Two daughters were indocrinated {brainwashed?}

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By your own definition every religion indocrtinates. Catholicism discourages acceptance of other opinions, and does not promote free thought about god, it hands you dogma to obey. Does Catholicism NOT teach you to obey gods words and laws (dogmas)?

There is very little doubt that every religion indoctrinates. God isn’t presented as a possibility in a religious family, he is presented as fact. Unquestionable, unfallible fact along with the dogma that is associated with it. That is the essence of indoctrination. She made it very clear that SHE felt that there was no respect, but many times “respect” is a term used to keep people from questioning someones beliefs. Questioning beliefs is not disrespecful, it is intellectually honest.
The real point here beyond the religious debate here, is how can a difference of opinion lead to someone rejecting their own children. If my boy grows up to be a believer, i will disagree with him, I will debate him, I will guide him, but if he continues to think that he needs or wants religion, then I will still love and support him in every way. My son telling me that I am wrong is not disrespectful, it is his way of using the intellectual critical thinking tools that I taught him to have.
PLUS I love him, so nothing can cause me to reject him. If I feel he is on the wrong path, or even worse that he is the VICTIM of a cults attentions, I need to stay closer to him to provide what guidance I can in order to save him.Sending him away would serve no loving purpose.

peace
My thoughts exactly, well said!👍
 
Did you seriously choose your church over your daughters welfare? I am shocked and dismayed that on the surface this appears to be what you have done. What ever happened to the respect that Catholics have for other faiths? She is still Christian so the only real difference is Dogma not belief. How can you throw them out just because they don’t agree with you?
Parents are supposed to support their children and guide them through even the worst decisions.

I was Catholic for many years so I understand that there are many misunderstandings about Catholocism but to reject your daughters for the natural response of young adults to rebel is, well, shocking.

If you choose to pray to help your daughters “straying from the path” then do as you feel, but please also be active in the moral and intellectual development of your daughters. In teaching them to reject whatever doesn’t agree with you, you are in fact partaking in a form of indoctrination of your daughters yourself. Agree with me or else. That doesn’t give them reason to believe. Give them the evidence and the critical thinking tools with which to make an informed decision and then support them as they use the skills that you gave them.

I guarantee you that you will regret it if you don’t accept that they are allowed to form their own opinions on things and accept them back into your heart and home.
The distance that this will create between you and your lovely family will eat away at you until it is replaced by something more bitter and sad.

The best weapon against evil is love.

peace
They would not respect her and she asked them to move out. Your assumption is absurd, she never rejected them!

Perhaps if more people chose the Truth over their childrens’ selfish interests, we would have a better world.

I guarantee that you will regret allowing them to follow a cult. Do you remember Waco, or Jim Jones??

No one should respect any faith, only the Truth has earned respect!

You are right about about one thing. Love.

"Deus Caritas Est, God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them." 1 Jn 4:16.

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Ora Pro Nobis Peccatoribus!

