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Dividing Solid

PostPosted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 12:21 am


Sense I have been a young man, almost as long as I can remember, I have had my faith attack, it seems more so in the last few years, has it become popular to hate on Catholics ? Has this happened to anyone else?
PostPosted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 8:04 am


yes it has, infact, you are most likely not a really good catholic if others have never attacked you for your faith, (unless you are cloistered or something)
and why is this? it's because the devil hates us more then anything! he wants nothing more then to drag us down to hell with him, he will stop at nothing to divert our souls down the wrong path, and he will throw whatever he can in our way to do so,
i won't say that all non-Catholics are controlled by the devil, but most are certainly manipulated by him, there are many who hate Catholics with a passion, but have no real reasonable explanation to why,
some people can have disagreements with anyone about anything and not get mad, but then when it comes to matters of the catholic church, they can't handle it! that is the devil working in them, and it is also a kind of proof that the catholic church is the one true church, because no other religion is hated more, the devil is not stupid, he knows what will lead us to heaven, and he will stop at nothing to stop us.
if these attacks on your faith are angering you, then the devil is having success over you by them, and if so, then you need to learn how to deal with it.

here is an article on how the devil distracts us in our lives - http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?t=16280611

but do not let this discourage or anger you, how much we are willing to suffer for our faith shows God how much we love Him,
and how much God allows us to suffer (as much as we can handle) shows us that He indeed has great designs for us, remember that the saints suffered very much, in body, mind, heart, but they knew how to suffer also, and they welcomed it, because they knew what good comes from it, and joyfully suffered because Christ suffered,

and here is another article on my guild on suffering - http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?t=12961507

there is alot you can learn on how to suffer joyfully and with complete peace in your life, learn first of all why we are here in the first place, every well learned catholic knows we are here to know love and serve God in this life so we may be happy with Him in the next, but even deeper still than that, what many Catholics don't realize, is that we are here to learn to love,
God gives us many opportunities in our life for our love to grow, but with love comes sacrifice, and there are many unwilling to sacrifice, so in turn their love does not grow, but for the few who are willing to give up everything for the love of God and the love of their neighbor, their love is great.
love and sacrifice are almost interchangeable words, it's impossible to have one without the other, because we show our love best by action, not by words, because words are cheap,
you can indeed express your love by words in the most beautiful poetic ways, but a true test of love is in how much we are willing to suffer and sacrifice for the ones we love.
of course God will not have us suffer constantly in this life, especially if we are willing to suffer, God will give us a break whenever we need it.
how much our love grows sometimes depends on the things we take up in our life, for example, a family you know of that is poor, lets say thanksgiving day roles around, and you know they won't have much to eat, so you either decide not to care and forget about it, or you choose to help them out and provide them with a nice meal that day, in which case your love grows,
there are many opportunities like this in our lives, some big, some little, and sometimes it is the little things that are harder to do,
so never reject a chance to care, or to be charitable, God sends you these opportunities, He wants you to love more and become great.

but remember this! - God oversees all that happens, even when the devil tempts you and distracts you, it does not happen without God allowing it to happen, because even these attacks on your faith, and every temptation, God knows what good will come out of it, because when you resist temptation, it makes your stronger! and when you bear patiently your sufferings, it gives you more control over yourself, so you are not a slave to your feelings and desires.
everything you consider bad in your life, you can turn into something good, because once you understand how all things bad can be for your benefit, then you learn to welcome them, and even desire them,
well, i can go on and on about this, but i don't think i should, i would just recommend that you read more up on suffering.

so here also is a wonderful little novena booklet on joy in suffering by saint Therese of lisieux - http://www.marianland.com/tan1106/joyofsuffering.html
and also check out any book you want here - www.tanbooks.com

so yes indeed, it is "popular" to hate on Catholics, it is one way the devil gets weaker Catholics to break away from their faith,
but if not because of the devil, people will also hate us because of guilt, there are many who have broken away from the faith because they no longer wished to suffer the guilt of sin, but they still see us here, and we are a bitter reminder for them of their sin, and they hate us because they fight the guilt, and we get in their way....

well, all i can say is you must be a good catholic, to suffer for your faith and still stick with it, God must be very pleased with you, to suffer for this long for your faith, you are a good example to other Catholics, and i hope you find joy in your suffering, because i know you do great things with it.

alright, take care, i hope this has helped you somehow.

