Protestant dad

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So I have been talking to my dad (protestant) about the church, and since he used to be a catholic he dismisses everything I say. He listens what I have to say about history and luther and the way the church views certain things, and I have to say I prove i’m right everytime, but he always says something like “I never felt God in the Catholic church, and now im happier”. Also when I talk to him about scripture, and what certain pieces of scipture means and how it backs a catholic doctrine, and he wont believe it, because thats not what his pastor teaches. I guess what do you do with someone who wont believe anything you say believes in scripture alone, faith alone, and one saved always saved, and who settles for the bare minimum of christianity. I know we can’t judge a soul but if we had to take a guess would he go to heaven?
 
MCS7474 said:
So I have been talking to my dad (protestant) about the church, and since he used to be a catholic he dismisses everything I say. …] I guess what do you do with someone who wont believe anything you say believes in scripture alone, faith alone, and one saved always saved, and who settles for the bare minimum of christianity.
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Change the subject, and focus on things that you have in common.
I know we can’t judge a soul but if we had to take a guess would he go to heaven?
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Wouldn’t “taking a guess” amount to making a judgement?

Trust in God; He loves your father even more than you do, and wants him to get to heaven even more badly than you do - let God deal with your father’s spiritual life - all you need to do is work on being the best possible son you can be. 😉

PS: I also worry a lot about my father’s spiritual state, but I get along with him a lot better since I decided to leave it up to God.
 
Your dad is feeding on his emotional responses. That’s what “I never felt God in the Catholic church, and now im happier” really means.
Show him this…from an n-C site that uses the 4 Spiritual Laws tract.
An important reminder…
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Do not depend on feelings

The promise of God’s Word, the Bible - not our feelings - is our authority. The Christian lives by faith (trust) in the trustworthiness of God Himself and His Word. This train diagram illustrates the relationship among fact (God and His Word), faith (our trust in God and His Word), and feeling (the result of our faith and obedience) (John 14:21).


The train will run with or without a caboose. However, it would be useless to attempt to pull the train by the caboose. In the same way, as Christians we do not depend on feelings or emotions, but we place our faith (trust) in the trustworthiness of God and the promises of His Word.For once they are right.
“and who settles for the bare minimum of christianity.”
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A close friend of mine who came home alongside me jokingly calls that “Christianity Lite”. I think he’s right.

How do you reach him?
  1. Consistent faithful life.
  2. Persistent prayer. (I highly recommend the Divine Mercy Chaplet.)
  3. Invitations to Mass and exposure to the best of Catholic teaching.
I also have one book (that I am reading right now) I will recommend. It’s called Treasure In Clay and is the autobiography of Bishop Fulton Sheen. It may be the best investment you can make in his soul. Read it first then pass it on with a suitable note.
PM me if I can be of any other help or encouragement.
Pax tecum,
 
It is not something we take a guess at, but we should take seriously that he is endangering his soul by staying outside the Catholic Church and not listening to you.
A person with a sincere heart would listen, but sometimes emotion, pride and a host of other factors keep people from listening, especially among family.
We cannot say he is going to hell, that is for God to decide.

So you do have a difficult task ahead of you and you will need all the help you can get. You should pray for him and look for ways to first get on an even ground with him.

Anything you say can be dismissed by him so you would first have to make sure you work on your relationship with him and see how you can make a common ground of communication or else you will just be brushed off.

God Bless
Scylla
 
MCS7474 said:
So I have been talking to my dad (protestant) about the church, and since he used to be a catholic he dismisses everything I say. He listens what I have to say about history and luther and the way the church views certain things, and I have to say I prove i’m right everytime, but he always says something like “I never felt God in the Catholic church, and now im happier”. Also when I talk to him about scripture, and what certain pieces of scipture means and how it backs a catholic doctrine, and he wont believe it, because thats not what his pastor teaches. I guess what do you do with someone who wont believe anything you say believes in scripture alone, faith alone, and one saved always saved, and who settles for the bare minimum of christianity. I know we can’t judge a soul but if we had to take a guess would he go to heaven?
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I found out that sometimes certain people are put in our lives for our benefit. It is very difficult when we’re talking about family members. I know.😦 God has His reasons and things will happen in His time. I bet that you have grown in your faith due to the conversations with your dad. And don’t think for a minute that what you tell him goes in one ear and out the other no matter how hard he tries to get you to believe that. The challenges of protestants have made me the informed Catholic that I am today. So in closing, look at the other side of the coin and pray, pray, pray oh and did I mention pray? And leave your dad’s eternity in the same Hands that made him.🙂 God Bless You
 
Well, even if he doesn’t believe what you believe, he should still listen to what you have to say. It is actually good for him to listen to different views and learn from them.

I am protestant myself actually.
 
MCS7474 said:
So I have been talking to my dad (protestant) about the church, and since he used to be a catholic he dismisses everything I say. He listens what I have to say about history and luther and the way the church views certain things, and I have to say I prove i’m right everytime, but he always says something like "I never felt God in the Catholic church, and now im happier". Also when I talk to him about scripture, and what certain pieces of scipture means and how it backs a catholic doctrine, and he wont believe it, because thats not what his pastor teaches. I guess what do you do with someone who wont believe anything you say believes in scripture alone, faith alone, and one saved always saved, and who settles for the bare minimum of christianity. I know we can’t judge a soul but if we had to take a guess would he go to heaven?
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This here highlighted above, as others have mentioned, is the key.

