I need help with a Christian friend...

[The Sherbertman]

Basically I don't get upset with people i find bigots and fanatics funny however!

My girlfriend was sat with my friend in the common the other day and he asked her what her beliefs were (since he knows mine and has told me often I'm a heathen to which I told him he was but soon he would be embraced by his Noodlyness and will be saved and have fresh beer and clean strippers forever) when she said to him she was agnostic and didn't follow any religion and didn't have any idea whether there was a god or not he promptly told her she was going to burn in hell not the nicest thing for a Christian to do i know but quite common.
now that sort of thing gets said to me alot and I just laugh and say bugger I'm stuck with stale beer! however i noticed my girlfriend has been very upset by this and i can tell its been bothering her for a few days and she has even said to me it really upset her.

So now I'm not really sure what to do now because me being me i want to say something but i usually say rather rash things that get me into trouble so anyone able to help with how to deal with him? from what I can gather he does this to alot of people, he even sat in our A-Level biology class disputing evolution

[Apostateabe]

Where I come from, religious afterlife threats are much less common and more subtle, if anything. Maybe it would be best to tell your girlfriend next time such a thing happens that such views are "fucked up." Tell her that some people believe the Christian religion largely out of that sort of irrational fear, and that is a huge reason why Christianity exists at all. You can tell her that your friend, insane as he may be, is trying to somehow keep God from eternally suspending her upside-down with her head in a bucket of fire ants, so there is at least some good will. But it may be a little awkward to tell her now at this point in time.

[Edd]

The best tactics for assholes is usually to ignore them. These actions seem designed to garner attention.

To help your girlfriend, however, ask her why she is upset. Discuss her feelings, focusing on her, not the friend.

[Zankou 2.0]

Anyone who seriously tells you you are going to Hell is not a friend.

Set him on fire. See how he likes it.

[Elvalia]

Anyone who seriously tells you you are going to Hell is not a friend.

Actually, a very good friend of mine once told me I'm going to Hell. I didn't think that it was a particularly nice thing to say, but I wasn't about to get myself upset over it.


Edd's right, focus on her, let her know that you don't care about what that friend thinks (on this subject), only what she thinks.

[PantyGnawer]

Anyone who seriously tells you you are going to Hell is not a friend.

Actually, a very good friend of mine once told me I'm going to Hell. I didn't think that it was a particularly nice thing to say, but I wasn't about to get myself upset over it.

Unless they go out of their way to tell you that you are going to hell, it really doesn't bother me.

On the other hand there were a group of preachers who came to campus the other day...

They were actually nicer than the drive by preachers we usually get here, but they were telling everyone that they were going to hell. Two of them had signs that read something like repent of "Jesus Christ or you will burn in hell"

I can accept this. I don't believe in Jesus so by the supposed rules, I'm going to hell. But then...

One of the preachers daughters showed up with a sign that read: "YOU DESERVE HELL!!!". This really pissed me off! And it pissed off plenty of christians.

[Robbobrob]

One of the preachers daughters showed up with a sign that read: "YOU DESERVE HELL!!!".

I would have, if there, told her...."You are right, I deserved Hell, and the Bitch divorced me anyway!!"

[Tchaikovsky]

Hmmm... This does sound like a tricky situation.

Just keep in mind that however screwed up all religions may be, they do sometimes attempt to express ideas of love and human compassion. There are small amounts of truth in religion. For instance, despite the violence and creepiness of Jesus's story, one of his main teachings was love your neighbor. This guy who keeps telling people they're going to hell probably saw a tiny amount of truth in church and then was deluded enough to believe everything else about christianity was true.

I'm not attempting to defend him. Telling someone they're going to hell is always unacceptable to me. I'm just trying to say that your girlfriend might also see some amount of truth in christianity's attempt at expressing love and this guy distorting that idea of love into hate might piss her off. I mean, it pisses me off.

Sorry if I'm could be completely off the mark. Just throwing my ideas out there.

[The Sherbertman]

I was speaking to her today about, i think its just really got to her as shes the nicest person i have ever met i can honestly say ive never seen her in an argument or be or say anything mean, she even gets all upset when me and my mates take the mick out of each other, so im trying to make her feel better although when i said he was more likely then her to go to hell as he condemns people and lives a hypocritical life she started to feel bad for him so i dont think im too good at this...

But today at breaktime the christian group were sitting outside a gayclub and upsetting them so me james (the only other pastafarian i know in person) and aload of supporters went to the christian meeting as their poster advertised hang with god and meet jesus we naturally asked where he was as id love to meet jesus they said wed have to sit and pray to which ole accused them of false advertisement which is when we were asked to leave and so me and james sat in the corridor holding a pastafarian club

and when the deputy head asked why we were disturbing them we said about the incident wit the gay club and they got in trouble!! so im quite proud

Nah thats a fair point about the truth in it, but i mean i was brought up in an extremely Christian family, half of which is catholic and half of which is free presbyterian so if anyone on here knows about those two sects they'll realise they just fight with each other non stop, but the one thing i learnt from Christianity was ultimately you will be judged by god and as it says in the lords prayer forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, so i dont get why Christians are so unforgiving but yeah they do my head in

[Tchaikovsky]

Awesome about getting those kids in trouble for being anti-gay. If there's one thing I cannot stand it's people using their religion to pass judgment on others. It gives the more accepting versions of religion a bad name.

[Tchaikovsky]

Nah thats a fair point about the truth in it, but i mean i was brought up in an extremely Christian family, half of which is catholic and half of which is free presbyterian so if anyone on here knows about those two sects they'll realise they just fight with each other non stop

I was brought up in an Episcopalian family. So I guess I kind of got lucky. It's a pretty open church. At least the one I go to is.

[Detective TurtleHolmes]

Anyone who seriously tells you you are going to Hell is not a friend.

Actually, a very good friend of mine once told me I'm going to Hell. I didn't think that it was a particularly nice thing to say, but I wasn't about to get myself upset over it.

Oh yeah, my best friend insinuates that I'm going to go to hell all the time. I think he's too meek to actually say it, but whenever the topic of religion comes up, he gives me one of those oh-you-are-so-going-to-hell shakes of the head.

Anyway, I agree with both Apostatebabe and Edd. Do what she said, but focus on her, talk about her feelings afterward. If she feels uncomfortable, put on a funny hat and your best serious face. Never fails.

[The Sherbertman]

put on a funny hat and your best serious face.

haha!! thats sure to work how come i never managed to think of it... brilliant! lol
cool well i'll try that thanks guys

he is a friend just until the subject of religion comes up

[MonkeysInACan]

Well I guess the only thing you can do is to wait for your "friend" to find out they're gay and develop a meth addiction

[Clifford]

What's that guy to say who's going to hell or not? It isn't right for him to shove his beliefs at her like that, everyone's entitled to their own opinion. In my opinion hell will be a lot more fun because there will be so many people there