Religion...opium for the masses?

[kellyb32]

My cousin (who happens to by my baby’s Godfather) is becoming very bitter about things. He says that religion is opium for the masses, a thing used to make people feel good about life.

He is now questioning if Jesus was really married (why not? he reasons, because if he was human wouldn’t he want to experience a full life with a marriage and children?) He questions why there are so many different religions and who has the authority to say if he’s going to hell or not since people aren’t God?

AHHH!!! It’s kind of hard to talk to him right now because he is going through a very difficult time. He’s lost many friends in the Iraq war, some of his trooper friends have recently been killed either in the line of duty, suicide or by accidents, our cousin also died last month, she was 39, and had stomach cancer. So he’s grieving, a lot.

It seems like he’s lost a friend almost every month or every other month for the past 2 years. He’s a state trooper so he has a lot of friends from different branches of service. He’s been the pallbearer for the last 4 friends who died since October.

First can you please keep him in prayer…second, how can I address his questions without overwhelming him with info? He’s already got a lot on his plate and I don’t want to turn him off anymore from our Faith by getting all theological on him. He’s not in a position to redigest truths that run so deep. Those truths are in him, but hidden for the moment. He’s just doing what many people do who suffer tremendous loss…question God, faith, beliefs, etc.

I just want to be able to talk to him in a loving manner that doesn’t gloss over the fact that when it’s all said and done, he still needs to reach out to Jesus Christ to take care of him.

Any suggestions for how to approach this when he brings it up would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[AquinasXVI]

This qoute comes from Marx. Who cares what he thinks.

in XT.

 

[mike182d]

kellyb32:

My cousin (who happens to by my baby’s Godfather) is becoming very bitter about things. He says that religion is opium for the masses, a thing used to make people feel good about life.

Ask him if he thinks self-denial, penance, and denying one’s bodily desires makes people “feel good?”

 

[myfavoritmartin]

My suggestion is don’t get theological with him, rather just tell him you know he has a lot on his plate and he should just ask Christ to lighten the burden of pain in which he carries and then in a short period of time he will start feeling the Holy Spirit working within him.
Christ be with you and yours.

 

[kellyb32]

AquinasXVI:

This qoute comes from Marx. Who cares what he thinks.

in XT.

I wonder if he knows that? Hmmm…just that info there might be a huge can of worms that is better left unopened for the moment…

 

[kellyb32]

mike182d:

Ask him if he thinks self-denial, penance, and denying one’s bodily desires makes people “feel good?”

Yeah…I have talked a bit about how true Christianity is not for the faint of heart and it’s not something that is easy to do when you have to humble yourself so much. He listens and doesn’t make stinging remarks back, you know how some people who are REALLY bitter might shut you down completely because the truth hurts sometimes.

Like I said, he’s just in a place right now where things are hidden behind the veil of grief he’s been wearing for such a long time.

 

[Ignatius]

kellyb32:

My cousin (who happens to by my baby’s Godfather) is becoming very bitter about things. He says that religion is opium for the masses!

Tell him that is sooo 19th century. That was Stalin and Lenins claim as they were butchering their own people.

 

[kellyb32]

myfavoritmartin:

My suggestion is don’t get theological with him, rather just tell him you know he has a lot on his plate and he should just ask Christ to lighten the burden of pain in which he carries and then in a short period of time he will start feeling the Holy Spirit working within him.
Christ be with you and yours.

Thank you. He said he should read his bible more, I told him to read the Psalms because a lot of those were written out of pain and sorrow but they ultimately lead us back to God being in control and He’ll bring us through even the darkest of night.

He’s questioning Jesus right now…His divinity and of course Mary being ever-virgin came up in the conversation.

He’s just seeking right now because he’s in a bit of a fog. It’s like someone beating your head and you’ve not lost conciousness but things are really hazy as a result. It’s going to take some time to heal and for you to get your clarity of vision back.

Hope is still there with him though…I can still see it and hear it in how he talks.

 

[Jeanette_L]

Maybe what he needs most is someone like yourself who will just be there when he needs to vent, and PRAY for him a lot. The Lord allows us all to go through tough times, and his are REAL tough right now. Sometimes it’s just to get rid of the FLUFF. Get rid of all the things we try to make Christianity to be, then we can get down to what it really is, conformity to Christ, in all things, including suffering.

