M
Madaglan
Guest
I was wondering if people here can tell me what you think about an argument I had with a friend earlier tonight. I’ve been friends with him for about nine years, but in the past four years or so our views have became wider apart. While I believe that I have become more Christian in my way of life (recognizing my sins, trying to ammend myself, trying to become more selfless and follow the will of Christ, along with developing a spiritual relationship with God) my friend unfortunately is doing the opposite. My friend was baptized as Catholic, but now he doesn’t believe in what the Catholic Church teaches in anything, he makes fun of Jesus whenever I’m with him at the store, and he says that he gets angry at people who think abortion is wrong, as he supports abortion.
Please do not think that I think myself better than my friend. I have my own sins, and probably many that I do not recognize, but the argument we had I think that my friend was in the wrong, and I could not help but express my views on the matter, to presserve what I think is Truth.
Basically, we were talking about John Kerry. My friend said that I should not have voted for Bush but should have voted for John Kerry. After my friend told me how much he hates Bush My friend then brought up how Bush is evangelical and how evangelicals hate Catholics, and how I, as a Catholic (as he calls me), should have voted for Kerry. I then told my friend that Kerry wasn’t completely Catholic (I didn’t say he wasn’t though) because he flaunted certain moral teachings of the Catholic Church. At this, my friend got angry at me for saying who or who is not living a Catholic lifestyle. He then brought up how I sin in certain ways, but how I still consider myself Christian. I told him that I do indeed sin, but I live a lifestyle which is in accordance with what one associates with what I say that I am. I repent of my sins, try to live a life more fully devoted to Christ, and continue to seek how to improve myself. When I say that I’m Catholic, I make sure that I let people know what I mean by that; and if there’s any confusion, I qualify it with something like: I consider myself Catholic, since I believe in the foundational truths of Catholicism, but I’m still not entirely sure in my heart about everything, although I still try to live faithfully as a Catholic.
In any case, my friend got further irritated and said that nobody has the right to say what is or is not a Catholic lifestyle. He said that he gets angry at people who put on pro-life bumber stickers, and that he can’t stand people who profess absoultes. He said that nobody has a right to say what it means to be Catholic, Jewish, etc., and that if one considers himself something, that’s good enough to prove that he is just that.
My friend then got angry and said that I would alienate a lot of people if I held firmly to my “absolutes.” I told my friend that I don’t care if I alienate people for sticking to what I believe to be true. I will not compromise my belief that certain things are absolutely wrong in certain circumstances, and that, although I won’t say who is and who is not something, I feel obliged to point out, with humility and with the awareness that I myself am sinful, what I see as being contrary to Christian living (such as abortion, premarital sex, etc.) I will still be polite towards individuals who disagree, but I will not stop giving my support for what I see to be true.
My friend I think expected to stay over at my house longer, but after this argument he left for home. I didn’t want to get into the argument, and I didn’t speak much, excpet when in answer to his questions, which I could not answer in a way that does not represent what I truly believe. I leave for school on Wednesday, so I don’t expect to ever see him again, as I think he doesn’t ever want to talk with me again, which is somewhat all right with me, since even my sister says that he says insensitive and rude things about me and others. He’s changed, and whatever Christian piety left in him is covered with something demonic
Did I do anything wrong? Was I being too unreasonable?
Please do not think that I think myself better than my friend. I have my own sins, and probably many that I do not recognize, but the argument we had I think that my friend was in the wrong, and I could not help but express my views on the matter, to presserve what I think is Truth.
Basically, we were talking about John Kerry. My friend said that I should not have voted for Bush but should have voted for John Kerry. After my friend told me how much he hates Bush My friend then brought up how Bush is evangelical and how evangelicals hate Catholics, and how I, as a Catholic (as he calls me), should have voted for Kerry. I then told my friend that Kerry wasn’t completely Catholic (I didn’t say he wasn’t though) because he flaunted certain moral teachings of the Catholic Church. At this, my friend got angry at me for saying who or who is not living a Catholic lifestyle. He then brought up how I sin in certain ways, but how I still consider myself Christian. I told him that I do indeed sin, but I live a lifestyle which is in accordance with what one associates with what I say that I am. I repent of my sins, try to live a life more fully devoted to Christ, and continue to seek how to improve myself. When I say that I’m Catholic, I make sure that I let people know what I mean by that; and if there’s any confusion, I qualify it with something like: I consider myself Catholic, since I believe in the foundational truths of Catholicism, but I’m still not entirely sure in my heart about everything, although I still try to live faithfully as a Catholic.
In any case, my friend got further irritated and said that nobody has the right to say what is or is not a Catholic lifestyle. He said that he gets angry at people who put on pro-life bumber stickers, and that he can’t stand people who profess absoultes. He said that nobody has a right to say what it means to be Catholic, Jewish, etc., and that if one considers himself something, that’s good enough to prove that he is just that.
My friend then got angry and said that I would alienate a lot of people if I held firmly to my “absolutes.” I told my friend that I don’t care if I alienate people for sticking to what I believe to be true. I will not compromise my belief that certain things are absolutely wrong in certain circumstances, and that, although I won’t say who is and who is not something, I feel obliged to point out, with humility and with the awareness that I myself am sinful, what I see as being contrary to Christian living (such as abortion, premarital sex, etc.) I will still be polite towards individuals who disagree, but I will not stop giving my support for what I see to be true.
My friend I think expected to stay over at my house longer, but after this argument he left for home. I didn’t want to get into the argument, and I didn’t speak much, excpet when in answer to his questions, which I could not answer in a way that does not represent what I truly believe. I leave for school on Wednesday, so I don’t expect to ever see him again, as I think he doesn’t ever want to talk with me again, which is somewhat all right with me, since even my sister says that he says insensitive and rude things about me and others. He’s changed, and whatever Christian piety left in him is covered with something demonic
Did I do anything wrong? Was I being too unreasonable?
I´m going to start considering myself an astronaut and demand a paycheck from NASA
