The following is a guest post from my friend Megan.
As you probably recall, there was an earlier post about the crazy God warrior woman from Trading Spouses. As luck would have it, I was fortunate enough to catch the entirety of this episode earlier today. If you have not had the pleasure of catching this episode, let me fill you in on a couple of things.
First off, let me give you a brief synopsis. The two spouse that switch are Margaret Perrin and Jeanie Flisher. Margaret is an overbearing mother and wife who is pretty much terrified of anything that isn’t Christian. Jeanie is a hypnotherapist who is very much into astrology and other New-Age things. Jeanie has an ok time, and Margaret has a meltdown from all of the horrors she experienced while in the Flisher house.
So what are these horrifying and “dark sided” things that this poor woman Margaret was forced to endure?
- There were Mandala (Tibetan sand paintings) on the walls of the house.
- There was a star (not a pentagram, but a regular old star) on the side of the family’s barn.
- There were Tibetan flags in the house.
- She met a psychic.
- She went to a Solstice party.
Sounds terrifying, doesn’t it?
To me, the most interesting thing about this episode is the clash between two completely different belief systems. Now in my opinion, astrology and Christianity are equally ridiculous systems of belief, and yet it is only the Christian woman who is closed-minded, angry, judgmental and downright crazy. This episode pretty much brings to light everything that is wrong with the Christian faith. Here are some examples to illustrate:
Jeanie told the family that their house was beautiful.
Margaret freaked out about decor like Mandala and stars.
Jeanie met Margaret’s friends, who were cold to her because she wasn’t a Christian, and she still maintained a good attitude.
Margaret panicked because she had to go to a party to celebrate the moon and freaked out when she met a psychic even though he was also Christian.
Jeanie took one of Margaret’s daughters shopping for jewelry because she noticed the daughter was being ignored.
Margaret made Jeanie’s family to go to church and tried to force Jesus upon all of the kids.
When it came time to allocate the money, Jeanie gave the bulk of the money to the gastric bypass surgery that Margaret wanted.
Margaret gave Jeanie’s family a bunch of Bibles.
Margaret’s family missed Jeanie when she left.
Jeanie’s family did not miss Margaret.
What really made me mad about this episode is that Margaret didn’t even try to understand this other family. She immediately assumed they needed to be saved and forced her beliefs on them with zero regard to their interests and beliefs. As one of Jeanie’s kids pointed out, “Margaret kept talking about Jesus but we couldn’t talk about astrology or anything she didn’t believe in so it wasn’t really fair.” Margaret jumped to conclusions about the family without even asking them what they believe. Unfortunately, Margaret is not a unique case. There are many Christians out there who feel and act the same way she does, and that is what is truly horrifying.
If you would like to contact Megan, you can comment on her blog.
