help with rural town usa

greetings fellow Jedi's,

I been having issues with my internet lately. Have trouble navagating on my phone also. Hopefully my resumes will be answered soon and I'll be working but I am having problems.

As of late I've been defending my faith in jediism with my friend and the church here. They are seriously trying to make me see there way is the truth. It's not working in that I am still a firm believer of the Force. I tell them when I open up the bible it speaks stories of old, just retelling in there ears.

I've tried surmounting why I believe this and even done a short history of it for them. I study alot, so I thought I had my notes in order and what I thought was going to be a intellectual conversation. Instead turned into a faith fight with me losing considerably.

I need ammunition cause they want me to come in every sunday before there service so they can continue to tell me the bible is the truth and my beliefs is a false religion.

I've even tried explaining to the pastor there needs to be religious tolerance/diversity. He pretty much said there will be when all see the light and christianity is the true path. I about fell out of my seat hearing that.

The bad part of it, I moved to a small rural town in KY which is roughly 15mins from lexington so you can imagine what I have against me. The thought has crossed my mind to move there but till I find work its not happening for awhile.

Any help on this I would appreciate while I still try and finish my journal while my net works.

MTFBWY-A!!!
Brian

I've even tried explaining to the pastor there needs to be religious tolerance/diversity. He pretty much said there will be when all see the light and christianity is the true path. I about fell out of my seat hearing that.

Why? This would be the first question I would ask you...

There doesn't need to be... Its their house....

You prolly ought not to come by my house and tell me how to live in it... Cause you might lose...

Seriously, BD, why are you going there? If they are not open to your beliefs, then why go?

As a conversation has give and take... It makes it tough to "give you ammunition"...

What are some things they say?

Not that I have an answer for you but I would like to know if you consider yourself PureLand or Christian Jedi?

As far as arguing religion in the Bible Belt, there is no way that you will be successful in scratching the surface of the puritanical religious beliefs of your Pastor and friends. Closed minds are stronger than welded steel.

Oh by the way, your braver than I to try. :laugh:

Jestor is correct...My House My Rules!

So build your own house!

I'd be delighted to help you with a debate and give you some questions. The problem is that these folks are True Believers. It's not impossible to sway one of these but it's difficult since they usually won't listen or think about what you're saying.

Like Master Jestor says, why do you go there?

It sounds like the standard ignorance issue I've seen in people like that all my life... I echo what others have said - why are you going there if they refuse to tolerate your beliefs?

Seems to me that if they aren't willing to respect you, there's no reason for you to stay. My House My Rules is one thing, but a house built without respect is a frail house indeed.

I am a conservative and a Christian, living in Alabama. I also am pro-choice, a firm believer in universal salvation, and an opponent of young-earth creationism. You can see the trouble this has gotten me into.

The previous guys are right. Don't bother trying to change their beliefs. If you are a Christian, find a church with beliefs similar to your own. I myself was raised Southern Baptist. I realized that no matter how polite and persuasive I was, how much I knew, or how good my logic was, they weren't going to budge. So I became Methodist.

Living in a rural KY town myself (though at the other end of the state), I can understand your frustration. My question, though, is why you're putting yourself through it.

As a Christian myself, I can say with certainty that the religion doesn't leave a lot of room for tolerance in belief--that faith teaches that all should be treated well, but that any doctrines outside their own are incorrect. That's not to say Christians can't get along well with members of other faiths, it just means that within their own hearts, if they're true to their path, they have a responsibility to hold to that path. Many other faiths work the same way. If you're not interested in those faiths, then why are you bothering to put anyone through the discussions and the frustration both parties are going to feel?

If you don't believe in their faith, don't bother with their books or doctrines or clergy except in a social capacity. If you do believe in their faith, and are trying to merge it with others, come talk to me. I have experience in that field.

With something like 800,000 words in the Bible it would be really difficult for someone to be able to pitch against it on the fly - cudos for trying!!

Perhaps developing a working paper on a possible analysis of Christianity in terms of reference about the Force might be interesting.... give something for the SIGs to work on in their spare time!! Not an attempt to explain what it means completely, but how it might be explained from a Force perspective and which bits might be how the Force is being percieved or influencing the biblical characters. I'd probably approach by initially ignoring the OT, pick up the NT and find everything Jesus ever said and pen a Jedi intepretation for it. That could be a good starting point. The bigger themes from both OT and NT could then be considered. Everyone might have their own ideas though so I'm not sure an end product could ever reach the end!?

Why don't you just tell them to have fun in their fantasy world and let you have fun in yours?

It is understandable that you talk about your beliefs with your friends... But as everyone here said, why bother taking this into their Temple when you have yours (like, just here )? As long as they find personal development and happiness in their religion without harming anyone, let them be. As long as they don't pressure you to "convert" you into Christianity there's no need for you to prove them anything. After all, some people here are Christian and Jedi and fine with that. Don't let yourself enter the "what religion is the best" debate with intolerant people. I don't think anything good is going to come out of such discussions.