Snappy Comeback

I should have known better in the first place but I did it anyways because I was in a mood. My Auntie T. whom I love dearly despite her being one of those types who love to shove religion down people’s throats, put up a post on Facebook with the opening line “How can a loving God allow his children to suffer?” and continues on and on about God’s will and stuff. I love that woman but sometimes it just gets too much but I refuse to mute or block her. I basically left a response saying that perhaps one does not exist.

Full disclosure here, I am agnostic. I neither believe in nor deny the existence of a higher power. I was raised a Christian but came to my own conclusions about things in my early twenties and I don’t think Auntie T. has ever realized this. I think she was the main driving force behind my sister and I going to church as kids as I don’t ever recall my parents stepping into a church except for weddings, funerals, and whenever our Sunday school put on little plays or concerts. My parents were basically of the mindset of letting us choose instead of forcing religion onto us. My aunt took us kids to church every Sunday. Many things in church as well as in the world at large caused me to question things and nobody was giving me answers. Religion never offered me comfort and to me, that’s all it really does for people. I’ve always felt that I did not need the fear of a hell or promise of a heaven to make me be a good person. I believe one should be a good person because it is the right thing to do. I also never felt any more or less at ease pushing my troubles onto an entity that may or may not exist as if they would all go away with the wave of a hand. If that were the case the world would not be as it is. But all this does not mean that I am against people who do wholeheartedly believe, as long as they aren’t constantly trying to ram their beliefs down my throat. Live and let live and whatever floats your boat. Just be a decent person.

Of course my little quip about doubting the existence of a deity touched a nerve in my holy roller aunt. Her response to me was, “Aww, my sweet niece Auntie loves you and I’m sure gonna miss you in heaven.” Well I started to write a whole paragraph about me giving up fairy tales long ago (which would have thrown her into a tizzy) and that I didn’t believe in a heaven or hell as well as my opinions on organized religion, of which there are many. Then I stopped a sec and thought up something that would probably stick much better. Something that would get her goat. Something that I think even Jesus, if he ever existed, would have applauded me for. I deleted my paragraph and simply responded with, “I love you too auntie.”