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Joined 8 months ago
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Cake day: March 16th, 2024

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  • a very literal interpretation

    This is literally what Christian fundamentalists believe. If any aspect of the bible is not the literal truth, it all falls apart in their eyes. They are very absolutist.

    And it’s not just Genesis.

    “But translations…” Hahaha no. It varies by sect but it usually falls under either “our religious founder was guided by God to the true translation” or “The King James version was a work of revelation and it undid all the false translations introduced by the Romans and Greeks.”

    “But it contradicts itself on key points.” No it doesn’t.

    “Hey, maybe Lazarus was just in a coma” Get behind me, Satan.

    There is no argument that hasn’t been heard and rejected. Disagreement is an attack.


  • I will reply not with my own view, but of the person who is most likely the author if this tract: Jack Chick. “Catholics are not Christians.”

    Absurd, you say? Of course, and I agree that it’s absurd.

    In the US there are two broad categories of people who would disagree.

    1. Old school bigots, many of whom came from immigrant families and wanted to align with the ruling class in America: WASPs. These were generally families who came from northwestern Europe and Scandinavia. (This describes the oldest members of my own family, who are still scandalized that my uncle married a woman from an Italian family in the 1960s).
    2. Fundamentalist Protestants. There are a thousand different flavors, so it’s hard to give them a single name. They agree that the bible is the literal word of God and that Catholicism is fundamentally flawed - as is any religion that stresses the need to “do unto others” in any significant fashion. “The only way to heaven is through me,” said Jesus. In other words, if you’re a serial killer but you truly believe in Jesus Christ and have pledged your soul to him - well, Jesus must have a good reason for all that serial killing you did. (This describes my in-laws, so yes - my entire family is fucked up).

    The serial killing thing is a bit of an exaggeration, but honestly - these people are almost shockingly mean to each other.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_tract


  • This was extremely well said. My in-laws adhere to one of these high control (fundie) sects, so I have an enlightening and disquieting inside look at it.

    One of my nephews dreamed of becoming a marine biologist from an early age. And even as he got older he never wavered. We privately wondered what was going to happen when he got old enough to realize that he would need to attend a school that taught actual math and science for that to become a reality.

    He’s currently studying to become a nurse at a Christian College. He’s safe from forbidden ideas, but he’ll blend well into the alternate parallel economy favored by the people at his church. In addition to social isolation from non-believers, they prefer to do business with companies run by people from their own or an affiliated church.

    The parallel economy still unnerves me for some reason. Learning about Christian Health Insurance was an eye-opener.





  • In recent years we’ve been seeing a scary trend of tornadoes hitting the area overnight. Like at 11:00pm or later. That suuuuccks.

    When I was a kid they were almost always a late afternoon or early evening event. Official forecasts were crap, but at least you could look outside and think, “this looks like tornado weather, better check the radio.” Now we’re woken out of sleep in the middle of the night by the simultaneous klaxon of our phone alerts.

    They’re also hitting us earlier in the year. My calendar has a repeating reminder for early April: “peak tornado season starts in a few months - start drilling the cats now.” We had one in fucking February this year that took out a barn a few miles down the road.