My husband had absolutely no interest in being the spiritual leader in our family

Toro · Nov 4, 2018

Alone-in-my-faith said:
I understand that, but this happened more than 10 years ago when he was barely in his early 20's. We all grow and mature, we have all done some pretty dumb stuff back when we were younger. That's not the person he is now.

So how do we strike this compromise, I want some form of worship be it church, family prayer you know something and it seems my son and husband want to do none of it. I have given up on church every week, I would take anything at this point that has some modicum of Christian teaching.

You are partially right on this but it goes one step back further. Right now it seems we do not agree on exactly what the agreement was. To my husband the way he interpretes the agreement is that he won't forbid our son's spiritual upbringing but he wouldn't contribute to it either. I believe as you out it that he isn't living up to his part of the agreement by offering more fun alternatives to religious education /instruction. How would you suggest overcoming this first impasse?

That is totally true but I want to direct you to
Proverbs 22:6. That is what I am looking for advice on. How would you do that when the child is completely uninterested in training and the other parent won't support discipline in this matter?
I don't know if you are married or have had children but if you do/did how does/did your family handle wedge issues?

I dont have a child, but I was once a child that was very lost. I even took pride and joy in my wicked ways and I FOUGHT those that tried to force salvation upon me, tooth and nail. I even spoke many things against God to upset those that tried to force their beliefs on me.

I have NOT ONCE come across a single person that was "FORCED to be Christian" that was truly saved.

Why? Because God wants the heart. His is NOT wanting people to be forced to be in His presence but those that CHOOSE Him.

When your child is a child then you lead them (even if your husband has no interest in leading, God can still use you IF you let Him... by allowing HIS will, not worrying about imposing your own will. Yes of course you want your child to be saved, but YOU cant even save yourself let alone your child. ALL of that is in Gods hands. Meaning you pray that your child will be brought to the Lord, and keep praying trusting in Him while YOU deal with YOUR walk with the Lord.) If your child sees you truly walking with the Lord, having peace amongst the chaos of life, THEY will see the truth that is to be found in the Lord.

To force them will only make them resentful. Either of you or of a false image of God that was forced on them as a "God you love or else" instead of a God that loves you so much, He respects your decision to not be with Him, rather than force you to be with Him.

If we, as parents or simply as children of God do not truly believe what was preached to us... why would our children or those in the world be convinced of the truth of Christ if we, those who claim His name arent truly convinced?

When they are a child you teach them (lead by example as Jesus did with us) and when they get older you have to trust that you raised them under the right guidance (by example) and trust that God will keep them. (Bring them out of their stubborn/hard hearted nature that we all have)

This goes for anyone. Even your husband not wanting to lead. God can change hearts.

There was a time even Moses didnt want to lead.

PloverWing · Nov 4, 2018

Alone-in-my-faith: You've gotten some good advice from other posters. I'll second some of the advice, and add one of my own.

1) There are troubles in your marriage that go beyond whether anybody goes to church. It sounds like there's stuff out of your and your husband's past that surfaces whenever you try to resolve a disagreement. Your son is picking up on some of the disrespect that's being expressed. (I don't like his impression that you're not good at science, for example.) Marriage counseling is a good idea.

2) You're the one in the family who's religious, so you're the natural one to be the spiritual leader. Your husband can teach your son how to catch crabs, and you can teach your son about the Christian faith; each parent takes the lead in teaching the children about their specialized interests.

3) My additional suggestion: Maybe there are activities that express faith that aren't church services and aren't reading, that you and your son could do together. My teenage son doesn't much like sitting through church services, for example, but he comes with us when we go to a local church on Saturdays to distribute groceries to local needy families. Is there something like that -- a church-based community service activity -- that you could do together?

mkgal1 · Nov 4, 2018

Alone-in-my-faith said:
Like I said in a previous post even if a child is to young to say be a research chemist or to decided if he will accept Christ you start building that base young so the foundation is strong for the future. That's when my son called me a liar! He told me that his daddy doesn't read, and daddy hates books, but daddy is "smarter in science than you are mommy and he is more fun, maybe that's why daddy has more friends and is happier all the time". With that I was almost in tears so I sent him to his room and took away his TV and Nintendo.