Mark
 
One daughter was indoctrinated at 18 as she started her college years, she was being very pushy with her newfound beliefs and we were not getting along so she left on her own to live with one of the woman from this church. A year or so later I allowed her to come back home as her college was nearby. Before I realized it she had been trying to persuade her sister two yrs her senior. They were 20-22yrs when I gave them an ultimatum as they were both pushing me to listen to their interpretation of the Bible. There was no way to dialog with them they only wanted me to listen as I did not know what I was talking about. They would not listen to my Scott Hahn tapes nor read any of my books IE Catholicism vs Fundamentalism; Rome Sweet Home. J. Macarthur (ism) is where they have gotten their belief system. He has a CD out titled" The Shame of the Priesthood ", this has nothing to do with the recent scandal of some of our Priests. This CD contains pretty much what their belief system is now and what they are teaching my grandchild en. This CD is only made available to a few persons. I heard it quite by accident and it is full of the lies of the great lier himself. The Eucharist is a Jesus cookie; the Eucharist is just a symbol; Eucharistic adoration is idolatry; Blessed Mary was just a vessel; she was a sinner like the rest of us; prayer to her is blasphemous you should only pray to Jesus; Mary had other children she therefore could not be a perpetual virgin; the Pope is the Antichrist; you should not confess your sins to a mere man; and on & on. I try to make confession every month and I receive the Body of Christ as often as I am allowed. I pray a lot mostly for the grandchildren and I Thank God that their parents do believe in Jesus Christ. I know there are a lot of parents out there with the same heartache I have and I pray for them also. I had T-shirts made that say; I love being Catholic; I love the Eucharist the body of Christ; I love His church; Blessed Mary His Mother; the Pope; the priests; the Sacraments and I wear them at family functions to show I remain strong in my faith.🙂 There is never a comment from anyone. My statues of the Blessed Mother and St. Francis that I have in my yard I have gotten comments on from my grandchildren 3&4 yrs “your not supposed to have statues Gramma it says so in the Bible”. Yet they can have a manger scene of statues at Christmas time. Thank God for Mother Angelica and EWTN was it not for them I would not have my sanity. The Journey Home came into existence a week or two after my girls (women now) left my home and I have not missed many of the programs. Since I have found the internet I am learning a lot also. I think I have said too much, I do want to thank you all again for your positive and negative comments. I am a humble person and I realize there is so much to learn from all peoples. I thank Jesus daily for making me who I am and to please not stop working on me. As for my family I can only wait for God to change their hearts and keep the hope that that will be His will. 👍 Yours in Christ
 
The church my two daughters were indocrinated in they were kept awake all hrs and pressured into reading and memorizing certain scripture reading, and consistantly told what terrible sinners they were. It was as tho they were broken down then built back up in a new church. They refered to themselves as baby christians and were trying to convert me also.
There seemed to be nothing I could do. I prayed; I talked ; I preached; I talked to one Pastor in my church and he just gave me a book to read. I did find a Priest who took me serious we talked for a long while and he said I probably had to make a decision and that was to have them leave my home. because they were keeping me upset. It was very difficult for me.
I simply explained to them that my home was a Catholic home and if they could not respect the Catholic Church that they would have to leave. They then had moved into one of the church members home. They were told all the lies re: the Catholic Church, worshiping Mary, etc; etc;. These same girls went to a Catholic school thru the 8th grade. I thought they were catechized well but either I was mistaken or these other people they came in contact with are great with their propaganda. It is sad because they are teaching my grandchildren all the lies of Mcarthurism, Luther and Calvin re: the True Church they grew up with. I have hope like St. Monica and pray about this all the time. I can,t help tho but think that for some reason this has been Gods Will and when He is ready they will return to the Catholic Church…I pray
I do feel sorry to hear that, brother. My prayer for them. Was it a criminal case under the US law? I think your daughters were there against their own will, weren’t they?
 
What you don’t seem to understand is that parental love can die when pushed too far—especially by adult children. It is not something any parent wants to happen. It is just that parents are human too. So perhaps the priest is right if Totoatkansas is being pushed so far. It is better to continue to love from a distance by praying constantly for her children, than to be badgered into a death of love.
IMO, asking your adult children to act like adults isn’t wrong.

It’s perfectly OK for parents to tell their kids that it’s time to grow up. If an adult is a rude house guest, there’s nothing wrong with asking them to leave.

It’s a parent’s job to help their children become responsible, independant adults.

I have no idea why people are assuming that asking your rude, adult children to move out is wrong.

Even if they weren’t being rude, asking them to at least to try ot make it on their own is the right. It’s so right, that I can’t believe people are finding anything wrong with it, much less accusing the OP of not loviing her kids.
 
The very fact that you are here on a Catholic Forum expressing your opinions proves your statement to be in error.
“especially with the goal of discouraging independent thought or the acceptance of other opinions” Catholicism does not discourage independent thought and we accept the opinions of others. Just because we do not necessarily agree with them does not make Catholics closed minded. I don’t know of any religious organization or for that matter ANY organization that does not have “dogmas”. Even the Boy Scouts have “dogmas” as outline in their pledge.

