Things that annoy you in your Christian walk

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lenten_ashes
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
  1. Using a religious basis (any religion) to justify bigoted remarks
  2. Going to Confession during the 1- hour scheduled time window per week, finding that there is only 1 or 2 priests and long lines of people waiting, and then having one person take up about 30 minutes of the hour though they know people are waiting in line. If you think you will need to discuss something for that much time then please make an appointment outside the 1 hour normal schedule.
 
Lenten_ashes said:
This is a different sort of thread.

Interested in anyone’s responses.

I’ll start it off. What annoys me is filling out a questionnaire such as this:

What is your religious background?

__ Christian
__ Muslim
__ Jewish
__ Buddhist
__ Catholic

As if the first Christian Church is no longer Christian. :rolleyes:

And as a Protestant I absolutely hated being lumped in with the Pope and whatever he said or did.
Click to expand...
The thing that annoys me the most is that my country’s media only now likes Pope Francis because they now only hate Donald Trump.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
  1. Using a religious basis (any religion) to justify bigoted remarks
2) Going to Confession during the 1- hour scheduled time window per week, finding that there is only 1 or 2 priests and long lines of people waiting, and then having one person take up about 30 minutes of the hour though they know people are waiting in line. If you think you will need to discuss something for that much time then please make an appointment outside the 1 hour normal schedule.
Click to expand...
Ditto.

I want to give people the benefit of the doubt and believe that they just haven’t been to confession in years, and so that’s why it’s taking so long. But I know some see the confessional as a place to get a good counseling session. Really, it should not exceed 5-10 minutes.
 
oyaji said:
But if you stop and really think about it, if you truly believe that God would allow his children to suffer indescribable torment for eternity because they offended him, then yes…the SDAs have a point. I do not believe in annihilation, but I certainly don’t believe in eternal conscious torment.
Click to expand...
I’m happy to “meet” someone who sees my point of view! I don’t know what God’s ultimate plan is for those who reject him (in this life with our limited knowledge), but I can’t see a merciful & loving God tormenting people for eternity. Tho I can’t see him doing it in the present either - we do such a good job of punishing ourselves.
 
It’s annoying when Catholics only want to talk about church-y things with me. On the flip side, people who have some knowledge that I take my faith seriously don’t think I can have a conversation about anything else whether it’s because they think the only thing I read is the bible, the only music I listen to is hymns or because I will be offended. It may be partly my fault because I do tend to know Church teaching and devotions and if asked I will nerd out and share more than they asked about. 😊
 
Although I still have to completely accept Catholic theology regarding annulments, I must admit I get very annoyed when I come across secular history articles referring to historical Catholics “divorcing” their spouses. Most of the time this is in the context of European royalty. Not even Henry VIII actually sought a “divorce” from Catherine, he sought an annulment.

Now certainly a case can be made that many of these royal annulments were granted on questionable grounds, but still doesn’t make them the equivalent of divorce. Sometimes a source does use the word annulment but then state something like “the king sought an annulment on the basis that the queen had not given him an heir”.

Although in the case of Henry VIII that is partially true as he did claim the fact that Catherine hadn’t given him an heir was proof the marriage was invalid, there are other cases where there’s no evidence this was the “official” grounds for seeking such a decree, and certainly not why it was granted.

I realize many people are just ignorant about annulments and think they are just “Catholic divorce” and many would think “Who cares what you call it, the end result is the same, a marriage is ended and the ex spouses freed to remarry”. But the historical inaccuracy still galls me.
 
The constant bickering, nettling, and pettiness between the “conservative” Catholics and “liberal” Catholics. The rigidness of both sides is exasperating.
 
wild_thing said:
The constant bickering, nettling, and pettiness between the “conservative” Catholics and “liberal” Catholics. The rigidness of both sides is exasperating.
Click to expand...
Not to mention those of us who may have some views on both sides and not express them at all out loud because we don’t want to bicker and also we are in the Church to grow and pray and not align with some group. I get enough of that from political parties, since I have the same problem with the two major parties (agree with each on some things and not on others).
 
wild_thing said:
The constant bickering, nettling, and pettiness between the “conservative” Catholics and “liberal” Catholics. The rigidness of both sides is exasperating.
Click to expand...
I also find it very annoying that some Catholics freely bash the Pope, Cardinals, Bishops, their local priest, etc…and act like they are the only faithful Catholics left, and that they are looking forward to spending an eternity in a very sparsely populated Heaven gleefully looking down at others suffering in Hell or at least Purgatory. I get a very Pharisee-like “thank God I’m not as bad as those OTHER sinners” attitude.

