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dsf11785
Guest
I posted the question in that manner as an attention grabber, and because my real question would have been too long for the title. Here is my real question.
Last week a few of my co-workers told me that they are going to a strip club this weekend, and invited me to come along too. The two people who invited me are “Catholics”, meaning that their family is Catholic and they have a rosary in their car and they wear a necklace with a cross and they give up things for Lent and their facebook page says that they are Catholic, and maybe they go to Church a few times per year. That is as far as their faith goes, but honestly, I don’t think they are even aware that there is anything more to being Catholic than doing these things. Also, I should mention that they had invited me to a strip club before, and I had said no, “because it’s a sin”, and we had left it at that. But they decided to ask me again this time, because they felt that it’s time for me to stop taking my religion so seriously and have fun while I am still young. Lastly, I should mention that I was in the break room with about 8-10 uninvolved people also present and half-listening, and that I was very tired, and these last two factors discouraged me from preaching to them.
The conversation went something like this. The two inviters are A1 and A2.
A1: You can’t go, because it’s a “sin”, right?
Me: Yeah.
A1: I think you should go. It will be good for you.
Me: Mhmm.
A1: If you go, I guarantee you’ll have the time of your life. You should go.
Me: Mhmm.
A1: They’re not completely naked. It’s not a sin.
A2: So are you going?
Me: No.
A2: Why not?
Me: Because I’m a Catholic.
A2: What do you think we are? [referencing the fact that they are Catholics too, but they are still going.]
[Silence]
A1: I’m just saying, I think you should go. But I don’t want to force you.
A2: So why do you think it’s a sin?
Me: Some time I’ll show you where it says in Church Law that immodesty and impurity are sins.
A2: Tell me now.
Me: It’s a sin to look at immodesty or –
A1: No, don’t say it! It doesn’t have to be a sin. This isn’t Church.
Me: --or impurity, even if the girl isn’t completely naked.
[A1 gives a frustrated, disappointed look.]
A2: So do you think that most guys are sinners?
Me: I won’t say anything about other people.
A2: You know that we’re Catholics too, right? We go to these things all the time.
Me: Well, Catholics are supposed to follow the Sixth Commandment.
A2: What’s the Sixth Commandment?
Me: You’re a Catholic. You’re supposed to know the Ten Commandments.
A2: I don’t have them memorized.
I didn’t say anything else, but left it at this, firstly because I was extremely uncomfortable talking about this in front of all those other people, and secondly because I felt that leaving the conversation hanging like this would bother A2 enough to make her want to look up the Sixth Commandment for herself. (“Her”? What is a girl doing going to a strip club, you might ask? She is a Lesbian.) A while later, A2 asked me again about the Sixth Commandment, showing that it indeed was bothering her, which is not surprising since she is quite proud of being a Catholic. I then sent her a wikipedia article on “Catholic Doctrine on the Ten Commandments”, directing her to the Sixth Commandment, where it lists lust, fornication, etc. as all sins. (I chose wikipedia to demonstrate to her that it is standard public knowledge, not some insider set of rules that only some hardcore Catholics follow but others don’t have to.)
Now that all this is behind us, what else should I do? If I bring up the topic again, any ideas what I should say?
Last week a few of my co-workers told me that they are going to a strip club this weekend, and invited me to come along too. The two people who invited me are “Catholics”, meaning that their family is Catholic and they have a rosary in their car and they wear a necklace with a cross and they give up things for Lent and their facebook page says that they are Catholic, and maybe they go to Church a few times per year. That is as far as their faith goes, but honestly, I don’t think they are even aware that there is anything more to being Catholic than doing these things. Also, I should mention that they had invited me to a strip club before, and I had said no, “because it’s a sin”, and we had left it at that. But they decided to ask me again this time, because they felt that it’s time for me to stop taking my religion so seriously and have fun while I am still young. Lastly, I should mention that I was in the break room with about 8-10 uninvolved people also present and half-listening, and that I was very tired, and these last two factors discouraged me from preaching to them.
The conversation went something like this. The two inviters are A1 and A2.
A1: You can’t go, because it’s a “sin”, right?
Me: Yeah.
A1: I think you should go. It will be good for you.
Me: Mhmm.
A1: If you go, I guarantee you’ll have the time of your life. You should go.
Me: Mhmm.
A1: They’re not completely naked. It’s not a sin.
A2: So are you going?
Me: No.
A2: Why not?
Me: Because I’m a Catholic.
A2: What do you think we are? [referencing the fact that they are Catholics too, but they are still going.]
[Silence]
A1: I’m just saying, I think you should go. But I don’t want to force you.
A2: So why do you think it’s a sin?
Me: Some time I’ll show you where it says in Church Law that immodesty and impurity are sins.
A2: Tell me now.
Me: It’s a sin to look at immodesty or –
A1: No, don’t say it! It doesn’t have to be a sin. This isn’t Church.
Me: --or impurity, even if the girl isn’t completely naked.
[A1 gives a frustrated, disappointed look.]
A2: So do you think that most guys are sinners?
Me: I won’t say anything about other people.
A2: You know that we’re Catholics too, right? We go to these things all the time.
Me: Well, Catholics are supposed to follow the Sixth Commandment.
A2: What’s the Sixth Commandment?
Me: You’re a Catholic. You’re supposed to know the Ten Commandments.
A2: I don’t have them memorized.
I didn’t say anything else, but left it at this, firstly because I was extremely uncomfortable talking about this in front of all those other people, and secondly because I felt that leaving the conversation hanging like this would bother A2 enough to make her want to look up the Sixth Commandment for herself. (“Her”? What is a girl doing going to a strip club, you might ask? She is a Lesbian.) A while later, A2 asked me again about the Sixth Commandment, showing that it indeed was bothering her, which is not surprising since she is quite proud of being a Catholic. I then sent her a wikipedia article on “Catholic Doctrine on the Ten Commandments”, directing her to the Sixth Commandment, where it lists lust, fornication, etc. as all sins. (I chose wikipedia to demonstrate to her that it is standard public knowledge, not some insider set of rules that only some hardcore Catholics follow but others don’t have to.)
Now that all this is behind us, what else should I do? If I bring up the topic again, any ideas what I should say?
