Young unfaithful Teen needs help

[boxer1990]

Hi everyone, this is my first post in this forum. To be honest, I have never really been a faithful catholic and I would never imagine myself posting a thread in a catholic forum. Fortunately, things started to change recently and I felt myself building an attachment to my faith but now I am faced tied up in a situation and I dont know what i should do.

Theres a colleague at work that had lunch with me one afternoon, we ended up talking about faith and stuff, he is a christian (baptist) and he has been trying hard to get me to attend some of the events. I did not want to come off too hard telling him to respect my faith, so I never did so. I also din’t want to jeopardize the working relationship between us. Recently he told me he was going to organize a mini course about the teachings of his faith and asked what i thought about the idea.

I thought it was great that he was spreading his faith, doing much more than i ever did for my religion, so i told him that it was a good idea. However, things started to get complicated when he started arranging appointments with me for these sessions. I tried to avoid them by giving excuses but I guess its indirectly telling him that im interested, just that i can’t make it. It reached a point where he planned sessions for up to 6 weeks and I cannot avoid them.

I don’t know what to do, on one hand, I want to believe that my faith is strong and it will not waiver with the teachings he pushes through. On the other, I am afraid that i waiver and get persuaded by what he prepared and presented. God have been blessing me all this while, I am very thankful for all the gifts he had given me. This is why I am so afraid that i might lose my way. I know that all the gifts that I received was all due to his good graces and nothing else.

Please help me, I do not even know the differences in the bibles, I have never really find out the differences in the branches of Christianity and I am afraid that i might be dumbfounded and swayed like old ladies being swayed to buy a risky investment.

Please send me messages, reply the trend to help me.

 

[vsedriver]

I don’t know what to do, on one hand, I want to believe that my faith is strong and it will not waiver with the teachings he pushes through. On the other, I am afraid that i waiver and get persuaded by what he prepared and presented. .

If you are not strong in your faith you can be persuaded. The best thing you can do is thank your friend for his interest in your spiritual wellbeing and that he has stimulated your interest in your faith. Tell him you are now going to be studying the Catholic teaching and will not be able to take the time to attend his seminars.

Sign up for RCIA. Even though you are already a Catholic you can get a lot of information from the RCIA. Read the Apologetics forums. Start with specific questions about dogma you find confusing. Once you see the depth of the Church you will find an amazing peace. The Church is truly the Body of Christ and we all have a part to play.

May God bless you and keep you.

 

[JohnDamian]

Hello boxer1990!

I will assume you are a Baptised member of the Catholic Church; it seems this is the case from what you have said; correct me however if I am wrong.

Now; The Catholic Church was founded by Jesus; when he made Peter the first Pope; telling him whatever he bound on earth was bound in heaven - Matthew 16. This is what gives the Catholic Church the “right” to make decisions on new events and occurrences; obviously they could not have judgements about say; condoms (for example) two thosand years ago; because they didn’t exist.

This right in the Church has been established and used to bring people closer to God and to teach them to avoid sin. The Bishops of the Church now are directly linked to the Disciples of Jesus; through the laying on of hands. Catholics believe in the combined truth of Scripture and Sacred Tradition; wheras often protestands believe in Scripture alone - this is called “sola scriptura”.

The Bibles we have today were created over numerous councils by the Catholic Church between the death of Jesus and the few centuaries afterwards. At the time; there were many accounts and teachings about the life of Jesus; the Catholic Church found out which ones were “inspired” by the holy spirit; and compiled what we now know to be the Bible. So; even Protestants who believe in scripture alone must accept that the bibles they use were compiled by Catholics; furthermore – most Protestant Bibles remove 7 books; 1st and 2nd Maccabees, Baruch, Tobit, Judith, The Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), additions to Esther, and Susanna and Bel and the Dragon which are included in Daniel.

The Catholic Church was extablished by Jesus; the Protestant Churches; by man… The Baptist Church established by a man called John Smyth around 1600.

Baptists also believe in “faith alone” to save us. This is contrary to the bible. The bible teaches us the following; James 2.20 “Faith without works is Dead”. It is also VERY clear from the bible that the works of the Good Samaritan; the works of Jonah; the works of Lot; the works of David; The binding of Isaac, and so on and so on that works are an essential part of our “witnessing the faith”. It is true that we must have faith; but if that faith does not lead us to good works; our faith is dead.

Jesus did not want us to split the Church into thirty thousand or so denominations; Jesus wanted the disciples to go and “preach the gospel” and to be united in the love of God. The Catholic Church; with it’s disciples; tracing it’s history back to the first pope, St Peter - through the apostolic succession of the Bishops; has been witnessing to the faith for two thousand years.

I encourage you to not be drawn in by the falsehoods of this genteman; no doubt he wishes you well and cares for you; but he does not know what he does is false - if you really must attend any of his meetings; please I encourage you; come back here and show us any of the documents or pamphlets he gives you; so that we can help you to understand what is and what isn’t right in them; and perhaps even you will be able to witness to the one true Catholic and Apostolic Church to this genteman; and convert him!

 

[Advocatus_Fidei]

Tell him you are not interested in his personal ideas as you are a catholic and believe what the successors of the apostles teach to be true because they are the successors of the apostles and he is not.

