1st time as a real apologetic

  • Thread starter Thread starter Thea
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
T

Thea

Guest
ok, I feel like I’ve arrived. I’ve posted on a forum where not everyone likes Catholics and some are downright hostile. Anyway I made a statement in the heat of the moment and was challenged to explain it… I just have, but not without a panicky trawl through Matthew’s Gospel hoping against hope I’d have sth to back up my rash words…

I’ve two questions…
  1. How do people keep calm on these anti-Catholic sites?
  2. How do you search THIS site for key phrases??? The search kept telling me my words weren’t long enough. (I could try again - I have a doctorate).
It was so frustrating I gave up (hence the panicky trawl). If someone knows I could really do with a few tips!
 
Remember-- they’re just as afraid of you as your are of them! 😛

As for keeping information in an easy to find place: bookmarks. Or save links in a file and sort them by subject. I can’t think of any better way. If you’re using Firefox you can really sort those bookmarks into nice neat folders.
  1. How do people keep calm on these anti-Catholic sites?
Tranquilizers.

No no no. That’s for the anti-Catholics.

Count to ten? Say a hail mary every time you feel angry? (Oh, the irony, if they knew you were saying a hail mary when they got you angry, they’d sure stop making you angry!)
  1. How do you search THIS site for key phrases??? The search kept telling me my words weren’t long enough. (I could try again - I have a doctorate).
In my experience, searching for specific threads often comes up badly. It’s just so hard to wade through all the information on the internet. That’s why I recommend saving links that have good information. It’s easier to wade through even 25 links on one subject than it is to aimlessly search for something because you know it is there.

The best thing, of course, is to know it all without having to look it up. For all us normal people, the glorious mystery of hyperlinks sufficies.
 
40.png
Thea:
ok, I feel like I’ve arrived. I’ve posted on a forum where not everyone likes Catholics and some are downright hostile. Anyway I made a statement in the heat of the moment and was challenged to explain it… I just have, but not without a panicky trawl through Matthew’s Gospel hoping against hope I’d have sth to back up my rash words…

I’ve two questions…
  1. How do people keep calm on these anti-Catholic sites?
  2. How do you search THIS site for key phrases??? The search kept telling me my words weren’t long enough. (I could try again - I have a doctorate).
It was so frustrating I gave up (hence the panicky trawl). If someone knows I could really do with a few tips!
Thea,

Congratulations on your first foray! When I post on Protestant forums (the CARM Forums specifically), I find myself thumbing through my Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance regularly, my Bible even more regularly, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church less regularly but still fairly often. The Catechism has a wonderful indexing system in the back that includes not only a subject index but also an index of references. If you want to find where in the Catechism a Bible verse (or a saint’s writing) is referred to, you can look in that index and go right to it.
  • Liberian
 
  1. How do people keep calm on these anti-Catholic sites?
Hold it all in and then come back here for some sympathy!

:banghead: Banging your head on a wall or desk works sometimes, too.

Oh, and praying! Praying and head banging are a good combination I think.

But you do have to keep your temper in somehow, though, even if you have to fake calmness for the sake of the person you might be converting. They’ll be more impressed by your patience than by, say, your knowledge of cuss words.

You’re doing a good thing! 👍
 
JMJ
40.png
Thea:
ok, I feel like I’ve arrived. I’ve posted on a forum where not everyone likes Catholics and some are downright hostile. Anyway I made a statement in the heat of the moment and was challenged to explain it… I just have, but not without a panicky trawl through Matthew’s Gospel hoping against hope I’d have sth to back up my rash words…

I’ve two questions…
  1. How do people keep calm on these anti-Catholic sites?
“FAITH” Jesus stayed calm as the scourged Him. Through His entire Passion. When Satan calls you a name, rejoice, you’re on Gods side. Let the anti-Catholics spew what they like at me. Jesus has given us the truth in His Catholic Church and we have Him in us. Let them violate both Scripture and the Gospel of Christ. We just need to speak with love and the truth that our Church Has given us, a truth from God.
  1. How do you search THIS site for key phrases??? The search kept telling me my words weren’t long enough. (I could try again - I have a doctorate).
This forum is not the best place for facts. Many Catholics say things wrong or even missunderstand what the Church teaches, that’s why we have more EX-Catholics in the US today then practicing Baptists. If Catholics who left the Church actually knew what the Church Dogma, Faith and Morals were, they’d still be Catholic.

This forum is good for ideas or to practice apologetics. Go to web sites and read what good Catholic apologists have written or read their books. Go to official Catholic sites too.
It was so frustrating I gave up (hence the panicky trawl). If someone knows I could really do with a few tips!
I take notes when I read something worth keeping. I have a Word document that is very large. I add to it by topics when I read good info or hear it on EWTN.

Here is a note I put under the topic of Mary:

"Blessed Mary

If God sent angels to do His work on earth, why not the mother of His son? Could she not also help like the angels did?"

I might have heard this one from Fr. Groeshell (sp?) on EWTN. Anyway, I have notes to remind me of facts and ideas to use when spreading Gods Word to non-Catholics and ignorent Catholics alike.
 
To answer question 1, remember the teaching of Pope John XXIII that was strongly reiterated by Pope John Paul II

“That which seperates us as believers in Christ is far less than that which unites us.”

peace

-Jim
 
cheers everyone - this has been v helpful

I do find the hostility soul-dampening. And then you get rushed by a mob! There were a few other Catholics but they haven’t come back for a while. It makes you meditate on aloneness…
 
40.png
Thea:
  1. How do people keep calm on these anti-Catholic sites?
Hi Thea! 👋

When I first started out in chatrooms/message boards I used to get SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO angry and frustrated with anti-Catholics!!! God really used these situations to teach me patience and compassion. Isn’t that just like Him? 😃

Now when I encounter anti-Catholic nastiness my heart just overflows with pity for them. When I read something really hateful or ridiculous I usually find myself making the sign of the cross and offering up a quick prayer for the person.

In Christ,
Nancy 🙂
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top