How to respond to the claim that religion makes you a slave

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Upgrade25 said:
It’s in the title. Keep it Christian, please.
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How? What is their definition of a slave?

Remember the onus is on them to supply the proof. If they feel religion makes you a slave, they need to say more than what fits on a bumper sticker.
 
St. Louis De Monfort took pride in being a slave to Jesus through Mary. I think one could easily get caught up in the modern day stigma of slavery, and understandably so. Slaves used to be treated very well and instead of subcoming to death by famine or the elements, would freely give themselves to someone else so that they may be saved and have life. Sounds awfully similar to what we do in the spiritual life.
 
Well, it is true that we are slaves, or servants, of Christ. Saint Paul even used this phrase to speak of his relationship to Our Lord:

“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God…” (Romans 1:1).

May God bless you and grant you peace in this new year! 🙂
 
Here is your answer.
Remember Jesus said “You shall know the truth and the truth will make you free”
From this you can logically conclude that if you don’t know the truth(what is real) it will hold you in bondage because operating on false information will result in a wrong result that you don’t want.

Example: If I want a plane to fly to a certain destination but wrong coordinates are entered in the navigation system, then I will go to the wrong place.

Jesus, through His word is the one source of reliable truth. When we let this information guide our life then we will be truly free.

If our life is guided by error, then we arrive at an unwanted destination and find our self in bondage.
 
SuperLuigi said:
What about being a “slave” to secularism?
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Indeed. Consumerism, materialism, liberal ideologies that despise religion and try to stop people exercising their faith. A good illustration is found in Exodus actually. The Hebrews were literally slaves to Egypt, Egypt often a depiction in the Bible of the secular, non-believing world. In the desert, they were not “free” in the sense of having no restrictions over their lives: they had God’s law to guide them. But more importantly they were free from slavery. Freedom is not always freedom to do something but sometimes freedom from something.
 
coachdennis said:
How? What is their definition of a slave?

Remember the onus is on them to supply the proof. If they feel religion makes you a slave, they need to say more than what fits on a bumper sticker.
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Jesus answered that question in the Bible:

Jesus said. “Truly and sincerely I tell you, whoever sins,.is a slave to that sin.”
“But I came to set the sinners free.”

Honestly every single thing the Roman Catholic Church founded by Jesus Christ at the last Supper 2,000 years ago, everything the Rc Church says is a sin, chains.the sinner like an adict:
Pornography,
Fornication,
Adultery
Drugs
Lying
Occult
Stealing
Gambling
Alcoholism
Honestly, look at the Truth of Jesus in Catholicism, what good can come of the above sins, for the sinner, for.the family, and those effected, sin destroys people and binds the sinner into addiction to that sin. Sin is like drugs or alcohol. It is an addiction to something poisonous, to something that hurts others and destroys your ability to love yourself as a temple of God’s Holy Spirit, to love others with the respect they deserve as temples of God’s Holy Spirit, and to love the things of the earth as created things created by God and that should be used in a holy way.

Sin enslaves the sinner,
St Paul spoke about sin the same way_ “Why is it the good I would like to do, that I do not do, and the sin I would not like to do, that I do.”

St Paul was saying the human person is prone to sin, and sin enslaves us to that sin.

A sinner is like an alcoholic destroying his kidneys and liver with drink or drug addict ruining his health, or gambler who is losing everything, it destroys themselves, their relationship with others, their wellbeing, their lifestyles, everything.

A Catholic is free from being chained and addicted to sin, through Confession, and a life in Jesus Christ.
A Catholic is freed from the addictions of committing evil and freed to enjoy a life free from those evil addictions, freed to do good and think good things and say good things.

Any questions you have about the faith are answered in the Roman Catholic Catechism which is available as an app, and to read online and to download.
Read it.
 
