Unable to forgive parents

[new_atheist]

Thank you very much for all your advice. Its worth a try, but thinking about the day that I ended up in the hospital with a deep cut on the lip or a broken arm because “my father lost his temper” is something difficult to come to terms with. Wth a mother who was playing favorites, who was uncaring and who looked the other way when the physical abuse was ongoing (as long as her favorite son wasn’t the one at the receiving end) didn’t help the situation either. The scars will always remain. Sorry to say this, but I finally decided to cut off my ties with them permanently and had ditched my surname. (My son doesn’t even know that they existed). I had been at peace, since then.

 

[josh987654321]

Thank you very much for all your advice. Its worth a try, but thinking about the day that I ended up in the hospital with a deep cut on the lip or a broken arm because “my father lost his temper” is something difficult to come to terms with. Wth a mother who was playing favorites, who was uncaring and who looked the other way when the physical abuse was ongoing (as long as her favorite son wasn’t the one at the receiving end) didn’t help the situation either. The scars will always remain. Sorry to say this, but I finally decided to cut off my ties with them permanently and had ditched my surname. (My son doesn’t even know that they existed). I had been at peace, since then.

There is so much peace and healing to be found in forgiveness new atheist, you deserve that gift! there is only one thing worse than being hurt by someone and that is keeping that hurt alive. The more someone has been mistreated, the more I emphasise forgiveness, and you my friend deserve this gift! The greater the emotions of hatred, anger or resentment, the greater are the gifts you will recieve when you let them go.

I also wish you were not an atheist, there is so much more that I want to share with you on pain and suffering but I fear that you would dismiss it because of your atheism. However I would still like to share it with you in the hope that you may not dismiss it.

I would like to share with you the links to 4 short booklets on Jesus’ passion that have brought me much comfort in pain and suffering.

Books on the Passion
The Stations of The Cross - loveandmercy.org/Eng-SOC-Reg.pdf
From Sinai to Calvary - loveandmercy.org/Eng-FSC-Reg.pdf
The Passion - loveandmercy.org/Eng-TP-Reg.pdf
I Have Given My Life for You - loveandmercy.org/Eng-IHG-Reg.pdf

They all contain the Roman Catholic IMPRIMATUR, which assures the reader that nothing therein is contrary to Catholic Faith, Morals or Teaching.

I know you have probably heard something similar to this before, but God is real, his only son our Lord Jesus Christ is real, he loves you and me, all of us, very much and he is not indifferent to our sufferings.

I would ask that you please give him a hearing with the four short booklets on Jesus’ passion above, he will help you in many ways.
Extract from the book My Broken Christ Walks Over the Waters:

My Broken Christ Walks Over the Waters - loveandmercy.org/Eng-MBC-Reg.pdf

Do you know, my friend, why sometimes our Cross becomes intolerable? Do you know why it can end up becoming desperation and suicide? Because in that circumstance our Cross is a Cross alone, with no Christ, and we can only tolerate a Cross when it carries a Christ on its arms. A lay Cross without the blood or the love of God is absurd. It is senseless. So, I have an idea. I have a Christ without a Cross, and you perhaps have a Cross without Christ. Both are incomplete.

My Christ does not rest because He is missing His Cross. You cannot bear your Cross because it is missing Christ. Why do you not give your empty Cross to Christ tonight? You have a Cross by itself, empty, freezing cold, black, senseless. I understand you. To suffer like that is something irrational and I do not comprehend how you have been able to tolerate it for so long. You have the remedy in your hands… Come on, give me that Cross of yours. Give it to me. I give you in exchange this Christ without rest and without a Cross. Take it, it is yours. Give Him your Cross. Take my Christ. Put them together. Nail them, embrace them and everything will be different.

My broken Christ rests on your Cross. Your Cross becomes softer with my Christ on it. We have found a Cross. Ours, which happens to be that of Christ’s…

Please continue to next post -

 

[josh987654321]

Continued from above post -
Extract from the book From Sinai to Calvary:

From Sinai to Calvary - loveandmercy.org/Eng-FSC-Reg.pdf

Jesus said: **“Contemplate this scene, My beloved, and learn that My own cannot march through life without a cross. 4) “Go and tell the world what you are learning and, if they want to silence you, shout even louder. Do this for the sake of the power of the love that unites you to Me, which is as united as these two pieces of wood that form an instrument of salvation for all of humanity.

