Go with the flow?

[Irish_Eyes_826]

This may sound a bit silly, but I am a bit confused. I’ve been back and forth between Catholicism and atheism for several years now, but I feel that I’m being drawn back to Catholicism for good now . I’m told that I should be outraged by all these things around me, from our culture that promotes promiscuity to the fact that church attendance is hitting record lows in many areas. The thing is, I’m not too outraged. God blessed me a laid-back temperament and a lot of patience. I like almost everybody I meet, regardless of who they are or what they have done. I don’t criticize my many friends who don’t live according to Catholic values ( they may be actively gay, party too much, promiscuous, don’t go to church, etc.), instead I try to focus on behaving myself (and I really feel that that’s more important right now )). I’m just not the type to get angry or upset about much. If I see something that I believe is truly wrong I speak up or I try to change it, but for the most part I just live and let live. Am I too laid-back?

 

[Catholic90]

That is me! I don’t criticize others in my life, because focusing on me doing the right thing is enough work! I preach, and only use words when necessary.

Me criticizing others’ choices will only alienate them (and not all of them are Catholic, so it is unrealistic of me to expect non-Catholics to abide by Catholic rules).

 

[the_phoenix]

You remind me of my Dad, who was pleasant, easy going, laid back, didn’t get angry easily, enjoyed and appreciated the simple things in life.

That said, he attended Mass every Sunday until a stroke put him in a wheelchair. And he set a good example.

Now me, I can be a bit of a fighter and speak up about things, heh …

 

[karebear92]

This may sound a bit silly, but I am a bit confused. I’ve been back and forth between Catholicism and atheism for several years now, but I feel that I’m being drawn back to Catholicism for good now . I’m told that I should be outraged by all these things around me, from our culture that promotes promiscuity to the fact that church attendance is hitting record lows in many areas. The thing is, I’m not too outraged. God blessed me a laid-back temperament and a lot of patience. I like almost everybody I meet, regardless of who they are or what they have done. I don’t criticize my many friends who don’t live according to Catholic values ( they may be actively gay, party too much, promiscuous, don’t go to church, etc.), instead I try to focus on behaving myself (and I really feel that that’s more important right now )). I’m just not the type to get angry or upset about much. If I see something that I believe is truly wrong I speak up or I try to change it, but for the most part I just live and let live. Am I too laid-back?

I don’t think so, but it really depends on the circumstances. For example, you shouldn’t promote or encourage an immoral lifestyle, but I don’t think you have to preach to all of your friends about their lifestyles, unless they ask of course. Catholics shouldn’t be pro-choice or pro same-sex marriage, but that doesn’t mean that they have to preach to every homosexual or abortionist they see.

 

[marbles_the_cat]

My opinion: If you focus on Jesus, life falls into place.

I believe if your focus is correct, then you will naturally, with your laid back nature, know what really is worth spending energy on fighting against, and what matters should be “live and let live”. So I think you should not worry at all about this, and focus on searching for truth.

 

[Irish_Eyes_826]

Thanks you everyone for the advice! I’m also really drawing inspiration from Matthew 7:3, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”

 

[Contra_Mundum_1]

I think that not being judgemental of others is a quality of a mature Christian, but sometimes there is a fine line between not judging and approving of sin in an indirect way. I haven’t figured out how to deal with this myself so I can’t really suggest anything intelligent here. But I do think about it a lot and am trying to be clear about how I feel about sin, but I don’t preach to people all the time.

 

[Irish_Eyes_826]

Contra Mundum,
Same here. I’m just not sure where that line is yet, so I don’t always speak about about things that I’m not even sure if I agree with the Church on.