Scary Church Ladies

You know it's bad when your college professor has to verbally-chastise grown adults in a public forum. Not just grown adults, mind you... But the self-proclaimed religious, God-fearing adults!!! After my last blog about my class, things got really heated on the message boards... Not as a response to my post... The unyielding Scary Church Ladies (SCL's) didn't bother to respond to me. Apparently I'm just a commoner in the realms of the holy world. But they are now on a Bible-thumping kick on the evils of, well... Everything basically!

These women are SCARY!!! We're all going to hell no matter what we do apparently (except for them, of course... They are servants of the Lord.) I'm beginning to think I'm a freak in the world of Christianity as well as in the human services profession! Call me crazy (most people do), but I always thought that being a Christian meant that you tried to treat everyone with respect whether you agreed with their personal beliefs or not. "Do unto others..." and all that...

Our class has been informed by the leader of the SCL's that our primary job as human services professionals and as Christians (again, a rash generalization that all human services professionals are Christians in the first place) is to spread the Word of God.  Really?  I thought the primary job of a human services professional is to help people!!! Certainly not to beat them over the head with your personal beliefs and tell them they're going to hell for their lifestyles...

Anyway... After we were all told that every word of the Bible should be taken literally and that those who don't will be condemned to eternal hellfire, our professor had to post a message about treating each other with respect regardless of our differing opinions and religious beliefs. She then had to go back and tell the leader of the SCL's to "please review my post on respect" after she said (IN ALL CAPS) that the subject we were discussing was a sin. It is Biblical. We can't change it or wish it away or rationalize it. And anyone who does it is going to hell. Period. "GOD HAS THE FINAL ANSWER! IT IS SIN!!!" She frightens me.

So the SCL's went and pissed me off and I decided to post my honest, yet professional responses to each subject they were preaching about. I got slammed by the SCL's, but I received tons of "THANK YOU's" from the students who are there for a real education in the field. And, I posted the following to their leader...

"I really didn't want to be sucked into a religious debate, but I do feel the need to ask... As a Christian, don't you also believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins? I think it can be easy to look at the Old Testament and take it very literally, but the New Testament, the life and death of Jesus, shows us that God is also a forgiving God. I think if we are going to judge people for their beliefs and actions, we must also be able to forgive."

I'll keep you all posted and let you know how that one goes over.