Christian vs. Catholic an ongoing battle in my life..please help!?

Question

My family was raised Catholic so when my sister changed her religion to Christian my mother tought it was nonsense and did not approve. I hate being in the middle because I love my sister and she has occasionally invited me to her Church and I met her Pastor which was a wonderful human being. However, because my parents are Catholic they think it's wrong for me to go with my sister and I dont want to feel guilt going to the Christian Church yet I respect Christians and Catholics. So I guess my question is what should I do or how should I feel? Right now I feel stressed out about this situation that I just dont know what to do anymore. Please help.

Answer 1

I think your parents are absolutely right. You must meet your sister, love her and pray for her return to the Catholic church but do not attend services in a Protestant church. The pastor there may be a nice man, but he or his nice church cannot give you salvation and attending their prayer meetings will only rob you of your Catholic faith and of salvation. Your parents are just trying to save you from heresy.

Did you know that the Catholic church is the only divinely instituted Church, that is the only one founded by Jesus Christ Himself? All other so called 'christian' churches are man-made and bitterly oppose the Catholic church and the authority of the Pope. You have to please God first and not your sister or anyone else in the world..

Study your own Catholic faith which is the richest legacy you have so that you can debate effectively and lovingly with your sister and win her back to her rightful faith. If she persists in her rebellion debating may not work . Begin praying the Holy Rosary everyday (at least five decades a day) alongwith your parents for your sister's return to the Holy Catholic church. The Rosary will also protect you from heresy.

Check out this link:
http://www.olrl.org/apologetics

Trust your parents' age, experience and faith in a difficult time like this.

Answer 2

Sorry that you are feeling stressed about this.

I understand the strong pull families have to maintain the tradition of attending a Catholic church. That actually keeps a lot of people from reading and studying the bible for themselves.

My husband went through something similar with his family when he stopped attending a Catholic church, and started attending a Christian Church. His family thought he was nuts.
That is how strong the pull of tradition is.

Anyway, you need to be true to yourself. The very best thing you can do is to familiarize yourself with the differences between what the Catholic Church teaches and what the bible teaches. In many areas the Catholic Church teaches things that are not in the bible and go against what the bible says.

SO for yourself, the more knowledge you have about this the better equipped you will be when you make decisions about what church to attend. Read and study the bible.

Here is a web site that might be helpful for you:
http://www.reachingcatholics.org/

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

I was raised a catholic but stopped going to mass years ago, so im a lapsed catholic but ill always be catholic. I constantly meet "christians" in america, when im there, and they aint christian at all. These people tell you they are a christian as soon as they meet you, like its that important, like saying that makes them better than anyone else, and if I say im catholic they look at me like im satan. Like most people pointed out already catholics are christians duh. Anyhow any of these so called new christians ive known are way more messed up than the adverage catholic. Like they are all born again and seek jesus for forgiveness, like ive said i dont need forgiving as ive not been a bad person. Also most catholics were raised catholic we didnt get to age 30 and then decide to become some religous nut job, like the born again lot. Being a catholic is way more about culture and tradition and also having a moral code rather than getting obsessed with singing jesus loves me every day like the new cult of so called christianity. Basically nobody needs to be part of any cult because it wont make you a better person. You know how to live a good life on your own, we all do, its inbuilt common sense. Why do you need to be part of some group and sing and clap stupid songs, it wont save you or improve you, only YOU can improve yourself.

Answer 4

Mitch,
I also have been raised Catholic. Although now I've opened up to appreciate and participate in worship & spiritual insight through other Christian denominations along with Catholicism... Mennonite Bretheren, the United Church, Baptist... the list goes on. I think what's most important to realize is that all of these 'smaller' or denominational churches are all a collective unit of the larger church. And its important to be united in this belief. I don't see Catholicism being separate from Christianity. Instead I think its one form of expression of Christianity that I grew up with and I see its merritts. (I particularily think Catholic worship demonstrates a strong reverence for God).


I don't know if its possible to talk with your parents about other Christian denominations. Being stuck in tradition can be a dangerous thing when it hardens the heart and makes it impossible for love to manifest itself. (And I hope that's not the main reason why your parents want you to stay in a Catholic church). But your parents can easily let this be known with a few questions on your behalf.

Ultimatately, you can't live your own life.. especially your own spiritual life - when you're constrained my your parents' desires. A spiritual life is one of freedom. Where is the freedom in following someone else's desires and not your own? This will be a first step. And it will need to be done in love.

Answer 5

Your best avenue is to take it to the Lord in prayer. Your mother might feel that your sister has rejected her faith and divided up the family. Where I'm from, many of the Catholics are taught that they are the only true Church and that the rest of the Christians are in error or of the devil. The Catholic faith teaches/allows for things like changing the second commandment, purgatory, salvation through infant baptism and church membership,calling priests "father" and other teachings that are not acceptable to other Christians.You might want to do some homework about this and talk to your mother and sister about their feelings about this situation.

Answer 6

When are people going to understand that being Christian includes all the various sects that believe in Jesus as their saviour?
That means Catholic, and Protestant. There are a few different Catholic traditions, but not many. There are many different Protestant traditions, Congregationalist, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, even Evangelical, just to mention a very few. Basically it is the Fundamental Christians who say that all these others aren't Christian.
Different strokes for different folks.
You need to figure this out for yourself. Find out which speaks to your heart more. Don't just go by how nice the people are, check into their teachings.

Answer 7

This seems ridiculous: Catholics ARE Christians. Catholicism was, for centuries, the main Christian church. What you refer to as "Christian" is some Protestant denomination. Remember Martin Luther and all that? Your mother's being silly, in my opinion. It's sad you are being so stressed about this, when, really, it should not be such a huge problem. Your sister and the rest of your family still believe in the same basic things. Perhaps if you could get your mother to visit your sister's new church, she might have a better understanding of the situation. I wish you luck; such conflict really should not be necessary, and it's certainly not what Jesus would have had in mind.

Answer 8

Pray to God about it Mitch. Your parents don't understand what the Christian conversion experience is all about. It's very easy for someone to misinterpret something they don't understand. If I were you I would vouch for your sister. Tell your parents they shouldn't judge something they don't fully understand Ask them what is Catholicism? And why is it so different than Christianity? Ask them in Catholicism How do you get to Heaven? Because afterall that's the whole point of Christianity , going to Heaven instead of hell. Ask them What is the truth of the matter? And what is Christianity?,If they claim to be christians. Pray that your parents will give your sister some flexibility on the issue, because I'am sure they won't be able to answer some of these questions. State that you respect both sides and that you respect their beliefs no matter what they are. Tell your parents that if your sister is an adult they should try to respect her beliefs. And ask them what exactly do they disagree with her about. May God bless you

Answer 9

I've thought about this a lot because we kind of somehow talked about his in our christian group at school last week. Does it really matter what "religion" you claim to be? I mean really when you think about it "religion" just separates the body of believers... why can't we just say that we are a "christ-follower" why do we have to be catholic, baptist, or what ever else. i hope this helps you some... if you want to talk more you can always IM me..

Answer 10

So basically what you are saying is something like this,I am a Catholic but would like to be a Christian? what on earth is a Catholic then?
I fail to understand this mentality at all, all believers in the one Christ are Christian but you and your Sister were baptized into the Catholic church and the only other thing that you can be except a Catholic is a lapsed one,do you understand this?