Opinion of Missionary Dating

[Joe Republic]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missionary_dating

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[Joe Republic]

Yeah, I don't know if I buy this.  What strikes me is, why would someone go through a radical change in their religious views as well as their political views in only a short six months because they go to church more often?  Unless it's a cult or something.

She didn't change; she lied the whole time.

[Joe Republic]

The jmcfst kinda sorta did that with his wife, IIRC  It's just weird.  I don't think he started dating her for that reason but it became mission #1 with him to convert her.

I'm about 80% sure that jmcfst's wife converted him.  Didn't he have an "I used to be such a sinner until God introduced me to my wife!" backstory?

He had a schizophrenic episode in (I think) 1992, in which he claimed that Jesus Christ actually "spoke" to him.

[Joe Republic]

Didn't know that you were a psychiatrist, or that you diagnosed over the internet.  If Christ could appear on the road to Damascus, there is no reason he could not do so on the road to Houston.  Now if jm had continued to have those visions I'd be inclined to agree with your diagnosis, but for a single episode, I'd be in the skeptical yet not entirely dismissive camp about such things.

What?  I don't know what event you're referring to, but if it involves Jesus magically appearing to somebody out of thin air, as he supposedly did to jamfist, then there's definitely some kind of psychiatric episode occurring.

[Joe Republic]

Somebody pontificating about this subject who doesn't know what the 'road to Damascus' refers to is rich.

One doesn't need to have seen (or even heard about) every episode of Star Trek, for instance, to be able to ridicule the whole thing (and it's ardent fans, for that matter).

The idea that there's no possible middle ground between completely accepting religious visions on their own terms and accusing people willy-nilly of having 'psychiatric episodes' is itself more than a little questionable and disturbing so I sincerely hope that's not what you're advancing.

Well go on then, what possible 'middle ground' could there be?  I can accept that hallucinations can happen to drunk, high, sleep-deprived, even extremely stressed, but otherwise normal people.  Is that the kind of thing you mean?  Doesn't mean they aren't hallucinations, however.

[Joe Republic]

Ugh, really?  You devoted sixty-nine words to pointing out an iPhone autocorrect error?

As always, you clearly care about this a lot more than I do.  Thank you, afleitch, for having infinitely more patience than I ever could with this guy.