with God's Messenger, the Holy Spirit? Do you wish to call me or PM me and discuss theology? Truthfully I don't have any answers but I can point you to where I receive mine.
Your sister in faith. Hugs Rose
Barb
Life is a gift. Treasure it until it's time to return it.
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
Lol. Yes. I understand. I
Lol. Yes. I understand. I have a bachelor of theology, and I majored in church music. Notice I don't say I am a pastor. I have been a music pastor, but I hate preachi6ng.
I disagree that it is no use to be a minister because the word minister actually means to serve others. I fail to see that as useless.
No, your Christianity won't save you. Your belief in Jesus is all that it takes. Believe that he died to forgive your sins, and that work has been done. Eternal life is a free gift that we can either accept or reject.
We don't need forgiveness of sins to get to heaven. I feel so terrible when people say that we do. Okay. Yes we do, but it was done 2000 years ago.
It was stated in the Bible, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Is that a useless thing to teach people?
I don't push my faith on anyone, but I do tell them if they're interested.
In the Bible we are also commanded to "Go ye therefore and teach all nations." I want to do that, because I don't want to see others fall victim to the misunderstandings I had when I was a child. My grandmother had belonged to a very messed up, what I could term a cult, when she was a little girl, and though she didn't belong there anymore, some of the teaching still affected her and my mother.
If my ministering to people can help them avoid some of those things, then I want to. I have also been a minister to seniors in nursing homes, and developmentally disabled people.
Even though my aid to DD people is through the government, and being a CNA is as well, it is a ministry to me. I don't preach, but I witness when I can and I show people the love that a Christian should show.
Look at the number of stories on this site alone that show preachers saying how horrible someone like you and I are. Is that true Christianity? So many people have made the statement, my sister who has a similar degree as mine included, that if that's the way Christianity is, they want nothing to do with it.
We are supposed to be imitators of Christ, and even if I was a horrible sinner because I'm a transwoman, thinking Jesus would act that way to me is ridiculous. I have looked through scripture with a fine-tooth comb, and I cannot see where it says that a man with the brain of a woman is a sinner. Or vice versa.
For precisely the same reason, I don't think homosexuality, bisexuality, or any gender fluidity is a sin.
My "ministry" to people in the LGBTQ community, is to show them that Christians can, and should be, loving to them. I want the feeling that Christianity is always like those people portray to stop, because it's not.
I went through the same courses that most ministers have gone through, and at one time, I was a licensed minister. I let my credentials lapse when I moved back into the states from Canada. While I attend a Baptist church, I consider myself a Biblicist. If it's in the Bible, that forms my "doctrine". Not dogma passed down from man to man. I know some people feel that that is what scripture is, but I don't. Lol.
Anyway, off my soapbox now.
I think that we are saying the same things, but in different words. I don't feel the need to be a minister of any particular doctrine, and perhaps that is what you meant when you said what you did?
Anyway. I've added to my rant now. Lol! Love ya, and thanks for your comment! :-)
Hugs!
Rosemary
Perhaps you are overthinking?
Maybe the driver didn't own the car.
Maybe it was Daddy (or Mommy) who is the Christian. Son borrows car, doesn't care diddly-squat about anyone else on the road.
Sometimes the simple answers are the right ones. Doesn't happen very often, I grant you, but occasionally that happens.
Penny
I agree
Odds are that it was mom and dad's car and the teenagers have yet to embrace their parents faith.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
I'm Going to Throw a Grenade
I've dealt with thousands of business-people. Every year $20 - $30 million of premiums pass through my hands. The average auto or home policy is just over a $1,000 so that would give you an idea how many transactions a year I have to work with. At my peak, I did business with about a thousand sub-agencies during a single year. That's in my main business. In other businesses I dealt with hundreds of other agencies.
Nearly every time people have a fish on their license plate or the website, they've turned out to be horribly dishonest. They lie. They cheat. They steal.
Now -- all people lie, cheat, and steal to a certain degree. But many of these fish-license-plate-people do it to such a degree that I've had to terminate our relationships.
I don't have hard numbers -- but I'd say I've worked with over five thousand agencies during my career. Of these about a hundred had a fish on their license plate. The "failure" rate for those relationships due to dishonesty was about a third. The failure rate for all agencies was about twenty percent. That twenty percent would have been a LOT higher -- but I was selective in who I created relationships with. I had a network of friends who kept me informed about bad apples.
