B
Blacksword
Guest
I don’t know if this is the right forum or not for this, but I couldn’t believe what happened to me last night and thought I should share. So about 9 pm as my nearly four year old daughter was going upstairs to get ready for a bath and bed she slipped and fell all the way down the stairs. It was very scary and she cried quite a lot, but yes she is fine now. I decided right away to take her to the hospital though just to be seen and make sure they didn’t think she had any serious head trauma or injuries. So I drive her to the hospital, I won’t say the name but it’s a Catholic hospital in Novi, MI so not hard to figure out for those interested.
…We get there and check in then sit down in the waiting room, her in my arms still tearful but calmer by this time. An old man sitting next to me hands me a pamphlet the contents of which are not clear as the cover has a soldier on it and says “Final Marching Orders” or some such and says “Here, thought you’d like this.” I look at it and quickly realize it’s some kind of proselytizing pamphlet for some fundamentalist “bible church” type group, full of the usual “How do you know you’re saved?”, “When does the Bible say you should baptize” and so forth, clearly anti-Catholic stuff. I hand it back to him and say politely “No thank you, we are alright, we are very happy in our Catholic faith” thinking that would be the end of it. Instead, he then says “Have you ever compared what the Bible teaches and what the Catholic Church teaches?” I say, again politely, “Yes, actually I am a convert who was raised Baptist, I have compared and know the Bible pretty well, thank you. But this isn’t really a conversation I want to have now, my daughter fell down the stairs and we are in the hospital for her, thanks.” He then shoots back, accusingly, “How can the Catholic Church teach Mary stayed a virgin her whole life when the Bible clearly says she didn’t?” I sigh and say, “Look, no it doesn’t…” I then try to provide a brief discussion on the meaning of “until” in Matthew 1, compare it to the Old Testament verse about the woman not having children until the day of her death, and explain that the Aramaic language did not have a separate term for siblings, and that Jesus’ “brothers” therefore could simply have been step-brothers, cousins, or even uncles really. He’s interrupting the whole time, spouting ridiculous stuff like that St. Paul “commanded married couples to engage in intercourse and it’s a sin if they’re not so Joseph and Mary must have too”, but I explain this much anyway and say again that I really don’t want to have a big discussion right now, my daughter is hurt, thank you. He then shoots back “How can the Church say no one knows if they’re ever really saved?!” I respond, “Are we really doing this? Why won’t you stop guy?” and state that that really is not an accurate reflection of Church teaching, that it’s a vast oversimplification and that I really don’t want to further discuss it now, thank you. (I’m getting pretty salty by this point though truthfully!) The guy then goes “Ok, Ok….but with Christ’s coming he abolished any reserved priesthood in the New Testament.” I now just respond, angrily, “No, no he didn’t, you are wrong and I am not talking about this anymore, this conversation is done! I’m very happy in the Church Jesus founded, thank you!” He then says, “You know, whenever someone becomes Catholic, a WALL GOES UP!”, and finally leaves me alone after this.
How can this be allowed in a hospital? The guy wouldn’t quit, was clearly not interested in an intellectually honest discussion but rather wanted to just lob verbal bombs, and just wanted to jump from one charge against “Romanism” to the next. And in a Catholic hospital at that!!! Very mad right now about this!
…We get there and check in then sit down in the waiting room, her in my arms still tearful but calmer by this time. An old man sitting next to me hands me a pamphlet the contents of which are not clear as the cover has a soldier on it and says “Final Marching Orders” or some such and says “Here, thought you’d like this.” I look at it and quickly realize it’s some kind of proselytizing pamphlet for some fundamentalist “bible church” type group, full of the usual “How do you know you’re saved?”, “When does the Bible say you should baptize” and so forth, clearly anti-Catholic stuff. I hand it back to him and say politely “No thank you, we are alright, we are very happy in our Catholic faith” thinking that would be the end of it. Instead, he then says “Have you ever compared what the Bible teaches and what the Catholic Church teaches?” I say, again politely, “Yes, actually I am a convert who was raised Baptist, I have compared and know the Bible pretty well, thank you. But this isn’t really a conversation I want to have now, my daughter fell down the stairs and we are in the hospital for her, thanks.” He then shoots back, accusingly, “How can the Catholic Church teach Mary stayed a virgin her whole life when the Bible clearly says she didn’t?” I sigh and say, “Look, no it doesn’t…” I then try to provide a brief discussion on the meaning of “until” in Matthew 1, compare it to the Old Testament verse about the woman not having children until the day of her death, and explain that the Aramaic language did not have a separate term for siblings, and that Jesus’ “brothers” therefore could simply have been step-brothers, cousins, or even uncles really. He’s interrupting the whole time, spouting ridiculous stuff like that St. Paul “commanded married couples to engage in intercourse and it’s a sin if they’re not so Joseph and Mary must have too”, but I explain this much anyway and say again that I really don’t want to have a big discussion right now, my daughter is hurt, thank you. He then shoots back “How can the Church say no one knows if they’re ever really saved?!” I respond, “Are we really doing this? Why won’t you stop guy?” and state that that really is not an accurate reflection of Church teaching, that it’s a vast oversimplification and that I really don’t want to further discuss it now, thank you. (I’m getting pretty salty by this point though truthfully!) The guy then goes “Ok, Ok….but with Christ’s coming he abolished any reserved priesthood in the New Testament.” I now just respond, angrily, “No, no he didn’t, you are wrong and I am not talking about this anymore, this conversation is done! I’m very happy in the Church Jesus founded, thank you!” He then says, “You know, whenever someone becomes Catholic, a WALL GOES UP!”, and finally leaves me alone after this.
How can this be allowed in a hospital? The guy wouldn’t quit, was clearly not interested in an intellectually honest discussion but rather wanted to just lob verbal bombs, and just wanted to jump from one charge against “Romanism” to the next. And in a Catholic hospital at that!!! Very mad right now about this!
I would have just taken the pamphlet, stuffed it in my pocket, and continued about my business.
