Oh my goodness, yes, Catholics are pounded and bashed in this society. Know why? Because we profess Universal Truth, a Truth that cannot be re-defined or changed from person to person, a solid Truth that is grounded in Christ. And people find that to be bigoted and intolerant. Tough cookies.
A great many in this world have embraced a strange, selfish, fanciful spirituality of the new millennium… It’s a shadowy “spirituality” of moral relativism. On the outside, moral relativism appears all-accepting. But really, to be blunt, it’s just stupidity. It’s basically a reality of the mind at best, where whatever one believes “is true for them”… and it differs from person to person. So according to that nonsense, what one believes will happen in the afterlife, will happen to them, and to them, it isn’t any truer or better than what the next person believes. Same goes with their definition of god, God, or goddess. Oh, or “Spirit”. Or faeries. Seriously.
Keeping in mind there’s a difference between being polite as opposed to having actual respect for other religions, the thing that’s really annoying, is how people say we have to* respect* one another’s beliefs. I have a problem with that statement, and I’ll tell you why: First, I think and hope it’s a slip of the tongue and people don’t really understand what they’re saying. Instead of saying, “You must respect other people’s beliefs/gods”, they should really say “You must respect the free will (or right) of people to believe fill in the blank”. Because, I don’t think any Christian should be forced to respect a religion that denounces Christ, that practices magic, or that worships some god that doesn’t exist or some evil spirit parading as a “god”. But I do respect everyone’s free will, and I hope they use it wisely.
Satan is a sly creature, and he seems to like to twist things around. If you speak the truth that something is a sin, people don’t acknowledge that you were speaking the truth, they instead will turn it around and say “Judge not least yeeee” (which is a very convenient verse that they have memorized there). Or “Throw not the first stone”. Okay, so if I told someone “maybe you shouldn’t play with fire”, it’s just like them lashing back: “How dare you judge me because I am a pyromaniac! Throw not the first stone, etc, etc”. We’re not throwing stones, we’re trying to throw a lifeline that might save others from perishing.
I think it’s a trick of satan that he fools people (or urges them) into believing that when a Christian speaks the truth, he judges. That is disordered. It may also be a security tactic for those who are in sin to stay in their sinful comfort zone and push anyone away who tries to pull them out of their pit.
But don’t stop.
Because it is good to speak the truth, always kindly, sometimes firmly (but always with love). Even if they don’t take it that way. Even if they say you’re judging. Even if they call you all sorts of names, like “bigot” or anything else because you believe in One way and One truth. Keep professing the truth, because you just might help save someone’s life for all eternity.
And remember Jesus said: “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” :hug1:
i didn’t even had a negative impression of her, until that moment.