Advice on college issue

[leonie]

You might just want to point out some of the natural consequences of the immoral actions.

for example, one time I was talking to a stranger about homosexuals. She called me a homophobe because I said I’d never want my kids to have same sex attraction. I paused, trying to find the words–realizing that she probably wouldn’t respond to a lecture about God’s plan for marriage. Then, I just said simply, “It’s a really hard life.”

She nodded in strong agreement.

Another discussion that many can agree with is in regard to drunkeness. When I was in college, I knew too many girls who were raped at parties when they were drunk. Most people will agree it’s a bad idea to lose control.

I think you can show the natural consequences for sin–divorce, stds, broken families, pedophila arising from pornography, broken hearts from promiscuity, etc. Sometimes these discussions can lead into God’s law.

 

[bankerdavid]

And whatever it takes, get to daily Mass. You need spiritual nourishment to fend off temptations and receive the graces you need to be an effective witness. Make it a priority. In all reality, it is more important than your education.

It would be better for you to find a school situation that puts you around a better class of people. I worry about this for my own children. Pray, and Our Lord will send you what you need. God bless.

And let people know, by your actions, how important it is for you. Possibly pray the Liturgy of the Hours morning and evening. When people invite you to some party or another, while being honest, tell them no, you have an activity at the parish to attend. You don’t have to be holier than thou, you can play sports and do chaste activities with your classmates. Also, visit the Chastity tab on this website-catholic.com/chastity.asp. It deals with mostly sexual issues, but you can use the same principles when it comes to drugs, etc.

 

[po18guy]

Hello, I have a question that I would like answered soon if possible…So once again pray for us and just incase you might forget, please pray a little for us right now. Thanks and God bless.

You are certainly being confirmed in your faith! I suggest a patient and calm pointing out of the sinfulness of their behavior. We have a moral responsibility to do this when we see a brother in sin. As they look to every evil for happiness, let them see that you need none of it and are much happier than them. Sooner or later they will begin to talk about it and one may just ask you how you manage to be happy without partaking of the sin that surrounds you. They are blinded by the evil one and living in darkness. This always leads to emptiness-they need you there to minister to them when they are depressed due to their own lusts emptying themselves out. They may not know they need you just yet, but they will. This is precisely why God has placed you with them-as a blessing unto you and them.

Experiencing all of this should lead you to an increased prayer life. Words often fail, but the power of prayer exceeds all expectations. Christ’s peace be with you and come back as often as you can.

Oh, and I just said a prayer for you and them.

 

[daniel87]

Hi, its been a while, thanks for all those replies. Well I’ve gotten to know them better and I realise they have a lot of problems going on in their lives so I suppose I was a tad harsh. I think its better that you have struggles (be it with college or whatever) as it makes you a better person to have gone through it all and presevered. I’ve talked alot about faith, and just morals in general, with them, and despite the occasional heated debate, it seems that its going ok. Prayers are still asked for too btw.

 

[stelline]

When I was in college I felt like I was all alone too. Vices and godlessness run wild on campuses (as well as anti-catholicism), and most professors encourage it. I would say try to find some like-minded people to hang out with as much as possible through a Catholic or Christian campus group if you need a breather.

It is true that you can’t control whether or not people convert and reject sin. You can only witness to them and let God do the rest. Realize that many people go to hell despite the best efforts to prevent it by those around them. Even Christ didn’t convert all the people He met. Humans have free will and many will serve their own desires rather than submit to God’s to the very end.

But as for some free advice, I would suggest evangelizing this way: First of all, set a good example yourself. Be happy and optimistic, ready with a helping hand or a listening ear, and trustworthy. You get the idea… Others will notice how you are different from everyone else and their cookie-cutter ways. Above all, they should see that you are a joyous person. Not a geeky Ned Flanders at all, just happy in your life. Pretty soon they will start to confide in you and want to know how you came to be like that (since they may not be very happy with their lives considering their debauchery), asking questions here and there, perhaps skirting around the issue of religion at first but coming to the topic sooner or later. You can express your views kindly and matter-of-factly, being non-confrontational. And keep it short.

You want to reel people in with little tidbits of morality. Don’t hit them with a speech about religion/morality the moment they finally touch on the subject. They will be afraid to bring it up again for fear of being hit with another zealous speech and it will turn them off. For example, if two of you are in computer class working on a project and you are asked a question about morality, give your short answer and focus right back on your screen, if you’ve even looked up. Be natural and pretend like the issue is no big deal to talk about. Give the person more attention as he or she draws out the topic.

All this is the method that my husband uses to evangelize at work. It works great for him. The people who are open to hearing truth will draw closer to you, while those who won’t will ignore you–and there’s nothing you can do about those.

Talking about moral issues that you share the same side of as others is great for making it seem like you are on the same page and not so different from them. In there eyes, you will seem like a logical person in at least some regard. It’s something you can build on…