son in jail....

[grneyes3]

My son is in jail due to something he and a friend did while ‘high’ and after a 3 day bender, according to what they told police. He’s had legal trouble before but just hasn’t seemed to want to change his ways as of yet. He seems to think he’s infallible. He is 20yrs old, very intelligent was in Honors classes all in school. Was a very easy child except for being argumentative. Problems and drugs started when he was 15ish.

His dad is an alcoholic, but my husband is a wonderful stepfather to him, since he was 4. He’s been in jail since March 30 and we’re still not sure how long his sentence will be. He was raised Catholic but has called himself agnostic for about 4 yrs. He has a very intense personality and is very philosophical. He wanted to become a physical therapist but I fear now that won’t be happening with his ‘record’.

Long story short, he calls us several times a week and has said that he’s been reading the Bible. I was so elated. But, this past Sunday, he told me he’s bunked near a ‘Muslim’ who prays on a towel 5 times a day. He said he might start reading the Quran. :: This really worries me. Please don’t judge me, I am on here due to a lack of others to talk to about this. I cannot accept this religion. I am sorry. I emailed him this morning and told him I didn’t feel comfortable with the way that (for ONE) the ‘Quran’ condones mistreatment of women and how it demands subserviency or else. I told him that we are CHRISTIANS who love God. Not Allah. I asked him to please continue reading the Bible and not the Quran.

I am now feeling a bit badly. Am I being paranoid? Should I not ‘take away’ something (the Quran?) that may bring him peace for the next few years, is this cruel of me? Or, is my point/worry valid? He had court last week and found out that he may be in there for 2+yrs, he sounded depressed for the 1st time. I just worry that his naturally very intense personality likes things NOT mainstream and NOT in the norm and I don’t want him to be in there reading something that (if he grasps on to it heavily) might cause him estrangement when he is released. I don’t want to sound harsh, but I do not want anything of that religion in my home. I feel like I need to express my concerns and that he needs to hear it. I already have semi-angry feelings at him for his self-sabotaging behaviors that just keep on rearing their head.

He is a very stubborn person and rebellious. Is this just another facet of his rebellion? I am tired. He also has kept his hair on the longer side while in jail, even showing up in court last week with it long (in a ponytail, I heard-we are not local) and was sporting a GOATEE in front of the judge!!

Please help me. I have no idea what I am talking about. My mind is cluttered and I just want my son to be crime/drug-free and ‘normal’. He is a handsome, wonderful person when not on drugs. He loves to work out in the gym. I miss him but this scares the bejeesus out of me. It seems like it’s always something with him…I am tired. Help.

Update: I spoke with him last night, he had rec’d my emails about how I was dismayed at his decision to read the Quran. He was nicely defending it saying that how Christianity sort of condones sin by allowing us to repent over and over after our sins…so, In other words he’s saying Christianity is too ‘lax’? And then he said how Islam demands more discipline from us…24hrs every day, so that we are not used to repeatedly committing sins while knowing that we can just ‘repent’ or say ‘I am sorry’. These new comments he made (from our initial conversation on Sat until yesterday) make me think that he is now talking to this Muslim ‘bunkmate’ who has told him the above comments he made last night on the phone. (?) And this scares me.

Please reply and not just lurk, I need much (name removed by moderator)ut, thank you in advance!

 

[bitznbitez]

Its good he’s calling. Its also good he’s reading. It means he’s realized there is something missing in his life.

Raised Christian, wondered if there was a God at all agnostic ], now searching for God in Bible and Koran. At one point in my life I read the Koran. I didn’t become Muslim but I didn’t know a devout Muslim.

My opinion is just that my opinion I can’t even say if its correct. But I would listen to him and understand him. He already knows your views. Maybe just love him. Even if he winds up going Muslim for a while.

Prayer though is an amazing thing. Pray for him daily. Think of St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine. Her son didn’t abide by the faith, wandered in other pursuits. She prayed constantly and finally he returned. Maybe ask for her prayers too.