When all is said and done, this man will be in a unique position to understand suffering and loss like few of us can. He can be used in a great way.

So PRAY for him. Let the Holy Spirit do the rest. You will know when you are being led to speak, and the Spirit will give you the right words at the time.

I will say a prayer for both of you.

God Bless,
Jeanette

 

[kellyb32]

Jeanette L:

Maybe what he needs most is someone like yourself who will just be there when he needs to vent, and PRAY for him a lot. The Lord allows us all to go through tough times, and his are REAL tough right now. Sometimes it’s just to get rid of the FLUFF. Get rid of all the things we try to make Christianity to be, then we can get down to what it really is, conformity to Christ, in all things, including suffering.

When all is said and done, this man will be in a unique position to understand suffering and loss like few of us can. He can be used in a great way.

So PRAY for him. Let the Holy Spirit do the rest. You will know when you are being led to speak, and the Spirit will give you the right words at the time.

I will say a prayer for both of you.

God Bless,
Jeanette

Thank you for your kind words.

I appreciate your prayers.

God bless.

 

[Lrning]

KellyB,

I’ll pray for your cousin. I have a friend that is so angry with God over things that have happened over the last 15 years that she is totally closed to Him. Please pray for her. I am reading all the responses with great interest, because other than pray, I don’t know what to do.

 

[Anonymous_1]

ask him why he has any reason to believe Jesus was married. There certainly is no historical evidence to suggest this so why consider it?Carl Marx first said that religion is the opiate of the masses. He got his ideas from a guy named Ludwig Fuyerbach.

]quote]He questions why there are so many different religions

Reason with him. Say this. (i am presuming he believes in God just not religion)

For ages Man has debated, speculated, theorized and philosophized about the existence and nature of God. There have been so many ideas, cults, religions, who is to know who is right.

I propose this:
There is a God

If God has not revealed Himself to man then we are justifiably free to believe or not believe whatever we want. That means we can subscribe to any religion we would like so long as it is reasonable.
but…
What if God revealed Himself to man in a way that only He could.

I propose that God has revealed Himself through the witness of Creation, Revelation and Inspiration and ultimatley by the Incarnation of the Person Jesus Christ. And that "God publicly endorsed Jesus of Nazareth by doing wonderful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know. "( Acts 2:22) Ultimatley by raising Him from the dead. Jesus started the Church as a means to proclaim salvation to all generations, and as a place of refuge.

I’m sorry your Cousin has had to endure such grief. I can understand how this can shake someones faith up. I will pray for him.

Let him know that God is with Him, despite the storms going on around him and within him. The Lord will help him get through this difficult time. But He won’t force Himself on your cousin. Theere are plenty of verses from Sacred Scripture that might encourage him, do you think he’d be itnerested in hearing it?

 

[mike182d]

kellyb32:

Yeah…I have talked a bit about how true Christianity is not for the faint of heart and it’s not something that is easy to do when you have to humble yourself so much. He listens and doesn’t make stinging remarks back, you know how some people who are REALLY bitter might shut you down completely because the truth hurts sometimes.

Like I said, he’s just in a place right now where things are hidden behind the veil of grief he’s been wearing for such a long time.

Hmm…

Maybe this is a situation in which words cannot help. We might want to borrow from the example of St. Monica on this one, even if it takes 30 years

 

[Jeanette_L]

Lrning:

KellyB,

I’ll pray for your cousin. I have a friend that is so angry with God over things that have happened over the last 15 years that she is totally closed to Him. Please pray for her. I am reading all the responses with great interest, because other than pray, I don’t know what to do.

The Lord may not force anyone’s choice, we all have free will, but he is relentless when he persues his lost sheep. He’s called “the Hound of Heaven” for that very reason. So don’t give up, keep on praying. It may seem discouraging when things don’t look like they are improving, but we don’t see or know everything. PRAY, PRAY, PRAY! Never give up on anyone, the Lord won’t either.

 

[kellyb32]

Lrning:

KellyB,

I’ll pray for your cousin. I have a friend that is so angry with God over things that have happened over the last 15 years that she is totally closed to Him. Please pray for her. I am reading all the responses with great interest, because other than pray, I don’t know what to do.

Most definetly I will pray for her. My husband’s boss is kind of like this too. I’ve been praying for him every night and when I talked to him a couple weeks ago I asked if he would mind if I gave him a book to read. It’s a protestant book but it’s pretty good and I havent’ found a good Catholic book that tackles this stuff (suggestions welcome).

