Speak up or sit down?

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JessHav

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Hey all!
I have a bit of a dilemma that I need advice on. (Don’t I always?!)
I go to a pretty liberal college where there are very extreme evangelists who sit in what is called “speaker’s circle” to spread the gospel. However, they hold signs such as “Choose Jesus or suffer Hell” and use scare tactics to make their point. Needless to say, they are not usually very well received by the students and yet garner a large group that will argue with them.
I usually don’t like what they say but am not willing to get up there myself to “preach” However, very often they start some kind of argument about how when they were sinners they always liked “catholic girls” because catholics confess their sins but then always repeat them. This is an indirect insult, but usually gets thrown in with something about us being idolators.
Well today I just couldn’t take it. I challenged a preacher when he claimed that Catholics “worship Mary” and think she can save them. I did a pretty good job of asking him his sources (a “Catholic” friend) and then saying that that is not what the Church teaches and should not be repeated unless he has actually researched it enough to say it is Catholic doctrine. I also told him that you can’t judge a Church by it’s members that don’t follow its doctrines. (He argued about pedophilia and cafeteria Catholics)

My question is that, although I can do a pretty good job of defending our faith, I by no means am an apologetic. Actually, I get pretty nervous sometimes, and stumble over my words, which just makes people think that Catholics really are dumb and don’t know their faith. Yet, I just can’t let them sit there and spread false information and attack our Mother Church.

What should I do?

Thanks and God Bless!
Jess
 
Some people have a gift for upholding the faith. Others are better at quietly practicing the truth, and only speaking up when moved to do so. I fall in the second group, so I usually don’t enter debates unless it’s serious.

I would encourage you to take a crash course or invest in some reading materials to make you more comfortable when you do feel a need to voice your opinion, but overall most people realize the preachers who frequent college campuses are a bit misguided to say the least. Considering most of these preachers are not going to be convinced otherwise, I say a prayer for them and let them be since no one in their right mind takes them seriously anyway.

I kinda feel bad for those guys in a way, you know?
 
Jess,

Welcome to the wonderful world of the liberal Mizzou. (I assume by the “speaker circle” reference this is where you attend college. I did so for 5 years. Although, at that point I was not as in tuned with my faith as you seem to be, I commend you for your courage. Not many would have the strength or the faith to say something to defend the true Church. In a way you feel sad for them as they are basically robots. They are saying the same things that so many say to attack Catholicism. How many times do we, as Catholics, have to hear that we worship Mary? When are “they” going to stop beating that same drum time and time again.

I feel like you do about this issue. There are so many times that I want to stand up to others and defend the faith, but stumble over what I want to say. I feel that I can give a common sense answer, but lack when it comes to supporting documents. With Mary, I feel that there are many ways to defend the Church’s view of Mary and Della provided a link and there are some places on Catholic Answers that you can find the answers to your questions.

If you know what they are going to be preaching about, go into battle with a few quick and easy defenses that you can stand strong and and that you are comfortable with. If you are going to stand up, be confident and ask the Holy Spirit to help you say the words that God would want you to say. But above all, pray for them. It is hard to be Catholic in today’s society, we are viewed as the outsider, when we are the ones that have the inside track. Remember that it is not about what they tell us is right and wrong, but the faith that we know in our hearts that is.

God Bless you! Go Tigers!
 
Good call, Mirror! I am at Mizzou, and it is challenging at time to not “follow the crowd.” In fact, I’m having trouble with that right now with my friends. I had them before I got serious about religion and married, so they are still “having fun” in a pretty perverse way. I’m not a prude, but some of the things they say and do are just not something I want to be around. It’s hard to “stand up” to anyone, whether it be a speaker or a close friend, so I’m just trying to change myself for the better so I can be a good example to everyone.

Pray for me!

JessHav
 
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JessHav:
Good call, Mirror! I am at Mizzou, and it is challenging at time to not “follow the crowd.” In fact, I’m having trouble with that right now with my friends. I had them before I got serious about religion and married, so they are still “having fun” in a pretty perverse way. I’m not a prude, but some of the things they say and do are just not something I want to be around. It’s hard to “stand up” to anyone, whether it be a speaker or a close friend, so I’m just trying to change myself for the better so I can be a good example to everyone.

