blacksheep Posted January 18, 2013 Author Share Posted January 18, 2013 after taking a deep hard look at this...if my friend and I discuss it I will layout how i felt. But will iterate that I care for him like a brother and will support his choice of who he loves. This may just be a great lesson for me to just learn to love her like a sister, since no matter what she believes or says God still loves her....but if the subject does come up again I will defend myself...not with fists but with words and reason. And if the disrespect continues...i will just not hang out with her around.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debra Little Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Believing in God without religion is like believing in America without a constitution or a government. I uinderstand this kind of thing very well, having been there myself. I was so hurt by the church, things the church had done to me. For a long time I attended no church at all. I love the Lord but hated religion with a passion. But it got bad. It got to the point where I hated Christians as well. None of it Catholic. Other Protestant religions. The things I was taught in these churches that did a lot to mess up my head. The way I saw other Christians behaving. Hurting their brothers and sisters. This was not only me. I couldn't tolerate it anymore and left. Later I converted to the Catholic church. Have not been disappointed with it ever. At one point I did stop attending Mass. This was after the stuff about the priests came out in '90. For me this was a personal thing as I had suffered a lot of sexual abuse, though not as a child and not at the hands of the church. I didn't trust the church anymore and was afraid to be there. It is very easy to understand why so many love the Lord and hate religion. The church, all churches have treated them so badly. They saw hypocritical, not Christian behavior. If it weren't for some of God's kids I think more would believe in Him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dUSt Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 And if the disrespect continues...i will just not hang out with her around.... If we alienate ourselves from everyone who is hostile to our faith we will never change the world. Engage and influence. Words are great. Example is better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blacksheep Posted January 18, 2013 Author Share Posted January 18, 2013 If we alienate ourselves from everyone who is hostile to our faith we will never change the world. Engage and influence. Words are great. Example is better. phew...well then this is going to be tough. Ok...Example then... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dUSt Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 I have a good friend who is agnostic. He is very hostile towards the church. I don't avoid him. I hang out with him. I drink beer with him. I enjoy his company and respect him for his humanity. Does religion come up? Sometimes. Does he say things that offend me? If I let them. I will of course, defend the Church, when needed. Never in anger. Always in love. My hope is that he will see happiness and joy in me, and some day see that this happiness and joy is rooted in my faith. Nobody converts because they get beat in an argument. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhuturePriest Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 I have a good friend who is agnostic. He is very hostile towards the church. I don't avoid him. I hang out with him. I drink beer with him. I enjoy his company and respect him for his humanity. Does religion come up? Sometimes. Does he say things that offend me? If I let them. I will of course, defend the Church, when needed. Never in anger. Always in love. My hope is that he will see happiness and joy in me, and some day see that this happiness and joy is rooted in my faith. Nobody converts because they get beat in an argument. Did your wife give you permission to be happy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Wednesday Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 (edited) In my experience, religious discussion and booze often do not mix well when it involves two or more with very differing views on it. When I was studying in London I got a lot of b.s. at a party from a couple from Iceland, neither believed in God and they were pretty obnoxious about it. Fortunately it avoided ugliness because I am a pretty chill boozer despite very much disagreeing with them... Hilarious the next day she joked about what a great time we had but suggested I "leave religion out of it"... funny considering they're the ones that initiated the debate. Just remember how bold and smart people magically become when they are drunk....and most of all, when you are christened as a child mostly out of family habit and went to church a couple of times growing up, you know everything there is to know about Christianity and ALL religion, amirite? :| Pray for all our friends. Edited January 18, 2013 by Ash Wednesday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winchester Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 I have a friend who has bitten several priests. He is a wolverine. But I will not abandon our friendship, or stop taking him to Mass. Nor will I stop hiding chunks of fish on the priests. I am convinced that this will eventually build a positive association with the Mass, leading in time to the conversion of all wolverinedom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nihil Obstat Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 I have a friend who has bitten several priests. He is a wolverine. But I will not abandon our friendship, or stop taking him to Mass. Nor will I stop hiding chunks of fish on the priests. I am convinced that this will eventually build a positive association with the Mass, leading in time to the conversion of all wolverinedom. /thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatitude Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Today I read something by St Francis de Sales about believing the best of people. Perhaps she has had very bad or painful experiences of Catholicism that have led her to think this way. It may be that she's already sorry for what she said and is wishing she hadn't been so rude. Only this afternoon I was thinking of something I did as a young undergraduate (a snarky article I wrote for the college newspaper) and wishing that I could take those words back. But I have no way to do that. Instead I have to rely on people who read the article to do their best to think of me kindly. Try not to focus on how offended you feel and instead try to focus on how similar she is to you in terms of shared humanity and shared weakness - and shared value in God's sight. Why feel hostile to someone loved by Jesus? Your faith is important to you, and this is what your faith demands that you do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groo the Wanderer Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 where did the props go? dangit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blacksheep Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 Today I read something by St Francis de Sales about believing the best of people. Perhaps she has had very bad or painful experiences of Catholicism that have led her to think this way. It may be that she's already sorry for what she said and is wishing she hadn't been so rude. Only this afternoon I was thinking of something I did as a young undergraduate (a snarky article I wrote for the college newspaper) and wishing that I could take those words back. But I have no way to do that. Instead I have to rely on people who read the article to do their best to think of me kindly. Try not to focus on how offended you feel and instead try to focus on how similar she is to you in terms of shared humanity and shared weakness - and shared value in God's sight. Why feel hostile to someone loved by Jesus? Your faith is important to you, and this is what your faith demands that you do. thumbs waaaay up :) Thanks everybody for their input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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