when faith fails
 

Today, I had the uncomfortable chore of telling a woman that her loan was declined. It's what I do, and I'm used to it. It kind of sucks to tell someone why the bank(s) have declined them.

this particular woman had 2 seperate dismissed (not discharged)chapter13 bankrupcies, a foreclosure, and a automobile charge off. As if that was not bad enough, she only makes 1375/month, and pays 475/mo in rent. On the face of it, this woman has no business attempting to take on new debt that she simply cannot afford to repay.

When I told her that the three banks that I use that would occaisionall entertain that kind of application had turned her down, she asked if there were other banks I could send it to. I said, "yes, there are a few more banks I use, but none of them are going to approve it." i've been doing this long enough to know what I'm working with, and this one was not even close to qualifying.

"but I'm a born again Christian"

ok

She repeated this several times, until I stopped her and asked what that had to do with anything. So she starts lecturing me about how god parted the red sea for moses, and how sure she was that he would see this loan through for her. i asked her twice politely to stop preaching to me. she just kept going and gathering steam. Finally, I asked her to leave.

She seemed surprised. I said, I come here to work, and do my job. my job is to try to get you approved. Do not push YOUR religion on me.
" well, you DO believe that Jesus is the lord, don;t you?'

"no."

another lecture begins. I stopped her, and she says, " are you discriminating against me? because I am trying to tell you that the lord works in mysterious ways, and i had a dream where god told me that i would get a white pt cruiser as a reward for taking care of my sick mother"

I said " are you kidding me? I'm saying that with 2 bank...."
" oh, no. please don;t tell me anything negative. I can;t hear it"

she actually said that.

So, seeing that i had already lost 30 minutes of my day to her, and she could obviously go all day, i said," listen, If for some reason this loan gets approved...and I'll send it to 4 more banks for you....then I promise you that I will take a step closer to the LORD."

well didn;t she just light up like a glow worm.

I meant it too. it would take a fucking miracle.

this, OC, mrnoodle, is what I mean when I say that people like this are delusional.

GOD is NOT going to lend her the money. If she had invested more worth in paying her bills, she wouldnt have to rely on a miracle. Born again. too bad her credit wasn't born again, too.

btw, the other 4 banks declined the loan, too.

she's going to call me at 3 o'clock, and I'll have to break it to her. She is so sure that it will be approved, I'm dreading telling her. This is the only part of my job that I dislike. She seems like a nice person.

Maybe the Lord can give her a ride to work.

well, that's the thing. she has a car. a 95 altima. just got a new transmission, and exhaust.....shold be fine.......but the LORD said white pt cruiser to her in a dream......oh, she also told me that any time I remember a dream, that's god talking to me. so i said, so, if i dream about killing someone, does god want me to really kill them? she changed the subject.

I have lots of dreams that I wish would come true. Lately most of em seem to include Kate Beckinsale. :D

Re: when faith fails
 

LJ, she's going to sue you and the dealership for religious discrimination and walk away with that PT Cruiser for her troubles. Nice lady, my arse.

Make sure you get those loan denials on paper.

couldn't I sue HER for religious harrassment, and get it back?

Re: when faith fails
 

What are dismissed and discharged bankrupcies?

the banks are required to mail her a rejection letter. If I look at an app, and decide it's not going anywhere, then technically, I have to send her that letter if I choose not to submit it. so, i always send it to at least one source.

No, she'd have no money left to get back - her lawyer would get most, and her debts would get the rest. And the car would lose most of its value by merely changing ownership. :p

Can't you sue God or his representatives on earth for all the bullshit being told and done in his name?
I really believe but I can't stand when people are using God for their own purposes...

Re: Re: when faith fails
 

sycamore posted a very informative article here

basically, when a bk is disCHARGED, it is completed. that person cannot file again for 7 years. disMISSED means that it was not, and can be re-filed any time.

update

she called. "did it get approved?"

"no, ma'am, I'm sorry, it didn;t"

"well is there another finance director i could speak to?"

"no, i'm the boss. you could talk to my assistant if you'd like"

" oh. well, can I talk to my salesman?"

"sure. hold on"

~maybe shecould call jesus~

update update.

so, [salesman] what did she have to say to you?

she says she wants to sue for religious discrimination.

this should be fun.

she's a good christian, though, so god will forgive her for being a letiginous untcay.

asshole

Keep us posted on this, even if you have to make stuff up. I'm really enjoying it.

ok......god called, he said to turn the snapper head down. he's sick of her using his name for every goddamn thing in her life.....

i paraphrase. he didnt actually say "goddamn"

edit: this was my 2999th post. next one is 3000........stay tuned. later tonight, i think

Actually I'd love to know what He's thinking about us humans...

I'd be willing to bet my soul it isn't "Gosh, they all deserve white PT Cruisers..."

I was thinking the same thing! :D

Quote:

update update. so, [salesman] what did she have to say to you? she says she wants to sue for religious discrimination. this should be fun. she's a good christian, though, so god will forgive her for being a letiginous untcay. asshole

My goodness, are you serious? For the love of..well, y'know.

damn keep us posted. :rolleyes:

Pi pondered:
"Actually I'd love to know what He's thinking about us humans..."

