Comments for Evangelizing the Self-Satisfied Secularist at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 10 out of 10 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Mon, 20 May 2013 01:19:15 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/evangelizing-the-self-satisfied-secularist.html#comment-8602 The truth .. the devil has done a great job in dumbing down souls..-- the master of trickery and evil has used every good device man/woman has invented and turned it around.. People if they are not grounded in God in each moment in this broken world are simply fodder for the evil spirits..they become, weak, listless, thoughtless and the other adjectives described above.. but God is above all.. and the Rosary is all powerful. We all must pray more and pray constantly. -- Not all will come,many will not but Jesus never said He would save everyone. He has given us free will. At the end each man and woman will make their choice.-- we pray it is the right one.. - maria Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:35:38 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/evangelizing-the-self-satisfied-secularist.html#comment-8587 I noticed the young man's reply seemed to be predicated on reward, no reward... But like you said, on the moment's reward. Maybe he missed geometry and did not form any logic... or never heard Aesop's fables about hard work. Or he totally missed out on the real education: religious education! If we fail math, we repeat it. If we fail life,? All us "sowers" have so much work to do... - JotheHousewife Thu, 20 Oct 2011 09:58:40 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/evangelizing-the-self-satisfied-secularist.html#comment-8540 The best testimony to the faith is the joy of the faithful, in good times and in bad. It is a joy I have never seen anywhere else, and I've spent my whole adult life among secularists -- I'm a college professor. Oh, there can be some contentment, some natural good spirits, but there is no abiding joy; that glow, that warmth, that makes one want to say, "Whatever they are having, I want to have some of that too." Which is not to say that believing Christians always live up to their faith. But if you visit a genuinely Christian school (as I have, many times), and speak to the young people, you will notice a kind of peaceful joy, a simple mirth, that is not to be found anywhere else. I'm not saying you will always find it; Christians remain sinners, and life is hard. But there is nowhere else where you will find it. So when I meet a secularist, even the ones who are blessed with good temperaments, I see someone half-scorched, half-soured, sharp-edged ... and often desperate to hang onto the doctrine of meaninglessness. You preach to such people by example. "See this over here? This is where genuine life is to be found, and that in abundance." - Tony Esolen Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:34:54 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/evangelizing-the-self-satisfied-secularist.html#comment-8539 Grump, Look at John 6:53, you can only get that at Mass... 53 Then Jesus said to them: "Amen, amen, I say unto you: unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. - Ben Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:52:34 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/evangelizing-the-self-satisfied-secularist.html#comment-8535 When I speak with Atheists I've noticed that although they are willing to lie to win an arguement, whether it be how happy they are or anything else about their life or beliefs; Entertain these arguements, and since they are untrue you're going to come across a stupid statement beneath all of the intellectual ones, or eventually come across the conclusion of it all: That their beliefs amout to a Great Dictatorship of Meaninglessness. For some reason, they have issues with seeing the great ego that believes this amounts to nothing... Must be the pride, eh? If there was no God, then there would be no ultimate meaning to their lives and thus no meaning to the very reasoning they utilize to say "there is no God", but alas; Is the love in their life meaningless?... Oh no, of course not. They have great and wonderful reason to have faith in the fidelity of their spouse but think faith in a God is just plain stupid... I talked to one once about beauty, getting the standard "it all amounts to sex" response but when she commented on the "natural beauty" of the landscape I asked what part she wanted to have sex with. All of these arguements lead to nowhere, take them there and show them that... - Ben Mon, 17 Oct 2011 09:06:45 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/evangelizing-the-self-satisfied-secularist.html#comment-8531 Two problems exist within the young people (including my grandkids) in today's culture: 1) They have electronic linkages to others, on at most times that they are not otherwise in class. They do NOT take the time to think in any depth; 2) Except when they are asleep, they are virtually never in silence. I'm still struggling with trying to get some of them to take the time to ponder (can I use that word) any spiritual/mental concepts. Default to prayer. Maybe someone else will be able to reach them. TeaPot562 - TeaPot562 Sun, 16 Oct 2011 15:18:00 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/evangelizing-the-self-satisfied-secularist.html#comment-8529 In our catechesis today, there is a strong temptation toward making it mostly entertainment or to reduce Christ to someone "cool to hang out with" in order to appeal to a self-indulgent and nonchalant culture. These approaches reduce the faith rather that elevate the catechumens. There is much to contemplate here. Thank you. - Frank Sun, 16 Oct 2011 11:23:28 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/evangelizing-the-self-satisfied-secularist.html#comment-8528 Does one have to go to Mass to be saved? How did this ritual, which varies so widely as to be unrecognizable in its countless iterations, every start, by the way? There are people who go to Mass every Sunday and then for the other 167 hours of the week do not act like Christians. One can still live a spiritual life and believe in God without sitting in a pew going through the motions. - Grump Sun, 16 Oct 2011 10:11:03 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/evangelizing-the-self-satisfied-secularist.html#comment-8527 Wonderful article. People are so enamored with even the fleeting things of creation. If they but paused to consider it, they would realize how much greater its Creator must be, and how indescribably enraptured in Him and in His love they were created to be. Above all, the example of Christians is vital. If they see that we too appear to live only for this world, participate in its rat races, anxieties, and even sins, then they probably won't take us too seriously when we preach the Gospel. The New Evangelization must begin with each of us, first in our own lives, which need to be converted to Christ, and transformed into the likeness of the Son of God. - Nishant Sun, 16 Oct 2011 06:14:51 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/evangelizing-the-self-satisfied-secularist.html#comment-8526 Thank you, Professor Bonagura, for this essay. - Beth Sun, 16 Oct 2011 05:07:31 +0100