Should I Stop It?

[PhuturePriest]

[quote name='Annie12' timestamp='1343856004' post='2461250']
So, I can't help being fervent. It makes me very unpopular with people who know me. They see me as a "Jesus freak". It's just that I can't help it. I have no control. I open my mouth and out comes catholic stuff. It's especially bad on Facebook. I certainly have no discretion on there. I always share and post religious stuff. I've even noticed my number of friends listed on my profile is going down. I can't help but be FERVENT!!!!!! I CAN'T KICK THE HOLY SPIRIT OUT!!!! (nor do I want to) but I can't stop and was wondering should I stop or is this what God wants me to do?
[/quote]

This reminds me of Mother Angelica's philosophy. I have embraced it very much, especially since it is so easy to follow. "I didn't come here to make friends. I came here to do the Lord's will. If other people don't like it, well, that's their problem."

[Jesus_lol]

Alternatively, imagine all of your myriad recent posts about faith, and imagine it was one of your friends posting them, with "muslim" and "Allah" swapped in for "Christian" and "Jesus".

[PhuturePriest]

[quote name='Jesus_lol' timestamp='1343887352' post='2461489']
Alternatively, imagine all of your myriad recent posts about faith, and imagine it was one of your friends posting them, with "muslim" and "Allah" swapped in for "Christian" and "Jesus".
[/quote]

I honestly wouldn't care, so long as it didn't bash the Catholic Faith or Christians in general. If someone is to follow a belief they should be devout, in my opinion, and if they express their devout beliefs vocally and on the internet I do not mind so long as it is charitable. My atheist friend bashes Christians all the time and always posts links to atheist stuff. I wouldn't mind if it wasn't so uncharitable, but his ultimate goal is to bash Christianity and Religion until everyone renounces it.

[PhuturePriest]

In the name of procrastination I suppose I should add a bit more to my first post.

Mother Angelica did have this mentality, and she did seem to some as "annoying" when it came to the Faith, but those were the people who were just annoyed that she had Faith at all. Don't be pushy, preachy, or just plain annoying about the Faith. God called us to share the Faith, not to talk about it at all times without stop. It is okay to do this at appropriate places, but it annoys even the most devout of people, because sometimes we just need to talk about something meaningless like the Chiefs game. I'm in Lil'Red's boat and most of the time I post funny stuff when it comes to Religion, but others I post very serious things. It is a matter of balance. If you notice that you are losing friends I would definitely tone it down. Maybe not quit cold turkey, but tone it down and talk about other things. You'll quickly see that people will be more responsive to you and will in fact talk to you more. When all you talk about is Religion people eventually ignore your posts completely, and then the entire point of talking about Religion is lost.

One thing I would recommend if you would like to talk about Religious things frequently is making a group. You can have a Religious message a day, or maybe the current Feast Day with a link explaining the life of the Saint we are celebrating, etc. But all in all it is good to learn self-control a little better. It won't be hard, trust me, and I don't want you to feel bad when reading this. As shocking as this may be to some of you, I too was rather brash and blunt when I first got on Facebook. I would proudly challenge the President, say political things all the time, talk about this or that controversy, I was a regular news station except I didn't have to fear the media so I said whatever I felt like. Well, none too shockingly, people got annoyed, especially since with young age comes ignorance, and I didn't know much of what I was talking about. I always complained that nobody ever liked my statuses or commented. As soon as I stopped doing the political stuff people started commenting, liking, and best of all, I wasn't avoided at all costs. It's good to have an opinion, but to be one big walking opinion is of no use, I learned. I still post funny political pictures, sometimes send a link to email this or that governor to show him you support this or that bill, and I even sometimes show my displeasure at the President's handiwork, but I do not do it excessively. Again, it is about balance and your audience. If all my friends were raging liberals I wouldn't post any of this stuff. However, thankfully I live in Kansas, and if you're not a Republican you're a secluded Hermit hiding in the forest, so I don't have to worry much about offending people.

I hope you found this post useful, especially since I spent nearly half an hour writing it. Procrastination accomplished.

[BG45]

[quote name='Jesus_lol' timestamp='1343882068' post='2461456']
No. 99.9999999% grow to disrespect and laugh at them. Can you imagine knocking on your friends doors and going "excuse me, old friend, have you accepted the Lord Jesus as your holy savior?"
[/quote]

Been there, done that once as a Baptist as a youth group activity. People were surprisingly nice, even the annoyed ones.

