Xtian Assumptions

[Opsa]

My daughter and I were getting Grandad's room ready for him at assisted living, when a friendly nurse stopped by to say hello. Grandad was not there yet, just Th'O'lette and myself. We chat a bit about teenagers and boyfriends, and then the nurse says to Th'O: "Just be sure that when you decide to marry, choose a nerd and a Christian."

We didn't know what to say to this, neither of us being Christians, so we just smiled weakly and waved bye-bye. After she left we rolled our eyes at each other.

I am guessing that she meant to be nice (?) but I have to wonder if she's said the same thing to us if we looked Middle Eastern or Asian rather than our blonde, blue-eyed middle class-looking selves. Do you think she was assuming too much? How could I have replied without seeming to be crabby?

I guess I could have said, "As long as he's nice, we don't care what religion he comes from."

[Swatopluk]

Aren't 'nerd' and 'Christian' mutually exclusive? 

[Opsa]

Most of the nerds I know are atheists.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Some people are utterly thoughtless about possible assumptions their statements might make.

Ain't it cute?  /sarcasm

[Opsa]

I feel like I could have given her some kind of heads-up about how thoughtless it actually was. When I think about it, it was really uncalled for, and bordering on rude. But did she mean it that way, or was she truly naive? I feel so uncomfortable when I'm caught off guard.

[Aggie]

Hard to say from here, but I'm voting for truly naive, or at least not intentionally rude.

To someone a little ruder, I might be tempted to wonder out loud if it was a good idea to marry a Christian, since they are bound by the words of their Lord to give away all their positions to the poor and desert their families.

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

Bigoted and thoughtless. That's what I'd say she is. I'd probably would have given her a Look (woo frown power!).

[Aggie]

"Just be sure that when you decide to marry, choose a nerd and a Christian."

Aren't 'nerd' and 'Christian' mutually exclusive?  

She must be relatively tolerant if she was advocating polyandry.

I'm half-surprised she didn't specify an American or 'a white man' while she was at it.  Perhaps she considered that so self-evident that it was not worth mentioning. _{Not so in our family; both my sister and I seem to prefer exogamy.}  

[pieces o nine]

Sounds like the sort of thing you'd hear around the Ocean o'Sand.

My translation: when ya get done sowin' your wild oats  (or the grrrly equivalent thereof) choosa fella in a stable, professional position who'll make a ton of money so ya don't haveta work, sweetheart. And a Christian so ya'll know he's committed to bein' a faithful (not that there'll be any temptation in his safe, boring office) husband and a good father.

She probably has no idea why any of this is irrational, let alone offensive.

I must confess that I would have a great deal of fun in future interactions with her, wearing confusingly pagan jewelry; referring affectionately and off-handedly to my husband, Rabbi X -- no -- wait! my better half Rabbi (female name from *any* other ethnicity!); noting the time with shock and apologetically having to dash as I'm leading the esbat; that sort of thing ... but only if I were sure that my jokes wouldn't result in any problems for the relative entrusted there.

[Sibling DavidH]

She couldn't help being stupid and bigoted.  She meant well, so a simple punch in the face would have been quite adequate.  No need to go to extremes.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

(I say the following despite the fact I am a nerd) :

Socially awkward and intolerant? 
---
There are other interesting assumptions made by Xtians, for instance, two nights ago I was waiting for my places call in the opera in the rehearsal room and two other choristers were there. I know many sing in churches (that's how some make a living) but their topic changed from singing to rapture, and then they spoke about it in a matter of fact way that was a bit new to me, at least in the setting of the opera. One of them was talking about the frequent conspiracy theory about the world government, the single currency, how the crisis of the Euro was one of the signs and how he wasn't voting for Obama, because that way rapture would come sooner, and how the world will be remade after the second coming, plus some specific interpretations about the book of revelations. I held my tongue and when I got tired of the stuff I just politely left the room to wait somewhere else.

While I listened silently I pondered if there was a way -if any- to engage that level of lunacy commitment, and the conclusion was that they were too far gone to do anything about it. I couldn't stop feeling some disappointment that otherwise reasonable people could have such strong fringe beliefs, but I guess is to be expected. 

[Aggie]

Leaving Revelation in the canonical Bible was an all-around bad decision, IMHO (I also take the perspective that the 'little scroll' the angel slipped him may have been what Hunter S. Thompson would call 'high-powered blotter acid').

I'm not the only one:

In the 4th century, Gregory of Nazianzus and other bishops argued against including Revelation because of the difficulties of interpreting it and the risk of abuse.

Combining Revelation with a literalist view of the Bible is like combining a chimpanzee with an open flame and pre-fused dynamite. Probably worse... the chimp may have the sense to resist playing with fire. 

[Swatopluk]

Patmos where the Book of Revelation was written according to tradition was the central trading place for certain types of mushrooms in the Mediterranean. Not the ones you'll put into your normal dinner, if you know what I mean. St.John may have been a friend of Amanita muscaria at the time he produced that book.

[Opsa]

Wow. Can you imagine Revelation being illustrated by Ralph Steadman?!? That would really add a new dimension.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I've heard that the author of Revelations (he was certainly not an apostle, but someone purporting to write in the style of one-- a common practice to gain authority) was high in the same rye fungus that infected those infamous accusers of the Salem Witch trials (if you accept that theory at any rate).

But another hypothesis is that Revelations was a combination of alcohol, a high fever and a starvation diet; an all too common habit of the "deeply spiritual" in those days.  The fever coming from the high starvation diet.  Some poor fools thought that the hallucinations they frequently had when in this state was somehow... more "spiritual" or something.

Unfortunately for the world's health?  This idiot was also ... literate (or had a literate sycophant-- more likely).   Some foolish folk would flock to these "holy men" due to their constant fever-dreams...

As already noted?  It was considered a really bad move to include Revelations.

But what could Constantine do?  He desperately needed justification for his pogroms of force-conversion to Xianity; and without the Revelations "I am the only way" statements, he'd not have his exclusive clause to justify murdering anyone who refused to join his new religion.... so Revelations was in.   And the rest is... well.