We’re all slaves to something, in many cases by choice. Religion reqiures that choice and is just more honest about it than secular ideologies are 🤷
 
I am reminded of this scripture

John 15:15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

That said we serve the Lord and serve others not because we are forced to but out of love… Anyone who believes they are loving and serving others out of force is not really experiencing Gods love in it. Love cannot be forced it must be freely given. Sacrificial love is shown by the cross of Jesus who died freely for us for our salvation. That is the kind of love that we should show to others. It’s the putting of others before ourselves… That is not slavery but Christian love…
 
Jesus also said, “You cannot SERVE two masters,
You cannot SERVE both God and satan.”

I would say to the question of the post:
Who do you serve?

Jesus frees us to choose and do and enjoy the good things on earth. And puts us on the path to Heaven.

Satan chains us like addicts to sin, destroying our lives and relationships with others, using God’s possessions on the earth in an unholy way, and putting people on the path to Hell.
 
When we are learning to drive a car we have to learn the rules of the road. Pass a test. Learn how to operate a car, have an experienced driver with us. At some point we get our license, and it costs money as well. So does a car, and gas, and insurance, and repairs. Why go through all this trouble? There’s a freedom there. We need the rules of the road because we are sharing the road with a million other people who hopefully are also following the rules. Why do we not look at that as slavery?

The rules of the Church are there to help us navigate this life and live peaceably with the other million people who share this planet. That more people would at least follow the 10 commandments, what an improved world this would be. No stealing. No adultery. No children born out of wedlock. Think a moment on these things. Our prisons are busting. There are millions and millions of abortions. I wish that everyone would follow the 10 commandments whether they believed in God or not.
 
I mean, I would simply opine that even secularists would state that we are to adhere to the truth whenever possible. We have a clearer, better understanding of truth; to them it is an abstract concept, to us truth took flesh.
 
:rotfl:

I’d probably laugh in their face! Seriously, anyone who says that to me clearly does not know me well at all!

I might also quote Jacob Marley in Dickens’s A Christmas Carol:

“Ah! You do not know the weight and length of strong chain you bear yourself!”
 
If a parent loves a child and sacrifices and does everything possible for that child, is that slavery? If a man loves a woman and does everything he can to make her happy, is that slavery?

I would rather be “enslaved” by love to One Who has done everything for me than to be enslaved to myself, to society’s ideas of success, to sex, drugs, shopping, smartphones, and all the myriad things out there that people become “addicted” to.
 
MaryHelp777 said:
Jesus also said, “You cannot SERVE two masters,
You cannot SERVE both God and satan.”

I would say to the question of the post:
Who do you serve?

Jesus frees us to choose and do and enjoy the good things on earth. And puts us on the path to Heaven.

Satan chains us like addicts to sin, destroying our lives and relationships with others, using God’s possessions on the earth in an unholy way, and putting people on the path to Hell.
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This is right.
To the question of this thread I would answer:
“Like it or not, believe in it or not, truth is truth, and in the end, at your death, and at the Final Judgement, you won’t be able to get away from it. All the popularity you might have had here won’t mean a thing in the end. In the end, if you don’t live your life right, or at least to the best that common logic tells you is decent, you will be a slave forever in hell. Whether you believe in hell or not. Not believing in it won’t make it not real for you in the end.”
Not to sound hell-fire preachy, but this is just the bare bones truth, if you want to be blunt about it.
 
Upgrade25 said:
It’s in the title. Keep it Christian, please.
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‘The very freedom which the sinner supposedly exercises in his self-indulgence is only another proof that he is ruled by the tyrant.’
  • Archbishop Fulton J Sheen.
I hope this has helped

God Bless

Thank you for reading
Josh
 
Gertabelle said:
:rotfl:

I’d probably laugh in their face! Seriously, anyone who says that to me clearly does not know me well at all!

I might also quote Jacob Marley in Dickens’s A Christmas Carol:

“Ah! You do not know the weight and length of strong chain you bear yourself!”
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Similar reaction here. I was thinking of raised eyebrows and a disbelieving, “Really?”
 
Upgrade25 said:
It’s in the title. Keep it Christian, please.
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As God gave us freewill Christian believers are willing servants.

Muslims say God did not give us freewill and that everyone is a slave whether they believe or not.
 
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