I’ll remember the two of you myself in prayer today.

 

[april32010]

practicing islam is a step backwards.

 

[ProdglArchitect]

The call to repentance is not lenience on sin, it’s an active way of understanding and partaking God’s love for us, and his mercy towards us, without which we would all be damned. In order for it to take affect, the sinner must be repentant and intent on not sinning again. It’s definitely not a “get out of jail free” card, like you son seems to be interpreting it as.

Your say your son is intelligent, perhaps you should write to him about how… basically evil Muhammad was. He completely rejected God’s law, all while claiming he had divine right to do so. Put the vileness that is Muhammad in comparison with the perfection and humility towards God’s will that is Christ’s life

This is a last article in a series about just how horrible Muhammad was as a human being (rapist, murderer, pedophile, raider… basically if he were alive today, he’d probably have been sanctioned with crimes against humanity…) Heart’s Witness Against Muhammad, recap and conclusion. This article contains links to the other articles in the series. I would read over them and start there. If your son is intelligent and logical, facing him with the truth about Muhammad is probably the best way to go.

 

[bitznbitez]

He was raised Christian, wondered if there was a God at all agnostic ], now he’s searching for God in Bible and Koran.

At one point in my life I read the Koran. I didn’t become Muslim but I didn’t know a devout Muslim.

What I said in my post above came out all wrong. I’ve tried to patch it up in this post. But to restate it. Myself I am fully committed to the Catholic faith. I walked a journey of wondering, part of the journey did involve reading literature of other faiths.

 

[Loving_disciple]

He may become Muslim unless there is somewhere to visit him who is a Christian. Maybe you could get a priest to visit him

 

[White_Hare]

Please reply and not just lurk, I need much (name removed by moderator)ut, thank you in advance!

1. Since your son is intelligent you need some intelligent Christian to talk to him. Probably, a local priest.
2. Suggest him good reading. Chesterton’s books have been converting intellectuals since early XX century. I’m not familiar with his books myself, but I know some former atheists who came to faith with his books. Probably, “The Flying Inn” is a good choice.
3. On the topic of the Muslim discipline. The Catechism of the Catholic Church quotes with approval Saint Athanasius’s saying, "The Son of God became man so that we might become God. This is called deification or theosis.

The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Theology contains the following in an article titled “Deification”:

Deification (Greek theosis) is for Orthodoxy the goal of every Christian. Man, according to the Bible, is ‘made in the image and likeness of God.’. . . It is possible for man to become like God, to become deified, to become god by grace. This doctrine is based on many passages of both OT and NT (e.g. Ps. 82 (81).6; II Peter 1.4), and it is essentially the teaching both of St Paul, though he tends to use the language of filial adoption (cf. Rom. 8.9—17; Gal. 4.5—7), and the Fourth Gospel (cf. 17.21—23).
The language of II Peter is taken up by St Irenaeus, in his famous phrase, ‘if the Word has been made man, it is so that men may be made gods’ (Adv. Haer V, Pref.), and becomes the standard in Greek theology. In the fourth century, St. Athanasius repeats Irenaeus almost word for word, and in the fifth century St Cyril of Alexandria says that we shall become sons ‘by participation’ (Greek methexis). Deification is the central idea in the spirituality of St. Maximus the Confessor, for whom the doctrine is the corollary of the Incarnation: ‘Deification, briefly, is the encompassing and fulfillment of all times and ages,’ . . . and St. Symeon the New Theologian at the end of the tenth century writes, ‘He who is God by nature converses with those whom he has made gods by grace, as a friend converses with his friends, face to face.’ . .

