Categories: work
Date: 28 June 2007 06:21:27
Well, not so much oddities as offensiveness.
I heard today that someone at work, in whose mouth butter wouldn't melt , told a colleague that unless she repented and accepted Jesus she was going to Hell. And this in a coffee break. Subsequent discussion found that this same person had said several months back, in response to a colleague saying her friend had lost her baby, "She obviously did something wrong and God is punishing her."
Lord, have mercy. For my full rant see this Ship thread.
One thing that concerns me -- beyond the sheer inappropriateness [and incorrectness I'd say(*)] of such comments; if she believes that bad things happen because someone has done something wrong [I am not denying that God chastises, but if everything bad thing that happens to us is due to God's Wrath I tend to think something is wrong there...], what happens when something goes wrong in her life? Will she instantly believe she has offended God? And wonder what on earth it was?
Very strange; it's hard enough to be a Christian with various nutters around the world; now I find there are some strange people (and offensive, I'd say) in our small office.
Some rather delightful news, however, as our financial year draws to an end. I am to get a pay rise and I received a rather large, extremely large in fact, bonus. I almost fell off my chair. And I'm still rather stunned. Very nice to be appreciated.
(*) re the "accept Jesus or burn" comment, I make no judgements on others; I believe Christ to the Messiah, and believe Christianity to be Truth, but I wouldn't dare pass judgement on others nor restrict God's Mercy. I pray that all people would find the Truth in Jesus Christ, but I couldn't make such statements as my colleague did for those who did not hear about Jesus or make a positive choice towards Him in this life: there may have been any number of circumstances [and being told you'd go to Hell if you didn't accept God would tend to put me off]. I know that may be at odds with others' beliefs, but these are mine and I can only state them. I do believe in Hell -- as it is portrayed in Orthodox thought [i.e. a state where the love of God, which will fill all things, is experienced as pain and suffering by those who wanted nothing to with God and nothing to do with Love uring their earthly life] -- but, God willing, it is as sparsely populated as possible.