Distrustful of Organized Religion

[Tantum_ergo]

Maranatha, I recommend this site for you to look at, to help you to help your friend.

rachelsvineyard.org/

 

[Maranatha]

Thanks for the link. It will be helpful but I believe like an alcoholic the person must want to be helped before I can show her where she can get the help she needs. She’s still in the denial stage and I’m not sure she recognizes the source of her grief.

 

[Mickey]

ahimsaman72:

What I meant to convey is that if one decided to be a Catholic then they must accept that authority and submit to it unwaveringly and follow “the rules” handed down by the people in power.

The Catholic Church does not consist of a group of “people in power” handing down rules. The Church is the Bride of Christ. The “rules” were instituted by Christ. We obey these Divine and Holy instructions. Obedience to these truths is liberating–not restrictive and oppressive.

p.s–I wouldnt start the crusades thing. Protestants murdered peolple too. People sin–Catholic doctrine does not.

p.s.s— Hitler and Stalin **did **follow their consciences, but their consciences were not properly formed.

 

[Shinobu]

otm:

Curiosity is always a good way. Ask “Why?”, and then listen, Then ask another question, and another…

One of the biggest problems people have is getting in a hurry to answer. They “soapbox”, spilling all sorts of information, and often succeeding in confirming the issue that is too often just beneath the surface: that “so and so type of group” doesn’t listen. Essentially, it is similar to the Socratic method of learning; asking a lot of questions, but not necessarily giving a lot of answers. Done correctly, you can often lead someone to answer the questions they have, or the basis for their beliefs, by getting them to probe deeply into what they most likely have only given a shallow treatment. Listening also allows someone who may have been hurt by organized religion to vent, and to realize that it maight not have been organized religion that really hurt them, but an individual.

It is a bit akin to someone who left the Church because “yada yada yada”, which really had nothing to do with the Church, but had a lot to do with a person ( Father so and so or Sister Whatshername); everybody comes along trying to revert this person to the Church because it is the (fill in the blank), and nothing they say has any meaning, and further works to confirm that the Church doesn’t care, because that person doing all the talking, instead of listening, doesn’t care enought to listen to the hurt.

Wow, that was beautifully put. That’s what we need in the world today, most listening less yelling.

 

[puzzleannie]

Maranatha:

How should I approach someone who says they believe in Jesus Christ but are distrustful of organized religion?

tell him he will fit right in with us, we are anything but organized (you should see my pastor’s office, that is if you can find it)