Muslim 5 time prayer is no match for this. While Christ is love, He seeks any way to save a man, even a weak one, but if your son thinks himself stronger than the others he’s entitled for more. Luke 12:48…] For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

 

[grneyes3]

1. Since your son is intelligent you need some intelligent Christian to talk to him. Probably, a local priest.
2. Suggest him good reading. Chesterton’s books have been converting intellectuals since early XX century. I’m not familiar with his books myself, but I know some former atheists who came to faith with his books. Probably, “The Flying Inn” is a good choice.
3. On the topic of the Muslim discipline. The Catechism of the Catholic Church quotes with approval Saint Athanasius’s saying, "The Son of God became man so that we might become God. This is called deification or theosis.

The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Theology contains the following in an article titled “Deification”:

Deification (Greek theosis) is for Orthodoxy the goal of every Christian. Man, according to the Bible, is ‘made in the image and likeness of God.’. . . It is possible for man to become like God, to become deified, to become god by grace. This doctrine is based on many passages of both OT and NT (e.g. Ps. 82 (81).6; II Peter 1.4), and it is essentially the teaching both of St Paul, though he tends to use the language of filial adoption (cf. Rom. 8.9—17; Gal. 4.5—7), and the Fourth Gospel (cf. 17.21—23).
The language of II Peter is taken up by St Irenaeus, in his famous phrase, ‘if the Word has been made man, it is so that men may be made gods’ (Adv. Haer V, Pref.), and becomes the standard in Greek theology. In the fourth century, St. Athanasius repeats Irenaeus almost word for word, and in the fifth century St Cyril of Alexandria says that we shall become sons ‘by participation’ (Greek methexis). Deification is the central idea in the spirituality of St. Maximus the Confessor, for whom the doctrine is the corollary of the Incarnation: ‘Deification, briefly, is the encompassing and fulfillment of all times and ages,’ . . . and St. Symeon the New Theologian at the end of the tenth century writes, ‘He who is God by nature converses with those whom he has made gods by grace, as a friend converses with his friends, face to face.’ . .

Muslim 5 time prayer is no match for this. While Christ is love, He seeks any way to save a man, even a weak one, but if your son thinks himself stronger than the others he’s entitled for more. Luke 12:48…] For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

White Hare-your post is a bit above my understanding. And please elaborate further in layman’s terms on the bolded/italicized quote? Thanks. I do want to understand you…

 

[grneyes3]

He may become Muslim unless there is somewhere to visit him who is a Christian. Maybe you could get a priest to visit him

He has to ‘request’ a priest/pastor visit. Doesn’t sound right now, like he’s gonna do that. I have recommended it to him and have emailed him that as a prisoner, he has the right to request this type visit.

 

[grneyes3]

The call to repentance is not lenience on sin, it’s an active way of understanding and partaking God’s love for us, and his mercy towards us, without which we would all be damned. In order for it to take affect, the sinner must be repentant and intent on not sinning again. It’s definitely not a “get out of jail free” card, like you son seems to be interpreting it as.

Your say your son is intelligent, perhaps you should write to him about how… basically evil Muhammad was. He completely rejected God’s law, all while claiming he had divine right to do so. Put the vileness that is Muhammad in comparison with the perfection and humility towards God’s will that is Christ’s life

This is a last article in a series about just how horrible Muhammad was as a human being (rapist, murderer, pedophile, raider… basically if he were alive today, he’d probably have been sanctioned with crimes against humanity…) Heart’s Witness Against Muhammad, recap and conclusion. This article contains links to the other articles in the series. I would read over them and start there. If your son is intelligent and logical, facing him with the truth about Muhammad is probably the best way to go.

He IS intensely philosophical and very good at debating. I am, unfortunately, no match for him.
He would’ve been a damn good attorney. When he does something of interest, he fully immerses himself into ‘it’. In this case, this scares me to heck. Full immersion into Islam, yikes! From our ‘slightly heated’ (at the end) conversation last night, it sounds like he has befriended the ‘Muslim’ whose bed is next to his…and so he had some things re: Islam to ‘throw back at me’ on the phone. Of which I am not ready for. Your link is interesting. What I am going to do is copy and paste parts of it, and email the snippets to him. He is allowed to get emails with no limits on them. If you have any further links that are not too lengthy, please include for me. Especially that could debunk the ‘jaded’ information that he is likely receiving from this ‘Muslim’ prisoner who sleeps near him. Thanks.