Since you put all this out there, I just wanted to comment on this. To me....this sort of reaction is only going to shut off genuine communication with your son. It seems that your family is already divided enough, but punishing for honesty (even if it was harsh and hurtful - it's how he felt) is probably going to put a stop to your son sharing *anything* he thinks with you.

Dan61861 · Nov 5, 2018

How is your mom and dad, did your mom enjoy her trip to Europe?

Alone-in-my-faith · Nov 5, 2018

@Toro ,@mkgal1 ,@PloverWing : I totally agree with your over arcing big picture that no one can be forced to be Christian and that going to church as a matter of routine isn't something that should be forced but there are some little details in the weeds that do really really scare me. To be really truthful with all of you, my husband and I don't really have issues in our marriage asides for this one disagreement over religion and reading concerning our son. When it comes to other aspects he is great, he is a provider, he is caring and most importantly he is a good role model of what it is to be a good person. And as funny as it my sound that is what is scaring me a little as it relates to our son's religious up bringing.
The world today has changed and I think tye way our faith gets attacked has gotten a whole lot more insidious. Of course today we still have the atheists and the humanists like we have always so I am not talking about those guys. I am talking about the influence of universalism ( I don't know if that's the right word if it's not please tell me).
Back in the 90's when I was growing up that was the time of "it's good to be bad" so I remember the metal bands that pushed the worship of Satan. It was "cool" to be wicked, allot of us remember that. I am ashamed to say that when I was much younger I fell for some of that glitz and wanted to rebel by being being "bad". Did I really honestly think Satan was lord, honestly no. Not even back then but that was popular and I wanted to be cool. As I got older and matured, developed more bonds and connections it hit me in the head, why do I want to be bad? My family my friends, people at church are so nice to me, I want to reciprocate and be like them. So it was very easy and logical for me to relatively quickly drop the bad lessons I learned from popular culture of my time.
But now I think the prevailing message in our popular culture isn't "Jesus is square, and Satan is Rad" it seems more to be "not just Christians are good" and it seems to be morphing into "you will be saved as long as you are a good person regardless of what you believe". Until yesterday I had this thought swirling in my head but couldn't really articulate it. It wasn't until I caught up with a few episodes of the Simpsons on demand did it hit me and put the words into my mouth.
One of this season's episodes of the Simpsons was a vinette show consisting of 3 loosely related stories. The framing story was St Peter and God sitting in front of a TV and God lamenting to st Peter why Heaven is so empty because "he just built condos". St Peter stated that he was just enforcing the "strict entrance requirements". He then suggests maybe loosening the entrance requirements. For any of you interested the episode is available on you tube by now so I am not going to describe it in detail but the short of it is, it showed how there are good people of other religions and good atheists too (which I am not disagreeing with) and ends with God snapping his fingers and making a decree that "all people with good should will now and forever be welcome into heaven" abs in an instant the entire cast of the show is in heaven with wings and halos.
This is a stark contrast between the Simpsons I grew up with when it was cool for Bart to be "bad to the bone". You all remember when George Bush said that American families should be more like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons? At least back then it was easy to say you can't really live that way.
The world is already full of sneaky and not so sneaky influences pushing salvation is for all good people . And like some one else said church can never or fun activities. So really this is the thing I am finding hardest. How will my child learn that being a good person isn't enough. We tell ourselves that we live by example and our children will want to emulate our goodness, but what about the good examples set by atheists and Muslims and other nonbelievers?

Swan7 · Nov 5, 2018

Alone-in-my-faith said:
@Toro ,@mkgal1 ,@PloverWing : I totally agree with your over arcing big picture that no one can be forced to be Christian and that going to church as a matter of routine isn't something that should be forced but there are some little details in the weeds that do really really scare me. To be really truthful with all of you, my husband and I don't really have issues in our marriage asides for this one disagreement over religion and reading concerning our son. When it comes to other aspects he is great, he is a provider, he is caring and most importantly he is a good role model of what it is to be a good person. And as funny as it my sound that is what is scaring me a little as it relates to our son's religious up bringing.
The world today has changed and I think tye way our faith gets attacked has gotten a whole lot more insidious. Of course today we still have the atheists and the humanists like we have always so I am not talking about those guys. I am talking about the influence of universalism ( I don't know if that's the right word if it's not please tell me).
Back in the 90's when I was growing up that was the time of "it's good to be bad" so I remember the metal bands that pushed the worship of Satan. It was "cool" to be wicked, allot of us remember that. I am ashamed to say that when I was much younger I fell for some of that glitz and wanted to rebel by being being "bad". Did I really honestly think Satan was lord, honestly no. Not even back then but that was popular and I wanted to be cool. As I got older and matured, developed more bonds and connections it hit me in the head, why do I want to be bad? My family my friends, people at church are so nice to me, I want to reciprocate and be like them. So it was very easy and logical for me to relatively quickly drop the bad lessons I learned from popular culture of my time.
But now I think the prevailing message in our popular culture isn't "Jesus is square, and Satan is Rad" it seems more to be "not just Christians are good" and it seems to be morphing into "you will be saved as long as you are a good person regardless of what you believe". Until yesterday I had this thought swirling in my head but couldn't really articulate it. It wasn't until I caught up with a few episodes of the Simpsons on demand did it hit me and put the words into my mouth.
One of this season's episodes of the Simpsons was a vinette show consisting of 3 loosely related stories. The framing story was St Peter and God sitting in front of a TV and God lamenting to st Peter why Heaven is so empty because "he just built condos". St Peter stated that he was just enforcing the "strict entrance requirements". He then suggests maybe loosening the entrance requirements. For any of you interested the episode is available on you tube by now so I am not going to describe it in detail but the short of it is, it showed how there are good people of other religions and good atheists too (which I am not disagreeing with) and ends with God snapping his fingers and making a decree that "all people with good should will now and forever be welcome into heaven" abs in an instant the entire cast of the show is in heaven with wings and halos.
This is a stark contrast between the Simpsons I grew up with when it was cool for Bart to be "bad to the bone". You all remember when George Bush said that American families should be more like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons? At least back then it was easy to say you can't really live that way.
The world is already full of sneaky and not so sneaky influences pushing salvation is for all good people . And like some one else said church can never or fun activities. So really this is the thing I am finding hardest. How will my child learn that being a good person isn't enough. We tell ourselves that we live by example and our children will want to emulate our goodness, but what about the good examples set by atheists and Muslims and other nonbelievers?

I know exactly what you are talking about and I watch a Canadian man on YouTube who was indeed a Wiccan or whatever they are called. He was huge into the New Age until God changed his heart. This guy now serves Christ to the fullest, spreading His Word in shedding light into this false Christianity mixed with New Age. That is what he now fights against.

I have also read a book about a man who was big into sorcery for most of his life, being born into it by his dad. God also changed this man's heart and he serves God and has denounced Satan.

There's even stories/history in the Bible about this. The Eunic for example, he heard the Word of God and got baptized!

I had this very same worry you did if I ever have kids, but honestly that is the least of my worries right now. My concern is with the church as a whole. There are Christians out there still on milk of the Word and don't know or understand Who God is, and believe the words of mankind. This is really no different than Genesis. We have to know Who God is and understand Him, but one can't do that until that one has opened their heart to God and let Him dwell in them. As the saying goes, "it takes 2".
The only thing I can suggest is prayer for everyone who is still on milk of the Word or weak in faith.

oh and the only goodness we can pass on to others is the Goodness of Christ. He reflects through us, if we allow Him to.

PloverWing · Nov 5, 2018

Alone-in-my-faith said:
And like some one else said church can never or fun activities. So really this is the thing I am finding hardest. How will my child learn that being a good person isn't enough. We tell ourselves that we live by example and our children will want to emulate our goodness, but what about the good examples set by atheists and Muslims and other nonbelievers?

I do appreciate this problem. There have been a couple of books written lately about the issue that I think you're talking about, people growing up with the vaguely-formed idea that being a Christian means being sorta nice to everybody, and missing the realization that there's more to it than that. I don't entirely know how to advise you, but I'll make some guesses.

If you're looking for your son to pick up on the distinctly religious aspects of your Christian faith -- prayer, worship, Bible study, etc. -- but he's resisting participating in those things himself right now, maybe one approach is to do some of those things in his presence, not exactly to show off, but so he can see you. When you do your daily Bible reading, do it in a corner of the living room where he can see you, quietly, like you would sit and read any other book. Maybe mention how much you enjoyed the speaker at church, or how you're still puzzling over some question that came up in Sunday School, or how you liked the choir anthem. I'm not sure exactly what form this should take for you. I don't mean show off, exactly, and never be false about it -- if the preacher was boring, don't pretend you enjoyed the sermon. But see if there's a way to be a little bit public about the aspects of your spirituality that genuinely enrich your life.

In my family, until my children grew up, I was the one who was the most enthusiastic about liturgy, theology, and Church music. I was the one who went to all the Holy Week services, and who has stacks of theology books piled up on the shelves, and who plays hymns while driving in the car, all because I truly like that stuff. My kids saw that, and learned that those things were important to me, and that I genuinely enjoyed them. My now-adult daughters share some of my religious interests and not others (liturgy, yes; theology books, not so much), but through me they could see that these things were valuable.

You're Charismatic, not Episcopalian, so your specific religious practices will be different. Still, try to find a way to let your son see what you enjoy and what is deeply meaningful to you. Not "Son, you really ought to do X", but rather "I really enjoyed X today." Maybe in the long term, that will help him to see church through your eyes.

It's hard, when your partner doesn't share your religious beliefs and practices. Interfaith marriages can be really difficult. The above is my best suggestion so far; maybe others have some better ideas.

Alone-in-my-faith · Nov 6, 2018

PloverWing said:
I do appreciate this problem. There have been a couple of books written lately about the issue that I think you're talking about, people growing up with the vaguely-formed idea that being a Christian means being sorta nice to everybody, and missing the realization that there's more to it than that. I don't entirely know how to advise you, but I'll make some guesses.

If you're looking for your son to pick up on the distinctly religious aspects of your Christian faith -- prayer, worship, Bible study, etc. -- but he's resisting participating in those things himself right now, maybe one approach is to do some of those things in his presence, not exactly to show off, but so he can see you. When you do your daily Bible reading, do it in a corner of the living room where he can see you, quietly, like you would sit and read any other book. Maybe mention how much you enjoyed the speaker at church, or how you're still puzzling over some question that came up in Sunday School, or how you liked the choir anthem. I'm not sure exactly what form this should take for you. I don't mean show off, exactly, and never be false about it -- if the preacher was boring, don't pretend you enjoyed the sermon. But see if there's a way to be a little bit public about the aspects of your spirituality that genuinely enrich your life.

In my family, until my children grew up, I was the one who was the most enthusiastic about liturgy, theology, and Church music. I was the one who went to all the Holy Week services, and who has stacks of theology books piled up on the shelves, and who plays hymns while driving in the car, all because I truly like that stuff. My kids saw that, and learned that those things were important to me, and that I genuinely enjoyed them. My now-adult daughters share some of my religious interests and not others (liturgy, yes; theology books, not so much), but through me they could see that these things were valuable.

You're Charismatic, not Episcopalian, so your specific religious practices will be different. Still, try to find a way to let your son see what you enjoy and what is deeply meaningful to you. Not "Son, you really ought to do X", but rather "I really enjoyed X today." Maybe in the long term, that will help him to see church through your eyes.

It's hard, when your partner doesn't share your religious beliefs and practices. Interfaith marriages can be really difficult. The above is my best suggestion so far; maybe others have some better ideas.

Your advice is the best of all and I am going to try that. However I just can't stop thinking about that Simpsons episode now and how it relates to the state of our faith today. My child doesn't watch the Simpsons (it just never really spoke to him I guess) so I guess my concern is a broader more nebulous concern about the world's influence on faith as a whole than is influence on the faith of the people in my life. This has got me thinking of my own personal misconceptions of what it means to be Christian, what shaped my own vision of who/what God is, and what happens when we die.
And I will be very very honest, when I was very young I thought that if you were a good person and when you died you floated up to heaven and received a halo, a harp a pair of wings and a white choir robe; conversely if you were a bad person you went to the other place where you got a pitch fork and a pair of red pajamas. Where did I get this idea from? It wasn't Sunday school it was from those old looneytoons cartoons. I am sure the Sunday school teachers taught that heaven and hell were not like that but for the life of me I cannot recall a single one of those lessons whereas I still remember vividly that one looneytoons where Yosemite Sam got exploded, was sent to hell and stood before Satan. Then Satan kept sending him back to earth to try to kill bugs bunny the episode ended with Sam telling Satan that he wasn't going to go back again and that he was staying in hell with him at which point he grabbed a pitch fork and put on a devil costume. I haven't seen this cartoon since I was probably younger than my son but I remember it and so many others so vividly. Those were really the images which formed my earliest notions of the after life, heaven and hell. So I guess that Simpsons episode is not any more or less deceiving about the details of faith and salvation but this is still a very interesting topic I don't see much discussion on. It is easy to vilify inappropriate contentography due to its morally corrosive message but it is a much tougher sell to convince some one, especially a non Christian that the idea they saw promoted in the latest Simpsons episode "God and st. Peter will let you into heaven as long as you are a good person" is so much more dangerous to salvation than a inappropriate contento fick. Because with the inappropriate contento at least there is no question that it is abhorrent in God's eyes.
This may be a better topic for discussion in the general theology forum .

Katya123 · Nov 12, 2018

Alone-in-my-faith said:
My husband is a good guy but he has absolutely no interest in being the spiritual leader of our family. As a result our eight year old has decided that he wants to be like his dad and skip church and bible study in order to have more fun in life.
I have spoke to my husband about this but he won't budge. I asked him if he could attend church with us again or lead us in prayer but he flat out refuses. He says that if I want to do those things is fine by him, if I can get our child to go along more power to me but he will not participate nor will he make our child participate against his will.
I know these days it is very common for some of us women to go to church with our kids but without our husbands; I was wondering how you ladies in this situation handle it when your kids want to be like their dad and forgo church.

Katya123 · Nov 12, 2018

Alone-in-my-faith said:
My husband is a good guy but he has absolutely no interest in being the spiritual leader of our family. As a result our eight year old has decided that he wants to be like his dad and skip church and bible study in order to have more fun in life.
I have spoke to my husband about this but he won't budge. I asked him if he could attend church with us again or lead us in prayer but he flat out refuses. He says that if I want to do those things is fine by him, if I can get our child to go along more power to me but he will not participate nor will he make our child participate against his will.
I know these days it is very common for some of us women to go to church with our kids but without our husbands; I was wondering how you ladies in this situation handle it when your kids want to be like their dad and forgo church.

Hi there! Wondering if something happened that he no longer wants to go to church or have any thing to do with God, the church, etc. You said he did go to church at one time. Is he truly a Christian.....I mean has he given his heart to the Lord? If he hasnt, then he really cant be the spiritual head of your home. Can you do your part as a mom....take your son to church on Sundays, pray with him, give him Godly advice, Godly perspective, live it in front of him and then trust God. I took my children to church for years without their dad cause he wasnt interested.
At 8 years old, my son did not have a choice. He was to go to church at least on Sundays. When he got older, he could make his own choice.

Ana the Ist · Nov 16, 2018

Alone-in-my-faith said:
Of course I agree with that. But how do I do this in practice? He is also the son of my husband and my husband refuses to make church and bible study part of the rules. He says that it is hypocritical for him to enforce my rules concerning church on our son if he doesn't enforce them on him self.

He doesn't seem like an unreasonable man...in fact, it sounds like he's reasoned his way through this issue. I would suggest that you try reasoning with him.

I would tell him that you think it's confusing for your child to be getting two different messages from his parents. One message is that it's ok to not attend church. The other is that it isn't ok to not attend church. Tell him that you don't mind your child making this decision when he's older....but since he's very young and church isn't very "fun"....of course the child would rather not attend. It's not because the child is making an informed decision about church....it's because he's a child and wants "fun".

As such, it's reasonable for your husband to make the child attend if only because he needs to respect his mother's rules. You aren't forcing a viewpoint on the child, and if he decides at a later age (one that you determine together) he can choose to stop attending....and you'll respect that (and you should...compulsion is not worship).

As for now, your husband should back you up...if only to teach your child to respect his mother's rules/beliefs. Later, should he choose to not attend, you'll extend your patience and understanding and not argue against it.

It's good that your husband doesn't want to be a hypocrite...but teaching your child that he must obey and respect his mother at this age is not hypocritical.

If your husband is the reasonable man he sounds like, and you approach the issue this way, I think you can manage a compromise until your child is old enough to decide for himself.

When u asked him to just do this for me because it is important to me, he dredged up an old promise I made to him years ago when I promised him that under no circumstance would I ever try to empose church or any other trapping of Christianity ever again and that matters of his personal faith are his to decid alone (and yes I stupidly put this all in writing )

Lol why would you regret putting that in writing? Did you make the promise with no intention of keeping it? Maybe just to keep him happy or in hopes he would change?

Also about a child of 8 deciding where he wants to go, he decides that he would rather spend time with his dad rather than going to church and his dad flat out refuses to tell him that daddy is busy and he needs to go to church with mommy. Last Sunday when I told our son to get ready for church he just clung to his dad and said he wants to go have fun with daddy instead. I went to church alone again and they went four wheeling

Try focusing on the line of reasoning above. Your husband can make it clear your little boy needs to obey and respect his mother without being a hypocrite. When the boy is older, and has some understanding of what the church is all about (maybe 14-16?) and what it has to offer....then he can decide whether or not to attend for himself.

It's a reasonable compromise that doesn't sacrifice your husband's integrity nor your spiritual beliefs.

I hope he sees it that way, and good luck.

DZoolander · Nov 17, 2018

Alternate weekends for church.

DZoolander · Nov 17, 2018

After having read further -

Does your husband make Texas smokers, have an unusual obsession with katanas, etc?

peter2 · Nov 17, 2018

Alone-in-my-faith said:
I promised him that under no circumstance would I ever try to empose church or any other trapping of Christianity ever again and that matters of his personal faith are his to decid alone (and yes I stupidly put this all in writing )

First, you seem to be caught yourself in a trap. Why did your husband make you sign such a document? His beliefs are his own business, i agree. Do you make of your beliefs a priority for you and your child or is the priority to be faithful to this parody of mariage that makes you unable to bear testimony to your son of where true happiness lies?
In a nutshell, isn't your husband the one that emposes you and Christ to be both Fallen into a trap?
I know it's probably easier for a man to say such things, and all the more to perform them, but do non-religious marriages exist in your country? If yes, may be would your pastor or priest not disagree to your non-religious divorcing and your non-religious and imitation remarrying with someone(old man or old woman) that would share in your religious beliefs, be accordingly respectful of your fidelity in your first marriage, and may be could a notary add clause in order to Watch over the heritage of your heir and this of this old man or woman's heirs, respectively. All this in order to bear testimony to your child that for you, fidelity to Christ, first, to your husband, secondly do not mean to be a prisoner of worldly lobbies first, and secondly, that there is more permanent and spiritual happiness and wealth, deeper peace in attending Church every Sunday, that doesn't exist in temporary pleasures such as fishing.
I must add: 1 may be would it be an irreversible divorce with your husband, may be not. 2 I know Saint Paul(i 'm catholic) tells us may be we are able to save our husband or our wives, but think first of saving yourself. Let them free to choose salvation or not

tall73 · Nov 18, 2018

Alone-in-my-faith said:
Let me guess you are one of those keyboard intellectuals who wants the Internet to know just how sagacious you are but you fear "being trolled" because you great looking foolish to the anonymous Internet strangers who follow you. That's why you need to hedge your comments with "I think this is a troll but I'll bite anyways".

More like I would rather not remove all possibility that this is an actual person with an actual issue until I see their reaction. But now, having seen the reaction, of course you are the same old troll who keeps making up fundamentalist posters with rebellious family members. And this time you get the bonus mileage of going on and on about how boring the Bible is.

Last time at least one poster seemed legitimately hurt over the whole thing before the thread was deleted. Because of the nature of this section of the forum it is hard to do much about such trolling.

They would be better not to delete the threads, but just to lock them so that folks could more clearly see the history. Then people would be less likely to entertain you.

tall73 · Nov 18, 2018

DZoolander said:
After having read further -

Does your husband make Texas smokers, have an unusual obsession with katanas, etc?

Exactly, and the rebellious wife to vegas thread, and all the rest.

DZoolander · Nov 19, 2018

tall73 said:
Exactly, and the rebellious wife to vegas thread, and all the rest.

The thing I've always wondered is... This group has had (at least in my time here - hard to believe nearly 12 years...lol) two main trolls. At least at first glance, it seems to be two.

The first was this person who over the span of a couple of years kept posting under various screen names stories that were along the lines of "I'm a Catholic lady who makes oodles of money as a newscaster. I was married to a crazy guy - and I forged his signature on the documents to get a divorce - now he's extorting me" (or some variant of that)... And the other is this "rebellious family member" theme.

Both went on for quite some time - over the span of years...lol

I've always wondered though if it's actually the same person.

tall73 · Nov 19, 2018

DZoolander said:
The thing I've always wondered is... This group has had (at least in my time here - hard to believe nearly 12 years...lol) two main trolls. At least at first glance, it seems to be two.

The first was this person who over the span of a couple of years kept posting under various screen names stories that were along the lines of "I'm a Catholic lady who makes oodles of money as a newscaster. I was married to a crazy guy - and I forged his signature on the documents to get a divorce - now he's extorting me" (or some variant of that)... And the other is this "rebellious family member" theme.

Both went on for quite some time - over the span of years...lol

I've always wondered though if it's actually the same person.

Hm, interesting question. There is at least one affluent or highly successful person in all the stories.

The recent one seems to have a more pointed agenda. I figured it may be a group that discusses ideas on a private forum and then giggles over the results. So the reason the common themes of fundamentalism and rebellion against it keep coming up, and the posts get long and hackneyed is that they are group thinking them to meet an agenda. The more outlandish they can make it and still keep the troll going, the more the laughs. And if you have folks egging each other on you can maintain momentum for the task longer.

In the past we had a lot of folks on CF quoted on the Fundies say the darndest things website. Folks would discuss and then relay back things people on here said to hold them up to ridicule. It could be something similar, with a better sense of humor. Similar to 4chan troll attempts, but from a different slant.

If it is a single individual that is some dedication to the craft! Or just an axe to grind.

DZoolander · Nov 19, 2018

Yep - I mean in either case they remain dedicated to it for years lol

2PhiloVoid · Nov 19, 2018

DZoolander said:
Yep - I mean in either case they remain dedicated to it for years lol

...yeah, I've been noticing this 'trend' over the past year or so myself. And then.....there were those 'two' newbies who supposedly signed up yesterday (I think?), and both had a very, very similar style and complexity of circumstances. And I just sit there think'n, "...yeah, right"!

My husband had absolutely no interest in being the spiritual leader in our family

Oh, Hello!

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Other scholars got to me before you did!

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