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Przemek
Guest
Can you recommend me a catholic book for an atheist as a wedding present (it is a civil ceremony). This man is a former catholic, but now he doesn’t believe in God and I want to change his mind.
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Della
Guest
Weddings are not good occasions to try to convince people of the existence of God. Get the couple a nice piece of crystal instead. 
If you want to help your friend back to the faith, you have to be his friend. He must have his reasons for abandoning the faith. Usually such reasons are personal rather than doctrinal. Pray for him and be there for him.
The best book I’d recommend if you believe he is open to receiving a book concerning reasons for believing in Christ is G. K. Chesterton’s “The Everlasting Man.” But weddings are not the best events for giving an athiest such reading material.
If you want to help your friend back to the faith, you have to be his friend. He must have his reasons for abandoning the faith. Usually such reasons are personal rather than doctrinal. Pray for him and be there for him.
The best book I’d recommend if you believe he is open to receiving a book concerning reasons for believing in Christ is G. K. Chesterton’s “The Everlasting Man.” But weddings are not the best events for giving an athiest such reading material.
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Crusaderbear
Guest
I’d go with this line of reasoning…a wedding is meant to be the bride and grooms chance to make a statement, not yours. Show them some modicum of respect.Weddings are not good occasions to try to convince people of the existence of God. Get the couple a nice piece of crystal instead.
If you want to help your friend back to the faith, you have to be his friend. He must have his reasons for abandoning the faith. Usually such reasons are personal rather than doctrinal. Pray for him and be there for him.
The best book I’d recommend if you believe he is open to receiving a book concerning reasons for believing in Christ is G. K. Chesterton’s “The Everlasting Man.” But weddings are not the best events for giving an athiest such reading material.
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Lou2U
Guest
Weddings are not good occasions to try to convince people of the existence of God. Get the couple a nice piece of crystal instead.
If you want to help your friend back to the faith, you have to be his friend. He must have his reasons for abandoning the faith. Usually such reasons are personal rather than doctrinal. Pray for him and be there for him.
The best book I’d recommend if you believe he is open to receiving a book concerning reasons for believing in Christ is G. K. Chesterton’s “The Everlasting Man.” But weddings are not the best events for giving an athiest such reading material.
I completely agree with the above. Show this man respect on his wedding day. You may want to change his mind, but there is no guarantee you will be able to. In addition to this, it isn’t really your job to change his mind - Catholics believe that only the Holy Spirit can do that.
If you really want to “change his mind”, the best way to do it is by talking to him and being a witness of your faith. I’m assuming that you have a close relationship with this man, close enough to have a conversation with him about why he believes what he does. There’s no point buying a book that he probably won’t read (if he doesn’t believe and isn’t interested).
Also, don’t do it on his wedding day. It will probably do more harm than good and could damage the relationship you have. If you have a close relationship, you should talk to him instead. If you don’t, you shouldn’t bother buying him a book in the first place.
Lou
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Myst
Guest
If you’re really insisting on buying somebody a book for their wedding (I don’t care what the man thinks, because I know the woman is gonna be mad at you), then go with the Fr. Brown Mysteries or, if they plan to have kids, the Chronicles of Narnia set. Good books, engaging, religious influences, and not totally offensive to the non-believer. They portray faith in a much softer light and can start to turn a heart one laugh or mystery or adventure at a time.
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fred_conty
Guest
The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel.
Someone said of this, “The evidence for God is so overwhelming that it will shock you.”
Someone said of this, “The evidence for God is so overwhelming that it will shock you.”
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PJM
Guest
The likelihood of him reading a BOOK seems extremely low.
Perhaps just an article or a discussion would be better.
God Bless you,
Patrick
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Mike_from_NJ
Guest
How would you feel if someone, on one the biggest and happiest days of your life, gave you book trying to explain why Islam (or Mormonism, or whatever) is right and Catholicism is not?
That’s not to say that you shouldn’t evangelize, only that it should be with considerateness. If you want to send him a book then send him a book. Just don’t use that event to do so.
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Lisa_Lavadores
Guest
I strongly second all the comments that say that the wedding day is not the day to evangelize. In fact, attempting to do so may create a stumbling block in the friendship that makes it difficult to evangelize in the future.
But when the time comes, I suggest Mere Christianity and Catholicism and Fundamentalism. Those two books were huge in my conversion from atheism to Catholicism.
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Mere Christianity* is the better book for an atheist, but it may not take him all the way. For me, it fell short in it’s coverage of the Liar/Lunatic/Lord argument. I could not dismiss the Liar possibility as easily as Lewis did, but your friend may not be as difficult to satisfy as I was.
However, unless your friend is hungry for studying the issue, he will probably not pick up any book you give him, no matter how good it is. Consider familiarizing yourself with the arguments in the book you want to give him. Doing that may give you nuggets of info to share whenever he pulls out a standard atheist argument. Once he realizes there are answers, he may then get an interest in reading the book.
Good luck, and be sure to share God’s love with him on his wedding day!
But when the time comes, I suggest Mere Christianity and Catholicism and Fundamentalism. Those two books were huge in my conversion from atheism to Catholicism.
*
Mere Christianity* is the better book for an atheist, but it may not take him all the way. For me, it fell short in it’s coverage of the Liar/Lunatic/Lord argument. I could not dismiss the Liar possibility as easily as Lewis did, but your friend may not be as difficult to satisfy as I was.
However, unless your friend is hungry for studying the issue, he will probably not pick up any book you give him, no matter how good it is. Consider familiarizing yourself with the arguments in the book you want to give him. Doing that may give you nuggets of info to share whenever he pulls out a standard atheist argument. Once he realizes there are answers, he may then get an interest in reading the book.
Good luck, and be sure to share God’s love with him on his wedding day!
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7_Sorrows
Guest
I agree. Don’t use this friend’s upcoming wedding gift as an evangelizing moment. maybe down the road you can give him a book on the Catholic faith. Scott Hahn has a lot of good books. C. S. Lewis or G. K. Chesterton.Weddings are not good occasions to try to convince people of the existence of God. Get the couple a nice piece of crystal instead.
If you want to help your friend back to the faith, you have to be his friend. He must have his reasons for abandoning the faith. Usually such reasons are personal rather than doctrinal. Pray for him and be there for him.
The best book I’d recommend if you believe he is open to receiving a book concerning reasons for believing in Christ is G. K. Chesterton’s “The Everlasting Man.” But weddings are not the best events for giving an athiest such reading material.
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