Pray for me!

JessHav
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Jess,

You are in my prayers. I too know how you feel, I am out of school, married with 3 children and find that the people that I am around still have that “perverse fun” that you mentioned. As a part time job, I wait tables and you would not believe (maybe you would) the things that they talk about. It is terrible. And I just go about doing my job and do not join in the reindeer games. God never said it would be easy only that it would be worth it.

I heard this somewhere, but cannot recall where “when I was a child I did childish things, but when I became a man, I put away the childish behavior.” Hopefully your friends will grow up sometime.

I will admit that living the Catholic faith in this day and age is not a very “welcomed” lifestyle. Heck, these days, homosexuals face less persecution, you figure that one out? It is a blessing that you are this rooted in your faith and that you can hold strong to it. Many blessings to you and your spouse. I know that it is tough, but remain true and sneak in the truth whenever you can. You never know when those you think are deaf to the faith will be listening. 👍
 
“When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. 13 So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
1 Cor 13:11-13 (RSV)

That’s why you must pray for these folks - Christian love.

Jess, you hang in there. I recommend highly the CA tract about the "Chick tracts.’ They may be the source of these people’s misconceptions.

http://www.catholic.com/library/sr_chick_tracts_p1.asp

Many of the falsehoods about Catholicism are addressed there. It’s in the Library, as are many other good writings!

(It may interest you to know that that tract set my feet on the “road to Rome.” I’m taking both RCIA and the Catholic Bible School now.)

The back issues of This Rock also contain good writings about both Apologetics and how to answer false charges.

In the meantime, hang in there. God doesn’t always use the highly articulate preachers to get His message across. He also uses the “average joe” who is passionately in love with Christ and His church!
 
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JessHav:
My question is that, although I can do a pretty good job of defending our faith, I by no means am an apologetic. Actually, I get pretty nervous sometimes, and stumble over my words, which just makes people think that Catholics really are dumb and don’t know their faith. Yet, I just can’t let them sit there and spread false information and attack our Mother Church.
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I can sympathise as I used to get nervous and stumble around trying to correct errors about the Faith. It was what got me started really studying Apologetics.

1 Peter 3:15
“But sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts, being ready always to satisfy every one that asketh you a reason of that hope which is in you.”

I really believe we need to know our Faith inside out. It annoys me that more parishes don’t have Bible study and Apologetics groups, it makes our young people (not meaning you) sitting ducks when they encounter these fiery anti-Catholic Christians.

You keep on challenging them on errors, it sounds as though you have a good grasp of the Faith. One point though is not to let them distract you from the initial subject. Insist that they stick to one issue.
 
Those preachers do nothing to further the cause of Christianity, and plenty to hinder it. I went to the University of Michigan, and I was nothing but ashamed at the ignorance and mercilessness of most such preachers. (Let us not overgeneralize, though: the occasional preacher is both sound in teaching and effective, mostly when their message consists of proclaiming God’s love).

Please don’t think all Protestants are like that, though. The accusation of Catholic heresy has been worked out of the system of many Protestants, and I hope the same is true of Catholics, as well. We agree on nearly all of the most important things: the divinity and humanity of Jesus; Jesus as the source of our salvation; the Father’s act of Creation; the Spirit’s role in sancification; the message of morality in a fallen world.

(And if you tell me ALL Protestants don’t believe those things, I agree. But ALL self-proclaimed Catholics don’t, either.)

The problem is, how do we seek Christian unity with whackos like that yelling in our ears?
 
