J
Jerusha
Guest
When discussing religion with someone who does not believe as you do, what are the boundaries?
I present a number of my own, you can debate them, too.
I present a number of my own, you can debate them, too.
- Do not choose a time of crisis to guilt or otherwise exploit a time of neediness.
- Do not get angry when discussing differences in belief.
- Remember that God does the work, it should not be an ego-trip to say “I did it”
- Do not engineer misfortunes to make the person believe that God is punishing him for not believing as you do.
- Make sure that you have all your infomation lined up. If you have to resort to lies, responding to a different subject than the question asked, etxc, you are not ready. If you have the humility to respond with “That is a very good question, I will have to do some research on that.”, that is a positive.
- Do not guilt the person into believing that some sins cannot be forgiven.
- Be thoroughly informed about your own faith, and as informed as possible about the other person’s faith.
- Do not resort to attacking the deeds of their great leaders. If you must discuss that, discuss the trigger for those misdeeds (mental illness, racism, ignorance, lack of knowlege of traditions of Catholicism, or the Bible, context of the times).
- Be logical and consistent. If the teachings of their church are not logical and consistent, avoid those teachings, since they can re-mold the jello to whatever shape they want.
- Remember that you learn and grow, too when discussing these issues.
More?