Author Topic: How Do You Cope With People Who Scorn God (Read 2702 times)

Marcelino · « **on:** March 03, 2012, 12:10:02 AM »

We are often forced to spend a lot of time with people who think God is a fairy tale and so they think they can do whatever they want. We're exposed to constant swearing and irreverent use of God's names. We're also exposed to lewd dress and behavior. All the while, we try to maintain our fidelity to God and obey His Laws, but we have to "connect" with these people somehow and we seem to have to do it from a position of weakness, because their Anti-Christian morality dominates the culture. It's frustrating and down right alienating. How do you cope with it?

Truth is Eternal · « **Reply #1 on:** March 03, 2012, 01:30:27 AM »

Just today at work a person took Gods name in vain and another person used the name of Jesus in vain when he was angry. I take all of this as a sign most people are on the road to Hell.

I don't know how to cope anymore. Sometimes I just pray for God get me through the day as most of the world appears to be Hell bound. :sad:

Matthew · « **Reply #2 on:** March 03, 2012, 07:49:11 AM »

How to deal with those who scorn God?

The same way I'd deal with people who are convinced that cars driving on the highway weigh only 5 pounds each.

I'd pity the man for his lunacy...

And I'd certainly not get in the car with him at the wheel -- after all, he's convinced that a head-on collision might require a band-aid at best.

Seriously -- that's why we need to not become friends or intimate with anyone who doesn't believe in God. It's a form of insanity.

If I told you my computer just appeared out of thin air -- that no hands made it -- you'd say I'm a lunatic. But if I say a human being just appeared (which atheists DO say!) they're suddenly "scientific".

Sorry, that's still insane. The human body is several orders of magnitude more complicated than a computer.

Philosophy is NOT supernatural. It doesn't require the Faith or God's grace to grasp. The basics of philosophy, which the human mind CAN comprehend on its own, state that every effect must have a proportionate cause.

Aristotle, the pinnacle of Greek philosophy, reasoned by himself that there must be One God.

Matthew · « **Reply #3 on:** March 03, 2012, 07:52:20 AM »

Just to emphasize -- we DON'T have to connect with these people. Unbelievers who aren't interested in the truth at all? Try to have as little to do with them as possible.

Those who ask questions, are trying to be good, etc. might merit a bit more friendship -- still, you can't be intimate friends with someone radically different from you. That assumes, of course, that a non-Catholic is radically different from you :)

In other words, the more Catholicism rules your life (as it should), the less possible it is to have non-Catholic friends. Acquaintances or bowling buddies, maybe -- but true friends, who you can talk about anything with? Not a chance.

MyrnaM · « **Reply #4 on:** March 03, 2012, 10:31:36 AM »

I always say in a soft whisper, "Blessed be His Holy Name".

Busillis · « **Reply #5 on:** March 03, 2012, 04:51:21 PM »

Quote from: Marcelino

We are often forced to spend a lot of time with people who think God is a fairy tale and so they think they can do whatever they want. We're exposed to constant swearing and irreverent use of God's names. We're also exposed to lewd dress and behavior. All the while, we try to maintain our fidelity to God and obey His Laws, but we have to "connect" with these people somehow and we seem to have to do it from a position of weakness, because their Anti-Christian morality dominates the culture. It's frustrating and down right alienating. How do you cope with it?

This question is always on my mind. It's relatively easy to be charitable to people you have the upperhand with, but nigh impossible (almost teetering on masochism) with those who have the upperhand with you. I think Matthew has the best advice. Just self-segregate as best you can. I use to hang out with Jєωs a lot when I was younger but I don't want to be around them anymore. They encourage my worldly tendencies.

Busillis · « **Reply #6 on:** March 03, 2012, 04:53:48 PM »

Quote from: MyrnaM

I always say in a soft whisper, "Blessed be His Holy Name".

I get irritable in crowds, and sometimes when I feel the anger coming on I'll say "God Bless You" silently to everyone I see. It may help me more than it helps them.

PartyIsOver221 · « **Reply #7 on:** March 04, 2012, 06:39:31 AM »

From Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence...

Quote

...Cassian tells us about the old man who was attacked by a mob of pagans in Alexandria. He remained calm and unruffled in spite of insults and blows. Someone asked him mockingly what miracles Christ had worked. "He has just worked one" the old man replied, "for in spite of all you have done to me, I haven't been angry with you or the least bit upset."

That's how we handle the worldlings at work and elsewhere.

Capt McQuigg · « **Reply #8 on:** March 04, 2012, 09:12:30 AM »

As Matthew said, have little to do with people who scorn God's Name.

Pray for them and, isn't there a traditional prayer called "The Golden Arrow" that you could say as part of your daily prayers whenever there is a blasphemy? There is also the Act of Reparation.

