I once encountered a woman "preaching" End Times doctrine at a street corner bus stop in Spokane to speak to her teenaged daughter - dragged along to witness, learn, support? I immediately flashed to my own childhood and youth with my evangelical, charismatic (not in the charming sense, but in the speaking-in-tongues sense) mother, being…
I once encountered a woman "preaching" End Times doctrine at a street corner bus stop in Spokane to speak to her teenaged daughter - dragged along to witness, learn, support? I immediately flashed to my own childhood and youth with my evangelical, charismatic (not in the charming sense, but in the speaking-in-tongues sense) mother, being taken to a Jesus freak march (I don't think she understood that some of our fellow marchers were high on something besides Jesus) in the middle of the Vietnam anti-war protest era. That teenaged girl reminded me of myself, so I approached her, ignoring her mother, and told her that she didn't have to stick with those beliefs - that I'd survived and had a fuller life since leaving that craziness behind. I've often wondered if that shell-shocked looking young woman ever got out.
Unlike Kasumii, I was fortunate enough to have parents who were strict, but very loving. They didn't like the way I turned away from the church, but they'd always told me I needed to think for myself. That one backfired on them and I think they may have regretted encouraging me to use my brain so much!
Thank you for speaking up to that young woman and leaving that seed of hope and curiosity. That took courage and compassion. I imagine that she has never forgotten that you did that.
I once encountered a woman "preaching" End Times doctrine at a street corner bus stop in Spokane to speak to her teenaged daughter - dragged along to witness, learn, support? I immediately flashed to my own childhood and youth with my evangelical, charismatic (not in the charming sense, but in the speaking-in-tongues sense) mother, being taken to a Jesus freak march (I don't think she understood that some of our fellow marchers were high on something besides Jesus) in the middle of the Vietnam anti-war protest era. That teenaged girl reminded me of myself, so I approached her, ignoring her mother, and told her that she didn't have to stick with those beliefs - that I'd survived and had a fuller life since leaving that craziness behind. I've often wondered if that shell-shocked looking young woman ever got out.
Unlike Kasumii, I was fortunate enough to have parents who were strict, but very loving. They didn't like the way I turned away from the church, but they'd always told me I needed to think for myself. That one backfired on them and I think they may have regretted encouraging me to use my brain so much!
Thank you for speaking up to that young woman and leaving that seed of hope and curiosity. That took courage and compassion. I imagine that she has never forgotten that you did that.