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

1730 God created man a rational being, conferring on him the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his own actions. "God willed that man should be ‘left in the hand of his own counsel,’ so that he might of his own accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him."26
It is an Absolute teaching of the Catholic Church that anyone wishing to become Catholic do so without any undue influence and to make that choice freely.

1738 Freedom is exercised in relationships between human beings. Every human person, created in the image of God, has the natural right to be recognized as a free and responsible being. All owe to each other this duty of respect. The right to the exercise of freedom, especially in moral and religious matters, is an inalienable requirement of the dignity of the human person. This right must be recognized and protected by civil authority within the limits of the common good and public order.32
No, my being here does NOT prove my statement to be in error and I am sorry that you are apparently offended by my presence. You clearly have no idea why I am here. I saw a link on a website referring to a post here and I felt so terrible for the woman in question that I felt the need to offer her support. That has nothing to do with my stance on God or religion. I took the name that I did because I didn’t want to feel as though I was misrepresenting myself as that would be a form of deciept (which I despise). So in the spirit of honesty I post here because after my first conversation with a woman on here regarding her personal pain, I found myself drawn to the troubles of others here.

Now, onto dogma. Dogma is not the same thing as rules. Dogma is defined as a list of tenets taken without evidence and as truth without question. def; “A doctrinal notion asserted without regard to evidence or truth; an arbitrary dictum”
OR “a specific tenet or doctrine authoritatively laid down, as by a church: the dogma of the Assumption.”
having Dogma does not make people closed minded (and I don’t think that I ever implied that you were personally) but religious institutions do discourage its members from believing other tenets. That is what was stated in a previous post, and that is what I remarked on.
I made no assertion that Catholicism denied people their free choice other than teaching children things about the world without regard to other possibilities presented (that is indoctrination) I was a Catholic for 30 years and have a very clear picture of what the church is and what it represents.
I am not sure why this seems to have turned into an argument on whether religions indoctrinate because I thought the concern here was for the girls and their mother who are on a very difficult road at present.
If you wish to have a debate on religious matters I am more than willing to do so, but I will state again that debate is not my reason for being here.

For my part I hope that this hasn’t distracted the issue of the family in need of help and guidance. Lets turn our thoughts to them.

Ricko if you wish to continue debate, lets make a new thread and do it there, where it takes no attentions away from people in need asking for help.