[sixpence]

I just defriended someone today for posting blatantly anti-Christian stuff; however, I had only met them once of twice.

[Lisa]

Annie, I think there's been a lot of good comments on here.

I think we all understand that you want to bring people closer to Jesus. And, I would respectfully disagree with Papist's dismissal of Facebook. When it is done well, I think it can be a small tool of evangelization (though nothing compared to interactions in person), and it can help encourage people who feel isolated or are somewhat lukewarm in their faith. However, like the others said, we definitely need to be attentive to how we present it.

Yes, Jesus did say that the faith would inevitably cause division, and we don't need to shy away from doing what the Lord is asking of us- to bring souls closer to Him. But if something is so provocative that it might make people back away from the faith, that's not good, especially in a forum that doesn't allow people to see the silent witness of your life: the joy and peace that radiates from Christians. Conversations that challenge people with the hard sayings of the Gospel are typically best left for in person.

For what it's worth, I do post some religious things, but interspersed within "average" comments, funny things, and adorable animal memes. I've had people tell me that the verses and saint quotes that I post have really helped them. When I do post religious things, I typically put up encouraging content and generally avoid politicizing Catholicism.. there's enough of that in the media. I haven't had much backlash, I think partly because I really strive to be "in the world" (showing that I'm a relatively normal 20-something) but not of the world (I'm entering a convent in 20-some days). But hey, pretty soon I'll be deleting it altogether, and then I just get to pray for all of them!

[Annie12]

So, yesterday I took a break from Facebook. I was just sick of it all. It felt good not having to care if someone "liked" my comments or pictures. I think I will try to take a break more often. Facebook doesn't better my life. I've realized that Facebook for the most part makes me feel inferior to everyone else. It's so incredibly fake too. I have 200 friends who don't really care about me, don't even know my middle name or what my favorite color, food, hobby etc. is! I don't know why it took me so long to realize this! Facebook is just not for me! God is though... (yay!)

[LittleWaySoul]

[quote name='Annie12' timestamp='1343856004' post='2461250']
So, I can't help being fervent. It makes me very unpopular with people who know me. They see me as a "Jesus freak". It's just that I can't help it. I have no control. I open my mouth and out comes catholic stuff. It's especially bad on Facebook. I certainly have no discretion on there. I always share and post religious stuff. I've even noticed my number of friends listed on my profile is going down. I can't help but be FERVENT!!!!!! I CAN'T KICK THE HOLY SPIRIT OUT!!!! (nor do I want to) but I can't stop and was wondering should I stop or is this what God wants me to do?
[/quote]
Oh my goodness I haven't even read any replies to this yet, but I feel like you went into my mind and stole the thoughts RIGHT OUT OF MY HEAD. This is exactly, and I mean EXACTLY how I feel. Glad to know I'm not alone

[LittleWaySoul]

[quote name='Jesus_lol' timestamp='1343887352' post='2461489']
Alternatively, imagine all of your myriad recent posts about faith, and imagine it was one of your friends posting them, with "muslim" and "Allah" swapped in for "Christian" and "Jesus".
[/quote]
This is a really good thing to think about. Thank you! I can see more clearly now how I might be annoying to many of my friends.

[LittleWaySoul]

A lot of these comments have been really helpful to me. I struggle a lot with the same kind of things Annie struggles with, only sometimes my posts tend to be more, as Lisa said, "politicizing Catholicism." My problem is that I've known for a while that this is a problem, but
(1) I don't quite know how to stop or cut back, and
(2) I don't know how to repair what I see as the loss of trust or the self-righteousness that some of my friends probably think I feel (I most certainly don't!).
I really want to fix this, but I'm not sure how. I've tried many times already, but I've fallen into the same pattern. Can anyone help me out?

[LittleWaySoul]

Sorry, re-post

Edited August 10, 2012 by LittleWaySoul

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

[quote name='Annie12' timestamp='1343856004' post='2461250']
So, I can't help being fervent. It makes me very unpopular with people who know me. They see me as a "Jesus freak". It's just that I can't help it. I have no control. I open my mouth and out comes catholic stuff. It's especially bad on Facebook. I certainly have no discretion on there. I always share and post religious stuff. I've even noticed my number of friends listed on my profile is going down. I can't help but be FERVENT!!!!!! I CAN'T KICK THE HOLY SPIRIT OUT!!!! (nor do I want to) but I can't stop and was wondering should I stop or is this what God wants me to do?
[/quote]

I only have one thing to say. PRUDENCE! But you must understand most of the saints og lacked prudence and it was the last thing they learnt. Be at it real, with the chill or bringing heat, it's all good with christ jus don b luke warm. PEACE

:edit: p.s. Saint peter i was told woz famed for being hot and cold.

