What to do about my uncle?

[Biblelove13]

Hello everyone,

I’m having a bit of a problem with my uncle. My uncle has always made it clear he doesn’t believe, a neighbor said something about God and my uncle replied “who? I don’t know any.” I tend to ignore it mostly to avoid conflict, but the other day he really made me mad. My sister was on one of her ‘deep thought’ kicks. She asked my uncle how we were made, and how could we have evolved from nothing. My uncle said atoms with positive and negative charge created electricity, which shocked soup which in turn created life. I told him that theory has already been disproven (see the link). I was beginning to explain how it was disproven and he interrupted me. So I asked “I don’t care what you believe, unless you were *there yourself * to witness it first hand, despite any “evidence”, you can’t prove it any more than you can prove Creationism.” Do you know what he said? My uncle said “I can because the dna supports it.” I told him he could stop, because he won’t change my belief and he said “I won’t stop.” So I said fine, and walked away. I could hear him brainwashing my sister after I left. Later we were talking about plane crashes. I said it’s funny how the stewards say there isn’t panic, even if there is, and I would like to know beforehand. She said it wouldn’t do any good, and I said “well you could say a Rosary”. She scoffed at me. I couldn’t believe it! I’m not talking to my uncle anymore, and I don’t know what to do about my sister. We have dropped the subject but I feel there is something I should do or say. Advice will be greatly appreciated.

(Be warned, it’s a long video so if you aren’t interested you might get bored)
youtube.com/watch?v=ga33t0NI6Fk

 

[maltmom]

What do your parents think? Are they Catholic or do they share his beliefs, or lack there of? How old are you and your sister? He may be your uncle, but he doesn’t have the right to “brainwash” your sister.

 

[missionarygirl]

I have had similar problems and I will share with you what I have learned. It is up to you to decide whether or not my advice is relevant to your situation or not.

First and foremost, you must remember that the center of Catholicism, of everything that Jesus ever told us, is love. Whether or not you ever convince your uncle of anything won’t matter unless there is love. This sounds obvious at first. But you must remember that if you love him in your heart but your love is not shown to him in your words, your tone of voice, your actions, then your love will not affect him. Always, always we must speak the Truth in Charity.

Secondly, (and I don’t know if this is relevant to you or not since I don’t know your full situation) you must remember that it is not your job to convert your uncle. Conversion is a gift from the Holy Spirit. It is not something that is brought about by ourselves. If your uncle starts saying bad things about your beliefs, do not go looking for an argument. If you can tell that he is looking for an argument, it is sometimes better not to say anything than to give him one. Remember, the best proof of the existence of God is the love you show for others in your life. He does not see God. Then be the God he does not see. Love him and pray for him. Prayer matters much more than we can ever know in this life. If you could see how much one little prayer changes things, you would never want to get off your knees.

This does not mean you should keep silent about your faith. By all means, defend it, but most importantly, live it. Your actions will speak much louder than your arguments ever will. Make your faith tangible.

As for your sister… this is a hard situation. I don’t know how old she is, but because of what you’ve said about her, I will assume she is old enough to understand these things. It may be best to sit down alone with her and ask her what she thinks about God and Creationism and the things your uncle has said. It may be that she is not nearly as “brainwashed” as you think. Once you find out where she stands in all of this, then you can go on from there.

I hope this has been helpful.

 

[Biblelove13]

What do your parents think? Are they Catholic or do they share his beliefs, or lack there of? How old are you and your sister? He may be your uncle, but he doesn’t have the right to “brainwash” your sister.

Hello,

My mom who, for a whole other issue is upset at my uncle, told me to ignore it. My sister tends to go on these “deep thought" kicks, and my uncle tends to go on these “I’m so smart and enlightened” kicks and when the two get together I get worried for her. My sister is in her twenties, and can make her own choices, but I don’t want her to close her mind to God. I’m no saint and I’m not judging her but it hurts me that she’s acting the way she is. I seem to be the only one concerned about it, but I feel like if my uncle stopped feeding her this evolution trash she might ‘come to her senses’.

For the record both my parents and grandparents are/were Catholic, with the possible exception of my grandfather, his religious beliefs were never discussed

 

[SamH]

Avoid your uncle. I only see my uncles about 4-6 times a year and they’ve done nothing to tick me off. With that few of visits it should be easy to avoid letting him run his mouth.