Closed Mindedness

Post by **Ageless Stranger** » Fri Jun 06, 2003 1:20 am

I really have a problem with people who are closed minded. its so frustrating, and worse, its so common. racism is absolutely disgusting to me, and probably the worst form of this foolish state of mind. sadly, it happens way too much on the religious front as well. i am a devout christian, and i cant stand when people question me because i choose atheists for my company. my 3 best friends..top 3..are all atheists, and i love them with all my heart. they are wonderful people, and they are respectful of my beliefs and i theirs. unfortunately, some of my christian friends think i am doing badly by spending time with them..which is the complete antithesis of what christianity is about. a true, mature christian realizes that there is not "us" and "them" mentallity...its just Gods children. many christians have the wrong idea: that it is our job to convert other people. this is not true. as it says in Ephesians 2, "it is by grace you have been saved.....for it is by his grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast." its not the christians job to convert others...i know SO many who do this and then BOAST about how many ppl they saved. BULL! on the contrary, it is the christians job to love EVERYONE and love God. thats it. Matthew 22:37-40 says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and wiht all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: love the neighbor as yourself. All the Land and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Jesus said this when the Sadducees asked him what the greatest commandment is. so, these christians, my friends, are directly disobeying this commandment by having the us and them mentality and not associating with people because of differences in opinion. this is highly disturbing to me, because it gives christians such as myself a bad image and it is hurtful to God and other ppl. also, atheists do the same thing..its very disappointing. i met a girl the other day who thought my friend and i were cool until we told her that we are christians, and then she started to make fun of us for it. my feelings werent hurt or anything, but i was saddended to see that there is such closed mindedness throughout the world. i realize that by talking about christians and atheists like this, i am having a form of us and them mentality, but this was purely for simplification of this discussion. forgive my rambling, i just needed to rant a little bit about my disappointment in the state of our world. i just wish we could all be respectful of each other, and that christians would do their job and love people as God commands. its just a shame.

Post by **The Leper Fairy** » Fri Jun 06, 2003 4:34 am

First off, this is the 3rd time I've tried to post, but both previous times my computer crapped out on me. So I am rather frustrated and will keep it short.

Close mindedness is my #1 pet peeve

There's this kid in my school who was going off about how all gays should be shot. I told him how I felt that there was nothing wrong with homosexuality. Now he thinks I'm a lesbian. Good.

The End.

I'm not gonna risk typing more.

Post by **Reisheiruhime** » Fri Jun 06, 2003 5:42 am

Heh, you think that's bad? Everyone in my school thinks I'm a leper, just because I said that lepers shouldn't all be sent off to some deserted island and killed. (I had been reading a book on leprosy, and the other kids noticed, and therefore a debate began)

Post by **Ageless Stranger** » Fri Jun 06, 2003 5:51 am

good gosh! thats so not cool for both of you. ppl just arent fair at all. gosh whats wrong with everybody?

Post by **I'm Murrin** » Fri Jun 06, 2003 6:10 pm

I personally do not think I have encountered a person who was that close-minded, but the idea that people can be like that is something I really don't like.

I myself am not perfect, however - although in mind I am accepting of peoples ideas and beliefs I occaisionally get onto certain subjects in conversation--vegetarianism, religion, etc--and stop thinking about what I'm saying, and I can occaisionally sound close-minded to people, but the thing is, when that happens I tend to exaggerate my opinions, because I really don't have a problem with things like that, although I don't entirely agree with them.

Post by **Ageless Stranger** » Fri Jun 06, 2003 7:40 pm

I know exactly what you mean, Murrin. i do the same thing sometimes. vegetarianism is a good example..i have no problem with it at all, i just love meat. but i have dont stuff like jokingly threaten to break up with my gf if she stops eating meat. i would never do that. but yeah i think theres a big difference between being unaccepting of other ppls beliefs and in joking around. theres no reason to look down on people because of their business, as long as what they do isnt adversely affecting other people.

Post by **Foamfollower1013** » Thu Jun 26, 2003 2:20 am

There are many people in my school who think all Arabs are evil and should be shot. People like that make me so mad.

~Foamy~

Post by **[Syl]** » Thu Jun 26, 2003 4:47 am

People like that should be shot.
*snoogins*

Post by **caamora** » Thu Jun 26, 2003 5:35 am

Unfortunately, I think everyone at one time or another has been close=minded. I know I have been at times! And I do the same as Murrin! I sometimes open my mouth and spout my beliefs and arguments without thinking first. The only thing that ends up happening is that I sound stupid!

But it is difficult to deal with someone who will not even listen to another side of an argument or even concede that there may be more than one side to any given issue.

Are we being close-minded about being open-minded?

Post by **Fist and Faith** » Thu Jun 26, 2003 11:35 am

Yeah caamora. I won't tolerate intolerance!!

Post by **caamora** » Thu Jun 26, 2003 4:20 pm

Post by **The Leper Fairy** » Thu Jun 26, 2003 4:48 pm

Heh, I have a sticker on my snowboard that says Intolerance will not be tolerated

and another one that says Death to all fanatics

Ergh, what bothers me is when people pretend like they know what they mean. "Ha, death to fan-ticks. That's a good one" Bleurgh

Post by **Fist and Faith** » Thu Jun 26, 2003 9:49 pm

And- "I've told you a million times not to exaggerate!!"

Post by **[Syl]** » Fri Jun 27, 2003 1:59 am

Yeah, those fan-ticks are really annoying.

Post by z » Thu Mar 18, 2004 2:55 pm

Look in the mirror

Post by **Revan** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 2:57 pm

Everyone... Ignore Z, just ignore him. He's just trying to get attention. He wants to annoy us and get us angry. Don't listen to him or even respond in any way to anything he says.

Post by **caamora** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 5:52 pm

A little closed-minded, are we?

Post by **dANdeLION** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 5:58 pm

What, the curtains....?

Post by **I'm Murrin** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 6:15 pm

Darth, no need to draw attention to it. We all know what he's doing, we simply choose to pay it as much attention as it deserves.

Post by **W.B.** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 5:13 am

Vegetarianism is a weird one for stirring ire. Some of the meanest conversations I've witnessed (and this was when I in college, where people are supposed to be mature) were over that. Vegetarians would be baited by people who were basically trying to yank their chains out of some strange mean-spiritedness, and in response vegetarians would get self-righteous, and yikes. It wasn't something I would have thought would spark such acrimony.

Kevin's Watch

Kevin's Watch

Closed Mindedness

Closed Mindedness