Peace
 
One daughter was indoctrinated at 18 as she started her college years, she was being very pushy with her newfound beliefs and we were not getting along so she left on her own to live with one of the woman from this church. A year or so later I allowed her to come back home as her college was nearby. Before I realized it she had been trying to persuade her sister two yrs her senior. They were 20-22yrs when I gave them an ultimatum as they were both pushing me to listen to their interpretation of the Bible. There was no way to dialog with them they only wanted me to listen as I did not know what I was talking about. They would not listen to my Scott Hahn tapes nor read any of my books IE Catholicism vs Fundamentalism; Rome Sweet Home. J. Macarthur (ism) is where they have gotten their belief system. He has a CD out titled" The Shame of the Priesthood ", this has nothing to do with the recent scandal of some of our Priests. This CD contains pretty much what their belief system is now and what they are teaching my grandchild en. This CD is only made available to a few persons. I heard it quite by accident and it is full of the lies of the great lier himself. The Eucharist is a Jesus cookie; the Eucharist is just a symbol; Eucharistic adoration is idolatry; Blessed Mary was just a vessel; she was a sinner like the rest of us; prayer to her is blasphemous you should only pray to Jesus; Mary had other children she therefore could not be a perpetual virgin; the Pope is the Antichrist; you should not confess your sins to a mere man; and on & on. I try to make confession every month and I receive the Body of Christ as often as I am allowed. I pray a lot mostly for the grandchildren and I Thank God that their parents do believe in Jesus Christ. I know there are a lot of parents out there with the same heartache I have and I pray for them also. I had T-shirts made that say; I love being Catholic; I love the Eucharist the body of Christ; I love His church; Blessed Mary His Mother; the Pope; the priests; the Sacraments and I wear them at family functions to show I remain strong in my faith.🙂 There is never a comment from anyone. My statues of the Blessed Mother and St. Francis that I have in my yard I have gotten comments on from my grandchildren 3&4 yrs “your not supposed to have statues Gramma it says so in the Bible”. Yet they can have a manger scene of statues at Christmas time. Thank God for Mother Angelica and EWTN was it not for them I would not have my sanity. The Journey Home came into existence a week or two after my girls (women now) left my home and I have not missed many of the programs. Since I have found the internet I am learning a lot also. I think I have said too much, I do want to thank you all again for your positive and negative comments. I am a humble person and I realize there is so much to learn from all peoples. I thank Jesus daily for making me who I am and to please not stop working on me. As for my family I can only wait for God to change their hearts and keep the hope that that will be His will. 👍 Yours in Christ
You seem a very loving woman who is torn between her beliefs and the pain of her children rejecting those beliefs. I was at first concerned about the things that they were taught being morally wrong, or harmful. Now that I see it is just a doctrinal disagreement then you have a few choices. You can listen to your children, actually consider their thoughts, research from outside sources the veracity of their claims and THEN discuss how you have changed your mind based on what they have said, or how and why you have not. That is open discussion. There is no open discussion based on different dogma that can be fruitful if argued soley from dogmatic knowledge as dogma is authoritatively handed down. Find your answers from independant sources (outside the church) and when you return you will have the ammunition to show your daughters where they are wrong in their judgments. If you just fire your dogma back at them, you have no ammunition because that is what they are fighting against in the first place. See what I mean? Independantly verify your beliefs, and then fight with facts, not dogma. You can convince them if you use knowledge, fact, and history. OR you can just have a discussion on WHY you believe, but they have to be open to consider your beliefs as well. This is a very difficult position to be in totoatkansas, and I can sympathise, but you need to pull yourself away from the hurt that it causes to have your children reject your dearly held beliefs. It will be hard for either of you to have a completely open discussion about it I am sure, but good luck.

Love is the enemy of disruption

Peace
 
Dear totoatkansas,

John MacArthur and his followers like other ultra-Calvinists, and Fundamentalists will have strong Anti-Catholic sentiments more so than other sects of Christianity. The justification for these autonomous authorities and organizations to exists rests on the unbiblical argument that the gates of Hell has prevailed against Christ’s one true Church, which is why their attacks and evangelization are mostly aimed at Catholics.

I have seen instances where these types of sects use “anger” as a means of evangelization. Now I don’t mean anger in the traditional sense, but I mean that as you said they will use strategic and limited Bible quotations and take Church statements out of context to make the argument that we have all been taught lies from our early Catholic childhood. This kindles an anger or mistrust sentiment within the person and “hardens” their heart from hearing other points of view.

Now there is a good and bad here. The good is that your Daughters are not lukewarm, they care about their faith, they love the Gospel and they love Jesus Christ. The bad here is that it will take quite an effort for them to soften their hearts and open their eyes to the fullness of Truth.

It is good that you are on fire for your faith and have got some T-Shirts with some neat slogans, but based on the info I see here, I wonder whether wearing these shirts in the presence of your Daughters will be helpful. It may just make them tense up. The general idea here is to break down the barriers and opening the dialog. I would not worry too much about your statues.

I would also say that if your Daughters are open to more discussions then agree with them to have a two-way discussion where both sides can present their point of view to attentive ears; otherwise I would put off discussing the Faith until an agreement can be made. Make sure you don’t get trapped into the doctrinal dance where multiple topics are thrown at you almost simultaneously. If this happens make a note of the new topic, issue or question and promise to follow up on the issue and address it at later time.

This is not an exercise of “throwing” dogmas at each other, but rather a discussion on whether the Bible contradicts a doctrine or dogma. In these cases, we must refer to the totality of Scripture as it pertains to the doctrine or dogma in question. If your Daughters are open to it, lookup what the Early Church Fathers have to make on the subject.

