Helping a "religion light" friend?

[shondrea]

I’m looking for ways to help my dearest and best friend find a place in faith. She is definately assured there is a God, but she has never, ever had an religious influence of any kind. Her mother just went to whatever church she felt like for a while, until she got bored, and her stepfather is a Hindu. She’s currently living with a veeery anti-Catholic grandmother, and while her gramma’s emphatic religous life hasn’t given my friend a hatred of Catholics, it hasn’t done anything to draw her into religion at all. In fact, hearing her grandma say constantly that the men on TV say we’re gonna all die and go to hell has pushe her away from any interest in religion.

She claims herself as protestant, but she doesn’t know any protestant beliefs. She knows no Catholic beliefs. She attests that there is a God, and that’s all she needs, and while she’s overall a good person, she has many habbits that are not conducive to ANY kind of Christianity. She abhors ANY talk of religion, at all, and has no desire to attend any church.

I know God calls us all to him in different ways, but I don’t feel like I can just sit and watch her go into faith neutral for life. She’s terrified watching evangelical TV, filled to the brim with 2012, nuclear war, a hateful God and all that. I want her to be able to find some sort of peace, answers, I just don’t know how to point her in the right direction/ Any guidance?

 

[PJM]

=shondrea;6375282]I’m looking for ways to help my dearest and best friend find a place in faith. She is definately assured there is a God, but she has never, ever had an religious influence of any kind. Her mother just went to whatever church she felt like for a while, until she got bored, and her stepfather is a Hindu. She’s currently living with a veeery anti-Catholic grandmother, and while her gramma’s emphatic religous life hasn’t given my friend a hatred of Catholics, it hasn’t done anything to draw her into religion at all. In fact, hearing her grandma say constantly that the men on TV say we’re gonna all die and go to hell has pushe her away from any interest in religion.

She claims herself as protestant, but she doesn’t know any protestant beliefs. She knows no Catholic beliefs. She attests that there is a God, and that’s all she needs, and while she’s overall a good person, she has many habbits that are not conducive to ANY kind of Christianity. She abhors ANY talk of religion, at all, and has no desire to attend any church.

I know God calls us all to him in different ways, but I don’t feel like I can just sit and watch her go into faith neutral for life. She’s terrified watching evangelical TV, filled to the brim with 2012, nuclear war, a hateful God and all that. I want her to be able to find some sort of peace, answers, I just don’t know how to point her in the right direction/ Any guidance?

The BEST thing you can do is be a living Bible to and for Her. Know and practice your faith fully and visibly.

If ??? She beliefs that there is Only One God? Is it not logical that this One God would have only One true Faith? One true Church

Love and prayers,

 

[shondrea]

Thank you for bumping this back up!

I hope to do just that for her. She really knows next to nothing. She says she’s glad she’s not Catholic, so she can eat chicken today, but…when she says things like this, or says she’s definitely Protestant, I want to ask her, deary, do you even know what it is you’re supposedly protesting? I’m still growing in my own faith, but I hope very deeply that maybe, she’ll start to see little things through what I’m learning

 

[aspirant]

I think the best things you can do for your friend are:

1. Work on becoming the best Catholic Christian you can, by the power of God’s grace. Pray, receive the sacraments, read the scriptures and other good spiritual works, practice virtue, love those around you, etc.
2. Listen and be attentive to your friend. Be trustworthy and true. Do good for your friend and avoid harming your friend. Be the kind of friend to her that you want others to be to you.
3. If an opportunity arises to help your friend unlearn a misunderstanding about Christianity in general or Catholicism specifically, do this as honestly, helpfully, and charitably as you possibly can.
4. If your friend asks for advice or information, provide an honest and charitable answer that is informed by your faith without beating her over the head with your faith. If the opportunity to share what you believe and why also arises, do so, but don’t be pushy (unless your friend is one of those rare people who responds well to that-- see #2 on being attentive).

I’m sure more could be said, but the main thing I want to say is this: I put these things in this order for a reason. If you’re not doing #1, there’s little chance the other 3 will be helpful. If you’re not doing #2, numbers 3 & 4 will probably be a lot less effective. And while you may be doing some 3 & 4 at the same time, work most at #3. It’s important, if you want to plant seeds, to prepare the soil by clearing away rocks and debris.