An Adult Should Really Know This - Silly Things You've Had to Tell People

[jaxsue]

I once had to tell a co-worker that people in the Old Testament weren't Christian- we were all chatting idly in the office. She was flabberghasted and asked me seriously how I knew. I said "because they lived before Christ. How can they have believed in Him if he hadn't been born yet?" She thought and finally "So Adam and Eve weren't Christians?" No. No they weren't.

And yes she is a devout Christian.

I had a boss who was very surprised to learn that Islam is not the oldest of the  Big Three monotheisms.

I once saw a bumper sticker that said, "If it isn't the KJV (King James Version), it isn't the Bible!"

Weird.

The sect I grew up in only used the KJV. I agree, it is weird. 

[jaxsue]

Sadly, I am not surprised. My dad was a Baptist preacher and I've known people like this. I admit, it amazes me that people will claim they would die for their faith, yet know so little about it (yes, I consider knowledge of the OT part of it).

I used to wonder if it was her pastor (I know it was not her denomination) who kind of glossed over this or her; I would certainly have believed it was her.

Some Xian sects are big on education; others, not so much. Some preachers get their official documents online, instead of going to seminary 4+ yrs (which my dad did).

[lowspark]

This reminds me of a quote, attributed to Miriam "Ma" Ferguson who was governor of Texas in the 1930s (although it's apparently apocryphal), allegedly spoken in reference to bilingualism in Texas schools: “If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it ought to be good enough for the children of Texas.”

I love that quote whether she said it or not. 

[katycoo]

It's not so much of a problem with the Winter Olympics, but I'm always irritated during the Summer Olympics that they don't cover all the sports. Fewer 'human interest' stories, more coverage of events like fencing and equestrian events!

Yes! Australia is OK at swimming internationally, I get it. But if you watch Olympic coverage, the first 6 days are the back of someone's head swimming up and down the pool. Heats, semi-finals, finals - every stroke of every race.

I want to see the hammer throw!

They always give priority to our medal-chance events.  I can guarantee if any of our hammer-throwers made the final, it would get televised.  I don't think its a sport we have excelled at in recent.

Yes, that was my point. Days of it, and little else. I want to see other events, even if my country doesn't stand much of a chance of winning.

+1. It's why I prefer Winter Olympics - we don't have a big enough presence for the telecast to get as skewed as it does for Summer.

Its still limited when Australia's not in the running.  Last night coverage of the teams figure skating was limited to the place-getters.  I've no idea what other countries even made the final, except that apparently not us.  Didn't even see a final scoreboard.

[camlan]

I once had to tell a co-worker that people in the Old Testament weren't Christian- we were all chatting idly in the office. She was flabberghasted and asked me seriously how I knew. I said "because they lived before Christ. How can they have believed in Him if he hadn't been born yet?" She thought and finally "So Adam and Eve weren't Christians?" No. No they weren't.

And yes she is a devout Christian.

Does she know that Jesus was a Jew?

I got into Very Serious Trouble when I was in second grade and studying for my First Communion about this, back in the 1960s. There was some discussion about Jews in the class, and I was perplexed about something and stated, "But Jesus was a Jew!" The nun who was the teacher was shocked, and made me stand out in the hall until my mother showed up to take me home. I was so scared.

The nun tried to convince my mother that a) I was not ready to make First Communion and b) I was clearly the spawn of Satan and designed for the Hot Place.

Thankfully, my mom defended me--after all, I was speaking nothing but truth. And she burst into giggles once we were safely in the car.

But I stopped speaking altogether in my Religious Ed classes after that.

[Paper Roses]

Just remembered a good one.

I work at night, and have for several years.  A while back, a group of us went into an empty office to try to catch sight of an eclipse we'd heard was happening that night.  We were all chatting about the eclipse - what, exactly, an eclipse is, etc.  One of the women came out with, ". . . because as the earth revolves around the moon, . . ."  I almost fell over. 

I kept trying to tell her she was mistaken, and that the moon revolves around the earth, which revolves around the sun.  She absolutely insisted that I was the one who was wrong.  Unfortunately, it was before we had internet at work, so I couldn't prove her wrong as easily as if it happened today. 

I think that was probably one of the most frustrating moments I've ever had.

[kherbert05]

This reminds me of a quote, attributed to Miriam "Ma" Ferguson who was governor of Texas in the 1930s (although it's apparently apocryphal), allegedly spoken in reference to bilingualism in Texas schools: “If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it ought to be good enough for the children of Texas.”