EmeraldWings


Leila Amra Drake

PostPosted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 11:40 am


It certainly is uncomfortable to see someone sticking to God and trying to be a good person. Being told the truth is annoying. Many people want to get rid of engagement, obligation and resposibility - and Christians kind of represent all of it.

I have noticed as well that Christians, especially the Catholic Church, are discriminated against. It aggravates me because I feel so helpless sometimes. But then I think:

We can tell people what we believe, we can live a good life but to a certain degree we will have to live with getting pushed around.

Jesus warned us that it would happen.

And I agree with you, EmeraldWings: The greatest way to show your love is to sacrifice yourself for your friends. So let's show God our love and be unafraid.
Have faith in God's plan and keep praying! He will help us to get through this. He won't give us a burden that is too heavy.
PostPosted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 10:25 pm


I think the saddest part of that is that most the people who hate Catholics so much are other Christians. Or at least ones who say they are.

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PostPosted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 11:18 pm


Yes I have and I go to Catholic School. I've ran into it there. At my highschool just because it's Catholic doesn't mean everyone there is. I have peers who claim to be athiests. It takes a strong person to be able to stick by there faith and say what needs to be said. I've even had family attack my faith. I have cousins who are fundamentalists. I love them dearly but when I was over at their house my cousin asked me about alcohol or something. I couldn't remember how the subject came up. She told me that alcohol was evil and that those who drink it are sinning. I tried very hard to tell her that it wasn't true. I said that the Bible specifcally says that the act of getting drunk is a sin. In fact the first reading this Sunday was about that.

She got all angry with me that I said Jesus drank wine and then told me that I was wrong and practically accused me of blasphemy. She became even more appalled when I told her that we use wine at mass to become the blood of Christ. She said we were leading children into sin because they were recieving that. Then her dad got involved and tried to tell me that eucharist is just a symbol. He told me that it was a symbol and that Jesus was symbolizing his death. He tried ardently to shake me in my belief. It was so frightening. He even had the bodacity to tell me that my Bible was wrong because it wasn't the first. I had to politely tell him that their Bible had removed the wisdom books from the original and that if you go back into history that the Catholic Bible is the first one.

I was very proud of the fact that he let it go with a sigh and wasn't happy with how much knowledge I had. It did however ruin my stay at their house and I don't think I will go back for a long visit(I was there for a week).

The fact is that the world wants scapegoats and they use all sorts of people. In the WWII it was the jews, in the politics it's the conservatives, and ideas on moral dilemmas and society it's Christians. The Catholic Church is attacked so much because we are such a large denomination. We have our own city and a piece of the Holy Land.

Psst, between you and me though no matter how much the media and society may not like us they sure like to use churches and Catholic statues and icons in movies and what not. xd
PostPosted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 4:12 pm


My first boyfriend dumped me for my religion. He was agnostic. A few of my friends weren't religious except for two which I am proud to say are still with me today and proved to be the best friends I have ever had. A few strangers I know liked me well enough, but once they found out I was Catholic became weary. My instructors who I've talked to are the more accepting onces oddly enough, two of which were also Catholic but weren't any more. But after every attack I find myself growing stronger.

I think it's hard for people to believe in anything today also being told the fact that what they are doing is wrong and that somethings need to restricted. Kinda like the rebellious kid who wants everything their way. But it is sad how you'll get criticized for being racist or whatever the "minority" is in the media except when you're putting down Catholics. I think they're all just scared, or too angry to know what they're saying, or even just plain don't know.

Hang in there. You are not alone. 3nodding

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PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 1:40 pm


Not all attacks are based because they think Catholicism is wrong. Some people just want to piss you off. Such was the case of an attack I suffered.

For the most part it was a kid screaming in class how Catholics are going to hell since wine is drunk during communion. He also laughed after he said those words and grinned at any attempt to argue with him. Although he got bored and shut up when I refused to respond to his behavior.

Sometimes the best way to defend your faith is simply turn the other cheek when the attack happens. This is so because some people WANT you to take offense to their attack.
PostPosted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 8:23 pm


john 15:18-19
"if the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. if you were of the world, the world would love it's own; but because you are not of the world, but i chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you."

kikkaku

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