TriggerDan

my friend IS Catholic ...

:banghead:

it's all just a web of hypocrisies and lies. I don't know what to do anymore

Toto

Welcome to the boards.

You have as much of a chance of changing your friend by confronting him as you have of understanding Amos.

I think you will have to drop the subject. If you ZING him he will react and become defensive, as you have found. He may even learn to construct ever more elaborate rationalizations and defenses.

Secular Pinoy

Catholics base their beliefs on what the Church hierarchy teaches. They don't bother reading the bible since they might make mistakes in interpretation, because only divinely inspired members of the clergy can understand what they mean. Listening to my catholic girlfriend's stories makes me cringe when she talks about some of the whacked-out things the nuns have taught her in catholic school. And she, like most catholics, never bothered to check up the veracity and accuracy of what they've been taught. The fact that those were taught by nice-looking "people of the cloth" is enough to summon credibility.

TriggerDan

Well, if these stories about your girlfriend make you cringe, doesn't it make you want to deconvert her? I've gotten criticism for trying to deconvert some of my friends. I just want them to live, you know?

I guess I should let them do whatever they want .. but I just think it's foolish to devote your life to god.

Brian_iiiii

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How can I make him realize that he's living in denial?
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Why would you want to? Don't we all live in denial to a certain extent? A good friend once said, "you can last 3 days without food, but you can't last a single day without a good rationalization."

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I want a way to really ZING him and make him realize he's wrong.
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Can't be done with one ZING. Gotta employ a bunch of little zings, over time.

TriggerDan

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Brian_iiiii
Can't be done with one ZING. Gotta employ a bunch of little zings, over time.
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Well, I think I at least left a small dent in his cement block head because, c'mon .... he HAS to have woken up one day and asked himself "hmm, what if I AM wrong?"

Amos

Rumor has it that he doubted his own existence which is for good reason if 'a flood can wash it away.' So far so good but then he tries to cling to his rational thoughts to prove his existence and the mistake here is that our rational identity (our ego) is the illusion that will be washed away in the great flood of life. Hence "I think therefore I am" only proves his existence until the flood arrives.

Amos

I am not sure about that Sharon. I think that Catholics like to make their own and see a similarity between bastardizing the Holy Catholic Church through mixed marriages and bringing in converts. I mean, if mixed marriages are counterproductive towards he greater good of the Church what makes you think that converts will become an asset.

Amos

Well don't brag about it Trigger.

Amos

Do you know any Catholics that do unless they have been called?