What do you say to someone who says that they think you're choosing Catholicism because you have a low self-esteem?

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I have a friend who insists this is why which is weird and totally not accurate & no matter how I explain why I’ve chosen my faith over secularism, he persists, thinking he knows my inner workings.
 
Luke 6:22-23
22 Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.
23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

Congratulations! You have earned your reward in heaven! 😊
 
Apparently he was a psych tech in the military for a while.
 
I’d answer that if I really had low esteem I’d be so influenced by him that I’d dump my Catholicism.

But since I am not dumping Catholicism it must be that I regard your ideas as silly and my self esteem is just fine.
 
I’d say that he must be projecting and have insecurities of his own to be able to come up with such a peculiar explanation to your motivations.

Accepting God is in a way accepting his gift of grace, saying that yes you do deserve it. That’s not low self-esteem, you believe you got a special relationship with the creator of every bird, bug and world. And you’re letting him into your heart, making it a good home for him.

It’s an insecure man who would let his vices consume him without resistance, admitting defeat and saying that eternal salvation is not a destination he could ever reach, that the big man who made all this wants nothing to do with him.

And if your friend doesn’t believe in God? Well that’s his problem, nobody is perfect. But God will always believe in him, and would welcome him with open arms if your friend is ever touched by the holy spirit.
 
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bclustr9 said:
Apparently he was a psych tech in the military for a while.
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Ask him if he chose the military because he had low self-esteem and enjoyed being ordered around and made to wear a uniform.
(disclaimer: I don’t think people choose the military because they have low self-esteem, but it just shows how ridiculous this guy’s premise about Catholicism is)
 
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People are religious in my view because it provides a framework for their experiences. High or low self-esteem has nothing to do with it. In fact I know quite a few Catholics and can report that they rival me in self-esteem (only they are not so good at it). Believers who think they were individually created by God, have eternal life, can talk to God, that God intervenes in their life and have certainty over what is right and wrong are unlikely candidates for low self-esteem. Speaking as a non-believer self-esteem is a little challenged by the knowledge that personal existence is entirely contingent on random events and that soon, like for the first five billion years of the existence of the universe,I won’t be anywhere at all! Your friend sounds a bit unpleasant. If we non-believers could agree on anything long enough to form an organisation I would have him excommunicated.
 
Don’t let someone dim your light,especially, when your light is worth shining,i wouldn’t care for such comments ,who try to interfere in personal believes.You call him your friend and he doesn’t bother to listen to you or what your saying? he’s using mind reading, to control you, stop taking advice from him for problems,i think it time to move on.Psalm 1:1 Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked,or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers;2 but their delight is in the law of the Lord,and on his law they meditate day and night.

1 Peter 4:4 They are surprised that you no longer join them in the same excesses of dissipation, and so they blaspheme.5 But they will have to give an accounting to him who stands ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does.

1 Corinthians 4: 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself. 4 I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive commendation from God.9 For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, as though sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to mortals. 10 We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. 11 To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless, 12 and we grow weary from the work of our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we speak kindly. We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day.

2 Timothy 3:12 Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
 
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I think to be catholic takes a kind of bravery these days,when so much is against being Catholic (my country)
So think of yourself being a brave ,sincere and hopeful person living for God, and let those words not even bother you.
 
Yes, and you could apply the low self esteem thing to any walk of life ,any religion…it really doesn’t make any sense the aquaintence referring to Catholicism and trying to make a connection with having low self esteem .
 
You haven’t got the 'you are mentally unwell ’ route yet 🙂 When i started attending Mass again and following my faith, thats all I got.

This friend is a great gift to you. Allow God to shine through you , in your daily life, to him. He will start to accept you in time, and may even start to question his faith.

Give him a loving warm and caring response. Show God in you.
 
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If someone was putting me down over and over again, and he refuses to listen to me, I would have little interest in talking with them, or meeting them.
Perhaps you should pray for this person, however.
 
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For starters, he is not your friend.

He is your acquaintance. Major difference.

Once you wrap your mind around that, it will help to clearly see what alternatives you have, including ignoring him and/or cutting back on time spent with him.

Friends are people who would do anything for you, asked or not asked. By your account, he does not measure up to a true friend.
 
bclustr9 said:
Apparently he was a psych tech in the military for a while.
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Aahhh…so he’s one of the great psychoanalytic minds of the 21st century.
Surely you must believe and follow everything he says because

Psyche tech!
 
otjm said:
Friends are people who would do anything for you, asked or not asked. By your account, he does not measure up to a true friend.
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I wouldn’t do anything for a friend that involved me committing a sin or supporting them in committing a sin.
 
I’m pretty sure that’s the op’s call, not yours. Personally, I wouldn’t reject someone as a friend simply because they had a disagreeable streak.
 
Stop talking to him about it. You don’t need his approval.

If he brings it up again, tell him that it isn’t up for discussion and he needs to start respecting your boundaries and your decisions even if he doesn’t agree with them.
 
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