For the last 2 years, my youngest son has asked me why his Aunt Jenny (my sister) doesn't like me. Without wanting to get into it too much, I just said that Aunt Jenny wasn't a very nice or forgiving person. Today he gave me an answer...Aunt Jenny doesn't like me because I don't go to church. I was SO mad!! My ex husband was NEVER interested in religion when we were together and in fact told me that anyone who went to church was a hypocrite. But since cheating on me, lying to my family, myself and my friends, destroying our family and then marrying the whore he cheated with, he is going to church. And not just a normal church, one of these giant God Cults that boast 10 services over 2 days and tens of thousands of members. My brother in law goes to this church and he has my sister brainwashed. Apparently now they are trying to brainwash my children as well. I don't know whose idea it was for them to go to church. (at first my brother in law was very upset with my ex husband for lying to him. didn't care that my ex cheated on me, just that he lied to him about it but he told my mother that since my ex told him he was sorry for lying - again, not for cheating - he has forgiven him) So today, Jarrod told me that I am a bad person because I don't go to church. I told him that I didn't share the beliefs that my sister does but it does not make me a bad person. He told me that his church tells him that anyone who doesn't believe in "God" is a bad person. I told him that's not true and that Jesus taught us to love others and to be tolerant of any differences. I know more pagans that follow those ideas than I do Christians who do. Most Christians that I know look down their noses at people who don't believe as they do and condemn them for it. Numerous times in my life I have told these people that if they don't agree with my beliefs, they don't need to convert me, just pray for me. I can use all the prayers I can get. I pray. Just because my God happens to take many forms just as my Goddess does, it doesn't mean that I don't pray or that I don't have a spiritual side. I don't choose to flaunt my beliefs. I have found in my life that the louder people proclaim to be Christian, the less they really act like it. I'm sure that we've all met these Sunday Christians, who sit in church and think that they are so devout, but as soon as they leave that building, go back to hating their neighbors and leading a life that does not follow the teachings of Jesus. I'm not perfect. I never claimed to be, but I can't stand people who think I'm wrong just because I don't believe what they do. And they're trying to turn my children against me now too. My oldest son is not so easily taken in. He knows what I believe and I've talked to him about how I feel about that church. I told him that I don't ever want him to think that I'm not a good person because of what his father, step mother, aunt and uncle say about me. He knows that I am good. It's so much harder with my youngest. He's at that age where he believes anything they tell him. And because at "his church" he gets entertained, he thinks it is right. I was a Christian for many years and even taught Sunday School. I never like contemporary services or anything loud and flashy. I don't think that you go to church to be entertained, you go to learn. This place that my ex takes them to has a gift shop, a coffee shop and in my son's sunday school room, they have an X-Box 360 and 2 fooseball tables. What kind of church is that? How does that teach you about God? What happened to loving your neighbor or treating others the way that you want to be treated. I may not brandish a cross and be able to quote the Bible, but even I know those lessons. As a pagan I believe that what you do comes back to you. If I'm a good person then good things will come to me. If I do bad things, then bad things are going to happen to me. It really is that simple. So why is it that my ex and all the rest continue to hurt me and yet lead "happy" lives? Why is it that they never have to struggle for money or skip meals so they can feed their children? I'm not a bad person and I hate that they are making me out to be one. What am I supposed to do? How do I fight this?
