U
urban-hermit
Guest
Just wanted to relay a short discussion I had on the doorstep with my neighbor yesterday.
She knows I’m a Catholic and lately she’s been starting to mention “her church” a lot whenever we’ve run into eachother. So yesterday I went ahead and asked her where she goes to church.
She answered readily and enthusiastically and began telling me about where she goes to services on Saturdays, which is when her “church” meets. She said they have a big marijuana plant in the middle of the church and they pass around “cannabis” as their “sacrament”. That’s just how she said it! (She was serious.)
She said she and most of the others there are medical marijuana users. She herself takes marijuana to help with anxiety and she says it helps her sleep. She doesn’t have an official medical marijuana card (whatever that is), but here in Seattle it’s not hard to smoke marijuana and get away with it. The other people in her religious group apparently have more serious physical problems for which they use marijuana.
Anyway, she has mentioned to me before, and she rejoined again yesterday, that she was raised Catholic and she left that far behind after “making her own conclusions”. She said her mother, who lives back east, still goes to daily Mass, so I immediately decided to join my prayers for her with her Mom’s, since I can imagine that her Mom is probably praying for her all the time.
She brought up the Catholic Church again and how she totally disagrees with the way sin is presented in Catholicism, etc. Then she said that kind of standard thing we’ve all probably heard, “but I know you’re a Catholic and it seems to work for you, so that’s fine…”
So, thank God, He gave me an opportunity to make a point with her. As she moved on in the conversation and began talking about the Iraq war, and how it was a religious conflict for them and we should just back out of it, I said to her that even though I would hope most Muslims in Iraq would not support violence and suicide bombings and how Muslims continue to kill other Muslims there, even the violent factions claim a religious mandate for what they are doing. Or at least that their actions are supported by God and that they are RIGHT in what they are doing. So I said, both sides in this violent conflict think they’re right … but they can’t BOTH be right, can they?
Anyway, sorry for going so long but I just thought this was a good point to make with some people. When they say something like “Catholicism is ok for you, but I believe in …” we can assure them that we don’t want to be unpleasant or disrespectful but leave open the possibility that we might still find a way to discuss the important matter of what we think is TRUE and why.
She knows I’m a Catholic and lately she’s been starting to mention “her church” a lot whenever we’ve run into eachother. So yesterday I went ahead and asked her where she goes to church.
She answered readily and enthusiastically and began telling me about where she goes to services on Saturdays, which is when her “church” meets. She said they have a big marijuana plant in the middle of the church and they pass around “cannabis” as their “sacrament”. That’s just how she said it! (She was serious.)
She said she and most of the others there are medical marijuana users. She herself takes marijuana to help with anxiety and she says it helps her sleep. She doesn’t have an official medical marijuana card (whatever that is), but here in Seattle it’s not hard to smoke marijuana and get away with it. The other people in her religious group apparently have more serious physical problems for which they use marijuana.
Anyway, she has mentioned to me before, and she rejoined again yesterday, that she was raised Catholic and she left that far behind after “making her own conclusions”. She said her mother, who lives back east, still goes to daily Mass, so I immediately decided to join my prayers for her with her Mom’s, since I can imagine that her Mom is probably praying for her all the time.
She brought up the Catholic Church again and how she totally disagrees with the way sin is presented in Catholicism, etc. Then she said that kind of standard thing we’ve all probably heard, “but I know you’re a Catholic and it seems to work for you, so that’s fine…”
So, thank God, He gave me an opportunity to make a point with her. As she moved on in the conversation and began talking about the Iraq war, and how it was a religious conflict for them and we should just back out of it, I said to her that even though I would hope most Muslims in Iraq would not support violence and suicide bombings and how Muslims continue to kill other Muslims there, even the violent factions claim a religious mandate for what they are doing. Or at least that their actions are supported by God and that they are RIGHT in what they are doing. So I said, both sides in this violent conflict think they’re right … but they can’t BOTH be right, can they?
Anyway, sorry for going so long but I just thought this was a good point to make with some people. When they say something like “Catholicism is ok for you, but I believe in …” we can assure them that we don’t want to be unpleasant or disrespectful but leave open the possibility that we might still find a way to discuss the important matter of what we think is TRUE and why.
and I tried to explain the whole “build”,“create”,“found” thing but some people just don’t get it.She still thinks it is all about the building:shrug:
