For over three years I have been taking the same bus route to work every morning at 6:06 AM. I catch the 6 or 11 on Broadway between 11th and 12th Street East headed to the downtown bus terminal. for about 10 or 15 minutes I wait downtown for the 14 North Industrial and lately I have had to give my head a shake at what I have seen over the last little while during those minutes in between.
A man who also takes the 14 is often seen with the Holy Bible reading to himself or harassing other Saskatoon Transit customers who take the same bus as him. He'll start out with a polite hello and attempt to get to know you with an underlying agenda to "Save" other riders.
I find the general "Save" attempt to be a total crock of sh*t. When I see people attempt to do so, all I see are people using disrespectful tactics such as manipulation and brainwashing. This early morning preacher tries this attempt with an added extreme. He begins preaching to them but it's not only that... by the time he has begun, there is no stopping him unless you punch the guy in the face! Which I would never do but I wouldn't feel sorry for him if someone else did it. ;)
Thereafter, he just goes too far. When people ask him to leave them alone, he keeps on preaching in a disrespectful and harassing manner. So what does the Holy Bible say about this behaviour?
Proverbs 25:17 "Seldom set foot in your neighbor’s house – too much of you, and he will hate you."
I'm thinking that this would go for people's comfort zones as well. It's common sense that unwanted attention is harassment and makes people feel uncomfortable. Why must these preachers dismiss all common sense when it comes to sharing The Word? If people are not showing you interest in what your saying when you share about your faith, all that you are doing is pushing them further away from God. After you're done your rant, they will remember an associate it with all of Christianity.
This morning, this interesting fellow gave me a one of his lectures and I was all ears. He started out with a parabol and turned it into this big speech from when I was sitting down at the terminal to the point I got off of the bus. I had talked to him previous mornings and he knew that I was a Christian gay man and that I believed that people misinterpret the bible. This morning he tried to fill my head with lots of nonsense including that "the Bible is not open to interpretation".
Excuse me? You told me previously that you didn't know enough about certain subjects to add input and her you are telling me that you cannot interpret the Bible for yourself? Yes I know that there's an original message that lies within the history of the Bible but no one has the Bible down 100% in today's world.
I kept cool though and just listened because most times when I would see this fellow preaching to others, I would just put my headphones in a little louder. But I wanted to hear what he had to say for myself and in the end all that he was doing is repeating things he had already told me from the beginning of his lecture and adding little bits in between. He sounded like a broken record by the end. If you're going to preach to me show some intelligence and quit it with the stereo typical Sunday morning cliches.
He even went as far as bringing up the lusting after flesh aspect and I got the hint that he was referring to my sexuality. Well my sex drive is quite slowed down since my promiscuous clubbing days. And there's a difference between thinking about banging someone and acknowledging that you are attracted to them. This guy went on and on about the Bible mostly and how he believes that it's still perfect today. Impossible.. there are words in the original scripture that the English language does not have words for today. The word "homosexual" didn't even show up in the book until the late 1800's and before that the translations were extremely vague on the subject.
I stayed cool through his entire lecture to me and he never even stopped to ask me what I thought about all that he said. It proved to me that he's just another brainwashed, self-righteous moron who is to afraid too live according to his own God-given life and pertains to the fundamentalist cult way of Christianity. The term "God takes us further from ourselves" does not mean that we have to drop our entire identity! It means that He can steer us away from our sinful nature if we let Him and harassment I'd assume is unacceptable in God's eyes.
As I was leaving the bus, this fellow wishes me a happy Thanksgiving and I reply "Yea.. you too." As I walked from my departure bus stop to work, I said a prayer to God. "God, stop the manipulators, the brain-washers and the harassers from ruining possible relationships with You." A prayer for the preachers who I pity and a very serious prayer nonetheless.
This Thanksgiving, I am thankful to God for all that I have and that I am certain about all that I am. I didn't take in any of this cult preacher lectured me on. I am also thankful that I have a good head on my shoulders and that I am closer to God than ever and am certain of what he wants for me in life. For the things I don't know yet, it's coming and I trust in Him because the way I live my life now is all that has ever worked for me.
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