I make NO effort to determine if a prospective new relationship has a fish on their car. It isn't that solid of a determinant. Some of the best relationships I've had have been with fish people.
The fish is a lousy emblem for Christianity. It's not as bad as the cross, which is a poorly disguised sword. Christians should have stuck with the lamb.
For that church person to have violated your trust is about as a serious breach of ethics as can be found. I'm normally much more in favor of "frocking" than I am "de-frocking" -- but in this case I say "frocking-A" throw the bum out!
You can interpret the Bible as you wish -- but I believe that believing in Jesus as our savior means that we accept and adopt his teachings of compassion. If I'm wrong - at least I've enjoyed a life where I tried not to hurt people.
How many times did Jesus bend over backward to SHOW us tolerance and love for our fellow beings? He only had 33 years so would have He wasted any time giving fellowship to there's and whores, if he wasn't trying to send a message?
Since covid turned everything upside down driving behaviors have changed as well. People are driving a lot less -- but when they do they are driving much more aggressively. Our state has had more traffic fatalities during the same period under covid than before covid.
Say a prayer -- for the young fools.
In case you're wondering -- the "failure" rate for all reasons was about sixty percent. That includes incompetency, stupidity, and laziness. We had a fiduciary responsibility to he companies we represented to continually cull our herd. The top half of the remaining forty percent represented the vast majority of our business and all our profit. The bottom half of that forty percent represented good potential.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Actually, the fish was
Actually, the fish was originally used for a very good reason. In the time of Acts, when people would meet up, you didn't dare say you were a Christian outright. Paul was in prison to see the Emperor about it, remember, and John the Baptist had been beheaded. A person would trace the sign of a fish on the ground with his foot, then scibble it out. If the other did the same, they knew they were both Christians. Kinda a secret handshake, or such. The letters in Ichthyus, are an anagram as well, although I can't remember the exact thing. I know the first iota is the first letter of Jesus, the Chi is the first of Christ, and Theta, is for Theos, or God, but I can't remember the last two.
I agree that people are driving much more aggressively. Two weeks ago, I had someone flip a car into the median on my street, and this morning we had someone flip his at the turn that causes all the problems here. Possibly killed himself. I'm not sure yet. In the four years I've lived here, I've seen eight accidents there, three of which have destroyed some of my property, but people are driving much faster now. I've got someone who rides a crotch rocket blasting up and down this road regularly, day or night. I guess he thinks his motorcycle sounds cool or something.
I'm sorry you've dealt with people who say one thing and show another. The Bible says, By their fruits ye shall know them. Kinda my whole point in this post. What are people showing others? I guess I don't want someone who will cheat others, cut others off in traffic, whatever, to be a representative of what or who I am.
I prefer to treat other people with the respect I want, honestly, whether they deserve it or not. I certainly make mistakes, but I try to make amends when I do.
I remember pulling into the Umatilla Oregon port of entry with 105,000 lbs of double flatbeds. While my tridem (three axels) were on the scale, the weighmaster came out and measured the wheelbase (center of the first axel to the center of the 3rd).
He then had me park and come into the scalehouse. Turns out, I couldn't put 43,500 on the wheelbase of this trailer, but only 42,500. Whoops! He was not very nice when I entered, but by the time I left the scalehouse, we were telling jokes to each other.
Another time, on my way out of San Bernadino to Spokane, Washington, I was almost to Bishop California and I heard another driver tell me, via the CB that there was a "bear" heading my way. Just as I saw said bear pass. He also told me there was a DOT (Department of Transportation) officer inspecting trucks north of town.
Now I was young and dumb at the time, and I hadn't even finished last nights log entry, let alone started that morning's, so I found a wide spot and pulled off. Just as I was signing the night before's log, I heard a knock on my driver's door. What could I do? I opened my door, and the officer asked if someone didn't warn me he was there. I told him, "Yeah. That's why I pulled off." He laughed and asked to see my logbook. I handed it to him. He's looking, somewhat flummoxed at it, flipping pages back and forth, then asks me, "Where's today's?" "It's that blank sheet you've got there." I thought he was going to end up rolling on the ground he was laughing so hard! He called the DOT man down, and while we waited I asked him if I could climb down from my cab, and we got to talking about his German Shephard in his car. He dealt with drug crimes normally.
When the DOT guy arrived, the first thing he asked when he got out of his SUV was, "Do you have any coffee in your truck?" I told him, "No, but I picked up a box of donuts in Mojave this morning." This time, I though the DOT officer would be rolling on the ground.
