I have Protestant friends who don't challenge me, and we get along fine. Is this abnormal?

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OKComputer

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I’ve seen a few posts on various forums that say things like “My Protestant friend challenges me on…” or “I got into an argument with my Protestant friend over this…” Is this common for people?

I live in the deep south, so most of my friends are protestant- maybe we are just wonderful people, but we get along fine and enjoy each others company. We talk about religion, and while we may not agree, we’re all friends in the end and it never gets nasty.

Isn’t this normal in “real life”, or did I just luck out and get great friends?

Serious question.
 
I suppose it all depends on how much each party is invested in the debate. Most of my friends are atheists but we very rarely debate about religion; often, we just talk about other things. But the fact that you and your fiends do talk about and debate religion is really cool and something I’d love to do in person more often. As for the ‘is this lucky?’, I don’t know. I guess it depends on how people are, and you can’t really be anymore specific than this because its up to people’s personalities and interests.
 
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Thanks Daniel. I was surprised how often I see posts like the ones I was describing. I’m very blessed to have wonderful friends!
 
OKComputer said:
Isn’t this normal in “real life”, or did I just luck out and get great friends?
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Probably a bit of both. How many people on CAF would start a thread like this one? So far I see exactly one. There may be more, but I doubt they get much attention. Kind of like the news: You don’t often see reports that are basically “Everything is fine over here and people are getting along like people should. For a closer look, we take you to our correspondent Cranston Snord in the midst of a group of people who don’t actually hate each other.”
 
OKComputer said:
I’ve seen a few posts on various forums that say things like “My Protestant friend challenges me on…” or “I got into an argument with my Protestant friend over this…” Is this common for people?

I live in the deep south, so most of my friends are protestant- maybe we are just wonderful people, but we get along fine and enjoy each others company. We talk about religion, and while we may not agree, we’re all friends in the end and it never gets nasty.

Isn’t this normal in “real life”, or did I just luck out and get great friends?

Serious question.
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This is probably the norm among most sensible people. Good for you. Friends are a blessing. My closest friend is a UCC pastor who’s theology diverges from mine drastically. We are still great friends and he is an awesome human being.
 
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I have never had a challenge from anyone about anything religious except from other Catholics. 😳
 
That’s really sad. I’m sorry it’s been that way.

My observations-

It never ceases to amaze me that religious people of all stripes seem incredibly acrimonious online. We all joke about the atheist who lives in his parents basement, but frankly I’d rather deal with them than many religious people.

One thing I’m endlessly fascinated about is how some religious people act like absolute jerks off or online than wonder why they and their religion are not popular.

Religion can bring out the worst in people along with the best.
 
I have wonderful Protestant friends who respect my faith. I know they dont completely understand it - or necessarily agree with it - but they love me and respect me as a Sister in Christ!
 
OKComputer said:
It never ceases to amaze me that religious people of all stripes seem incredibly acrimonious online. We all joke about the atheist who lives in his parents basement, but frankly I’d rather deal with them than many religious people.
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To be fair, the kind of person who seeks out an apologetics forum is more likely than the average person to be interested in debate. CAF is (thankfully) not representative of the average Catholic in the pew.
 
OKComputer said:
Isn’t this normal in “real life”, or did I just luck out and get great friends?
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If you’re enjoying civil conversation on something that easily gets divisive, don’t look that gift horse in the mouth. On some level, it doesn’t matter why you’re blessed with good friends. It just matters that you are.
 
A little of both. I also think it’s generational. I don’t think Gen Z folks are very confrontational, so if you’re young that could be it.
 
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You and your friends respect each other. Your relationship is built on charity, ya’ll are acting like Christians!

That is how my varied belief real-life friends are.
 
Honestly, outside of the internet and professional apologists, I’ve not seen Protestants challenge Catholics or vice versa.

I’ve not had any Protestant friends challenge me.

I got challenged (well not really challenged, he started out by giving me his testimony and asking if I was saved… you know, just doing what Baptists do) randomly on an airplane by a Baptist missionary in the seat next to me (going standby lands you in the middle of a large baptist missionary group sometimes). By the end of the flight, I’d introduced the poor Baptist guy to a whole lot of Catholic Bible verses.
 
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Why do you think they are great friends for not challenging or questioning you?
 
I’ve never had a true knock-‘em-down-drag-‘em-out fight with any Protestant I’ve ever known.

Ex Catholics who turn Protestant tend to be the most sneer-y in my experience, not so much cradle Protestants, who are more concerned about my soul.

But the most abrasive Evangelical Protestant I know IRL, is abrasive and bossy about everything, both religious and secular, so that’s just her personality.
 
Aulef said:
Why do you think they are great friends for not challenging or questioning you?
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Well, they are great friends for many reasons.

I guess we know the difference between “challenge” and “discuss/question”? I honestly don’t know.
 
I suppose challenging is when someone not only questions but also denies someone’s view. So it is a step further.
 
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