What should I do? I believe in Jesus but my family is muslim

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Marymary32

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Hello. Jesus has shown me the right path… I want to become a catholic. I am 15 years old. My parents are muslim, and my siblings don’t really care about religion but they do what my parents tell them like praying 5 times a day. I can’t keep worshiping Allah when I know who god really is. I told my parents that I bealieve in Jesus(as god) and the bible, they replied with god made both the bible and quran. I used to also have OCD, a mental illness, jesus christ helped me when I prayed, I told this to my parents. They said that it is because of the devil and that I listen to the devil and thats why I had OCD in the first place. They also say bad things about me and about christians. It makes me so sad how much my parents started hating me after I told them that my belief. They call me bad things and keep telling me to worship allah in ways like l, they tell me to “sami”(to say bisimlah whih means in the name of allah before I eat), their not letting me follow my faith. I don’t know what to do. I decided to prove why the quran was wrong, I thought that they would listen to me, but they kept saying that I’m listening to the devil and that I’m going to hell. Jesus saved me from my pain and I believe in him. I fully believe in Jesus with all of my heart. But, my parents force me to do islamic things and they treat me like trash. I didn’t expect them to react this way. What do I do?
 
This is a difficult question.
Where do you live? Is it legal to be a Christian there?
Pray for your family, I would say is the first thing to note.
 
You are only 15, you are a minor. You need to be obedient to your parents. That does not mean you cannot privately pray and worship God in the way you know to be correct.

However all of this trying to “prove” that Islam is wrong, and wantIng to get in their face is unwise and disobedient.

When you’re of legal age, 18 or over, you can pursue your own religious path.
 
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That makes things a lot simpler. I don’t know what the age or majority is, but then you won’t be under their rules as much.
I don’t know how open your family is, or how your relations are. Would talking about the differences and why you are Christian be helpful? Or, as you said, would they just get angry (and maybe feel disrespected)? I ask this as I wonder if it was the approach or the matter.
If they would be disrespected by their child, and if you aren’t really, really, really ready to defend the Faith (I doubt you would be as a 15 year old…when I was 15 I thought I knew a lot…seems silly in hindsight).

But yes, we have to weight the Truth of the Faith with the honor due our parents…surely a child still under their parents can be VERY dispersuasive to parents when they try to make an argument. It may be the best you can do for them right now is pray and offer up little sacrifices for their conversion of heart and mind and soul and spirit.
 
Be very very careful. If I were a Muslim girl, I would not dissent with my parents on this point for fear of my safety. Follow your parents for now.
 
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I think that Catholic teaching is very clear that Allah and God the Father are one and the same. I am sure someone will correct me but I think it’s in the Vatican ll documents. And (again correct me if I am wrong) I think that Muslims, like Catholics think that Jesus was a prophet, that he was born of the Virgin Mary, that he ascended into heaven and will come again to judge the living and the dead.

There are differences of course but to an outside like me the religions seem very close in fundamental beliefs.
 
I thought Catholics believed that Jesus was indeed a prophet, in the line of prophets, and the last one. And he is God.
 
FiveLinden said:
I thought Catholics believed that Jesus was indeed a prophet, in the line of prophets, and the last one. And he is God.
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I will leave it up to someone more theologicaly knowledgeable to answer your question.

My point was that describing Jesus simply as a ‘prophet’ could be misleading.
 
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catholic03 said:
I will leave it up to someone more theologicaly knowledgeable to answer your question.

My point was that describing Jesus simply as a ‘prophet’ could be misleading.
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Well, I didn’t say he was ‘simply a prophet’. And it’s not hard even for an unbeliever like me to look up the catechism:

436 The word “Christ” comes from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiah , which means “anointed”. It became the name proper to Jesus only because he accomplished perfectly the divine mission that “Christ” signifies. In effect, in Israel those consecrated to God for a mission that he gave were anointed in his name. This was the case for kings, for priests and, in rare instances, for prophets.29 This had to be the case all the more so for the Messiah whom God would send to inaugurate his kingdom definitively.30 It was necessary that the Messiah be anointed by the Spirit of the Lord at once as king and priest, and also as prophet.31 Jesus fulfilled the messianic hope of Israel in his threefold office of priest, prophet and king
 
FiveLinden said:
I think that Catholic teaching is very clear that Allah and God the Father are one and the same. I am sure someone will correct me but I think it’s in the Vatican ll documents. And (again correct me if I am wrong) I think that Muslims, like Catholics think that Jesus was a prophet, that he was born of the Virgin Mary, that he ascended into heaven and will come again to judge the living and the dead.
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Nostra Aetate says,
"The Church, therefore, exhorts her sons, that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men.
  1. The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all- powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God. Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as God, they revere Him as a prophet. They also honor Mary, His virgin Mother; at times they even call on her with devotion. In addition, they await the day of judgment when God will render their deserts to all those who have been raised up from the dead. Finally, they value the moral life and worship God especially through prayer, almsgiving and fasting."
Here it points out the good things of the Islamic religion instead of focusing on the bad (similarities instead of the differences). We are both classical monotheists who claim to follow the Abrahamic tradition, but this isn’t any sort of speculation as though they’d be worshipping a particular Person of the Trinity.
 
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We ought never advise a minor to sneak around and disobey their parents.
 
Obey your parents and pray on your own. Try to “see” Jesus when you are saying prayers addressed to Allah, remembering that Muslims say Allah is the same person as the one whom we call God.

When you pray on your own, tell God you love Him and are doing your best to obey Him by obeying your parents during this time that you are still a child.

Then when you are older, you will be able to make your own decisions. Be safe when you do that.

I am sorry your parents reacted as they did, you must have felt so sad! Whenever you suffer, you can offer that up to Jesus. I say a little prayer: “All for Thee dear Jesus, Who has suffered so much for me.”
 
Annie said:
Try to “see” Jesus when you are saying prayers addressed to Allah, remembering that Muslims say Allah is the same person as the one whom we call God.
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I don’t think this can be done in good conscience, even if the only sin involved were to be scandal. And I’m not convinced that it isn’t a violation of the 1st Commandment.
 
The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.
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Catechism of the Catholic Church, 841
(Italics mine)
 
The daily Islamic creeds and prayers include terms that inherently deny the Trinity, and the Divinity of Christ. Thus a violation of the 1st Commandment (although as a form of rejecting God rather than accepting other gods).
 
If you went to a Mass celebrated in Arabic, you would hear the word Allah over and over again. It is simply the Arabic word for God.
 
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