I've been listening to Catholic Answers Live and EWTN Open Line when I'm feeding the baby and when I'm picking up around the house. I really enjoy the open forum questions; I especially enjoy Tim Staples, Jimmy Akin, and Patrick Madrid--in no particular order. And of course, Patrick Coffin the best radio host ever!
Today I was listening to Patrick Madrid's show from last Thursday and a caller asked about how to talk to non-Catholics. (I was changing Dominic's diaper when the caller was talking, so my memory could be a bit off here! ;-)) Patrick told a couple stories about how he changed the hearts of two different people. One was a woman who's husband was Catholic and she needed Patrick to answer her questions in order to help bring her to the Faith. The other was a former Catholic who's heart Patrick opened with a simple phrase "I did not say you stole the money". I'll direct you to EWTN's site, and Patrick's podcast to hear the whole story. http://tiny.cc/yae9a
Apologetics has been on my heart and mind these past couple of days when I have been faced with some of my old, becoming new, coworkers. I used to be Mormon. I was a convert to Mormonism sucked in by some of my coworkers (3 of them to be exact) and lured by their wonderful "fellowshipping" (the word makes me cringe now!). When I left, many of them took it personally; the ones I worked with especially. My boss at the time locked me in his office with him and read me scripture and from The Book of Mormon. One of the other ones got really hateful and our working relationship suffered incredibly. I was close to these people before I left, really close to them. I babysat their kids, I went over for meals, one of the people I spent nearly every lunch and many evenings hanging out with her and her family. I couldn't bring myself to tell them the whole reason why I left at the time, and found myself apologizing for their hurt feelings. I thought it would hurt them so bad to tell them that I think the basis for the religion can only have one of two grounds; a) their founder, Joseph Smith, was a liar and con-man (which many believe, but come on even the best con-man wouldn't DIE for his con) or b) that Satan had tricked their founder and all subsequent members into believing that it was the one true church. Option "b" is what I think it is. How do you tell someone you think they're being tricked by Satan to believe a ridiculously elaborate religion? Heck, how would you tell someone you think they're being tricked by Satan period when they believe so firmly in something?!
I hope I get the opportunity to discuss my leaving with them.I feel ready to, I just don't know if I'm ready to bring it up. So, I hope one of them does; I'm ready to test out my apologetics. I think they'll be surprised when I don't say "I'm sorry."
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