www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Anyone in West Virginia?

This just in from a friend of mine in West virginia:

"A customer went into the Christian Bookstore at the Charleston Town Center Mall looking for a children's Bible. The clerk asked her what denomination she was. The customer answered 'Roman Catholic,' to which the clerk responded, 'Sorry, honey, this is a CHRISTIAN bookstore!'"

LOL.

If I were her, my follow-up question would've been, "Right; so why are you heretics running an allegedly Catholic bookstore?"

But in all seriousness, these kind of inane comments arise from ignorance most of the time. I think this is simply a good opportunity to catechize our misinformed Protestant brothers and sisters as to what true Christianity is, and where it can be found (i.e., the Catholic Church).

Some will never change their opinions even when the error of their ways is pointed out. One of my friends used to be absolutely adamant that Catholics worshipped Mary, and nothing I could say would make him believe otherwise. He was Southern Baptist, of course!

Logos Teen

Take it from a resident of West Virginia, that's how it is here! Since we've moved here, my children's friends have been anxious to "save" them. They invite my kids to their youth groups, church services, etc. and debate on various issues. Fortunately, it has had a positive effect, particularly for my son, who now has developed a keen interest in Catholic apologetics. We keep lots of books handy to offer responses to many of the comments/questions that my son receives from his friends. Thankfully, all the dialogue has been friendly and without animosity. We, in kind, also step up to the plate and invite my son's friends to our Church. It's been informative for all.

Where I live in Australia the town has a number of Brethren type Protestants who try to monopolise the name Christian. They claim to be non demoninational. My argument is that they must be part of a stream of protestant thought. They seem to think their stand is superior to all others.

I lived in West Virginia for 11 years and I miss it terribly. We get the same sort of grief out here in Oregon. I was hoping that others besides my friends in Charleston could stop by the mall store and say a few kind words about Catholics.

One recent phenomenon I've encountered is the "Ancient Paths" workshops. Some co-workers have been attending these and they were pressuring me to attend as well. As our sister says, this can have the positive effect of sharpening our interest in apologetics and theology.

The idea of these workshops is that you can discover if your family was cursed in the last 4 generations and then remove the curse and insure economic success for the next 4 generations. Its supposedly based on historic Old Testament and Christian teaching.

As New Age as this sounds, this is being done by some of the most right wing protestant types I have ever met. And when they're challenged on basic questions like Sacraments, Mary, the Saints and Church councils they get very reactive and decide as a group to write you off, so there is something very cult-like going on here. They are certainly anti-Catholic and, if they knew about it, probably anti-Orthodox as well.

I gather that hundreds of thousands of people have taken these workshops. In America, even theology encounters privatization and redundancy and loses out.

Thanks!

bob r.