Category: Rants

One of the people that I’ve met at this family event, is a fundamentalist born again Christian.

I can tolerate that.

Like most of the Fundamentalist Christians I’ve met, this woman is duplicitous and in my all time top 3 category of Two-Faced liars.

You know, I can take that easily.

I see this person coming a mile off and my Southern upbringing kicks in. I go into formal mode where nothing that is said matters and I politely converse with the person knowing that I’m never going to see them again and not wanting to waste the powder to blow them to hell.

What’s caught my attention about this lady is that she’s a nut! Sadly, she reminds me of parts of my more immediate family and I remember the pain those people caused me as a child.

I had an uncle who used to tell my cousins that I and my mother were going to hell, because my mother and father divorced each other. As a small kid, that’s heavy duty and scary.

My grandmother was a master manipulator and loved pulling peoples strings. Between the two of them, there were times when visits seemed to drag on forever. I actually looked forward to getting back to my little room and reading a book.

Reading a book wasn’t an option while on a visit because we were there to see either the Uncle, Aunt, and cousins, or we were to see Grandma and make sure she felt like she was the center of the world.

I learned acting at a very young age. I suppose that is true of us all.

As I have been dealing with the local crazy… I’ve heard that she apparently sees demonic horns on many individuals. She’s convinced that several of the people at this reunion are possessed. She has even said to the kids, that one or more of them are possessed and she can see the demons horns on their forehead.

These are her grandchildren she’s speaking to, and about. Ok, even my Grandmother while crazy… wasn’t that crazy.

So there’s a part of me that wants to let this crazy woman truly look into the eyes of a demon. I suspect strongly she’d freak the hell out if I really let loose.

I don’t want to cause this kind of discord just for the fun of it. It would be FUN! however in this case, I feel like I should be able to say or do something in defense of the kids. You can see in their body language and read in their faces the effect she’s having on them.

I equate what she’s doing to child abuse.

No children have a defense against crazy. Kids look to and expect Adults in general and family members in particular to be truthful. Kids have zero defense against bullshit that is presented to them as factual.

As adults, it is our responsibility to make sure that children get the benefit of the lessons that mythology can teach us about ourselves, our culture, and the rules that are acceptable with our society.

We shouldn’t subject kids to the darker side of our nature or mythology until they’re ready to understand and cope with those darker impulses.

A Native American story that has always stuck with me is a story about the price you can pay for greed. I’ve always liked this story because no-one dies, or gets turned into a monster, or turns their loved ones into gold. It’s a story that conveys the lesson without shock and awe.

An Eagle noticed several of the people in a river casting a large net. As the people brought the net out of the water a large salmon flipped and glittered in the sunlight.

Eagle decided that he was more deserving of the salmon and besides the net was full of many other creatures. Eagle swooped down and grabbed the salmon through the net, however when he tried to fly away he couldn’t lift the salmon because it was still in the net.

Try as he might, Eagle wasn’t strong enough to lift the whole net and he couldn’t free the salmon either.

Eagle could have flown away if he simply released the salmon, but he would not.

So Eagle was captured and spent his days tied to a perch in the chiefs longhouse, he was never abused and was well fed from the chiefs table, however, he never hunted and never soared in the sky again. 

For me this is one of those teaching stories that is completely appropriate to share with children of all ages. Many Native American stories are like this, short to the point and with easily digested concepts.

Native Americans also have more sophisticated stories the deal with the darkness that sometimes finds purchase in the human heart.

Typically these stories are told around the warriors fire, or in the Elders longhouses and only to select audiences. Often directly to the person or persons that needed to learn the lesson the story teaches.

Greece, Egypt, China, the indigenous people of Australia all tell similar stories that teach essentially the same lessons.

These stories aren’t necessarily about some angry god that is going to spank you from on high. These stories are about real, immediate problems and seek to stop a problem before it happens.

I have a lot of respect for cultural teaching tales. Among my favorites are those from the Native American cultures, and I appreciate the effort the Native Elders have put into making sure that these stories get into print.

Many interpretations of the Judeo-Christian religion(s) seem more about an angry God. God the punisher, the father who can never be pleased, for whom good isn’t “good enough”.

Sadly, many adherents to this version of an all powerful creator are more than willing to ascribe any behavior that is perceived as sinful or deviant to unseen evil demonic forces who control the sinner.

This allows these kind of believers to excuse any and all offenses and even gives them a convenient scapegoat. The Devil Made Me DO it!

If these people don’t wish to live here and now, accepting responsibility for their actions that’s fine with me…

If they want to suffer through this life only putting up with the tedium of living so that they can have a paradise when they die, missing all the beauty along the way, well so be it, and more power to them.

BUT… when these people start imposing this sick twisted philosophy on everyone else around them, and telling children that demons are inside them…  I have to stand up.

In an all too violent and cynical world let’s not give up responsibility for our actions to some higher being(s).

The Devil did not make you do it… You CHOSE to do something that you knew was wrong.

There are not demonic possessions all around us… there are people that choose darkness instead of light.

Other religions are not by definition wrong because they deviate from your very narrow perspective. People from those other religions are not automatically damned to hell.

Which lead me to this. If appropriate I’ll use my intellect and biblical knowledge to destroy this persons faith. In hopes that when they recover, a belief system and faith grows out of the destruction that is beautiful, kinder, and gentler.

The last time I did something like this I directly caused the destruction of two peoples faith, and their subsequent divorce. I put a couple into a logical box whose only exit was Faith  they couldn’t find enough faith to find the exit and so they were consumed by their doubts.

I promised <insert deity name> that I wouldn’t use my gifts like that again. I’m however convinced that for the sake of the children and the family this is a ok exception to the promise.

And Now… Off to Dinner possibly to destroy someones faith….