Would You Sever This Friendship?

[Anonymous]

Yeah, bye - what a rude thing for her to say to you , especially after her one dimensional dork of a husband tried to convert you over Passover?
Run and disconnect and phones and social media. Do not answer the door.
Geez.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you everyone for your feedback. I've decided I'm done with this friendship. (As I said, this wasn't a "one-off" incident....it's just progressed to the point it's no longer acceptable.) I don't think I need to call her back (or email her or whatever) announcing my decision, I'm just going to make myself unavailable.

Thanks again, all!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like your friendship isn't the problem. Your inability to accept Jesus Christ as your lord and savior is the problem. Why do you hate Jesus?

I think you're probably baiting me, but I don't particularly hate Jesus. (Never met the guy, actually.) It's just that in Judaism, there is no supreme being other than G-d, and to worship any other being is antithetical to the very core of our religion.

Honey - stop answering when people ask this stuff. Stop it!!
And when he said that to you at Seder you should have shown him the door.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like your friendship isn't the problem. Your inability to accept Jesus Christ as your lord and savior is the problem. Why do you hate Jesus?

I think you're probably baiting me, but I don't particularly hate Jesus. (Never met the guy, actually.) It's just that in Judaism, there is no supreme being other than G-d, and to worship any other being is antithetical to the very core of our religion.

Honey - stop answering when people ask this stuff. Stop it!!
And when he said that to you at Seder you should have shown him the door.

Just for clarity, he didn't say that to me at Seder (in front of my parents, G-d forbid!). He knew better than that. He waited until we were in the car, heading home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get why you invited them in the first place.
But I would ditch this friendship.

Because she said that her church has a seder, and she found it interesting. I thought she was indicating that she'd enjoy experiencing a Jewish, traditional Seder. (Of course, she was free to turn the invitation down.)

Invitation to a Seder is an honor to the guests and in keeping with the tradition of inviting others into your home to share that event. It's not an attempt to proselytize. Hounding you about church is not the same thing as being invited to a Seder. And his bringing up your beliefs vs his RIGHT AFTER attending a Seder, one of the most special events on the Jewish calendar, is tacky and insensitive. If your friend doesn't get why you're upset, andcthry cant leave the religion thing alone, then is drop the friendship. They seem unable to accept you for who you are.

I don't know much about the Jewish tradition and Sedar but generally OP (and anyone else reading this), I think inviting other people, PARTICULARLY very religious christians to a non-christian religious event is kind of just asking for trouble if you aren't interested in discussing theology. There's a reason people say to leave religion and politics off the table!

I'm a Christian and I've been to a Seder before. I definitely read about it first before we went and I asked my host what we should do.
And then we enjoyed the ritual immensely and we were thankful for being invited. This is how decent intelligent people behave.

I love the Jewish religion and what it has to offer. Even the Pope teaches that all religions have value

https://www.infowars.com/one-world-religion-pope-francis-says-all-major-religions-are-meeting-god-in-different-ways/

You deserve better 'friends'. Everyone does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like your friendship isn't the problem. Your inability to accept Jesus Christ as your lord and savior is the problem. Why do you hate Jesus?

I think you're probably baiting me, but I don't particularly hate Jesus. (Never met the guy, actually.) It's just that in Judaism, there is no supreme being other than G-d, and to worship any other being is antithetical to the very core of our religion.

Honey - stop answering when people ask this stuff. Stop it!!
And when he said that to you at Seder you should have shown him the door.

Just for clarity, he didn't say that to me at Seder (in front of my parents, G-d forbid!). He knew better than that. He waited until we were in the car, heading home.

What a weasel ...

[Anonymous]

He did kind of have a point. They attended your religious event so you could have attended theirs. But when he didn't immediately drop it after you said no, that's where he crossed a line.

Also, evangelical Christians are exhausting. I would drop them just based on that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get why you invited them in the first place.
But I would ditch this friendship.

Because she said that her church has a seder, and she found it interesting. I thought she was indicating that she'd enjoy experiencing a Jewish, traditional Seder. (Of course, she was free to turn the invitation down.)