Probably thinking about how badly "we" have fucked things up over time and when He's going to come back to make "us" pay dearly. :eek:


*Juuuust joking around folks, so please don't make this into some big old tirade about God not being real, etc.*

This just makes me sick to my stomach. Here's the rundown on the theology. There is a whole segment of the Christian church that believes in a "Prosperity Gospel." It basically breaks down to this - they take all of the Old Testament promises that God made to the nation of Israel about receiving a nation, wealth, and material blessings if they obeyed the law. They didn't, but that's another story. These people start with the assumption that the church is the new Israel, so all of the of Old Testament promises to Israel now get applied to christians. The key to unlocking all of these wonderful promises? Why, faith of course.

Here's where it goes hinky. It's not faith in the ability of God to do these things, it's faith in faith itself as the key. It's not God's will that gives you blessing, it's your own faith that makes it happen. That's why they won't hear anything negative - it tears down their faith, and then it won't happen. That's the tragedy of a self-referential theology; nothing can disprove it. When the car loan isn't approved, she'll believe that it was her lack of faith that resulted in her not having a PT cruiser, so the next time she wants something, she'll just try to believe it even harder.

It might be instructive for Prosperity Gospel people to read through the lives of some of the early heroes of the faith. Paul, who never had a home and lived off of his work as a tent-maker his whole life. John, who died alone on an island with nothing in the world but his writings. Jesus, whose "material blessings" consisted of a cloak and sandals. If faith was the "magic" that works out to material things, surely these guys could have "faithed" themselves some nicer circumstances.

And here's my theology for the day. Sometimes I love God and hate his people.

-sm

Oh these are beautiful words sm...
Actually I remember that the whole New Testament is about living peacefully and all these peacefull men didn't have a lot of belongings and they didn't wan't more and more or a white PT Cruiser (should google a foto, must be a fantastic car ?!)

Ugly as sin, but that's just my opinion.

You mean like this : http://www.villageoftowerlakes.com/n...ser%202002.jpg
Actually I don't love them too. But it's a car, it don't need to be beautifull. Just take you from A to B, and be fast and have an MP3-Player and some place for my Coke, a TV, Coffee-Machine, Toaster, some nice chicks (like NbN's), make cool sounds (my alarm should be Wagner's Ritt der Walküren), don't use too much gasoil, have a superwoover-soundsystem and all the other cool stuff... (don't let me be car-engeneer)

I can't be the only one who had the following running through my head while reading this thread:

"Mercedes Benz"
Janis Joplin

Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends.
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,
So Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?

Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a color TV?
Dialing For Dollars is trying to find me.
I wait for delivery each day until three,
So oh Lord, won’t you buy me a color TV?

Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a night on the town?
I’m counting on you, Lord, please don’t let me down.
Prove that you love me and buy the next round,
Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a night on the town?

Everybody!
Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends,
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,
So oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?

That’s it!

Pi, dont take this wrong, but I'm changing my user title to "superwoover". the mere thought of saying that word caused me to giggle uncontrollably.

oooooo!!!! I can't wait! You better not fuck this up!

you asked for it. and thanks to your post, it looks like you had forewarning.

This is my 3000th post debacle.


edit: fixed the broken link

Yeah, it does make me look psychic.....especially about you fucking it up. btw Jinx told me to ask you about the other night but I haven't thought of a way to ask diplomatically.

so you thought you would ask me on a public forum?

it was great, as usual.

Well yeah, uhh..sorry.

Feel free to pm me the details.

You know.... that's why they call it dope , Jim.

Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha:thumb:

Tsk tsk. Better be nice to her, LumberJim, because if Bush ever gets tired of Condi Rice, that woman might be our next national security advisor.:eek:

BTW, it's litigious

thank you. that was most helpfulacious of you.

Ok, I've been thinking about this one all day, yeah bordom's a bitch, and I seem to recall one of the instructions being to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and all that.

http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/lk/20.html

It would seem that if she had followed the directions she wouldn't be in the pickle she is in.

If you believe in all of that at least.

Just a thought.

Re: when faith fails
 

I thought the Lord was supposed to buy you a Mercedes Benz?

edit to add: darnit, Pie beat me to it. that's the problem with having to wait until after I get home from work to read The Cellar.

Clearly the lady's problem is that she did not believe hard enough. If her faith were stronger, she would be riding home in that PT Cruiser right this very minute.

Of course, God being the trickster that he is, she would get smushed in a freak rollover of a semi full of Bibles on it's way to the Philadelphia Airport Freight Terminal to be loaded on a plane to bring the Word™ to the godless heathens of Communist China.

And then she would find out what the circle of Hell reserved for those who insincerely profess faith in God is like.

I'm reminded of a joke, so I'll paraphrase it:

There's this guy on some inhospitable, tiny-ass piece of land. Picture the Farside "desert island", where you could maybe fit a lawn chair on it. So, he's praying to God to help him and all that. After a while, a canoe floats by, but he just stays there praying. So the canoe floats off again, because of the currents and tides and whatnot.