 

[White_Hare]

White Hare-your post is a bit above my understanding. And please elaborate further in layman’s terms on the bolded/italicized quote? Thanks. I do want to understand you…

Well, your first post made me think your son finds Catholic practice way easier than the Muslim one. So he thinks himself able for more. The Gospel says that those whom God gifted more, we’ll be judged against higher standards. Not just prayers twice a day, fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays, and a Mass once a week.

Christ wants genuine love from his children, and the one who loves Him in this way, gives away all of his/her to Him. Islam isn’t like this, Allah want a set of specific things. So, remaining (becoming?) a Christian your son can take up a much greater feat than the Muslim practice. He can take up any monastic practice, and be limited with his conscience only.

And finally, the Catholic theology is way more sophisticated and developed than the Muslim one. If your philosopher son meets a well-established in theology Catholic he’ll be distracted from Islam.

 

[ProdglArchitect]

He IS intensely philosophical and very good at debating. I am, unfortunately, no match for him.
He would’ve been a damn good attorney. When he does something of interest, he fully immerses himself into ‘it’. In this case, this scares me to heck. Full immersion into Islam, yikes! From our ‘slightly heated’ (at the end) conversation last night, it sounds like he has befriended the ‘Muslim’ whose bed is next to his…and so he had some things re: Islam to ‘throw back at me’ on the phone. Of which I am not ready for. Your link is interesting. What I am going to do is copy and paste parts of it, and email the snippets to him. He is allowed to get emails with no limits on them. If you have any further links that are not too lengthy, please include for me. Especially that could debunk the ‘jaded’ information that he is likely receiving from this ‘Muslim’ prisoner who sleeps near him. Thanks.

I honestly have’t focused on it too much, but this is the first article in another series which basically logically outlines how Muhammad is an anti-Christ.

The Anti-Christ in Muhammad

I am not too versed on Islam, but Catholic.com has a number of tracts and audio programs dealing with its faults. You should seek out a priest / apologist who is well versed in refuting Islam. Good luck to you, and God Bless you for trying so hard for your son. Just remember, ultimately it is up to him to be open to the truth. When he responds, feel free to start another thread looking for counter arguments, and feel free to send me a pm so I see it, though I don’t know how useful I’ll be

I wouldn’t send him snippets though, I’d send the whole article, otherwise it’ll lack context.

 

[LongingSoul]

Grneyes3, From one mother to another I very much feel your pain. I have had an agonising ride for a long while with my 20 year old son also although he hasn’t been in too much trouble with the law thank heavens. (Was cited for public nuisance for arguing back to a policeman who was asking him questions when he was drunk on New Years Eve a year ago) Almost everything you’ve described him as could describe my son though.

My husband and I have been going to counselling throughout the last 12 months specifically to help us help him and try to be, do and say the best things we can as parents. He is nearly out of the woods now after being addicted to marijuana and sliding into deep depression and being suicidal. We have spent a fortune on medical and physcological help for him and paying on his loans and credit cards and I’ve pretty much devoted my life over the last year to making sure he gets to appointments, eats well and knows that he is being ‘watched over’ by me 24/7. He is now clean and looking forward to going back to work this Monday after 6 months away.