It’s called “The Case for Faith” by Lee Strobel. leestrobel.com He’s a former athiest and he wrote another good book called “The Case for Christ”. You can read an exerpt from the case for faith book here: zondervan.com/features/books/0310220157/cffcontents.htm

Scott welcomed the book and went on to say that at his coaching job he is surrounded by men who pray every morning together and have invited him to join them. He told me that it’s strange how this “religious stuff” is finding it’s way to him or him to it.

Prayer works when it comes to softening peoples hearts…

God bless!

 

[kellyb32]

Anonymous_1:

ask him why he has any reason to believe Jesus was married. There certainly is no historical evidence to suggest this so why consider it?Carl Marx first said that religion is the opiate of the masses. He got his ideas from a guy named Ludwig Fuyerbach.

]quote]He questions why there are so many different religions

Reason with him. Say this. (i am presuming he believes in God just not religion)

For ages Man has debated, speculated, theorized and philosophized about the existence and nature of God. There have been so many ideas, cults, religions, who is to know who is right.

I propose this:
There is a God

If God has not revealed Himself to man then we are justifiably free to believe or not believe whatever we want. That means we can subscribe to any religion we would like so long as it is reasonable.
but…
What if God revealed Himself to man in a way that only He could.

I propose that God has revealed Himself through the witness of Creation, Revelation and Inspiration and ultimatley by the Incarnation of the Person Jesus Christ. And that "God publicly endorsed Jesus of Nazareth by doing wonderful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know. "( Acts 2:22) Ultimatley by raising Him from the dead. Jesus started the Church as a means to proclaim salvation to all generations, and as a place of refuge.

I’m sorry your Cousin has had to endure such grief. I can understand how this can shake someones faith up. I will pray for him.

Let him know that God is with Him, despite the storms going on around him and within him. The Lord will help him get through this difficult time. But He won’t force Himself on your cousin. Theere are plenty of verses from Sacred Scripture that might encourage him, do you think he’d be itnerested in hearing it?

Thank you for some good words! I told him I thought it was CS Lewis who said “Either Jesus is who he said he is or he’s a madman”. He replied that he’d be a pretty powerful madman to get millions of people to follow him.

I send the Catholic Exchange daily word of encouragement to him when it talks about some of the recent topics we discussed. He always appreciates those. I know he’s not closed to scripture, he said he should read the bible more. Thank you for praying for him.

 

[kellyb32]

mike182d:

Hmm…

Maybe this is a situation in which words cannot help. We might want to borrow from the example of St. Monica on this one, even if it takes 30 years

LOL yup…but sometimes a good word is all it takes to turn someone around. God bless!

 

[kellyb32]

Jeanette L:

The Lord may not force anyone’s choice, we all have free will, but he is relentless when he persues his lost sheep. He’s called “the Hound of Heaven” for that very reason. So don’t give up, keep on praying. It may seem discouraging when things don’t look like they are improving, but we don’t see or know everything. PRAY, PRAY, PRAY! Never give up on anyone, the Lord won’t either.

Thank you!

I agree totally!

 

[Anonymous_1]

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.

Death is the lot of every man though, it is natural, and sad. Its propoer to mourn the loss of a loved one, but to dwell in self pity or anger or resentment is unhealthy. At some point, we need to get over our loss and move on.

Maybe this will get him thinking about his own mortality. Ask him if he ever thinks about dying and so on.

 

[myfavoritmartin]

kellyb32:

Thank you. He said he should read his bible more, I told him to read the Psalms because a lot of those were written out of pain and sorrow but they ultimately lead us back to God being in control and He’ll bring us through even the darkest of night.

He’s questioning Jesus right now…His divinity and of course Mary being ever-virgin came up in the conversation.

He’s just seeking right now because he’s in a bit of a fog. It’s like someone beating your head and you’ve not lost conciousness but things are really hazy as a result. It’s going to take some time to heal and for you to get your clarity of vision back.

Hope is still there with him though…I can still see it and hear it in how he talks.

Reading scriptures is the best way of keeping Christ in your heart
I personally wouldn’t concern myself with anything else but asking Christ into my heart…and remembering that he payed the ultimate price, as the holy ghost takes hold of him all other religous manners in which he seeks will become clear.