Lecture from freeper relative - RANT

So. I am currently unemployed and living with relatives while looking for work. I am in this situation because my long-term, foreign (and emotionally abusive, asshole) 'partner' decided to 'send me back' just before I was due to get permanent residence status in the UK. Told me he needed a 'break' then, 24 hours after I arrived back in the US, told me it would be a good idea to look for work over here!

I have massive student loan debt and no assets. I have always been a heretic, iconoclast, etc. I am hoping to use this difficult time as an opportunity to re-evaluate my life and escape from consumerism, wage slavery, etc. (I was on a rat-race-career track in the UK).

I got upset the other day (it comes and goes, understandably), and my freeper relative followed me into the bedroom and made the following statements (my replies appear in parentheses):

'Your life is in turmoil because you don't have a relationship with God.' (Your life is in turmoil worse than mine, if you ask me. You're the one who is always complaining about every aspect of your life even though you are retired before age 50 and have a lovely house!)

'I don't understand why you hate God.' (How can I hate God when I don't believe in God?)

'You've turned your back on religion because of all those kids in school that you didn't like who were Christians and you need to get past that.' (That was ten years ago. I didn't care what those kids thought then, and I sure as hell don't now - I mean, COME ON!)

'I just KNOW there is a God and I just KNOW Jesus. (Good for you, I don't have those warm and fuzzy feelings, and I need more than a fuzzy feeling to base my life on something, anyway! I have tried to believe in it, but I just can't. And I don't have to apologize to you about it!)

'I never liked those hypocrites, either - that's why I don't go to church. I believe that if you believe in the Bible and pray, you can have a relationship with God without going to church.' (So you're telling me that you selectively pick parts of the religion that you are trying to coerce me into? That you know better than the established church and the Bible what kind of relationship God wants from you? Funny how you think you are capable of following your own individual conscience and yet I am not permitted this same liberty.)

'Your father and I should've taken you to church more when you were little, that's why you've turned out like this.' (Uh, first of all, I know more about Christianity than you do, and, secondly, I would've just been more of a heretical rebel if you had attempted to force me to go to church after about the age of 13 when I realized it was all bunk.)

'You've been brainwashed.'

I don't even need to comment on that accusation.

End of rant.

Sorry to hear about that mess. I am fortunate to have a father who doesn't give a shit and a mother who became more involved with her own pursuits than anything her children did.

Here's to your job search and freedom! :toast: