Loving the lost
Jul. 28th, 2004 11:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beetigerThe depression is hitting heavy again, the way it did a few years back. I recognize it now, so I'm hoping I can meet it part way before it blindsides me, this time. Casual IMs and friendliness help a lot with that, so don't be shy.
But I don't want to talk about that. The main reason I haven't posted much lately is that I don't want to talk about that, and that's been most of what's on my mind, except for T-shirts about which I suspect you are bored.
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At one of my previous jobs I had a friend who was a literalist Christian. She was a sweet person, and we were sincerely friends -- we sang together in the company choir that went to nursing homes at Christmastime, she helped me choose bridesmaids' dresses for my wedding, we talked a lot. But I knew that she was utterly and completely sure that I was going to Hell.
I can easily see why I could be friends with her; I just thought she was wrong on that topic, and it wasn't an important topic to me, so I just connected with her on other things. But I find it hard to understand how she could be friends with me, believing that I was damned. Perhaps she thought that there was still a chance there somewhere. Or perhaps, like those who befriend the elderly or those with terminal illness without worrying about how much time they'll have together, she just thought she'd share her love in the present and not wory about the ultimate results.
When does it make sense to give up on a lost cause?
But I don't want to talk about that. The main reason I haven't posted much lately is that I don't want to talk about that, and that's been most of what's on my mind, except for T-shirts about which I suspect you are bored.
________________________
At one of my previous jobs I had a friend who was a literalist Christian. She was a sweet person, and we were sincerely friends -- we sang together in the company choir that went to nursing homes at Christmastime, she helped me choose bridesmaids' dresses for my wedding, we talked a lot. But I knew that she was utterly and completely sure that I was going to Hell.
I can easily see why I could be friends with her; I just thought she was wrong on that topic, and it wasn't an important topic to me, so I just connected with her on other things. But I find it hard to understand how she could be friends with me, believing that I was damned. Perhaps she thought that there was still a chance there somewhere. Or perhaps, like those who befriend the elderly or those with terminal illness without worrying about how much time they'll have together, she just thought she'd share her love in the present and not wory about the ultimate results.
When does it make sense to give up on a lost cause?
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no subject
Date: 2004-07-29 01:36 am (UTC)Religion. Religion is weird. I've mentioned in my own journal that I have a friend who's a right-wing Christian. And yet even after I came out as pseudo-Pagan, and later, as vaguely queer, then as trans... we're still friends. There's a definite sense that, on certain levels, religion's just not a topic of discussion.
He may think I'm going to Hell; he may not. It's never come up. I know some churches are more liberal about being the One True Belief, and he certainly doesn't take the Bible literally - he's had a thorough science education, he'd have to be split-minded to deal with that and being literal.
But when I stop and think about it, I do wonder. If he thinks I'm hellbound. If he's written off my immortal soul as my own problem, after all this. I dunno. I never will, unless I ask, and I don't think I want to know.
Maybe "accepting" is a better way to see it. "Giving up" has connotations of losing, that you could have done it, could have won. Accepting that something's a lots cause, and just dealing with it, is different.