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Mar 25th, 2025
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 491
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I received the following email from an old friend. It broke my heart and my soul grieves ... What would you say in response? This is what the email said; I had asked how he was doing and this was his response: I guess I�m becoming more and more pagan as I keep feeling manipulated by so called Christians who seem bent on putting a �right � and �wrong� label on everything. While I do believe spirituality is important, it does seem to me at times that organized religion is simply a means of social control by whatever group or religion is dominant at the time. It has taken me a while to reach this point (especially from a person seriously considered seminary). It would be easier to be tolerant if everyone would be. It�s hard to be the only one who believes in religious freedom when everyone else is convinced that their way (of worship, not even of belief) is the only way.
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Joined: May 2007
Posts: 2,214
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This person is not being specific enough to understand what is meant by "organized religion" or "tolerant" or "their way".
I would ask this person what his personal beliefs are and why he (I assume) feels that his personal beliefs are being opposed. Then that could branch off into a response.
Terry
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Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 6,765 Likes: 30
John Member
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John Member
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There is not enough information to comment. We can only speak of generalities since we do not know this man.
If he is seeking God and living a Christian life then I suppose one could seek to determine the cause of his cynicism and then go from there. But it would probably easier (and maybe more effective) to keep good communication and relieve the cynicism by presenting an authentic Christian witness.
If he is not seeking God and/or not living a Christian life then his cynicism might be rooted in the personal knowledge that he is not doing what is correct (those doing something wrong usually know it and the last thing they want is someone telling them they are doing something wrong). The response here is the same - authentic Christian witness (real concern for the person combined with the Truth of Christ spoken with love).
I get a small number of e-mails at the website from people who complain about what hypocrites we Christians are. I generally respond along the lines of saying that that they are correct, we are very often hypocrites and do not always practice what we preach. Then I remind them that Christ is Life, and that what we teach about Him (and Christian morality) is true, even if way we individual Christians fail in our witness of Him.
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 2,217 Likes: 2
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If this is another instance of someone thinking all Christians are too judgemental, all I can say is, In the event I become drunk and obnoxious, or am about to enter the door of a gentleman's club, or begin telling an obscene joke, or suddenly decide a particular married woman is positively irresistable, or any other litany of sins, I sincerely hope someone will be judgemental enough to point out my sin to me, and I promise I won't quote "Judge not and ye shall not be judged" to them.
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 4,518
Catholic Gyoza Member
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Catholic Gyoza Member
Joined: Nov 2005
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Father Bless!
I wonder if he's not looking for someone to vent at for a while. Can you listen, can you handle it? Once he gets it off his chest, he may be more open to slow, gentile guidance back to the Faith. It may take years...
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 491
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Dr. Eric -- you are on target (at least as far as my understanding goes). This is (in part) what I wrote back: I am with you 100% � except that I see myself becoming �more Christian� rather than �more pagan.� It seems that (speaking as a historian) paganism was very intolerant with its emphasis on the tribe -- a sort of �my god can beat up your goddess� kind of thing. Whereas the universal religious traditions, especially Christianity, proclaimed the revolutionary truth that there is only one God � which, if true, means that we are all �one� family, united by the fact that we are children of the same God. This seems to be what Jesus was all about in his message � tragically, too many of his followers have taken this Universalist message and reconnected it to tribal thinking so that �my god� (i.e., Jesus, etc.) will beat your god (i.e., Allah, etc.) and as an added bonus, send you to hell. I refuse to accept this tribal reconfiguration of the venerable ancient religious tradition as valid and reject it completely. But I do so in the name of the authentic message. I have come to realize that the only reason I am so offended by many Christians is because I am a Christian. As a follower of Jesus, I must not judge and cannot judge � I cannot be intolerant when the founder of my religious tradition asked God to forgive those who were killing him. Ironically, if I was not a follower of Jesus I would not be offended by those who call themselves his followers. How weird is that?
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Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 7,346 Likes: 98
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Moderator Member
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 7,346 Likes: 98 |
PrJ:
Christ is in ourmidst!! He is and always will be!!!
You have a wealth of sage advice coming from our brethren here. The dialogue needs to begin on a very fundamental level. To get form point "A" to point "B" you've got to know exactly what point "A" is all about and how it needs to be the starting point to point "B" or if it indeed needs to even move at all.
Prayers for someone who may have been deeply hurt by some of his experiences.
In Christ,
BOB
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