Invitation to a Seder is an honor to the guests and in keeping with the tradition of inviting others into your home to share that event. It's not an attempt to proselytize. Hounding you about church is not the same thing as being invited to a Seder. And his bringing up your beliefs vs his RIGHT AFTER attending a Seder, one of the most special events on the Jewish calendar, is tacky and insensitive. If your friend doesn't get why you're upset, andcthry cant leave the religion thing alone, then is drop the friendship. They seem unable to accept you for who you are.

I don't know much about the Jewish tradition and Sedar but generally OP (and anyone else reading this), I think inviting other people, PARTICULARLY very religious christians to a non-christian religious event is kind of just asking for trouble if you aren't interested in discussing theology. There's a reason people say to leave religion and politics off the table!

I'm a Christian and I've been to a Seder before. I definitely read about it first before we went and I asked my host what we should do.
And then we enjoyed the ritual immensely and we were thankful for being invited. This is how decent intelligent people behave.

I love the Jewish religion and what it has to offer. Even the Pope teaches that all religions have value

https://www.infowars.com/one-world-religion-pope-francis-says-all-major-religions-are-meeting-god-in-different-ways/

You deserve better 'friends'. Everyone does.

OP here - thank you. And FWIW, I (and other Jews) are very happy with Pope Francis' attitudes and statements about other religions.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I am putting on my shoes and leaving the house now. I am going out to look for a new Christian friend!

Thanks again, everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He did kind of have a point. They attended your religious event so you could have attended theirs. But when he didn't immediately drop it after you said no, that's where he crossed a line.

Also, evangelical Christians are exhausting. I would drop them just based on that.

But he didn't just invite her to church, he actively tried to convert her with the don't-you-want-to-go-to-heaven bull. There's a difference between "hey, thanks for including us in this lovely event, would you like to come to church with us sometime to experience our services?" and "hey heathen, why won't you accept JC as your own personal lord and savior? Why do you hate Jesus? you know you're going to hell, right?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He did kind of have a point. They attended your religious event so you could have attended theirs. But when he didn't immediately drop it after you said no, that's where he crossed a line.

Also, evangelical Christians are exhausting. I would drop them just based on that.

Attending a Seder is not the same thing as attending Church. Sorry, but no.

[Anonymous]

Too bad Elijah didn't show up and beat his ass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I am putting on my shoes and leaving the house now. I am going out to look for a new Christian friend!

Thanks again, everyone.

I'd be your friend OP. And respect your belief.

- A believer in a Christ, and a respecter of other faiths.

[Anonymous]

YOU invited them to a religion event BUT then YOU are offended when THEY invite YOU to their religious event.

Why are YOU so intolerant of other perspectives?
They were nice and respectful at your event. Why are you UNWILLING to attend their event?

The way YOU interpreted of felt about his question is YOUR problem. YOU interpreted his question according to YOUR internal barometer. In your own original post you said that YOU took his comment a certain way. He did not actually disparage your religion. You just assumed that is was his intention.

Moreover. even if he doesn't believe your religion and think you need to be Christian. Isn't that a statement that he is concerned about your well being? Why can't you just take the invitation as him reaching out to you. He merely reciprocated your invitation with his own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:YOU invited them to a religion event BUT then YOU are offended when THEY invite YOU to their religious event.

Why are YOU so intolerant of other perspectives?
They were nice and respectful at your event. Why are you UNWILLING to attend their event?

The way YOU interpreted of felt about his question is YOUR problem. YOU interpreted his question according to YOUR internal barometer. In your own original post you said that YOU took his comment a certain way. He did not actually disparage your religion. You just assumed that is was his intention.

Moreover. even if he doesn't believe your religion and think you need to be Christian. Isn't that a statement that he is concerned about your well being? Why can't you just take the invitation as him reaching out to you. He merely reciprocated your invitation with his own.

He responded by her inviting them to a religious event with a (pretty nasty) attempt at converting her which are entirely different things.

Signed,
An atheist who is invited to and attends all sorts of religious services and events and knows the difference between those and attempts at conversion.