Seeking advice on reaching out

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MadeAnew

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There is a man I went to high school with who has recently found me on a social media account. I post mostly scripture, things about the Church, and just positive things in general.
This man has made an effort to comment on most of the post I make about scripture or saints. But, this man has obvious psychological issues going on. He posts of himself dressed as a female in lewd positions sometimes. Comments about many conspiracy theories. Even posts pictures of himself smoking marijuana. After these posts I see him saying about believing the Catholic Church is the one true Church. How he hasn’t been to Church but still believes it. Very odd behavior to say the least.
I feel like perhaps he is trying to reach out and he is most definitely in need of help and guidance. I am unsure of how to appropriately say he cannot act the way he does. Nor am I sure if I should. I find it very uncomfortable to engage or be engaged in personal matters on a social media platform.
But, I cant help but feel like maybe it is a responsibility of mine to kindly remind him of his behavior. I get defensive about the Church because of all the misconceptions everyone has about it. When I see him post these pictures of himself and than comment on the Church it worries me it will give others a bad interpretation of the Church.
Any advice would be nice about this. I express my faith openly but I am not much good at evangelism. But more over, I am very worried about this man. Sorry this is so long.
 
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I would feel so guilty. There are so many lost people in this world that feel social media is their only way to reach out to people. I doubt I would be the saving grace for his behavior but perhaps it would place him in the right direction? But, if he is aware of even basic Catholic doctrine and still posts what he does a part of me feels like perhaps this is all just for any type of attention. And I know I shouldn’t assume.
 
MadeAnew said:
I would feel so guilty. There are so many lost people in this world that feel social media is their only way to reach out to people.
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Block him. Pray for him. Lift him up to God. Ask the. Blessed Mother to intercede for him…and block him.
 
Recently you’ve both been reunited so perhaps pray for him and be there for him as a friend. Shine your light as a good friend and be there for him if he needs to talk. Love him as Christ would want you to and pray about talking to him about his behaviour one day.

If you decide to call out his behavior so recently after you guys just recently met up again it could hurt him emotionally and push him away from Christ. This friend of yours may not know the teachings of Christ or may not be that accountable if this friend has real mental illnesses.

You could one day after forming a close friendship bring up the topics that trouble you gently to him but you should let him know you love him no matter how he behaves and he can feel free to disagree with the Church. You just care for his soul.

Your friend may never choose to follow Christ in this life but maybe you are there to be someone that helps him to go to heaven one day.
 
MadeAnew said:
I would feel so guilty.
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We do not have to put up with
MadeAnew said:
dressed as a female in lewd positions sometimes.
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That is pornography.

Chances are he is already playing on you guilt wise. Sometimes the best way we can evangelise is to set rigid boundaries.

We do not have to give everyone help and guidance. If he truly wants to know about the faith he knows to go knocking on a mans door

We also do not have to give conspiracy theories any air time.
 
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Is he posting these things to your page or to his?

If he’s posting it to his account, then there’s no need for you to visit it. He can converse with you in your space.

If he’s posting it to your page then be honest with him and say that you don’t like those kinds of pictures and not to post them in your area. If he stops posting them, everything’s good. If not, you told him the rules and he chose to ignore them. Block him.
 
Block him, you don’t need to be friends with everyone. Or you can always put them on ignore and not see or be bothered by their posts. You cannot change every person. Sometimes, you just need to distance yourself.
 
MadeAnew said:
But, I cant help but feel like maybe it is a responsibility of mine to kindly remind him of his behavior.
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It isn’t your responsibility and people never listen anyways, so just pray to God. If you are being harassed there is nothing wrong with blocking the individual.
 
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You are not a mental health professional. Disconnect from him on social media.
 
I would not block him YET. Better post on your page the teaching of the Church on chastity or marriage and see if you get comments from him. He may never visit your page again, post nasty comments, or say something respectful about it.
 
He posts them publicly so they will be seen by everyone. The only way anyone would stop seeing them is if he was blocked. Which makes me feel even more like he is reaching out for the wrong kind of attention in any way possible.
 
I took a chance and reached out to him. This may end up being a lesson for me or I may have done the right thing. Depending on his response will show if I need to block him or not. I can’t help but feel that each one of us who believe in Christ maybe the only chance some people have to be introduced or lead in the right direction. So even if he gives me a nasty comment back at least I can say I tried.
 
Be careful. Not sure if you are a man or a woman. I am a woman and there was this ‘friend’ that connected with me through social media. I felt he was maybe depressed, lonely or looking for attention so I accepted the request of friendship. I tolerated some weird stuff he was posting until… I received a private message from him showing his genitalia!!!
BLOCKED. No regrets.
Some people need professional help and better boundaries.
 
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MadeAnew said:
But, this man has obvious psychological issues going on. He posts of himself dressed as a female in lewd positions sometimes. Comments about many conspiracy theories. Even posts pictures of himself smoking marijuana
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Kindly suggest to him that he get some help, and that you will pray for him. If you wish, you can also kindly tell him that the behaviors you described above make you uncomfortable.

Then stop engaging with him. Use the unfollow, block, whatever.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Some of them also, sadly, seek out religious people to bother because of some disturbance they have or because they like seeing religious people squirm when they do their dirty work.
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Or they assume the religious person will feel guilty about telling them to knock it off and will give them a longer rope, so to speak.
 
I took a chance and sent a message. He was searching for a listening ear and told me the reasons behind his behavior. I did suggest psychological intervention and spoke with him about the wrongness of his behavior which he fully understood and agreed with. I encouraged him with God which he was opened about. I feel absolutely blessed that God may have used me to reach this man. I am praying he will find and stay on the right path. I know we may get frustrated in this world with the bad experiences we have edpresses our faith but there are still people who are receptive. Don’t lose compassion.
 
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