Ruthie said:
“When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. 13 So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
1 Cor 13:11-13 (RSV)

Ruthie,

Thanks for having my back! I knew it was from the bible, but not sure where. Many thanks! 👍
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JessHav:
Hey all!
I have a bit of a dilemma that I need advice on. (Don’t I always?!)
I go to a pretty liberal college where there are very extreme evangelists who sit in what is called “speaker’s circle” to spread the gospel. However, they hold signs such as “Choose Jesus or suffer Hell” and use scare tactics to make their point. Needless to say, they are not usually very well received by the students and yet garner a large group that will argue with them.
I usually don’t like what they say but am not willing to get up there myself to “preach” However, very often they start some kind of argument about how when they were sinners they always liked “catholic girls” because catholics confess their sins but then always repeat them. This is an indirect insult, but usually gets thrown in with something about us being idolators.
Well today I just couldn’t take it. I challenged a preacher when he claimed that Catholics “worship Mary” and think she can save them. I did a pretty good job of asking him his sources (a “Catholic” friend) and then saying that that is not what the Church teaches and should not be repeated unless he has actually researched it enough to say it is Catholic doctrine. I also told him that you can’t judge a Church by it’s members that don’t follow its doctrines. (He argued about pedophilia and cafeteria Catholics)

My question is that, although I can do a pretty good job of defending our faith, I by no means am an apologetic. Actually, I get pretty nervous sometimes, and stumble over my words, which just makes people think that Catholics really are dumb and don’t know their faith. Yet, I just can’t let them sit there and spread false information and attack our Mother Church.

What should I do?

Thanks and God Bless!
Jess
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I think you did a great job and a great service. Jess, it takes practice to be able to refute false claims made against The Holy Mother Church. I have found that your way of approaching it - asking HIM to show you HIS sources and then quietly, with dignity, refer him always to the Catechism (I like to say "It’s an easy read for someone of your obvious intelligence. Only about 700 pages!) and remind them that if Churches were judged solely by their members none would be able to ‘cast the first stone’. In particular, I like to point out to Baptists who speak to the sexual scandal that Baptist ministers helped lynch,rape and murder African-Americans in the name of freedom.
 
Jess,
This may not help but after I get all riled up I remember that there is something intrinsically wrong when other base their faith beliefs on what is wrong with another religion…namely the Catholic church. Bearing that in mind, I say a prayer to have the strength to forgive them as they are only repeating what others have taught them. Then I pray for guidance and patience (as I have very little of this) and do what is in my heart…walk away or speak up. If I speak up, I know that the Holy Spirit guides me if I ask…
 
Jess, I think you did the right thing. It also takes courage to do something like that, but you did it! I also went to a pretty liberal college, though there was a small Catholic community. The Catholic Church was constantly the punchline of a joke, or at least something generally despised by most. It’s always unfortunate to see people talk about the Catholic Church who obviously know nothing about it. 😦 :mad: Anyway, I must admit, I never said a lot. Sometimes I spoke up, but even then people would not believe me. I don’t know how they cannot believe me, a Catholic, lying about my own faith?!? :eek: One time a student told me “Catholics believe that all non-Catholics will end up in Hell.” I told him I was Catholic, and that that was certainly not the case, and he simply refused to believe me … oh well … 😦
 
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Prodigal_Son:
The accusation of Catholic heresy has been worked out of the system of many Protestants, and I hope the same is true of Catholics, as well. We agree on nearly all of the most important things: the divinity and humanity of Jesus; Jesus as the source of our salvation; the Father’s act of Creation; the Spirit’s role in sancification; the message of morality in a fallen world.
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I don’t know why they keep attacking Mary, it is almost as though they use that issue as a red herring. It means they can justify to themselves why they remain Protestants.

When you think about it thereis only ONE real issue - the EUCHARIST Those Protestants who are happy to let us be included under the umbrella of ‘Christians’ are among the lukewarm Jesus warned about in Revelations. They are relativists. One Christian denomination is just as good as another.

The Catholic Church is either right or wrong - if we are wrong them we are worshipping a piece of bread, not Christ. That would not only exclude us from being Christians, but we would be in serious danger of hell-fire.

A truly Christian Protestant is not one who rants and raves, but one who is seriously concerned for our conversion. There can be no consensus here. Of course, it is then our duty to teach them the Truth. Once they can accept John 6:35-68 Mary and everything else soon falls into place.
 
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