One of the main things I had to learn to do, was not rise to his arguments. I would get into a panic especially when he talked about being an atheist and constantly bring up the problem of peadophilia in the Priesthood. He’d want to discuss Carl Sagan and what a good thing marijuana is for the mind and get into all the conspiracy theories about everything. I’ve learned the art of listening to him, quietly stating my beliefs and not fueling his argumentation. The high he was getting from that was like a drug in itself. For about 6 months I’d been sleeping on a mattress on the floor in the loungeroom, just so’s I could be alert to his movements at night and about a month ago he said to me “Mum you don’t need to do that anymore” and I knew he knew exactly what I’d been doing and that it had his best interests at its heart. I really appreciated that he’d accepted my care and concern and I know that my ‘presence’ has played a big part in his recovery. When I say ‘presence’, I mean being there in my heart and my throughts constantly and doing what I can do within the situation to show this. I know you said you’re in a different town, but he is willing to contact you and talk and you have to continue to listen calmly and objectively and keep hope for him, alive in your heart and mind. Try and encourage him to focus on his health… diet, gym work and relaxation techniques and feed him the healthy body/healthy mind philosophy as the way to get the best out of his search for meaning in life. I found that my son who is now going to gym, sleeping a lot better and watching out for his diet, has lost so much of this other excessive intensity.

I can only say a prayer for you and your family and offer you our upward looking situation as hope for your own son. We have to join our prayers to those of Mary who had to watch her own Son suffer terribly and not run away and wipe her hands of it all.

Take care.

 

[BlueEyedLady]

You probably don’t want to try to refute him with Catholic claims and perspectives on Islam. Even if you don’t see how that’s a biased source, he will. Honestly, there really isn’t much you can do. You aren’t there, he’s going to be away for awhile, and in all reality, he’s an adult and you couldn’t “take away” his Qu’ran or interest in Islam if you wanted to.

My suggestion is that if you want to talk to him you’re going to have to understand what Islam is and isn’t, and to do that you need to talk to a Muslim about the faith and read up on the various schools of thought in Islam. Telling him that Muslim women must be subservient, that abuse is ok, etc. is not going to work when he sees that the majority of Muslims follow those edicts about as well as Christians follow the ones about women not speaking in church and gouging out your eye if it causes you to sin. In short, do not take what non-Muslims or the media tell you about Islam as gospel, er…Qu’ran. Arguing with him about the evils of Islam that you’ve heard about through other people is not going to do much when he’s experiencing it for himself.

Something that you should be aware of though is that if you want to argue with him you will have to do so objectively and with facts. Islam holds learning and education in extremely high regard and making it a point to learn and study is a way to honor Allah. (If he’s smart and philosophical like you say he is this probably appeals to him) This is why even Saudi Arabia, a nation that boasts the Qu’ran as it’s constitution, makes it a point to try to educate everyone, including women.

 

[grneyes3]

I honestly have’t focused on it too much, but this is the first article in another series which basically logically outlines how Muhammad is an anti-Christ.

The Anti-Christ in Muhammad

I am not too versed on Islam, but Catholic.com has a number of tracts and audio programs dealing with its faults. You should seek out a priest / apologist who is well versed in refuting Islam. Good luck to you, and God Bless you for trying so hard for your son. Just remember, ultimately it is up to him to be open to the truth. When he responds, feel free to start another thread looking for counter arguments, and feel free to send me a pm so I see it, though I don’t know how useful I’ll be

I wouldn’t send him snippets though, I’d send the whole article, otherwise it’ll lack context.

Thank you so much for your time. I wish he could listen to tracts, youtubes but he has no access to computer. When I email him, they print it out and a jail staffer gives it to him by hand. He then can read it, keep it but cannot reply via email back. I will try and put some good information in some emails for him to read. My husband, his stepfather, does NOT know this new topic with him-wanting to read the Quran. I fear he will freak out, he is already quite angry at my son for what he’s been doing for the past 5yrs. There is more than I have posted…too much. And the means that I have gone thru to get him clean, to therapists-you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. He got a free car which he totalled within 3 months, the list goes on. Now this…it just doesn’t end.

 

[grneyes3]

Grneyes3, From one mother to another I very much feel your pain. I have had an agonising ride for a long while with my 20 year old son also although he hasn’t been in too much trouble with the law thank heavens. (Was cited for public nuisance for arguing back to a policeman who was asking him questions when he was drunk on New Years Eve a year ago) Almost everything you’ve described him as could describe my son though.

