The grass is looking greener on the other side...

[not your typical...]

Hi. I'm Becca. I am a Christian, but most people think I'm more like an Atheist than anything. Apparently not sitting on your ass all day praying, instead of going out and living life and fixing problems yourself makes me a bad Christian. And not trying to force my faith on others is "the equivalent of me not testifying for someone who's going to get a death sentence." I've been a Christian for as long as I can remember and I don't recall any rule that says, "By not force feeding people the Bible and religion, you are deemed hell bound." If anyone can find that in the Bible, I swear I'll apologize for every time I ever flipped off my aunt for telling me I'm going to hell. Personally, I'm not really questioning my faith, but more so questioning every else who claims to be one of my "brothers or sister in Christ." Am I supposed to dress like the Amish and not like rock, and look down my nose at anyone who doesn't share my faith, just because I'm a Christian, or is someone else seeing the flaws in that? Or am I really "a worldy child who is useless to the kingdom"?
*All of the quotes came from my highly uneducated aunt, so while I know that 'worldy' isn't a word, I can't say she knows the same.

[Tom62]

Hi Becca,
Great introduction. And.. Welcome to HAF.

[Davin]

The grass is definitely greener on this side, we atheists use baby fertilizer.

I had the same issues/questions when I was a wee lad, no one had any good answers for me either. My answer for myself was just not to pay much mind to things that didn't make sense... of course I'm now an atheist, so maybe you don't want that advice.

[not your typical...]

The grass is definitely greener on this side, we atheists use baby fertilizer.

Any advice is welcomed. I'm just so sick of being the black sheep on both sides of the family. My dad's side is all about drinking and partying and having a good time, and while, I will admit, I love the atmosphere, I spend most of my time with my mom's side, who are the good, strict Christians who are all straightedge and hate cursing and loud music, and anything that has to do with what's going on in the world. It's not as if you can move to another planet to get away from is or anything like that, so I figure, hey, if I'm going to hell, might as well have a good time doing it, right?

[Davin]

The grass is definitely greener on this side, we atheists use baby fertilizer.

Any advice is welcomed. I'm just so sick of being the black sheep on both sides of the family.

Don't be sick of it, find a way to enjoy it. Even if you have to turn up your nose at how much more awesome being odd is over all those boring people.

My dad's side is all about drinking and partying and having a good time, and while, I will admit, I love the atmosphere, I spend most of my time with my mom's side, who are the good, strict Christians who are all straightedge and hate cursing and loud music, and anything that has to do with what's going on in the world.

Both sides of my family were very religious, but at least my immediate family was a bit odd... not odd like Westboro, more like odd like never quite fitting in to any of the neighbors or church members comfortable spots. Still they were the straight edge, no drinking, no smoking, no rock music, no dating until 16, no PG13 movies, no cursing types.

It's not as if you can move to another planet to get away from is or anything like that, so I figure, hey, if I'm going to hell, might as well have a good time doing it, right?

If you can have a good time that doesn't unreasonably hurt anyone else, then by all means do so. This is your life, you should do what you want to do with it. Video games were my other world to escape to. I don't like reading, though I still read an average of two "books*" a month (* mostly crap like sci-fi and recently the subgenre, steampunk). TV, movies and music can all be enjoyed while playing video games... some books too.

My advice is not one size fits all, make sure you try it on before purchasing.

[not your typical...]

Yeah. most of the stuff i do they don't approve of... I remember when I first started writing, my aunt asked what is a Christian book. I told her it was fiction. She said 'It has no place in your life unless it's all about glorifying God.' I said, regrettably, "The money I could make off of it could buy me a new one." Grounded for 3 months and got my ass kicked. She simply took it the wrong way though

[Whitney]

Welcome to HAF.

As for your issue with being pushed to preach at people...I think those who believe you have to preach the word are just as justified as those who don't; no offense but the Bible isn't exactly clear.

But you may want to take a look at Matthew Ch 10 where it basically says to shut up about it if the people aren't receptive.  Then there is also a comparison of who should be preached at here: http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/contra/samaritans.html

Personally I prefer your approach since it's not annoying.

[not your typical...]

Personally I prefer your approach since it's not annoying.

Thank you.

[Asmodean]

Where I'm at, there is no grass at all... Green or otherwise.

Although we've already met, hello and welcome.

[not your typical...]

Hello Asmodean. And since you have no grass, what do you have? Perhaps that will be more desirable than what is currently available to me.

[Ecurb Noselrub]

Don't want to be a buzzkill, but not your typical is a minor, so prudence is advised.

[not your typical...]

Don't want to be a buzzkill, but not your typical is a minor, so prudence is advised.

You're a parent aren't you?

[Ecurb Noselrub]

Don't want to be a buzzkill, but not your typical is a minor, so prudence is advised.

You're a parent aren't you?

Parent, grandparent, attorney, pastor.  Bad combination, I guess.

[not your typical...]

Parent, grandparent, attorney, pastor.  Bad combination, I guess.

Yeah.... Not helping me in the slightest.

[Sandra Craft]

Don't want to be a buzzkill, but not your typical is a minor, so prudence is advised.

Prudence about what, exactly?