But sometimes something happens in the world and your “best man always fun forever” friends can’t seem to understand reality. They think it’s because God wanted it this way or because there is a world wide conspiracy of Jews. Then you feel really alone.
That sucks. I lost a good friend like this. He discovered religion, and… I hoped we could just “agree to disagree” on this topic, and talk about the many things we still had in common. Instead, he was even more annoying than all other religious people, because he assumed that he knows exactly how I think (he kept saying he also used to think the same way before he found Jesus) so he can show me the way. And he couldn’t stop bringing up the topic. He became completely insufferable; we stopped interacting completely.
(For the record, I do have a few friends who are religious or have other beliefs I don’t share. The trick is, they are not trying to convert me. We discuss other things. Heck, we can even discuss religion, if they accept I am only doing it the same way I would discuss Tolkien.)
When this happens, it’s time to find new friends. Or maybe pay more attention to old low-intensity friends; sometimes the opposite thing happens and you find out that as you grew up, you have more in common.
Not necessarily a bad thing. This has happened to me a few times with childhood friends, especially in our 20s, and we’ve usually reconnected as beliefs have changed or we consciously decided that any disagreements we have simply make for good conversation.
But sometimes something happens in the world and your “best man always fun forever” friends can’t seem to understand reality. They think it’s because God wanted it this way or because there is a world wide conspiracy of Jews. Then you feel really alone.
That sucks. I lost a good friend like this. He discovered religion, and… I hoped we could just “agree to disagree” on this topic, and talk about the many things we still had in common. Instead, he was even more annoying than all other religious people, because he assumed that he knows exactly how I think (he kept saying he also used to think the same way before he found Jesus) so he can show me the way. And he couldn’t stop bringing up the topic. He became completely insufferable; we stopped interacting completely.
(For the record, I do have a few friends who are religious or have other beliefs I don’t share. The trick is, they are not trying to convert me. We discuss other things. Heck, we can even discuss religion, if they accept I am only doing it the same way I would discuss Tolkien.)
When this happens, it’s time to find new friends. Or maybe pay more attention to old low-intensity friends; sometimes the opposite thing happens and you find out that as you grew up, you have more in common.
Not necessarily a bad thing. This has happened to me a few times with childhood friends, especially in our 20s, and we’ve usually reconnected as beliefs have changed or we consciously decided that any disagreements we have simply make for good conversation.