I suppose such people aren’t very concerned about evangelization, they certainly don’t make their faith come across as very appealing to those who don’t share it. Of course there are such people in non-Catholic faiths as well.

ETA: Also, people who smugly state “Speaking the Truth IS Charity, we have a duty to correct our brothers and sisters” then use the Truth as a hammer to bash “sinners”, even if the sins are as minor as “wearing sneakers to Church”. They sneer on any talk of mercy and compassion as just excusing sins. On the other hand,I also get annoyed at people who equate “being merciful” with “pretending people didn’t actually sin” even though that means mercy isn’t even needed in the first place.
 
oyaji said:
But if you stop and really think about it, if you truly believe that God would allow his children to suffer indescribable torment for eternity because they offended him, then yes…the SDAs have a point. I do not believe in annihilation, but I certainly don’t believe in eternal conscious torment.
Click to expand...
Only by a denial of the Scriptures can one come to the conclusion of annihilation. The Scriptures say that there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth there. The only way you can weep and gnash your teeth is if you’re conscious.
 
People who are so adamant that they know the truth when in reality they only believe or think they know through their faith.
 
People who don’t know their faith lecturing you on how you’re a fundamentalist when you speak on Church teaching.
 
I don’t pray as much as I should until there is a crisis in my life.

After the crisis is over, I thank God for His help, love, and provision and assure Him I will pray more and read my Bible more, only to see the same cycle repeat itself.
 
Tommy999 said:
I don’t pray as much as I should until there is a crisis in my life.

After the crisis is over, I thank God for His help, love, and provision and assure Him I will pray more and read my Bible more, only to see the same cycle repeat itself.
Click to expand...
That actually is something I need to work on as well.
 
With respect to developing a prayer habit, I find it helpful and motivating to pray for other people, and this gets me to pray reliably every day. I’m usually more motivated in general when the object is to help someone else rather than just myself - for example, if you ask me to walk 5 miles or drink only water for a month just for my health, I won’t do it, but I’m able to do both things when the object is to raise money for charity or promote a worthy cause. Similarly, when I’m praying for other people, or for the USA or for world peace, I’m much more motivated to pray daily, than if all the prayers were just about me myself.

Of course I still ask for help when I am having a crisis or worry, and I say certain prayers (like the Pardon Crucifix prayer) just as habit when I am saying the rosary for other people, so I pray a little bit for myself as I go along. I can also ask as part of the prayer I am saying for the other persons that God and the Blessed Mother also help me and give me the graces to grow in my faith. But it’s not just all about me.
 
Tommy999 said:
I don’t pray as much as I should until there is a crisis in my life.

After the crisis is over, I thank God for His help, love, and provision and assure Him I will pray more and read my Bible more, only to see the same cycle repeat itself.
Click to expand...
Me too.

Try to pray everyday…sometimes it only happens at night, though. As Mother Angelica used to say, by that time all the damage is done for the day lol
 
Tis_Bearself said:
With respect to developing a prayer habit, I find it helpful and motivating to pray for other people, and this gets me to pray reliably every day. I’m usually more motivated in general when the object is to help someone else rather than just myself - for example, if you ask me to walk 5 miles or drink only water for a month just for my health, I won’t do it, but I’m able to do both things when the object is to raise money for charity or promote a worthy cause. Similarly, when I’m praying for other people, or for the USA or for world peace, I’m much more motivated to pray daily, than if all the prayers were just about me myself.

Of course I still ask for help when I am having a crisis or worry, and I say certain prayers (like the Pardon Crucifix prayer) just as habit when I am saying the rosary for other people, so I pray a little bit for myself as I go along. I can also ask as part of the prayer I am saying for the other persons that God and the Blessed Mother also help me and give me the graces to grow in my faith. But it’s not just all about me.
Click to expand...
Very nice. Thanks for sharing. Focusing on others as the motivation for prayer may be the key to stopping this annoying habit.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top