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How do you respectfully and gently discuss Christianity with Catholic parents without causing any major insult?



    
    

Clarify Share Report Asked November 09 2013 Mini Sinead Warner Supporter

Community answers are sorted based on votes. The higher the vote, the further up an answer is.

6
Stringio Vincent Mercado Supporter Skeptic turned believer, Catholic, father of 3
I started questioning my parents about Catholic teachings when I was 19. I had my doubts and I was slowly introducing myself to Non-Catholic Christian literature. My father is a military man, so his approach to the faith was "obedience first, questions later." My mom is a devout member of Legion of Mary, prayerful and holy, yes, but not theologically strong.

There was no way I can discuss my doubts with them without raising a heretic flag or insult. I had to find answers to my questions myself. Thank God for Bible study.

So my advice to you is this: Try to discuss it with them, be brave. If they get insulted, apologize. If they don't get insulted, thank God for your parents.

November 29 2013 1 response Vote Up Share Report


4
Mini Steve Lobsey Supporter
This is difficult because many Catholic people are not truly Christian but strongly believe that they are.

My best suggestion is to talk to them about Jesus in a way that you are not attacking their own rituals and beliefs. Use the Bible in your discussions to talk about what Jesus said and did. Ask them things like "What does Jesus mean when he says..." (John 3:16 would be a good starting point)

And secondly, pray. Pray for soft hearts, for God to open their eyes to his truth.

March 15 2014 1 response Vote Up Share Report


2
Img 0033 Joshua Abbott Supporter
I've struggled with this when talking to my manager. He seems to think I'm asking him questions about his faith in an objective manner. But, I think the key is to ask them, ask them if they'd discuss their beliefs with you. Ask them if they'd answer your questions and don't object when they give a response, rather smile and follow it up with another question. People that are grounded in their faith will be glad to talk about it to you. Just ask them and I'm sure they'll understand you genuinely want to understand. Recently my manager has become more accepting of me asking him questions. Just ask them if they'd talk about their beliefs with you because you want to learn more about Catholicism.

November 12 2013 8 responses Vote Up Share Report


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