It doesn't hurt me to show friendliness, even when I'm honestly in the wrong. Being an ass to the officers would have gotten me nowhere. Did I end up paying? Yep. $400 was a pretty hefty ticket 23 years ago. But I feel a whole lot better than I could've about it now. If I met up with those officers, we would probably have a laugh together about that time. I'll bet you anything that cop still remembers the time today's log was "That blank sheet you got there."
It doesn't hurt me to be a little more giving, friendly, or whatever, and it makes the person I'm dealing with happier as well.
You're right. I was thinking about exactly what you said a couple of nights ago in my "prayer closet", which is my backyard when traffic isn't so loud in the middle of the night.
Jesus was trying to send a message with the way he treated everyone else. The woman at the well, the prostitute who anointed his feet with oil, Zaccheus. So many, and people don't seem to have understood that. We still end up with people trying to "keep up with the Jonses", or worse yet, the Jonses in the churches who think everyone should try to keep up with them.
Emojis by OpenEmoji
Hugs!
Rosemary
Ranting for the Sake of It
I wrote my own rant today, Rose, so I felt that I should join in yours, simply because I am so discombobulated today.
But I see that it about religion and religious people, so here are my thoughts on that:
Today in particular, I feel that people (present company excluded, of course) are dicks. That is the human condition. People seem to be driven by base emotions - greed, envy, and just plain spite. Religion is meant to temper this behavior but I am sorry to say, it does not work. It does not make bad people good.
In fact "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" does not help. You can be a believing dick and look forward to life everlasting. The pure-hearted Muslim or atheist is doomed to hellfire.
And as for pastors, ministers and the like, I prefer Luther who said that anybody who stands between a person and God is not helping - everybody needs to have their own relationship with God. That relationship is nutured in times of solitude and quiet refelction. Quite how it is realized in a room full of singing believers is lost on me, other than as an expression of "Look at me and how good I am".
Chances are that self-satisfied individual is a dick.
Maryanne
I understand what you're
I understand what you're saying. I believe that many people who claim to be Christians are not. I've seen many people from Angela's point of view too. Unfortunately, the numbers are up there as she says.
I had thought that my ministry was going to be in the music ministry, but it ended up being in a completely different direction. I have been, for over 30 years now, involved with disabled people, either developmentally, or physically.
I was once told by a pastor that I was doing the music for that my prayers were "simplistic". I understand some people in the congregation said that. Hmmmmm....... I seem to remember Jesus talking to the 12 about how the Pharisees prayed, vs the one who just shouted, Lord! In fact, there have been a couple of times where that was all I had time for to stave off instant death. I was just saying to someone the other day, If I'd had to pray, "God in heaven, I beseech thee to hold my motorcycle straight until I can get it under control, and keep it from wiping out with me on it," I probably wouldn't be around today. Or there was the other time I was on a snowy road in my Pete, with a 48,000 lb load on (put me grossing 78,000 lbs). I came around a corner at about 35-40 MPH and found a car almost stopped in front of me. In the oncoming lane was a snowplow. All I had time for was "Jesus!" before I hit the car. It jumped ahead like it had been pushed.
God is with us at all times. Do we have to say some elaborate mantra to talk to the person sitting with us? Not to my knowledge! Paul said to pray without ceasing. So if I haven't stopped, I don't have to start over again.
Sometimes it's these little things that get in the way when people are trying to worship. I do believe corporate worship has it's place. There are times of refueling. Personal problems can get so bad that going out with other, like minded believers is uplifting. When I play piano or trumpet for a worship service, I am blessed, not by my playing, but by being with others, worshipping God.
I feel that people have gotten things backward. The Bible says forsake not the coming together of those who believe, but people seem to think, at times, that that is what it's all about, and they forget that their personal relationship needs to be worked on as well. Do I think the kids in the car that cut me off were terrible? Naw. Like someone else said, it's probably Mommy's or Daddy's car. But I do believe, and what I kinda wanted to spark with this post, is a conversation like this. As I said, I know Angela's figures are very close to correct. As a minister, I have found the same thing. I've seen so many people in the ministry who want to take advantage of the "cloak of sincerely" that pastoral people once wore. Until people like that ruined it for the people who WERE sincere. Just as the truckers used to be the "Knights of the Road", and now you don't want a trucker to stop and help you out. Who knows who he is.
Hugs!
Rosemary