Edited August 10, 2012 by Tab'le Du'Bah-Rye

[cmotherofpirl]

Dearie its really simple, divide your friends up into groups, religious and non-religious. Then direct your postings to the proper group. I have a phatmass group at fb where I direct religious stuff, and a gamers group for the fv stuff.

[jazzytakara]

I've heard of this happening to friends and noticed it occurring myself as I became more involved in my faith. Today many do take religion offensively, they believe simply showing your love for Christ or talking about how you went to church on Sunday is forcing religion on them, when in truth it isn't. That would be like me telling someone 'why must youalways talk about school?' to a student. And there should be no reason why harmless talk about something important in your life should be offensive to anyone. If faith is a big part of your life, you should be allowed to share it, and if people do not like, well all they have to do is 'hide the story' I new feature on facebook. I use it when people on my friends list post inappropriate or gross photos/status updates. If I don't want to see it I won't. But I think if your friends list is depleating it may be just a way to tell who your real friends are. Your real friends will stick around, your acquaintences won't. If something bothers me on facebook and I realize that its from someone who was in a project group with me two years ago and we haven't spoken since, I will simply remove said person from my friends list, if its a cherished friend, I tolerate it, sometimes comment on it. As long as everyone exercises self control, mutual respect, and tolerance of opinions, we can all intereact peacefully online. =)

[Anomaly]

Annie12 should marry Norseman so they can tag team.

[4588686]

[quote name='Anomaly' timestamp='1344690840' post='2466007']
Annie12 should marry Norseman so they can tag team.
[/quote]


Ummm....errrrrrr.....ah hem.

[Noel's angel]

Usually, I'd say screw 'em, but something in your initial post concerned me. You say: "I can't help it. I have no control." Perhaps you should work on it then, because you SHOULD have control over what you write. Before you post, stop and think whether the post is 1. necessary and 2. is likely to turn people towards God or away from God.

Let me use an example from my own Facebook circle. I used to be in a private Catholic group. A lady joined who seemed initially just to be very involved with the pro-life movement. As time went on however, she completely alienated the rest of the group (all of whom are Catholics in the true sense, and most definitely pro-life). All she would talk about was abortion and how it was an act of worshipping Satan etc. and how the rest of us weren't pro-life enough. It was highly insulting. On her own page, too, she posts constantly about being pro-life. It is a complete turn-off.

My point is, yes, be fervent, but also take the time to stop and think about why you feel the need to post something. It's difficult to advise you because I don't know what you are posting on facebook, or how frequently, but always stop and think first. How many things have I posted today? Am I encouraging people to follow Christ, or am I actually turning them off by coming across as too full-on? Don't be the internet equivalent of those people who turn up at your door at dinner time to tell you you're going to hell unless you listen to them.

[Mark of the Cross]

[quote name='cmotherofpirl' timestamp='1344605545' post='2465465']
Dearie its really simple, divide your friends up into groups, religious and non-religious. Then direct your postings to the proper group. I have a phatmass group at fb where I direct religious stuff, and a gamers group for the fv stuff.
[/quote]
That's what I do. I only talk about religion with my Catholic friends. My/our athio/agnostic friends know I am a devout Christian, but when they complain about people pushing religion I agree with them and explain that we don't do that because it only drives people away. We (Our RCIA group) believe that it is Gods call that they are answering and let enquirers know that we are only there to answer questions and walk with them if they choose to take the faith journey.
BTW beware of FB it's a great place to get bullied. But then if someone is unpleasant don't forget.

[i][[url="http://drbo.org/x/d?b=drb&bk=47&ch=5&l=11#x"]Matthew 5:11[/url]] Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake: [url="http://www.drbo.org/x/d?b=drb&bk=47&ch=5&l=12#x"][12][/url] Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you. [url="http://www.drbo.org/x/d?b=drb&bk=47&ch=5&l=13#x"][13][/url] You are the salt of the earth. [/i]

[Mark of the Cross]

[quote name='sixpence' timestamp='1343940454' post='2461683']
I just defriended someone today for posting blatantly anti-Christian stuff; however, I had only met them once of twice.
[/quote]
Prolly a good move since I don't know the circumstances. But just be alert, sometimes such things are a cry for help. You never know if you can turn a person around if you don't investigate the possibility. Often in such circumstances you need to pray for help.