What do I do in certain situations?

[AprilRose]

Some people have told me that god will curse me and that my friend who can't have children is being punished by god.
I try to ignore these people but what they say bothers me.
(They have the right to insult people.)

I want to be able to tell them what they are saying is offensive and disrespectful, but their reaction will be 10xtimes worst than their original statement.

I want to be able to defend myself but...I won't.

This shouldn't matter as much as it does to me. I have learned god doesn't do everything and I want people to understand. ( I can't even really say.. that I don't believe in god around some people...I'm afraid.)

Has anyone felt this way? How do you gain confidence to be able to state your opinion?

And,

When is it an appropriate to defend yourself in this situation?

[JillSwift]

Déjà vu?

[AprilRose]

I don't know what happened.
I tried to post another topic and respond to some other threads. I don't know why this was re-posted.

Do you have any idea of what may of happened?

[JillSwift]

I don't know what happened.
I tried to post another topic and respond to some other threads. I don't know why this was re-posted.

Do you have any idea of what may of happened?

It's déjà vu, they made a change in the Matrix.  

[NearBr0ken]

Some people have told me that god will curse me and that my friend who can't have children is being punished by god.
I try to ignore these people but what they say bothers me.
(They have the right to insult people.)

I want to be able to tell them what they are saying is offensive and disrespectful, but their reaction will be 10xtimes worst than their original statement.

I want to be able to defend myself but...I won't.

This shouldn't matter as much as it does to me. I have learned god doesn't do everything and I want people to understand. ( I can't even really say.. that I don't believe in god around some people...I'm afraid.)

Has anyone felt this way? How do you gain confidence to be able to state your opinion?

And,

When is it an appropriate to defend yourself in this situation?

There's not a lot one can do in these situations.  My mother told me that she would "pray that all hell breaks loose in your life" so that I'd become a Christian again- the old "atheists in foxholes" argument.  It's tough to be insulted and derided by family members and friends, but you have to realize that it's a direct result of what they believe.  It's a weird way of them showing they love you.  They think that they're saving you from an eternity of torture which, if it were true, I'd want them to do.  But since it's a lie, it does more harm than good.  A LOT more harm than good.  Surround yourself with people you can talk to- freethinkers, atheists, even a Christian friend that will hear you out.  Talking to others does a world of good.  Maybe start a journal to track your progress as a freethinker and when you get discouraged, look back at how you've progressed.  The most important thing is to always be true to yourself.  Don't deny your beliefs just because of the pressure.  It will be tempting to sacrifice truth at the altar of peace, but it's not worth it in the end.  Keep your chin up- it does get better.  

[SSY]

Simple, wait until something bad happens to them (the worse the better, if its taking too long, make something bad happen to them), then, when it does, scream, right in their faces, as loudly and as wetly as possible;

"HAHAHA YOU PRICK, WHERE'S YOUR GOD NOW!?!?!?!?!?!?

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The key is to then wait for answer, you have to do this bit, then the answer comes ("God is just testing me *sniffle* *sniffle*"), and you simply reply cooly, "thats odd, I don't even beleive in god, and my life is awsome, funny how these things work eh?" and walk off like nothing happened. They will never have digs at you again, in fact they will never talk to you again, which is of course, the best possible outcome when dealing with morons like this.

[Kylyssa]

I slowly phased that sort of person out of my life.  They are like poison.  They dig at your most painful wounds - that's not love.  When I can't avoid dealing with them, I keep it businesslike.  Most of all, I don't let them get under my skin, I try not to care about what they say.

I have pruned people who are cruel from my circle of trust.  I have religious friends but none of the "hellfire and brimstone" and "humankind is a bunch of filth" sort any more.  In retrospect I can say that some people I thought were friends never really were.  Some people have a greater desire to feel righteous than to be compassionate.

[Sophus]

I would congratulate them for acting so Christ like. It's just like that part in the Gospel of John where he says to that woman, "Naner Naner Boo Boo, you can't have kids cause my daddy's punishing you!"  

[Santiago]

ahahahah SSY, you're a DICK man...