This is very much a one step at a time process. There will be setbacks and this will be frustrating and it will not happen over night, but remember that your job is to plant the seeds. Not only will your words be important, but your attitude and composure will also be important in witnessing to your Daughters. Remember St Francis of Assisi’s motto: Evangelize always, sometimes use words.

If you are interested, here is a website containing a good compilation of the writings of the early Church Fathers:
newadvent.org/fathers/
Here are some more websites
scripturecatholic.com/
biblechristiansociety.com/

Trust in God, keep praying and most of all keep in a State of Grace (I am referring to the Catholic understanding of being in a State of Grace here). I will keep you in my prayers.
God Bless,
Derek
 
Dear totoatkansas,

John MacArthur and his followers like other ultra-Calvinists, and Fundamentalists will have strong Anti-Catholic sentiments more so than other sects of Christianity. The justification for these autonomous authorities and organizations to exists rests on the unbiblical argument that the gates of Hell has prevailed against Christ’s one true Church, which is why their attacks and evangelization are mostly aimed at Catholics.

I have seen instances where these types of sects use “anger” as a means of evangelization. Now I don’t mean anger in the traditional sense, but I mean that as you said they will use strategic and limited Bible quotations and take Church statements out of context to make the argument that we have all been taught lies from our early Catholic childhood. This kindles an anger or mistrust sentiment within the person and “hardens” their heart from hearing other points of view.

Now there is a good and bad here. The good is that your Daughters are not lukewarm, they care about their faith, they love the Gospel and they love Jesus Christ. The bad here is that it will take quite an effort for them to soften their hearts and open their eyes to the fullness of Truth.

It is good that you are on fire for your faith and have got some T-Shirts with some neat slogans, but based on the info I see here, I wonder whether wearing these shirts in the presence of your Daughters will be helpful. It may just make them tense up. The general idea here is to break down the barriers and opening the dialog. I would not worry too much about your statues.

I would also say that if your Daughters are open to more discussions then agree with them to have a two-way discussion where both sides can present their point of view to attentive ears; otherwise I would put off discussing the Faith until an agreement can be made. Make sure you don’t get trapped into the doctrinal dance where multiple topics are thrown at you almost simultaneously. If this happens make a note of the new topic, issue or question and promise to follow up on the issue and address it at later time.

This is not an exercise of “throwing” dogmas at each other, but rather a discussion on whether the Bible contradicts a doctrine or dogma. In these cases, we must refer to the totality of Scripture as it pertains to the doctrine or dogma in question. If your Daughters are open to it, lookup what the Early Church Fathers have to make on the subject.

This is very much a one step at a time process. There will be setbacks and this will be frustrating and it will not happen over night, but remember that your job is to plant the seeds. Not only will your words be important, but your attitude and composure will also be important in witnessing to your Daughters. Remember St Francis of Assisi’s motto: Evangelize always, sometimes use words.

If you are interested, here is a website containing a good compilation of the writings of the early Church Fathers:
newadvent.org/fathers/
Here are some more websites
scripturecatholic.com/
biblechristiansociety.com/

Trust in God, keep praying and most of all keep in a State of Grace (I am referring to the Catholic understanding of being in a State of Grace here). I will keep you in my prayers.
God Bless,
Derek
Well said.

peace
 
they were both pushing me to listen to their interpretation of the Bible. There was no way to dialog with them they only wanted me to listen as I did not know what I was talking about. They would not listen to my Scott Hahn tapes nor read any of my books IE Catholicism vs Fundamentalism; Rome Sweet Home.
I posted the above quote to make sure that everyone knows that the daughters will not engage in dialog. The seeds of this cult started with one daughter, then to the other and has now spread to the grandchildren.

Remember these verses:

"Do not suppose that my mission on earth is to spread peace. My mission is to spread , not peace, but division. I have come to set a man at odds with his father, a daughter with her mother…Whoever loves father or mother, son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matthew 10:34

Blest are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of slander against you because of me.
Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is great in heaven. Matthew 5:11

You are to be commended for taking up your cross. God Bless
 
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