Pray for the soul of the man who scorns God.

As for yourself, have very little to do with them.

We work out our faith in fear and trembling. Do not become the man who scorns God and do not look for the reasons why he scorns God.

Roland Deschain · « **Reply #9 on:** March 06, 2012, 05:04:17 PM »

This topic really hits home with me since I have to deal with it everyday. The only non-worldling in my office is the Muslim who sits next to me.

I work with a guy who was constantly yelling "J....C..." this and "J....C...." that. I politely told him to stop it. When he continued I told him, not so politely, to stop. My latest tactic is that I hung the Litany of the Holy Name on my cabinet facing him and I have taken to genuflecting and making the sign of the cross in my cube when he does it now. I did this right in front of him while he was talking to me. I have not heard him blaspheme in weeks.

The most important thing is not to take part in any profane, immature or otherwise unedifying talk that may be going on around you. Often times your silence is a better testimony to them then joining in or arguing with them.

Stay strong and pray.

Sede Catholic · « **Reply #10 on:** March 06, 2012, 06:45:46 PM »

Blasphemy and Heresy and Apostasy are the worst kind of sins, because they are direct attacks upon God Himself.
Profanation of the Holy Day of Sunday is condemned with Blasphemy by Our Lord in His Revelations to Sister Mary of Saint Peter.

Sede Catholic · « **Reply #11 on:** March 06, 2012, 07:24:07 PM »

Our Lord told Sister Mary of Saint Peter that this frightful sin of Blasphemy wounds His Divine Heart more grievously than all other sins.
Our Lord told Sister Mary of Saint Peter to say “Admirable is the Name of God” whenever she heard a Blasphemy.
We can also console Our Lord when He is attacked by Blasphemy, if we pray this short but very powerful Prayer:

“Admirable is the Name of God.”

Also, Our Lord taught Sister Mary of Saint Peter another wonderful Prayer called “The Golden Arrow”.

The Golden Arrow Prayer:

“May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable, most incomprehensible and unutterable Name of God be always praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified in Heaven, on earth, and in the hells, by all the creatures of God, and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Amen.”

The following link provides more information about this Devotion, which is one of the most important Devotions for our times.
http://www.ourladyofgoodsuccess.com/frames-3-4-2005/holy-face/part-1.htm

It is a Devotion which Our Lord said would defeat Communism.
It is a Devotion which should be allied with Fatima.

At La Salette, Our Lady said: “Those who drive the carts cannot swear without introducing the Name of My Son.”
Our Lady of La Salette also lamented that Sunday was being used for labour.
Our Lady said to Sister Lucy (of Fatima) in A.D. 1925 :
“Look, My daughter at My Heart surrounded by thorns with which ungrateful men pierce Me at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, try to console Me and announce in My Name that I promise to assist at the moment of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep Me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary with the intention of making reparation to Me."

Our Lord said to Sister Lucy, concerning the Five First Saturdays Devotion: "My daughter, the reason is simple. There are five kinds of offenses and blasphemies committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary:
1.   Blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception.
2.   Blasphemies against Her perpetual Virginity.
3.   Blasphemies against Her divine Maternity, while refusing at the same time to recognize Her as the Mother of men.
4.   The blasphemies of those who seek publicly to sow in the hearts of children indifference or scorn, or even hatred towards this Immaculate Mother.
5.   The offenses of those who outrage Her directly in Her holy Images.
"There, My daughter, is the reason why the Immaculate Heart of Mary inspired Me to request this small act of reparation, and in consideration of it, to move My mercy to forgive souls who have had the misfortune to offend Her. As for you, seek unceasingly, through your prayers and sacrifices, to move My mercy with regard to these poor souls."

The Devotion to The Holy Face is a principle means of Reparation for the Sin of Blasphemy.
It is also a means to reach spiritual perfection. Our Lord said to Saint Gertrude:

"The soul who is desirous of advancing in perfection hasten to My Sacred Heart, but he who yearns to make even greater progress and to mount still higher on the wings of desire, must rise with the swiftness of an eagle and hover about my Sacred Face, supported like a seraph, on the wings of overpowering love. They shall receive in themselves, by the impression of my Humanity, a bright irradiation of my Divinity, and shall be so illuminated by it in their inmost souls that, by their likeness to my Face, they shall shine in eternal life with a brightness surpassing that of many others."

So if you have Devotion to The Holy Face of Jesus you can advance in Spiritual Perfection, and obtain great reward in Heaven. Meditate on The Shroud of Turin.
Our Lord said: "Whoever gazes upon Me already consoles Me."