1. “Tell the consecrated souls that the cross that they wear, is not only to adorn their chests or identify them superficially with Me. First they must gird themselves with the cross and learn to “make themselves comfortable” on it instead of running away from it. Tell them they cannot long for Tabor, if they have not first passed through Golgotha. It is here on the Cross where they will learn charity, humility, poverty of spirit and temperance in all acts of their lives. 6) “Assure them that I give proof and testimony that, the devil can be easily defeated from the experience of the cross. Contemplate Me: I am a true Man, in whom the flesh manifests its limitations, and true God, in demonstrating the relentless force of Agape Love.
2. “Pray for those who do not know of sufferings, for it is certain that they are not among My own…Observe these two condemned ones who flank Me and meditate on the ways that men carry their crosses. 8) “Some carry it with rage, with bitterness, amidst much grief. He who carries a cross in similar circumstances and with those sentiments, carries for sure a cross, which has no sense because instead of drawing him closer, it pushes him away from Me. Usually that is the cross of those who refuse to understand the meaning of suffering, which takes on supernatural dimensions. That is the cross of the thief at My left, it is the cross which will always be heavy and will never be able to redeem.
3. “Dismas, on My right, accepts his cross with resignation and even with dignity; he assumes it at first because he has no other recourse. But suddenly, when he recognizes Me and knows that I Am the Son of God, he accepts that cross, acknowledging himself as a sinner, and asking that through it, Mercy remembers him. 10) “Finally, you have Me here in front of you, embracing My redeeming Cross to teach all of you to carry yours. I invite you to be co-redeemers with Me, making reparation for your own sins and those of all mankind. Know that this way of carrying the cross is reflected in your conduct, when before you are difficulties and pains and through them you draw closer to Me and you profit from them to give testimony before men. When you embrace your cross, you can feel that the only thing you desire is strength, because the thirst for souls consumes you."**

Here Jesus shows the two ways that men carry their crosses. Our crosses are inevitable, we will all have to carry them at some stage in our life, (e.g. Death) some heavier than others, but I certainly know which cross I will prefer to carry, and that is Dismas’ cross, humbly recognising himself as a sinner and asking that though his sufferings, mercy remembers him. It’s in this way of carrying the cross that warrented such a reply from our lord “I promise that today you will be with me in paradise.” and allowed the condemned theif Dismas on the right side of Jesus to steal paradise - Luke 23:26-43

God loved the world so much that he gave his only son and in turn the son loved us so much that he gave his own life for us (the love of agape confirmed through works by the father and the son).

Can faithless, rebellious, atheistic, unbelieving men and women possibly say that Jesus Sacrifice at the hands of His executioners was not true, so that they could unleash their rage against Him? No one can possibly deny it and prove their denial. And why do you believe He did so? No one dies for anyone who is not intensely loved.
Jesus Speaks about His Suffering and Death:

Matthew 16:21-23

21 From then on, Jesus began telling his disciples what would happen to him. He said, “I must go to Jerusalem. There the nation’s leaders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law of Moses will make me suffer terribly. I will be killed, but three days later I will rise to life.”

22 Peter took Jesus aside and told him to stop talking like that. He said, “God would never let this happen to you, Lord!”

23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Satan, get away from me! You’re in my way because you think like everyone else and not like God.”

It is Satan in the book of Job that tells God that the only reason Job serves him is because he avoids the cross, Satan say’s “Wait until he is faced with the cross and he will curse you to your face.”

On the cross we make reparations for our own sins and those of all mankind, we share in Christ’s redemptive sacrafice, and in his Glory. The Devil can be easily defeated through the experience of the cross. The cross is the last attempt for the Devil at winning us over. The Devil is powerless against those who embrace the Cross as Christ did and Christ gives us the God given strength to survive it.

Please continue to next post -

 

[josh987654321]

Continued from above post -

I believe many atheists start with a catastrophe or some evil act and than they say “If God is Omnipotent, than he chose to let this happen, is this a God you should believe in?”

I believe it’s the very same thing people said to Christ as they made fun of him on the Cross.

Those very same taunts.

“If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!”
“Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and save us!”
“He saved others. Now he should save himself, if he really is God’s chosen Messiah!”
Gospel of Luke:

Luke 23:34-43

Jesus Is Nailed to a Cross

34-35 Jesus said, “Father, forgive these people! They don’t know what they’re doing.”

While the crowd stood there watching Jesus, the soldiers gambled for his clothes. The leaders insulted him by saying, “He saved others. Now he should save himself, if he really is God’s chosen Messiah!”

36 The soldiers made fun of Jesus and brought him some wine. 37 They said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!”

38 Above him was a sign that said, “This is the King of the Jews.”

39 One of the criminals hanging there also insulted Jesus by saying, “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and save us!”

40 But the other criminal told the first one off, “Don’t you fear God? Aren’t you getting the same punishment as this man? 41 We got what was coming to us, but he didn’t do anything wrong.” 42 Then he said to Jesus, “Remember me when you come into power!”

43 Jesus replied, “I promise that today you will be with me in paradise.”

“Skeptics always want miracles such as stepping down from the cross, but never the greater miracle of forgiveness.” - Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

Jesus came to rule in the hearts of men and women and not through any kind of legal system, thus our free will.

An old apologist named C.S. Lewis once said, there are two kinds of people in this world -

1. Those who bend their knees to God and say “Thy will be done.” and 2) Those who refuse to bend their knee’s to God and God say’s “Alright, thy will be done.”

I hope I have helped you.

God Bless.

Thank you for reading
Josh

 

[josh987654321]

On a side note, if you or anyone else would like some more information regarding the 4 short booklets I linked in my previous post on Jesus’ Passion, please read this - youshallbelieve.com/A-plea-to-humanity.pdf

Thank you for reading
Josh

 

[Catholic1954]

Is it right to ask your aging parents why they acted so mean when you were young? I have a father whom I described as vicious, violent and sadistic and a mother who was negligent, bias and aloof.

You can ask them, but don’t be surprised if you receive an unsatisfactory answer and no apology, if you were hoping for one. It might be better for you to seek professional help in dealing with the effects of your unhappy childhood. My father in law passed away 2 years ago and my husband never got answers.