 

[Bendzi]

Id say your in quite an interesting situation. You have 6 weeks to learn some catholic apologetics, GO!

But with all seriousness, explore your faith more. Education, commonsense, and logic combined with the Bible and the Holy Trinity are what make up our church.

 

[Redratfish]

Hi everyone, this is my first post in this forum. To be honest, I have never really been a faithful catholic and I would never imagine myself posting a thread in a catholic forum. Fortunately, things started to change recently and I felt myself building an attachment to my faith but now I am faced tied up in a situation and I dont know what i should do.
Welcome to the forum alot of people are here for the same reason.

Theres a colleague at work that had lunch with me one afternoon, we ended up talking about faith and stuff, he is a christian (baptist) and he has been trying hard to get me to attend some of the events. I did not want to come off too hard telling him to respect my faith, so I never did so. I also din’t want to jeopardize the working relationship between us. Recently he told me he was going to organize a mini course about the teachings of his faith and asked what i thought about the idea.
**Good, arguing with him would have done nothing except ruin a friendship (assuming you two are friends). **

I thought it was great that he was spreading his faith, doing much more than i ever did for my religion, so i told him that it was a good idea. However, things started to get complicated when he started arranging appointments with me for these sessions. I tried to avoid them by giving excuses but I guess its indirectly telling him that im interested, just that i can’t make it. It reached a point where he planned sessions for up to 6 weeks and I cannot avoid them.
This is where is gets complicated. If you are not that strong in your faith, I would not suggest going. If you have a basic knowledge, and you want to learn more about your faith, I say you should try to go to at least one. You will learn about his faith, and if he does turn on you and the Catholic faith, you can say that you no longer wish to come. Also, if he says something that you know the Church is against, but don’t know why, it will encourage you to learn more about it. Thus, you grow in faith too.

I don’t know what to do, on one hand, I want to believe that my faith is strong and it will not waiver with the teachings he pushes through. On the other, I am afraid that i waiver and get persuaded by what he prepared and presented. God have been blessing me all this while, I am very thankful for all the gifts he had given me. This is why I am so afraid that i might lose my way. I know that all the gifts that I received was all due to his good graces and nothing else.
Despite what many on this forum say, having your faith challenged, is not normally a bad thing. As long as you are willing to learn about WHY the Church teaches as it does, after the argument, you will grow in faith. However, from what you are saying, it sounds like you should learn a little bit more about the Catholic faith before visiting.

Please help me, I do not even know the differences in the bibles, I have never really find out the differences in the branches of Christianity and I am afraid that i might be dumbfounded and swayed like old ladies being swayed to buy a risky investment.
**This presents a all around learning experience. After reading the rest of the topic, I would suggest you learn more about your faith, but then at least visit one of the meetings with your colleague. You can always come back, and learn more about your faith once you learn what Protestants are saying about it. **

Please send me messages, reply the trend to help me.

just my :twocents:

 

[Jguerra]

Hi everyone, this is my first post in this forum. To be honest, I have never really been a faithful catholic and I would never imagine myself posting a thread in a catholic forum. Fortunately, things started to change recently and I felt myself building an attachment to my faith but now I am faced tied up in a situation and I dont know what i should do.

Don’t worry. Others have posted some excellent ideas here already.

Please send me messages, reply the trend to help me.

I will be praying for you in my daily rosary. Say! Why don’t you pick up a rosary now, bone up on the prayers or just plain ask the blessed Mother to intercede for you, that the Lord give you the courage to stand up for your faith and, like St. Peter says, “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame. (1 Peter 3:15-16).”

In your case boxer, you may want to say someting like this to your co-worker: “Look, you and I have a good thing going at work and I don’t want to do anything that will damage our professional relationship. I really appreciate your efforts at evangelism but I am not comfortable with the arrangements you’re making. Thanks to you, I’m on my own quest for the truth in my faith. Keep me in your prayers and I’ll be praying for you also.”

I hope this helps.

Joe

 

[snowbee]

Don’t meet with him. Honestly, if you don’t know much about the bible or apologetics(if you have to look that up, even more so ) then it is best to stay away to not be swayed.
Anyone can make something sound right and be totally wrong.
And you will find that particular translations aren’t necessarily the problem, the problem is in interepretation. As someone said, you recognize the authority of the Apostles (bishops throughout time of the Catholic Church) to properly interpret the scripture, and not just Joe Baptist with a Bible.

 

[Redratfish]

Don’t meet with him. Honestly, if you don’t know much about the bible or apologetics(if you have to look that up, even more so ) then it is best to stay away to not be swayed.
And where should she start with apologetics, if she doesn’t even know what their arguments are?
Anyone can make something sound right and be totally wrong.
Agreed
And you will find that particular translations aren’t necessarily the problem, the problem is in interepretation. As someone said, you recognize the authority of the Apostles (bishops throughout time of the Catholic Church) to properly interpret the scripture, and not just Joe Baptist with a Bible.
I fail to see a reason why she shouldn’t go. If she want to learn, she must be have questions. What’s the use of knowing everything there is to know about math, or even very little about math, if you don’t get to use it, or expand upon in a logical fashion?