We must take the fight online. (Rant sort of)

[Costner]

I have been reading some comments on various news articles and YouTube videos. I am very much upset that the negative comments preaching hate against not only his church, but God himself, are getting more"'likes" than those who comment positively about the faith. It makes me both angry and sad that some people believe in all the misconceptions about the church and that the people who try to defend her, and the clergy, are ignored or attacked. No matter where you go, whether it’s on YouTube or article from your local news website, there are always hateful comments about the church and Christians on the comment section. I urge all my brothers and sisters of Christ to go one these comments sections and help defend the faith because we are really outnumbered on there. I have never read so much bigotry and hate in my entire life. Please go and recruit more Christians to fight off these haters so that those who are weak on faith or are trying to get into Catholicism are not discouraged by the filth they read. I am aware that some posters are trolls and are just posting bad things to make people mad, but still, for others like me who are sensitive about God it hurts. I pray to God that he gives me strength to brush off negative comments In the future, I really do.

 

[Isca]

I know what you mean, I encounter the same thing on online forums. Sometimes it’s really shocking. Christians posting on secular websites are always going to be in the minority, and it’s not helped when hate organisations like Westboro are perceived by the public to be faith communities, or when a churchgoer in the public eye does something wicked.

Bad news is always more popular than good news, or in this case, the real Good News.

 

[Petaro]

I agree that we should respond where possible in defending our Faith on any forum or media being used to attack Christ and His Church. We after all are the Church militant.
However we must do so upholding the standards of respect and compassion that separates us from the hatred so often evident on these forums.
But we must be also thankful that we have the opportunity to stand with Christ against the world, hopeful in His promises that he will recognize us as His on the last day.

 

[SoulSolace]

I was flagged on a site because I asked for prayers for victims of a crime.

I imagine it being like wading into a pool of piranha.

When the student is ready, the teacher will come.

God bless and strengthen those who speak the truth in this day.

 

[Memaw]

I was flagged on a site because I asked for prayers for victims of a crime.

I imagine it being like wading into a pool of piranha.

When the student is ready, the teacher will come.

God bless and strengthen those who speak the truth in this day.

If it upsets one so, I would avoid those sites and go to Church and pray for these people in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Where sin abounds, Grace abounds all the more. And that is one wonderful way to bring God’s Grace to them. Also go to daily Mass if possible, or at least as often as posible. Pray the Rosary daily for them. God Bless, Memaw

 

[Mr_Clean]

Jesus said there would be days like this.

 

[without]

II am very much upset that the negative comments preaching hate against not only his church, but God himself, are getting more"'likes" than those who comment positively about the faith.

In my experience it is more frustration than hate with religiosity. We see a large group of people standing on the sidelines of life in prayer instead of contributing to society. Building up treasure in heaven instead of working here and supporting others. The opportunity cost of religion makes my eyes role.:whacky:

Instead of trying to change others by prayer or getting upset by confrontations online you could change yourself and help others.

 

[RedFox0456]

In my experience it is more frustration than hate with religiosity. We see a large group of people standing on the sidelines of life in prayer instead of contributing to society. Building up treasure in heaven instead of working here and supporting others. The opportunity cost of religion makes my eyes role.:whacky:

Instead of trying to change others by prayer or getting upset by confrontations online you could change yourself and help others.

And therein lies a large problem. Yes, we must directly help in society. What I see in this comment, however, is the assumption that devotion to prayer is useless. This may be true if you have a purely naturalistic view of the world. If you consider a spiritual dimension, though, then the realization that prayer is powerful comes to light. In this regard I speak from personal experience and a rational mind (mathematician) when I express just how impactful it can be.

 

[Mr_Clean]

In my experience it is more frustration than hate with religiosity. We see a large group of people standing on the sidelines of life in prayer instead of contributing to society. Building up treasure in heaven instead of working here and supporting others. The opportunity cost of religion makes my eyes role.:whacky:

Instead of trying to change others by prayer or getting upset by confrontations online you could change yourself and help others.

ncregister.com/blog/simcha-fisher/charities-you-ought-to-know

Seems there a lot of activity on the sidelines. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

 

[Linusthe2nd]

Of course you know that Satan has been more and more active since the coming of Christ. Lately though it does seem he is becoming more and more desperate. The enemies of Christ are especially adapt at using social means of communication. Don’t be unduely alarmed, Christ warned us that we will be persecuted and these verbal assaults are a form of persecution.

By the way I haven’t noticed any of you folks on the Philosophy Forum on CA. Your help is needed there too, as Satan is obviously working there as well.

Linus2nd

 

[St_Francis]

In my experience it is more frustration than hate with religiosity. We see a large group of people standing on the sidelines of life in prayer instead of contributing to society. Building up treasure in heaven instead of working here and supporting others. The opportunity cost of religion makes my eyes role.:whacky:

Instead of trying to change others by prayer or getting upset by confrontations online you could change yourself and help others.

We are called to prayer and to something else. Prayer is the foundation of all our other activities and the number one most important thing we can do [ETA: FOR OTHERS]. Some are called to pray more–contemplatives; others are called to do something.

However, what people are called to do varies. Many people in their youth are actually called to do things to help others, bit because they have left their faith they take that time to have fun instead. Later, they start families and this encourages them to return to their faith, but at this point, they need to focus on their families and have less time and energy to devote to other endeavors.

Our Godless society really pushes an individualistic and hedonistic view. I notice that when these things are investigated, it is found that religious people do more than the average, and it is the non-religious who do less.

 

[St_Francis]

Costner,
which do you think will do more to help these people: running around the internet commenting everywhere, or praying for them?

Few will have their views changed by random comments–there are none so blind as those who *will *not see. But our prayers for them can help God open their eyes and soften their hearts.