Besides the other very good advice, you may also wish to ask your Dad when he responds like that ask If he ever looked for God in the Catholic Church or only said things by rote.

One can’t “feel” God if one is not looking for Him in the first place. Challenge him to seriously ask himself what he did in Mass and whether or not he was really looking for God or just going through the motions. Point out that just because he never felt God there, doesn’t mean God wasn’t waiting for your Dad to open up his heart to God, but God can’t go where He is not invited.

While emotions are a risky way to base our eternal salvation on, appealing to his may be the only way to reach him.
 
MCS7474 said:
So I have been talking to my dad (protestant) about the church, and since he used to be a catholic he dismisses everything I say. He listens what I have to say about history and luther and the way the church views certain things, and I have to say I prove i’m right everytime, but he always says something like “I never felt God in the Catholic church, and now im happier”. Also when I talk to him about scripture, and what certain pieces of scipture means and how it backs a catholic doctrine, and he wont believe it, because thats not what his pastor teaches. I guess what do you do with someone who wont believe anything you say believes in scripture alone, faith alone, and one saved always saved, and who settles for the bare minimum of christianity. I know we can’t judge a soul but if we had to take a guess would he go to heaven?
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Just love him with the love of Christ, entrust him to Jesus, never forget to pray for Him. I use to be a Catholic hater spewing venom at the church and now I’m praying before the blessed sacrament, it came about because of prayer and that’s it brother. His ears are shut and his heart is closed for now, just pray and love him, talk with him about Jesus and the cross, it’s what you both have in common. Peace:)
 
Trelan said:
I am protestant myself actually.
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welcome aboard. My prayer for you is that you come to know the Truth about the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, the only Church founded by Christ.
 
From my experience as a former Protestant that believed pretty much what you dad does, I’d say it’s fear that is keeping him in his state of mind not reason.

Somewhere along the line he experienced an awakening of faith due to someone from his present denomination helping him to do that. To his mind his very salvation depends on clinging to that awakening as his point of conversion to Christ. If he denies it, he will be lost–that’s what he believes.

What you have to do, in the proper time and setting, is to help him see that such awakenings are not the same thing as being “saved.” We are saved through life in Christ not by a one time acceptance of Jesus as Savior. The redemption is what makes it possible for us to be saved, not just our asking Jesus into our hearts.

Then all you have to do is wean him off the other erroneous teachings he’s relied on through the years (as if that will be easy). But the crux of the matter is his fear of losing his salvation.
 
I’m in the same situation with my dad, except there’s an additional problem: except for our love for God, we have nothing to talk about.

It’s a bit of a problem when you can’t talk about anything but God but your dad can’t see past your differences 😦

Jeremy
 
maurin said:
welcome aboard. My prayer for you is that you come to know the Truth about the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, the only Church founded by Christ.
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I don’t believe that. People started the church after Christ. I am protestant because I interpret the bible a little differently, and don’t use any scripture other than the bible. It is pretty much catholicism generally.
 
Stick around her a while like I did and you will come to know the Fullness of the Truth as this former Baptist did. New Catholic as of this years Easter Vigil!!!

Praise the Lord.
 
Same boat here, but with both my parents. They’re the utter poster children for Baby Boomers Gone Bad (sorry, all you Baby Boomers out there 😃 ). They’re both subscribers to the “if you’re a good person, you should get to go to Heaven” philosophy, but then, as they have no moral “north star” to point to what a “good person” is, they just wing it.

To top it off, my father is a history nut, and so he thinks that he’s an expert on the Inquisition, and that it proves that the Church is evil. :rolleyes: I have made it my mission this summer to do my own reading on the Inquisition so I can help him out a little.

I pray for them. They come to Mass with me if they have to. My mom has actually been asking questions here and there about the Church, and seemed open to my responses. She was most enthusiastic about how the people at my parish dressed in all manner of ways- up, down, jeans, suits, etc. In her mind, churches where everyone dresses up are bad, since God doesn’t care what you wear. I used that observation to point out that for Catholics, they come for the singular honor of receiving Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, and that everything else was secondary. Did I plant any seeds? Maybe. Maybe what you’re doing is planting seeds in your dad’s soul, too.

It’s like that song my Baby Boomer parents love so much (and, come to think of it, so do I) by Crosby, Stills, and Nash:

And you, of tender years,
Can’t know the fears that your elders grew by,
And so please help them with your youth,
They seek the truth before they can die.

Teach your parents well,
Their children’s hell will slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you’ll know by.

Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.
 
Cari said:
Same boat here, but with both my parents. They’re the utter poster children for Baby Boomers Gone Bad (sorry, all you Baby Boomers out there 😃 ).
It’s like that song my Baby Boomer parents love so much (and, come to think of it, so do I) by Crosby, Stills, and Nash:

And you, of tender years,
Can’t know the fears that your elders grew by,
And so please help them with your youth,
They seek the truth before they can die.

Teach your parents well,
Their children’s hell will slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you’ll know by.

Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.
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As a boomer this is one of my favorite songs. 😃
 
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