Is this what happened to the Sunnis and Shiites?

My stance on religion-live a good life, be compassionate, pray and don't judge. There are so many beliefs in the world, each one claiming to be the one true way to a happy afterlife. Many of them believe everyone else is damned. I don't think God (higher being, by whatever name) feels that way.

A few months ago I went to a movie. After it finished, we were walking among a crowd of fellow movie patrons across a plaza to find a cab, when a two Korean girls stopped us. Evangelism is rampant in Korea, and I could tell right away that we were about to get an earful about some religion. Evangelists annoy me. But unfortunately, I was with my boyfriend, whose mother was a Christian missionary, and he is very devout. I thought to myself please, just let them be from a similar Christian church. They can talk about how cool they think God is, high five, and we can be on our way.

They handed him a survey to fill out, asking him if he had ever heard of God the Mother.

Crap.

I scanned the premises, hoping to find a bench. This was going to take a while.

The Korean girls, members of the Church of God quoted Bible verses that supported their belief in God the Mother. My boyfriend responded back with Bible verses refuting their claims. I wished I would have gotten a smaller size movie soda or had hit up the bathroom on our way out. I also wished that people realized with certain issues, religion being first on that list, it's pointless to debate, because people will not change their minds, especially while arguing on the sidewalk following an evening showing of Cowboys & Aliens.

I finally pulled him away, and proceeded to remind him to be open minded and understanding to others' points of view. Especially because they are all Christians.

I kind of forgot about that incident, until today. I was walking down the sidewalk, doing a few errands, when I was stopped by two Korean women (who spoke zero English), and one guy who was...not Korean. But that's as much as I know. My brain to mouth filter was turned on, and my initial reaction of "ugh, leave me alone" was kept inside my head. They were more members of the Church of God. They have upgraded now, and rather than handing me a piece of paper with Bible verses about God the Mother, they handed me a little tablet computer thing and asked if I had time to watch a short movie.

Time? I'm unemployed. I've got nothing but time. I humored them. I watched. Then, trying to avoid talking at great lengths to them, I politely told them that I had already spoken with some other members of their church. They asked me what I thought about God the Mother. I told them it was something I had never heard of before then, and I thought it was a very interesting interpretation of the Bible. They asked me if I believed in it, or if they changed my mind. Still trying to be polite, I said that I did go home and read about it a bit. Only a minor lie, I actually went home and googled their church, thought "whoa, cult!"and then forgot about it when I clicked on a link on their wikipedia page (those darn blue words! they are the reason I can never finish reading anything on wikipedia). Then they again asked me what I thought about it. I said again that it was an interesting interpretation of the Bible, and told them my views on religion, and said even within the Christian church there are different beliefs, and that until we die, we will never know the truth. While reading their wikipedia page in August, I learned that this church believes the founder of their church, is/was (I think he died) the second coming of Christ, and his wife is God the Mother.

I forgot that tidbit. The guy kindly reminded me, when he said "Our church has seen the second coming of Christ. He told us we are right." Uh huh.

A few years ago, following a raid on their compound, I remember watching an interview with some of the Yearning for Zion wives. They dressed like Dr. Quinn, but it was the way they talked that really struck me. They were monotone and soft spoken. "We love our life. We want to live this way. Our husband is good to us. We have a good life" Nothing about their words seemed sincere. They were completely brainwashed. This guy's way of speaking was exactly the same.

He went on to say in his brainwashed/abducted by aliens voice that all the churches that worship on Sundays are doing it wrong, and that we should be worshiping on Saturdays. He also said that we were sinning for celebrating Easter and Christmas. He said God does not hear the messages from churches that worship on Sundays. I told him that God knows everything that happens all the time, even this conversation, which was happening on a Friday. Then he said that when (wait a second, I thought they had already seen the second coming) Christ comes back, he will set us all straight. So I told him that being concerned with the days of the week is for humans, and when God comes back, he will deal with the bigger problems of the world, not irrelevant details caused by different interpretations and translations of the Bible.

He opened up his Bible, and started pointing to random passages that he claimed proved the Sabbath is supposed to be on Saturday (not my point, my point was it doesn't matter to God what Sabbath day you keep!), and he told me it "wasn't an interpretation or a translation, this is God's original language" To which I said "Umm, your Bible is in English. The Bible was first written in Hebrew...or some language that WAS NOT ENGLISH. Clearly, you have a translation" THEN, it got really good when he started saying that Satan has been using the Roman Catholic Church as a vessel to do his work. And it was because of the RCC that churches started worshiping on Sundays, not Saturdays, and that was the work of the devil.

Really? That is Satan's master plan? "Ahhh, I've got it! This will really stick it to God!" Suddenly hell seems less scary.

He kept on saying that Satan works through the Catholic Church to this day. Finally, I had to interrupt him, and say that I am Catholic. And I reminded him that Catholics are also Christians. Then I started laughing. I feel slightly bad for laughing at his beliefs, but since he clearly had no problem being outright insulting to mine, I don't really feel that bad. He tried to once again open up his Bible and show me proof that the devil is using the Catholic Church to do his dirty deeds, but I just couldn't take it anymore. I once again interrupted him, and said "No more. We are done" and I walked away. It's really the only way you can end conversation with an evangelist.

Which brings me back to my original point, why does this church (and it's not the only one) find it necessary to stand on the sidewalk in the rain, and argue with someone (me) who shares the same principle beliefs? We are all Christian. And I'm not saying Christianity is the one true religion. We won't know the truth until we die. So until then, just be nice. Worship how (if) you see fit. Don't judge those who do it differently. Love people.