Another excellent link on Devotion to The Holy Face of Jesus:
http://www.holyfacedevotion.com/devotion.htm

Our Lord requested in a vision to Sister Maria Pierina that Tuesday be a day of Reparation. http://www.holyface.org.uk/

It would be a good thing to start today.
A Tuesday in Lent.

Jim · « **Reply #12 on:** March 06, 2012, 09:00:54 PM »

A couple of weeks ago, I thought of this very same topic. Postmodern, liberal nonsense frustrated me to a tipping point at my university, so much so that I wanted to say attending college is a necessary occasion of sin. I am not one who is wont to find sin in things that are not sinful, but let me explain why I thought so, and why I am probably wrong:

My faith is tempted and challenged many times, sometimes on a daily basis. Whether its a promoting of abiogenesis and a placing of the "Big Bang" as responsible for the origin of life in an astronomy class, hearing ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖ activist stories in a speech class, having to sit through an hour of an ethnic studies class making race and class a bigger issue than they should be, or putting up with blatant falsehoods, probably made ignorantly, about the Church in a medieval history and "popular beliefs" class, I am either tempted or angered with what I see. Aside from not having any sense of a Christian or even Deist ethos throughout the university, most of the people who attend either do know anything of our true Religion, have misconceptions of it, or buy into leftist lies. Combined with a blatant hyper-sɛҳuąƖization of everything, and the immodest dress of many (mostly because they do not know any better), temptations abound.

This de facto post-modern, secular environment makes me cringe so much that I actually miss my watered down, Novus Ordo high school environment. There, I did not have as many temptations, primarily because it was an all-male environment, but also, everyone knew that the beliefs, values, and actions I espoused were everything that a good Catholic did until 1965 or so. Thus, although the Novus Ordinarians didn't like or agree with what I did, my teachers and colleagues included, they at least had knowledge of it, and the theory I like to hold is that the school's former greatness and Catholicity has at least preserved a palpable Catholic ethos, in spite of novus-ordoization for 50 years.

I realize that this is something we, especially since our numbers are small, are going to have to face everywhere in life. We cannot run away from it, even though I wanted to attend a "conservative" college to avoid it. We will face this in academics, at work, in government, and so on. What we need to do is live the Faith, and preserve what Catholicity we can, for example, in our families, or if one is a teacher and has the academic freedom and capability to do so, in their classroom.

Jim · « **Reply #13 on:** March 08, 2012, 03:07:14 PM »

I once read that perhaps these types of things happen so that we can learn our Faith better. Facing critics, people who don't know any better, and sometimes enemies of our Faith might be a blessing in disguise, since it forces us to know our Faith to refute the false arguments and attacks.

Case in point: At my university, I am enrolled in a medieval philosophy class. Everything was rolling smoothly: the class was really easy and it was a guaranteed A, and the teacher, of a kind of liberal, protestant background, was not going to engage in serious philosophical debates. That teacher had to take medical leave (

for her health) , and fortunately a replacement professor was found. The professor is quite intelligent, is muslim, and an expert on Islamic philosophy. He is also much more difficult, and I will have to work for a good great.

However, I see the benefit in this: I want to re-read Islamic history, as well as get the fundamentals of our Faith down, because even though I won't be engaging in debate, I need to put on the shield of Faith and the armor of God to defend myself from any temptations.

stevusmagnus · « **Reply #14 on:** March 08, 2012, 09:33:11 PM »

Quote from: Matthew

Just to emphasize -- we DON'T have to connect with these people. Unbelievers who aren't interested in the truth at all? Try to have as little to do with them as possible.

Those who ask questions, are trying to be good, etc. might merit a bit more friendship -- still, you can't be intimate friends with someone radically different from you. That assumes, of course, that a non-Catholic is radically different from you :)

In other words, the more Catholicism rules your life (as it should), the less possible it is to have non-Catholic friends. Acquaintances or bowling buddies, maybe -- but true friends, who you can talk about anything with? Not a chance.

I agree with Matthew. It seems very tough to have very close friends who are non-Catholic much less non-believing. Perhaps there are a few exceptions. And, of course there may be family members who fall into these categories who you have no choice but to be around. But it is very tough, in my opinion, to form true intimate friendships with people who have such diametrically opposed world views from you.

Also, non-Catholic friends can imprison you in a sort of unholy milieu that you constantly have to fight against to keep Catholic and in a state of grace. This is really tough on people living where there are few to no Catholics. You are then faced with a choice of having zero intimate friends or try to form a friendship with people who don't share all of your basic Catholic beliefs.

Then again, we are called to evangelize non-Catholics and that does involve contact. But it must be done carefully. There is always a tendency to go along to get along, especially when you are outnumbered.