My friend, Reverent D, is trying to pick a fight with me. Sort of
He and I worked with each other a lot when I was in the ministry. He is quite conservative while I was quite liberal and we had many discussions where neither of us changed the other’s thoughts, but perhaps honed them a bit. Iron sharpening iron.
We’ve made each other pretty mad at times but we remained friends. In spite of our different perspectives, we meshed well when it came to actual ministry because we are both professional caregivers.
If someone is hungry, sad, lonely, tired, sick, or battered, he’s going to help because while he has doctrinal views with which I don’t agree, his first value is “love thy neighbor.” So he’s the real deal when it comes to ministry. It doesn’t matter if he agrees with me, he’s going to help because that’s who he is and that’s what he does.
The year before I left God and church, he noticed I was in a bad way and inquired about my welfare often. He didn’t press when I evaded his questions but he didn’t quit noticing. After I left, and “came out” as an atheist, he has continued to maintain contact with me. He continues to monitor my blog and checks on me occasionally.
Recently, I wrote a few entries on Facebook about writer’s block where I spent hours facing a blank screen. With his mildly annoying humor, he decided to help (heckle) me. He sent me a lame-ass video by Ray Comfort that supposedly proves God’s existence. I’d seen it before. It’s the same hackneyed arguments that have been around for hundreds of years but it was just slick enough to get me riled up.
Sure enough, my fingers started flying over the keyboard, attacking sacred ignorance wherever it may lurk. I churned out one blog entry and I’ve got another in the works.
Which is what my friend, Reverend D, wanted.
He enjoys the fact that getting me all agitated is actually helping me function even if he doesn’t agree with me. He probably has some long term goal of getting me back into “the fold” and he knows that I know that. No doubt he’s laughing about it.
I wish to remind him that chortling isn’t dignified when it’s coming from the clergy.
That gives me another idea for the blog entry….
Deep Calls 