My husband and I have been going to counselling throughout the last 12 months specifically to help us help him and try to be, do and say the best things we can as parents. He is nearly out of the woods now after being addicted to marijuana and sliding into deep depression and being suicidal. We have spent a fortune on medical and physcological help for him and paying on his loans and credit cards and I’ve pretty much devoted my life over the last year to making sure he gets to appointments, eats well and knows that he is being ‘watched over’ by me 24/7. He is now clean and looking forward to going back to work this Monday after 6 months away.

One of the main things I had to learn to do, was not rise to his arguments. I would get into a panic especially when he talked about being an atheist and constantly bring up the problem of peadophilia in the Priesthood. He’d want to discuss Carl Sagan and what a good thing marijuana is for the mind and get into all the conspiracy theories about everything. I’ve learned the art of listening to him, quietly stating my beliefs and not fueling his argumentation. The high he was getting from that was like a drug in itself. For about 6 months I’d been sleeping on a mattress on the floor in the loungeroom, just so’s I could be alert to his movements at night and about a month ago he said to me “Mum you don’t need to do that anymore” and I knew he knew exactly what I’d been doing and that it had his best interests at its heart. I really appreciated that he’d accepted my care and concern and I know that my ‘presence’ has played a big part in his recovery. When I say ‘presence’, I mean being there in my heart and my throughts constantly and doing what I can do within the situation to show this. I know you said you’re in a different town, but he is willing to contact you and talk and you have to continue to listen calmly and objectively and keep hope for him, alive in your heart and mind. Try and encourage him to focus on his health… diet, gym work and relaxation techniques and feed him the healthy body/healthy mind philosophy as the way to get the best out of his search for meaning in life. I found that my son who is now going to gym, sleeping a lot better and watching out for his diet, has lost so much of this other excessive intensity.

I can only say a prayer for you and your family and offer you our upward looking situation as hope for your own son. We have to join our prayers to those of Mary who had to watch her own Son suffer terribly and not run away and wipe her hands of it all.

Take care.

All that you’ve done (short of sleeping in the family room) for your son, I have done. Luckily for you, your son is not in jail, mine is. Sleeping in the family room won’t help here, now. I don’t know if you read the part about how my son wants to read the Quran, and likely already is. This is my worry at this time. Being that he will be in there for atleast a year more, likely longer, and he has an interest in the Islam religion, there is PLENTY of time for him to become deeply immersed in the religion. Very scary to me.

Thank you so much for your words of wisdom and advice. I liken my son to St. Augustine and how he rebuked God and how diligent his mother, St. Monica was, in praying for him.

 

[ProdglArchitect]

Thank you so much for your time. I wish he could listen to tracts, youtubes but he has no access to computer. When I email him, they print it out and a jail staffer gives it to him by hand. He then can read it, keep it but cannot reply via email back. I will try and put some good information in some emails for him to read. My husband, his stepfather, does NOT know this new topic with him-wanting to read the Quran. I fear he will freak out, he is already quite angry at my son for what he’s been doing for the past 5yrs. There is more than I have posted…too much. And the means that I have gone thru to get him clean, to therapists-you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. He got a free car which he totalled within 3 months, the list goes on. Now this…it just doesn’t end.

Sadly, and I hope you won’t take offense to this, but Islam tends to appeal to people who lack discipline in their lives because in it they see a way to take control of their life. It’s a false way, but generally they don’t recognize it as such. Islam is diametrically opposed to Christianity in this way, as Christianity, and Catholicism especially, calls on us to surrender ourselves to God, it’s sort of the opposite of taking control.

Another poster posted that you really won’t be able to stop your son from seeking the path he chooses. This is a sad fact of life, and a sad reality of free will. The most important thing for you to do is to study and learn so that you can offer the Truth to your son. Once you’ve done that, it falls to him whether to accept or reject it. Correction, that’s the second most important thing you can do, the most important thing you can do for him is pray that his heart be opened.