I love that quote whether she said it or not. 

I once got in an argument with the 4th grade teachers, who teach Texas history about who the first Female governor of Texas was. I could understand them arguing that Ma Ferguson was just a front for her disgraced husband (former governor impeached and banned from holding state offices) - but they were completely unaware of the whole story. All but one were born and raised here.

[oz diva]

This reminds me of a quote, attributed to Miriam "Ma" Ferguson who was governor of Texas in the 1930s (although it's apparently apocryphal), allegedly spoken in reference to bilingualism in Texas schools: “If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it ought to be good enough for the children of Texas.”

I love that quote whether she said it or not. 

I've never heard of Ma Ferguson, but the quote I know is "If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it's good enough for me."

I was trying to find a link to the bit of Vikings (the TV series) which showed the ransack of Lindisfarne. Sure, no one really knows how English sounded back then, but it wasn't English as you and I speak it, and that was 700 years after Christ. Even if Christ spoke English (and it's doubtful He ever even heard it), it wasn't the English that we speak today.

I'm not Christian (though I was bought up with its traditions). But it seems I know more about Christianity that many of these people.

[Katana_Geldar]

I have found that to be the case as well, and not just about religion but other things as well.

On another note, I'm a fan of The Twilight Zone (nothing to do with Stephanie Meyer!) and it's surprising how seminal it is. A lot of things they do on there they do in other works, but The Twilight Zone had them first. And Rod Serling has an eerie presence that's both creepy and comforting.

Remember that film Steel with Hugh Jackman? It was based on a short story by Richard Matheson that was adapted into an episode.

[iridaceae]

Some Xian sects are big on education; others, not so much. Some preachers get their official documents online, instead of going to seminary 4+ yrs (which my dad did).

She was either Lutheran or Methodist so I imagine her pastor/priest person had gone to seminary.

[athersgeo]

Its still limited when Australia's not in the running.  Last night coverage of the teams figure skating was limited to the place-getters.  I've no idea what other countries even made the final, except that apparently not us.  Didn't even see a final scoreboard.

The final only consisted of five teams - so unless they were only showing Russia, Canada and USA you probably were seeing all of it. (and if they were only showing those three, you were only missing Japan and Italy, who were a long, long way back.) Everyone else got cut on Thursday or Friday (I'm not entirely clear on when the first rounds were held).

[Psychopoesie]

They had all 5 competitors for each figure skating team event in the Australian coverage of the free program earlier in the day. However, I noticed that they only had the top 3 place getters of that day's events in the encore telecast that evening (when most people would be watching). Was a bit annoyed because I warned to see all the ice dancers. Part of the point of watching is to see all the competitors and how they stack up against each other in the figure skating.

[lady_disdain]

I work at night, and have for several years.  A while back, a group of us went into an empty office to try to catch sight of an eclipse we'd heard was happening that night.  We were all chatting about the eclipse - what, exactly, an eclipse is, etc.  One of the women came out with, ". . . because as the earth revolves around the moon, . . ."  I almost fell over. 

I kept trying to tell her she was mistaken, and that the moon revolves around the earth, which revolves around the sun.  She absolutely insisted that I was the one who was wrong.  Unfortunately, it was before we had internet at work, so I couldn't prove her wrong as easily as if it happened today. 

Actually, she is not really wrong. Physically speaking, the Earth and moon orbit around their combined center of gravity, since both the moon and the Earth are exerting gravitational pull on each other. The center of gravity is closer to the Earth than to the moon, because of its greater mass.

[BabyMama]

I have seen a Viking hoard, I hope never to see the other.

Oh, it can be worse than you thought.  Much worse.  Picture a Viking horde swarming up over the hill toward your monastery.  Got that picture firmly in mind?  What colors are they wearing?

An SCA acquaintance was doing primary research on dyes available to the medieval-era Norse, lichen and other natural dyes.  She used them to dye wool, and was making socks with the result -- lemon yellow and lilac. 

Was that Viking horde wearing dull earth colors, mostly browns and grays?  NOW picture them in lilac and lemon yellow!

As a Minnesotan, that's a familiar sight

[Virg]

lady_disdain wrote:

"Actually, she is not really wrong. Physically speaking, the Earth and moon orbit around their combined center of gravity, since both the moon and the Earth are exerting gravitational pull on each other. The center of gravity is closer to the Earth than to the moon, because of its greater mass."

The combined center of mass of the Earth and Moon is inside the Earth, so she'd still be stretching the definition of "orbit" way past what most scientists would accept.

Virg