Is Evangelical anti-Catholicism orchestrated?

[miguel]

I am sorry for your situation; I wish that this sort of thing wouldn’t happen…but it does.

Family is so important; our connections to each other so vital, that allowing religious beliefs to destroy those connections is one of the worst things people do to each other. So…I’m sorry.

May I ask what the book was?

Some priorities are even higher than family.

From Mathew 10:34-37
Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me.

 

[John1]

While individual Catholics may see non-Catholics as a mission field, the Catholic Church considers them separated brethren.

Here is a link to the Catechism, #818 under wounds to unity.

18 "However, one cannot charge with the sin of the separation those who at present are born into these communities [that resulted from such separation] and in them are brought up in the faith of Christ, and the Catholic Church accepts them with respect and affection as brothers . . . . All who have been justified by faith in Baptism are incorporated into Christ; they therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers in the Lord by the children of the Catholic Church."272

We certainly hope and pray that the Church will one day be truly One, but that is a far cry from thinking non-Catholics are not even Christian as many fundamentalists think.

A wash? Not hardly. You probably don’t realize or you wouldn’t have said that, but those of us who have come from fundamental backgrounds and now have friends who won’t pray with us anymore because we belong the the whore of Babylon etc, the hurt is so great. I have to imagine that it is only a fraction of the pain Christ must feel, but the pain is immense to know that they don’t consider you a Christian anymore.

Excellent insight and an excellent post!

 

[dianaiad]

Some priorities are even higher than family.

From Mathew 10:34-37
Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me.

Do you think that deliberately hurting your family because you don’t agree with their beliefs is loving Him more than them?

Or is it putting your own ego above both family and Savior? I thought that the idea was to bring your family along with you into salvation; how can you do that if you treat them as if they weren’t worthy of anything but hell?

 

[John1]

I’ve often discussed religion in a friendly manner with non-Catholic friends and acquaintances but, until recently, was never overtly attacked and condemned for being Catholic as I now have been several times by evangelicals, including ex-Catholics. Most were in the past year. Our wonderful Christmas was shattered by an in-law’s relative’s verbal assault when she learned we were Catholic.

Its happened before in social settings, in non-religious net forums, and even with in-law relations. These weren’t just disagreement on points of faith, but truly in-your-face distasteful insults; e.g. Catholics are “tainted”, “carnal”, “pagan”, “Nazis” to quote a few.

I’m past 60 and have lived in the Midwest, the South, and now the West Coast; where this is a new and disturbing phenomenon seems to be on the rise and I can’t help but feel its orchestrated among otherwise unaffiliated non-denominational churches. Are others experiencing this? Why now? Is there an agenda beyond proselytizing? I had hoped we were past this sort of ugliness.

I’m sorry that you had to experience that kind of behavior from someone who is supposed to be a Christian. I am a member of the RCC, and it saddens me deeply to hear about how badly Christians are treating each other, and it seems like it’s becoming more frequent. Unfortunately, there is a lot of Protestant bashing from the Catholics too. I have a lot of friends and family that are members of the Protestant group and it troubles me when I hear someone at the RCC say something derogatory about the Protestants. I believe that there are a lot of Christians however, that truely care for one another. Maybe this is something that has to happen, to separate the true Christians from the others, I don’t know. I do know how Christians are supposed to behave towards one another, though sometimes I am uncharitable and down right rude. I working on it and I pray that God will forgive me when I make a mistake. I will pray for you and your in-laws and I pray that God blesses you all.

 

[ladybon]

I am sorry for your situation; I wish that this sort of thing wouldn’t happen…but it does.

Family is so important; our connections to each other so vital, that allowing religious beliefs to destroy those connections is one of the worst things people do to each other. So…I’m sorry.

May I ask what the book was?

 

[ladybon]

I am sorry for your situation; I wish that this sort of thing wouldn’t happen…but it does.

Family is so important; our connections to each other so vital, that allowing religious beliefs to destroy those connections is one of the worst things people do to each other. So…I’m sorry.

May I ask what the book was?

Thanks for your kind words. I wish I could remember the name of the book. I’ve looked for it, but can’t find it anywhere. I suspect I let someone borrow it and never got it back. I THINK the author’s first name was “Marilyn”, “Madeline”, something like that. The premise of the book was that she had passed away during surgery and actually gone to heaven (this was a true story), but was sent back to earth.

 

[ladybon]

Some priorities are even higher than family.

From Mathew 10:34-37
Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me.

And, just as importantly, in the Ten Commandments, “Honor They Father and Thy Mother”!! Does having a spouse give you the right to disown and totally disrespect your entire family? NO ONE was trying to come between these two, or wanting them to choose between a spouse or a parent! As a matter of fact, it was, and still is, my son-in-law’s family who are demanding and imposing. God and only God will be our judge, NOT my hypocritical and evil son-in-law.

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

I agree with your assessment of the content of attacks by evangelicals, but my concern is really about the in-your-face brazenness and hostility toward Catholicism that I’m seeing more of. I think Church leaders pretend its not there, and leaving Catholics generally unprepared for dealing with openly hostile fundamentalists, let alone responding to the distortions and outright lies about our faith being spoon fed by zealot preachers to their followers.

Might this - perceived ? real ? - increase in hostility have something to do with expectations (or fears) of doomsday :newidea:​

**A lot of such people think that Obama is Satan/the 666/that kind of being - maybe, once the inauguration is over, the silliness will die down. **

Some Obamadness:

• [http://media.www.gsusignal.com/medi...Alien.Overlord.From.Outer.Space-2692461.shtml (http://media.www.gsusignal.com/medi...Alien.Overlord.From.Outer.Space-2692461.shtml)
• [http://www.webspawner.com/users/islamfake/index.html (http://www.webspawner.com/users/islamfake/index.html)
  **If Church leaders do act as described , God help the laity ! **