I can’t imagine what you must be going through, I don’t know what I’d do if, when I have children, they chose to denounce the faith… It would be heartbreaking. I can’t even imagine what my parents went through when I wasn’t practicing the Faith…

I pray that your son’s heart be open to the truth, and that he come to see Islam for the pile of lies it is.

 

[grneyes3]

Sadly, and I hope you won’t take offense to this, but Islam tends to appeal to people who lack discipline in their lives because in it they see a way to take control of their life. It’s a false way, but generally they don’t recognize it as such. Islam is diametrically opposed to Christianity in this way, as Christianity, and Catholicism especially, calls on us to surrender ourselves to God, it’s sort of the opposite of taking control.

Another poster posted that you really won’t be able to stop your son from seeking the path he chooses. This is a sad fact of life, and a sad reality of free will. The most important thing for you to do is to study and learn so that you can offer the Truth to your son. Once you’ve done that, it falls to him whether to accept or reject it. Correction, that’s the second most important thing you can do, the most important thing you can do for him is pray that his heart be opened.

I can’t imagine what you must be going through, I don’t know what I’d do if, when I have children, they chose to denounce the faith… It would be heartbreaking. I can’t even imagine what my parents went through when I wasn’t practicing the Faith…

I pray that your son’s heart be open to the truth, and that he come to see Islam for the pile of lies it is.

You hit it on the head here. Last night, when he was reciting the differences in Christianity and Islam, and how Islam is much more rigid with less room to fail…in my mind as he was speaking, I thought the same thing. 'Islam is more appealing to him as he has had issues with controlling his risky behavior, drug usage, and inability to adjust to societal norms. It’s something hard-core and his life has been all about anything hard-core’. I know my son. And you just reiterated what exactly, I bet, is going on here.

At one point, less than a year ago, he told me he was researching ‘satanism’. He was telling me all about it and how we ‘are all just animals…’. That freaked me out, but thankfully, as far as I know, it didn’t go far. I think I’d prefer him to read books on Satanism vs. Islam-is that nuts?

 

[Cojuanco]

I would just nitpick in saying that the word ‘Allah’ simply means God in the Arabic language. They worship the same God we do, but the manner in which they do so and their beliefs about him are deficient.

Anyway, to the concerns he might convert:

1. Pray. Saint Monica is a wonderful patron saint who you can ask for intercession.
2. As the old hymn says, demonstrate to him a virtuous life.
3. Try to demonstrate the inconsistencies of Islam, if he is open to listening.
4. Understand that, in the end, you cannot dragoon him into remaining a practicing Catholic. Only God in the end can do that.

As to which is preferable, Satanism or Islam, I would say the latter. Muslims (and they’re by no means all abusive or terrorists or demaning towards women - even the serious ones) may have wrong ideas about God, but at least they believe in God. Satanists either worship the Evil One, or themselves, depending on the variety.

 

[TheRealJuliane]

I would just nitpick in saying that the word ‘Allah’ simply means God in the Arabic language. They worship the same God we do, but the manner in which they do so and their beliefs about him are deficient.

Anyway, to the concerns he might convert:

1. Pray. Saint Monica is a wonderful patron saint who you can ask for intercession.
2. As the old hymn says, demonstrate to him a virtuous life.
3. Try to demonstrate the inconsistencies of Islam, if he is open to listening.
4. Understand that, in the end, you cannot dragoon him into remaining a practicing Catholic. Only God in the end can do that.

As to which is preferable, Satanism or Islam, I would say the latter. Muslims (and they’re by no means all abusive or terrorists or demaning towards women - even the serious ones) may have wrong ideas about God, but at least they believe in God. Satanists either worship the Evil One, or themselves, depending on the variety.

That is not true. “Allah” is not like God of the Old and New Testaments. Not at all. We do not worship the same God. Read the Quran and tell me that we are talking about the same God. No way.