BEWARE! BEWARE!

[Onixbane]

I'm not sure if this belongs on this forum but here's to hoping.

 

 

Hi everyone, I've been a member of this site for a while now and I rarely post...In fact, this is my first real post. That aside, I want to talk about an experience I just had quiet recently that was exceedingly upsetting to me. I know <<sarcasm>> great start for a first post <</sarcasm>>. Let me set the scenario first. My family has been rather spiritual and religious. We believe in lots of things and respect other people’s beliefs. I differ with my family on the religious side. While still having an open mind and an open spirit, I cannot abide by frauds no matter which organization they belong to. That was exactly what I was confronted with tonight. Due to recent events that I cannot disclose, my mother believes that I am under metaphysical/spiritual attack (voodoo, bad influences, curses, etc.) So she begged me to see her friend who is a “faith healer” <<insert snort of derision here>> and get myself “healed”. Again, I must say that I believe that there is a possibility of such good people to exist and I keep an expansive open mind about these things. I just don’t like frauds. While she was performing her “diagnosis” ritual, which included a feather being inserted between two of my toes and her pressing on a toe joint, I noticed some discrepancies. She inflicted pain on me and called out to whatever spirit she believed to be harming me by pressing hard on the joint itself. That woman believed that she could make me utter a name by doing this. Of course, I had to be a perfect gentleman and resist the great urge to slap her silly. After hurting me she goes off to a corner and murmurs what I can only assume are prayers. When the whole thing was concluded she said that I experienced pain because of the evil that was hurting me which she just cast out. She then demonstrated that it won’t hurt anymore by doing the same thing on my other foot but this time she didn’t press as hard as she did on the other foot. She then gave me one of her concoctions of some ash mixed with water. Not wanting to hurt my mother’s feelings right there in front of her friend, I just drank the suspicious concoction. That was the end of that for the night.

 

This experience left me feeling rather angry and hurt. I feel angry because this woman is preying on the hopes and beliefs of other people and all in the name of God. I feel hurt because while I trust my mother very much, she just betrayed that trust by exposing me to a fraud and all for her own piece of mind. The lesson from all this is that there are people out there who would take advantage of the weaknesses of others. They take faith, vulnerabilities, and wishful thinking and make themselves feel important. BEWARE! Beware of these people I say! One thing that I left out is that I’m not out to my mother. While she’s okay with other people being gay, she will not have one of her children as a homosexual. Eventually I might tell her and if she’s this bad now, it may get worse later. I think she’d definitely join one of those evil churches who think they can cure homosexuality if I told her. I do love my mother and it saddens me that she consorts with frauds and is being spiritually deceived. Thank you for listening to my rant.

[Menace]

me, i will somehow convince my mom if she was like that. But, im a pretty straight forward person. Hopefully, you can conincer her to be religous but religion comes from her perspective and not someone elses.

[Cia]

There are many reasons I'm an atheist. #1 is that I don't like people who use their 'religion' whatever that is, as an excuse to hurt others. Physically or emotionally... it's a shitty and illogical excuse. It sounds like you were subjected to both, though the emotional harm seems worse than the physical. You sound like a good son, but remember, your mother has a duty to be a good parent. You are not obligated to subject yourself to anything that harms your wellbeing for someone else and anyone that asks you to do that is wrong. I hope things get better for you.

[Bill W]

Although I am a very spiritual person and believe in God, I have little use for organized religion. I find that most religious leaders are like snake oil salesmen who will sell you any load of crap, as long as it benefits them. When I see the way some of these people live, in mansions and with expensive cars and such, and then think of the words in the scriptures, 'that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God,' then I know that they don't truly believe what they're preaching. With the exception of Billy Graham and MLK Jr., I don't rmember many other spiritual leaders who didn't use their faith to promote their own agenda, not that of God. Unfortunately, people buy into this, and it can be any religion doing this, and your mother obviously finds personal solace in these beliefs. In that vein, there is little you can do to change her, so it's best if you just distance yourself from it before it gets any worse.

[Billy Martin]

[Krista]

I think Spirituality and a Belief in religion should be a individual practice.. I believe people get a lot more out of it. Mine has always been that way, although I do sometimes go to church, it is a nice one that doesn't force anything. The Pastor is more of a story teller than a fear mongering screamer...

 

Anyway, back to your situation:

 

You should HONESTLY think about telling your mother about how you felt. That you felt completely uncomfortable and taken advantage of.. The reason I say this, is because your mother may want to keep having you go to her friend for various reasons. Especially if she thinks it did you a world of good.. and you may end up resenting your mother. Assure her that you're a well rounded man - you seem to be. Remind her that you've made good decisions in the past and that you don't need the inconvenience the friend has caused you. She may understand, she may not, but it still needs to be told. I wouldn't want to be subjected to something like that - especially, a fraud and a liar. I have no use for people like that.

 

Good luck!

[Onixbane]

Thank you for the comments so far. As I've told Zombie, who emailed me about this subject, I intend to keep an eye on the fraudulent witch (no offense to our wiccan members) so I can have her arrested should she decide to make the mistake on inflicting harm on anyone I know. I'd love to see her exorcise away the bars of her jail cell. lol!

 

To Menace, Cia, Bill, Billy, and Krista, I agree completely with what you all have said. I told my mother how I felt and she hasn't spoken about the subject since last night.

 

There are many different reasons why people seek out their faith. For some it fulfils a need of belonging and comfort for others it's hope. Personally, I do not subscribe to one set of beliefs. The universe is infinite and anything can exist so I don't knock off the idea of a higher power. I just abhor these frauds. Who knows, if there really is a higher power out there, that particular charlatan is in for some deep trouble should said higher being take notice. For now, I intend to watch where this goes.