An hour or so later, a big motorboat goes by the island. Now, this guy's still in fairly good shape. He could probably jump around, get their attention, wait for them to drop anchor and then swim over, whatever. But he just sits there praying.

After a while one of those search and rescue helicopters comes by. It hovers over the island, tries to get the guy to come up the ladder or whatever, but he's too busy praying. He just sort of glares at them, one of those "fuck off, man. Can't you see I'm praying?" looks.

Now, this is a hot island, and the guy was sorely dehydrated to begin with. It took a few hours each between the canoe, the boat, and then the helicopter. He died. Once he got to heaven (he was a fairly decent guy, never beat the wife or kids) and went through the admissions process, he gave God a thorough talking to:

"What the hell, man? I was down there praying for, like, five hours! Why didn't you save me?"

And so God's all, "dude, I did my half."

yeah, good story. the thing with paraphrasing a joke is that it loses its funniness. ;)

Jim, did you tell the woman that God told you not to sell it to her?

no way, man. I'm not talking to this lady anymore.

The thing that gets me is that she wanted to double check with the salesman to make sure i had actually sent it to the banks. She asked him repeatedly if he had seen the turn down notices.....like she actually believed that i would just 'tell her' that the loan was turned down......easier for her to believe that I was lying than to think her faith in the lord was unfounded in this matter. I'm sure she suspects that i'm an agent of the devil and purposefully worked against her in this matter because she is holy. cuckoo cuckoo!

Tell her god told you not to sell it to her.
Tell her god wants her to drive a pinto.

Aren't you?

ONLY AFTER MIDNIGHT.......MWUUUHAHAHAHA!

You should have told her that. I think the outcome would have been hilarious. I really think this lady has mental problems, but then again what person who has "talked" to god isn't? Then again we all have mental problems...

:worried:

Talking to God(s) is not a sign of mental illness.

God(s) talking to you may be.

It is also a sign of sainthood, but that requires an extensive investigation by the Roman Catholic Church, which starts with a psychiatric evaluation to rule out need for crisis intervention before ruling it divine intervention.

I kinda meant that her god spoke back to her with the whole PT Cruiser idea, now thats flibbery jibbery... My god tells me that I will win the lottery...

I have on occasion been disappointed that I am not the kind of psychic who is able to foresee winning lottery numbers.

What kind of psychic are you?

I read Tarot, Runes, and do the occasional bit of Channelling.

Interesting. I always enjoy watching those ghost shows thay have on Discovery, etc. with the psychics who can sense presences, etc. I'm really not sure I believe in any of it, but I find it a fascinating subject. I tried my hand at reading runes in HS and college but found myself more interested in the history and mythology behind them than in actually learning how to use them.

One of the tastier bits of irony for me is that they have John Edwards on Sci Fi.

Well, he strikes me as a hack and a criminal of the worst kind. He preys on peoples emotions, telling them what they want to hear. It's funny that he's wrong so often, but when he gets the occasional "hit" people will believe anything he says. I believe that whether psychic sensitivities are real or not, some people genuinely believe they have them, and I really believe that he knows for a fact that he doesn't. He's just smarter than the average bear and doesn't mind making money selling snake oil.

John Edwards is an extremely well paid cold reader. (in case you don't know what a cold reader is ... I agree with Perth)

cold reader + gullible demographic = $$$

God just told me to go get a coke so I can make it through the afternoon.
 

I got one for you, my mother-in-law is getting bids for a new roof. You’d think this would be easy, but well you’d have to meet her. When we were over there for mother’s day I was idly looking through all the different bids and brochures she had I noticed that one of them had a rather prominent Jebus fish on the cover. I made some remark about it. I have to tread softly because they are Presbyterian and I’m well uh hm not.

I affected my most professional dealing with clients demeanor and pointed it out and said that what bothers me about that type of thing is that I believe that religion should be a personal and not a business matter. If he put a fish in the cover of his brochure, he did it for a reason and I would be willing to bet money that it has to do with what my daddy always calls “churching”.

She called Angie’s List. I don’t know how wide spread Angie’s List is so that may not make sense. It’s a group that tracks customer satisfaction for home repair work.

So, Christ the Adderall has worn off where was I.

Ah yes, Angie’s List informed her that he had several complaints against him, not covering roof leading to rain damage that he refused to fix, damaging gutter systems that he refused to fix, not showing up when he was supposed to. It was a hell of a rap sheet.

If I were a Christian, that kind of thing would piss me off. I mean, what kind of message does that send to people like me.

Re: God just told me to go get a coke so I can make it through the afternoon.
 

That the christfish guy must like having shitty home repair done unto him?

What, you don't think people (good and bad) of other faiths, use their religions to drum up business?;)

Hey, Wolf, if you'll do the Tarot on me, I'll throw the I CHING for you and give you its unblemished reply if you agree to do the same.;)

Lj, how old is the woman to beging with?

This account gave me an idea for another thread. (if y'all don't mind, of course.(if you do, speak up: the sweaky wheel is the one that gets oiled.)

she's 54. been saved for 12 years now.....i wasn;t kidding about the 30 minutes...i know all about her life now. woopee