I’m an atheist, I don’t normally get religious correspondence, however, I had the most bizarre thing happen to me tonight. I received mail today (the old fashioned type from the post office), hand written addressed to me, which I opened whilst cooking dinner. Inside was a two page letter titled: The Importance of Jesus Christ. You can have a read of it yourselves here:
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There are paragraphs labelled: Recognise (we are all sinners), The Importance of the Cross, What will happen to those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ? and, The search for forgiveness ends when we find Jesus Christ. Of course I don’t believe a single word of it, but I am damn curious who sent it to me?
As I said the letter has a hand written address, but there is no return address and no name or details on the letter. It was posted from my regional mail centre, so I’m suspecting one of my mates is having a joke, else I’ve annoyed some local fundie who’s worked out who I am?
OK, so that was strange enough, now comes the really bizarre thing. Shortly after opening the letter and sitting down to dinner, I get a SMS on my mobile (a rare thing in-and-of itself). This is the message:
Hi Chloe hope u don’t mind i asked Nancy for your no sorry to hear u and Max are not well we are praying for u let me know if we can do anything u are much loved rest in God and His love too
michael
Now obviously I’m not Chloe, so this is (probably) a wrong number, but the amazing coincidence of opening the fundie letter only minutes before getting this fundie SMS freaked me out a little. The fundies are trying to do my head in!
Has this ever happened to anyone else?
Well, I’m off to have another glass of red, the OH has just opened a nice Shiraz Viognier from Bendigo. I think I need it. Cheers.
15 April 2008 at 10:15 pm
Hi !
If you are a so called self proclaimed atheist, why do you need oxygen ? As an atheist, why don’t you generate your own oxygen and more important – LIFE ! You cannot live without oxygen – life exists as long as you have oxygen in those lungs.
Life comes from a source and that is the living God Creator. God is life and He is the Source and is Life. If He does not exist why do doctors fight for life ?
Come on my friend ! Every breath you take is free. You do not get a bill at the and of the month from a heavenly office for the precious gallons of life ! It’s free and is called grace.
The real answers you are seeking cannot be found in a glass of red, but in the Word of God. Ask yourself this question: ” What if I were wrong !”
Cheers.
15 April 2008 at 11:24 pm
Now obviously I’m not Chloe, so this is (probably) a wrong number, but the amazing coincidence of opening the fundie letter only minutes before getting this fundie SMS freaked me out a little. The fundies are trying to do my head in!
Maybe God and Sonny Jesus are trying to tell you something.
15 April 2008 at 11:27 pm
Why do fundies feel the need to throw Bible verses at atheists? In order to accept the veracity of those verses we would already have to have bought into the religion, surely?
16 April 2008 at 12:37 am
No need to throw Bibles here…but the coincidences are kind of funny!
What a good other half you have!
16 April 2008 at 4:50 am
I would have replied “Max just died and has gone to heaven. I am joining him as soon as this darn bathtub is filled. Best wishes, Chloe.”
But I have to admit I have a rather morbid sense of humor at times.
16 April 2008 at 5:57 am
I’ve read this same bullshit in Christian tracts 50 years ago and used it in my own proselytizing efforts back then. Fortunately a college education rescued me from my delusions. Someone probably copied this from a tract to make it look more personal, an old trick.
16 April 2008 at 8:58 am
nightmix
If you are a so called self proclaimed atheist, why do you need oxygen ?
WTF? I’ve seen some weird proselytizing, but your comment is the weirdest I’ve ever seen!
Everyone needs oxygen to survive, it’s a basic component of life, and it’s entirely natural – no gods required. I might not find answers in a glass of red, but at least the wine is real.
(or was your whole comment a pisstake?)
AV
I was starting to wonder.
wineymomma
the coincidence is what made the whole thing so freaky, and funny.
sometimes
greymalkin
morbid, but funny
godsfavoritecolor
actually it wasn’t very personal at all, the address on the envelope only had my initials not my full first name, and the letter has no personal things in it at all.
16 April 2008 at 10:40 am
If you are a so called self proclaimed atheist, why do you need oxygen ?
Take one nonsequitur with a glass of water and call me in the morning.
16 April 2008 at 11:40 am
Just curious as to what your definition of a ‘fundie’ is. From your post, it sounds like anyone who mentions god seems to be a fundie…(at least in the phone message). ^_^ just curious!
16 April 2008 at 12:06 pm
I got a similar letter a few weeks back, personally addressed to me and mailed through my mail centre. It was a single, handwritten (and badly photocopied) page, with general “accept the lord as your savior” type babble. No return address, naturally.
I guess there’s one upside, the government makes some money out of sheer amount of postage the fool(s) use to spread their anonymous message.
Although I’m quite annoyed I didn’t get the pictures that you recieved. :p
16 April 2008 at 2:05 pm
Well—I am guessing that I don’t fall into the fundie category in your mind…just the agree to disagree category
16 April 2008 at 2:58 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundie
Fundie = Fundamentalist
16 April 2008 at 4:33 pm
It is a message from God. He is trying to tell you – “The people who follow me are stupid. They can’t even put a return address or type the right damn phone number. Can you please join our side. We need drivers for all the little, yellow buses.”
16 April 2008 at 6:30 pm
fair question faeatora
a fundie is what Chris and wiki says
However, I (and others) don’t tend to use it for all right-wing Christian Fundamentalists, or everyone who mentions God. Instead it’s usually reserved for those particular ones that do something more unusual than normal (whatever ‘normal’ might be).
I also use it in a light-hearted way and as a way to grab attention. A title like ‘fundies attack’ has a bit more punch and humour than ‘a Christian sent me a letter’. I’m obviously not under ‘attack’ by anyone, and the SMS was a genuine mistake, however in the circumstances I used the term fundie throughout the blog.
Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t consider the above SMS sender a fundie, especially if I knew the message was going to a religious person.
I don’t usually consider people, like wineymomma, who are polite, friendly, happy to have a sensible debate, are comfortable expressing their religious beliefs but don’t try and ram them down your throat, as Fundies. However if they say or do something a bit more ‘out there’ or just happen to get involved (like the SMS, albeit indirectly) , then I might use the term fundie on them.
Heck, now this answer is nearly longer than the original blog!
16 April 2008 at 6:45 pm
chrisg
glad to find I’m not alone, at least mine was typed.
To all,
I think I may have an idea who sent the letter. Recently there were a couple of Christians (they weren’t mormons) door knocking the area. I made it quite clear to them I wasn’t interested. I have to tell them, I’m still not interested.
16 April 2008 at 10:24 pm
Fundie: one who adopts (and invariably proselytises) a fundamentalist/ultraorthodox/ultraconservative position on a given set of dogmas (religious or ideological).
18 April 2008 at 4:54 am
haha, that it is^_^. Thank you very much for your response!
18 April 2008 at 10:15 am
see it’s not that hard to put the pieces together, is it? But no ozathiest, I can assure you, it wasn’t me I swear.
18 April 2008 at 2:08 pm
I worked so hard to come up with something comical and bashful of christians. No one noticed. I’ll crawl back into my faithless little hole now.
18 April 2008 at 4:21 pm
as1001 I noticed, and had a laugh
please crawl out of your hole and visit anytime
18 April 2008 at 5:05 pm
Actually it would have been funnier if I had said ‘I swear to God, it wasn’t me’. Geez I wish I had said that……..