 

[WestonGrant]

I get it. I totally understand your feelings. I have the same reaction sometimes. Some times it’s appropriate to give a response, in order to help. But I’ve also learned that my peace is too precious to give up to haters. It can be easy to get sucked into the never-endingness of comment boxes with such people. Some of them just live to get a rise out of Christians. Don’t feed the monster.

 

[ynotzap]

In my experience it is more frustration than hate with religiosity. We see a large group of people standing on the sidelines of life in prayer instead of contributing to society. Building up treasure in heaven instead of working here and supporting others. The opportunity cost of religion makes my eyes role.:whacky:

Instead of trying to change others by prayer or getting upset by confrontations online you could change yourself and help others.

One outstanding truth we recognize is that we can’t change ourselves,or anyone else and that Jesus Christ came to change us from the weak, immoral, selfish, proud, ignorant , envious , ungrateful, egotisical, angry, frustrated people that we are into people like Himself. Taking a good look at society, the unselfish sacrifices of those of the Christian religions have done more for society than any founded purely human, secular organizations. If these Christian organizations were removed, I hate to see the human suffering that would occur. This world has to wake up, so many people are operating under false illusions. Satan is really active, disparate Of course, many are un-enlightened of this truth so we don’t expect them to understand. Not that there is not ample evidence. We pray that our brothers and sisters are given this gift of Change so that they too can have a really fruitful, loving, peaceful and holy life in God. They will never find it otherwise

 

[rjg99a]

Many people in their youth are actually called to do things to help others, bit because they have left their faith they take that time to have fun instead. Later, they start families and this encourages them to return to their faith, but at this point, they need to focus on their families and have less time and energy to devote to other endeavors.

I totally agree with this. I’m at this point in my life, where I’m currently coming back to some sort of faith…yet here I am, due with my second child any day now and no time to really do anything other focus on my young family right now (and I also work from home in order to help pay the bills). I wish I could do more, but right now, I feel like there is so little that I can do.

But it also frustrates me reading no many negative comments on news articles.

 

[HerCrazierHalf]

Lost in this is demographics imo. YouTube users and quite a bit of Internet users still skew towards the younger ages. Additionally, many studies have shown that religiosity isn’t as strong with the younger for the last few generations. Give that most media aims for the 18-34 male wouldn’t it follow that those sites are more an echo chamber than anything else?

Well, that plus the Internet is one of the few places agnostics/atheist can open up without the potential of upsetting loved ones.

 

[3DOCTORS]

This is a spiritual battle - and speaking from my own experiences on Facebook before I learned to choose my battles more effectively, or my methods of fighting them (prayer before bickering ) sometimes prayer is the better choice.

However, if you feel up to it (pray for the grace beforehand!) you could educate yourself using resources from CAF and other solid Catholic sources on how to first recognize and then lovingly offer food for thought/gentle rebuttals for obviously fallacious arguments.

For instance, cliche’s such as “religious people have been involved in wars - therefore religion causes wars - therefore let’s chuck religion out the window.” If you can pick apart and find the various logical fallacies in these statements (there are quite a few) and come up with a proper response to each, you may be called to this sort of apologetics knighthood! :knight1::knight2:

Remember also that people’s varied life experiences tend to determine their weaknesses and what kind of horse-leavings they’re likely to step in as they walk the road. If they’ve had poor role models, if they’ve been abused, if they haven’t had any intelligent guidance, if they tend toward emotionality or none at all, if they’re just plain gullible to what they read/hear - whatever it is - you have to tease out what their real issue is to find the right approach to take.

 

[DaisymaeD]

In my experience it is more frustration than hate with religiosity. We see a large group of people standing on the sidelines of life in prayer instead of contributing to society. Building up treasure in heaven instead of working here and supporting others. The opportunity cost of religion makes my eyes role.:whacky:

Instead of trying to change others by prayer or getting upset by confrontations online you could change yourself and help others.

Really? That’s an interesting comment, considering that the Catholic Church is the worlds largest and most extensive charity. Furthermore, religious people are demonstrated to give more to charity than those who are unaffiliated.

 

[DaisymaeD]

Lost in this is demographics imo. YouTube users and quite a bit of Internet users still skew towards the younger ages. Additionally, many studies have shown that religiosity isn’t as strong with the younger for the last few generations. Give that most media aims for the 18-34 male wouldn’t it follow that those sites are more an echo chamber than anything else?

Well, that plus the Internet is one of the few places agnostics/atheist can open up without the potential of upsetting loved ones.

I’m sorry, I probably shouldn’t even be responding to this…but in the last couple years I’ve noticed a new narrative creeping into atheist discussions, to the effect that atheists are being hounded and oppressed and must remain closeted for fear of reprisal from “those mean Christians”. Actually, if you look at pop culture trends, it’s the mention of Christianity in any sort of positive light that is likely to earn you flames. Also, the historical fact remains, that countries and regimes headed by atheist leaders wind up trampling on human rights (Hitler, USSR, Pol Pot, etc).

 

[Bruised_Reed]

Costner,
which do you think will do more to help these people: running around the internet commenting everywhere, or praying for them?

Few will have their views changed by random comments–there are none so blind as those who *will *not see. But our prayers for them can help God open their eyes and soften their hearts.

Prayer can perhaps soften their hearts but only if their heart is open, just like their minds. Grace cannot be forced on them any more than thoughtful reasoning.

So perhaps there is a mission for those who have thick skins, are well-versed in Catholic teaching, are unfailingly polite and ever kind to comment or reply back comments. For those who are thinner-skinned, new at apologetics, hot-headed or make the mistake that this is winning souls not getting people to agree with them can focus on being prayer warriors.

Blessed are they who can do both.