Brooks,
I am done trying to reach you. I gave you a healthy misrepresentation of
your own words and it made you as indignant as any Christian who visits
your site. You hate to see an argument made around what another person
thinks about what you believe. You kept asking me to please stop
misrepresenting what you believe. It was much more powerful for me to
simply cast your comments in my mold and then fire away at them, than to
let you have your say.
What you just experienced is a total disregard for empathy. I did not try
to verify what you really believe, I just made negative assumptions and
built arguments around them. This is what you do continuously. You keep
twisting what I believe to restate what you think I believe and then you
attack it.
I really think that your site reflects a hatred toward Christianity (and
those who defend it). You seem to be angry because Christians hate you and
think that you are evil. You are convinced that they think that you deserve
to go to Hell and suffer eternal torture there. You seem to have
internalized the idea so strongly that nothing I say has any impact on you
regarding this issue. I have tried to tell you that I do not hold a view of
you as being evil. I have tried to tell you that I personally do not want
you to go to Hell and I do not believe that there is an issue about you
deserving Hell. It is a place that Christians believe God has created.
Those who reject God will end up there. Does this mean that I think you
deserve Hell? That judgment is reserved for God. I have said that I do not
hate you. I have said that even if I had an opinion on whether or not you
deserved Hell, it is irrelevant. God is your judge, not me. Yet you persist
in saying over and over, " You think that I deserve to be eternally
tortured in Hell for my opinions." This disregard for what I believe and
have repeatedly stated to you makes it hard to have an honest discussion.
You keep disregarding what I believe and inserting your conclusion of what
all Christians believe.
You asked me if my suggestions that you listen to Christians and exhibit
empathy would really make your site more effective at turning Christians
away from Christianity, as if you would have to be crazy to believe that I
would be giving you such information. The fact is that it is exactly what I
am doing. I believe in open discussion. I believe that those who seek the
truth will find it. I have been attracted over the years to those who have
shown friendship and love toward me. Those who invested in me became aware
of what I believed. When they had truth to share with me, I was willing to
hear them out. They had shown only love and friendship toward me and I was
willing to listen. I did not always agree with them, but they respected my
right to choose. I respected their right to present their view.
Just as a Christian cannot bring someone to salvation by hollering at them
from a street corner about how they are separated from God, grabbing them
off the street, dunking them under some water and muttering, "I baptize you
in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit," you cannot save someone
from Christianity by waving a website in their face that shows people
laughing from within Hell or dollar signs in the word Christianity. Both of
these ideas are equally ridiculous.
I think that you know this. Behind the veneer you present, I really think
that you are very angry at Christianity and the Christians who cling to
their belief. The approach I have suggested would require you to let go of
that anger and you just don't seem to want to do it. You may not think that
you are angry, but I would like you to consider the idea based on my
lengthy interaction with you. This is what comes across to me anyway. The
idea that there are hate-mongering Christians out there seems to be just
too compelling. You seem like someone who must meet force with force and
put them in their place. If atheism is as great as you say it is, then be
happy about it. Invest in others so they can receive the gift of truth that
you have received. Show them the joy you have found. You have found joy
haven't you?
I leave you with the thought that I have enjoyed some of our interaction. I
like people who think about their existence. I truly believe that the
unexamined life is not worth living. I wish you well. Yes, I hope that you
will become empathetic someday. I can't help but think how much more rich
you interaction with others would be. Don't get me wrong, I love your
passion for your cause too. I just wish that you could find a way to marry
the two. To some extent, I will always regret that last email, because it
was intended to make you angry and it seemed to do so. I am sorry for that.
Best regards and farewell,
Matt
----------------------- Headers --------------------------------
Return-Path: <XXXXXX>
Received: from rly-yc02.mx.aol.com (rly-yc02.mail.aol.com [172.18.149.34]) by air-yc05.mail.aol.com (v83.35) with ESMTP id MAILINYC54-0207195125; Thu, 07 Feb 2002 19:51:25 -0500
Received: from blank.com([000.000.000]) by rly-yc02.mx.aol.com (v83.35) with ESMTP id MAILRELAYINYC29-0207195050; Thu, 07 Feb 2002 19:50:50 1900
Subject: Parting Words
To: Tekministry@aol.com
From: XXXXXX
Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 18:50:48 -0600
Message-ID: <OFCB6059BE.087AF2A2-ON86256B59.00811F7D@>
X-MIMETrack: Serialize by Router on (Release 5.0.6a |January 17, 2001) at
02/07/2002 06:50:50 PM
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii