A friend's experience with a Christian - more fuel for my fire...

My friend told me something truly disturbing today.

He made arrangements with someone on Ebay to buy something from him in person (I wasn't told what the item was, but that's irrelevant as you will see).

They meet, and the buyer - who is a 20-something-year-old Christian - sees my friend's tattoos. The two he saw were The Misfist's logo (grinning skull) and one of a pentagram (please note - my friend is not an evil person - quite the contrary. He's into metal music and that whole theme - including horror movies. He doesn't actually worship Satan, lol.

At this point, the buyer proceeds to whip out a bible (he said he was a Christian Missionary) and starts trying to convert him.

Now my friend has strong beliefs on this subject (his own father is converted and has literally chased my friend around their house with a bible, hehe) He kept his mouth shut but indulged the guy a little - just to be nice. He was very kind and professional to the buyer regardless.

The deal is finalized, so my friend goes home. An hour after he gets home, the buyer calls and says he wants "a refund" because he thought my friend was "evil" (word used verbatim) and also "he didn't like his tattoos". My friend still kept his cool but tried to persuade the buyer to chill out. It didn't work. The buyer was threatening to lower his rep on Ebay if he didn't do it, and my friend takes his Ebay account seriously.

So my friend had to meet this guy again - which was a 2 hour drive (same as the first time they met).

I mean.... Hypocrite?! My uncle pulls the same crap (judgemental). I see this alot. I have a reason to be angry.

/rant

Does anyone else think that this kind of behavior is hypocritical and judgemental??

[edit on 5/15/2010 by impaired]

I wouldn't have done the refund. The bad review works both ways. No one wants to buy from someone who is going to be like that.

Also,this is why most people don't like to do meet up transactions through ebay.

That's a huge bummer, and one that I give your friend props for following through with. From a Christian stance, the buyer was a bit naive, in that, I assume, they assumed the items purchased were "cursed" based on the tattoos your friend had.

I say naive because they knew nothing, again I say, nothing about your friend, except their first impression. Based on the Misfits tattoo and the like, they had reason to believe your friend was anti-Christian. Think about this for a second -- if someone came to you and just wanted to say hello, but they had a "Jesus is my Co-Pilot" T-Shirt, 7 or 8 crosses on necklaces and cross tattoos across their neck, you'd make assumptions as to the purpose of the hello, too.

So, all that to say, the Bible, post-Christ, has promised us victory over anything Satan may do -- which would mean, regardless of what your friend's intentions, Jesus won, and the item being sold has no power, so to speak.

However, to speak to you, so what? If a person has an idea, does that idea have any less power because they're a hypocrite? Let's say when Newton discovered the equations for gravity and motion, he said dogs should be beaten when they poo in the living room, but instead said "NO!" when his own dog did so and that was it, would you disregard his theories?

We're all messed up. Heck, that's a cornerstone of Christianity. If you're the one who says you're not, I say you're a hypocrite and you just joined the rest of us. If that's the measure by which we weigh theories, thought and ideas, then we need to go back to the stone-age because everything you believe is wrong -- it was thought up by a judgmental hypocrite.

Every one has their flaws of course. However I think what this guy was way off his rocker. If I saw a guy with a "Jesus is my co-pilot" t-shirt and crosses around my neck, sure I may make some assumptions in my head but I would have the common decency to not speak them aloud and give the guy a chance.

I know plenty of Misfit fans who are not anti-christans and I know plenty of people who wear cross jewelry who aren't religious nuts.

The word fanatic comes to mind, but yeah I don’t think I would meet an eBay buyer in person anyway for a big list of reasons.
I am a firmly grounded Pagan myself but some of the best and most wholesome folks I know are Christians.
It is just too bad some don’t practice what they preach.
All in all he’ll just have to use it as a learning experience I guess.

Well, first off, the buyer is just a douche.
Secondly, it's been my experience that christians (in general) are the most intolerant, bigoted, judgmental hypocrites around.
I do, however, think it's cute that I've made three enemies here, and they're all christians.
Nothing like spreading that christian love, understanding and tolerance, eh?

reply to post by Matthew Dark


Heh...make that four people...and counting.
Hahahaha!

reply to post by Matthew Dark


I just think you're attracting the wrong kind of Christian. Not all Christians are like that. I am an agnostic with some pagan beliefs and I have plenty of non-judgmental Christian friends. It's just that whole thing "The empty kettles bang the loudest." Good Christians don't go running off at the mouth.

I'm a Christian and have been for over 20 years and what that other person did to your friend was wrong.