Sharing Christ with Those Who Have Rejected Him
What happens when someone you care about has turned away from God, the Church, or faith altogether? Explore a discussion on sharing truth, wisdom, and the teachings of Christ with people carrying pain, resentment, or misunderstanding about religion—and how love and understanding may open doors where arguments fail.
MC: John Domin
Presenter: Riley Miracle
Deacon: Rick Freedberg
Brought to you By: The Knights of Columbus
Jackson Michigan & Surrounding Area Catholic Parishes
Queen of the Miraculous Medal: https://queenschurch.com/
St John the Evangelist: https://saintjohnjackson.org/
St Mary Star of the Sea: https://stmaryjackson.com/
St Joseph Oratory: https://saintjohnjackson.org/new-here/st-joseph-the-worker-oratory/
Our Lady of Fatima: http://www.fatimaparish.net/
St Rita: http://www.stritacatholicparish.com/
St Catherine: https://stcatherinelaboureconcord.org/
Audio Trasnscription
Does anybody have any announcements? No announcements? Okay, then we'll get this thing started. Our speaker, Riley Miracle, will be our entertainment this morning, I guess. I don't see our musicians or our music books, so I guess we'll just get right into the presentation.
Take it away, Riley. Good morning, fellow brothers in Christ. I've been working with Joseph and John.
This month was supposed to be about mission, getting people into the faith. Do you have someone in your life that you love and care deeply for, but they've either left the faith or they never started? Whenever you say the word Jesus or church, it's like the lights go off. Immediate hostility.
But you, with your love of Christ, you want that person to join you. You want them to come to the faith. I have two testimonies of family members in New York, quite a similar story.
The first is my cousin, a beautiful woman who has started practicing magic. Full-on spells, stones, tarot cards. And she absolutely refuses to date a Christian.
You might have known media these days has villainized white Christian men. She's open to dating Muslims or other magic users, but refuses to hear anything as soon as you say the word Jesus or God. So I asked, and the second story is a boy that was almost tortured.
The mother and grandmother were taking care of him, basically left him in a room. He was still in a diaper at the age of 12. Somehow the school system failed him, too.
He'd go to school, and the school would just put him in a room and leave him in his diaper. But there was one thing that the family did do for that boy, and it was take him to church. They would clean him up and force him to go to church, force him to repeat prayers, basically Bible-thumping the kid.
And so now, as a young adult, he's lost in video games and has hatred when you say the word Jesus. It brings up such terrible memories for him. What I've tried to do, and had success with these two people, it goes into the way I see religion and the teachings in the Bible.
I see them as laws of wisdom. They're eternal, they're true, and they don't need context. You, too, probably have your favorite Bible verses.
Something that really has true meaning to you. Probably largely because of the names involved, too, though. Who said it? Your favorite speaker in the Bible.
But the wisdom doesn't need the name-dropping in that situation. Now, no way am I saying to deny Jesus. Remember the situation we're talking about.
We're talking about people who, as soon as you say the word Jesus or Christ or God, it's contempt, it's hate, it's anger, even though they've never heard the teachings. But they've heard the teachings of the world. I'd like to give the example that I gave to them.
There's an entire chapter in the Bible dedicated on how to make decisions in your life. Everyday decisions, and how to meet with people, how to deal with people. And I figured out a way, I'm not the only one, but you can say it without the old English.
The thee, thou. You don't have to include the words Jesus and church and God in that situation that's hostile, because they won't listen. So I'll start on that.
Other people make decisions based on your decisions. Other people will form opinions once they've heard your opinion. Every opinion you express about another person will be used against you, good or bad.
The best decision you can make is to fix yourself. Build yourself. Some of you might be thinking, but Riley, I have this cousin, this friend, I care so deeply about.
I want to work on fixing them. The problem with that is, if you have flaws in your own life, if you're not in a position of respect, if you don't have the skills required, they might not listen to you at all. They won't come to you for advice.
And then, if you give them the unrequested advice, well we kind of know how that goes. Telling people how they should be living their lives. Unrequested.
You will find what you're looking for. What you truly ask for in life, you will obtain. The problem is, what are you really looking for? What are you spending your time seeking? What are you asking for in your daily life? When dealing with other people, there's some basic rules.
If you wouldn't want that done to you, then don't do it to them. Most people that you meet are going to be walking down the path of destruction. They're walking down a life that will lead them to ruin.
But there is a way, there is a path to joy and peace in your life. Now be careful what people you pick as a leader. What people you choose to listen to and follow their advice.
Because they could be a monster with a pretty smile. Don't expect good things from people who are making bad decisions. People who make bad decisions have bad things happen to them.
People who make good decisions have good things happen to them. And you can easily tell who's making good decisions and who's making bad decisions. By simply looking at where they are, the peace they have in their life, their relationships.
The calm in their mind, or the anger, or the contempt they have in their life. Hearing these teachings does nothing for you unless you practice them. If you practice these teachings, it will be like you built your life on a foundation of stone.
And no other people will be able to take you down. If you don't follow these teachings, it's like you built your life on a foundation of sand. And then other people come in and your life crumbles.
Now, quite a few people worked with me on this. So, not you, but does anyone recognize any of these sayings? You kind of recognize them, you've heard them in a different way. You've probably heard them more in the church lately.
That was chapter 7 of Matthew. The results, the two people I mentioned earlier. My cousin wrote it down.
She wanted me to repeat it so she could write it down, the secular version. And then she said, where did you hear that? I've never heard anything like that. The teachings of Jesus are not in the secular world.
They're condemned by the other teachers that aren't Christian, aren't Catholic. That was the first time she'd ever really heard any of the words of Jesus. The second story, the boy that was tormented for over a decade of his life, who'd gone to church for 15 years, said he'd never heard anything like that.
Because when he was taken to church, he was forced, and so the lights just went off. He had absolute contempt when he was sitting in the house of God. Because he didn't choose to be there.
And they were giving him the hell version of the Bible. Do this or you're going to hell. There was no love, there was no wisdom.
Everyone here has something, some piece of wisdom, that they find true to their heart, from the Bible, from a saint, from the Catechism. But how can you communicate that to someone who has contempt for God, contempt for the church? It is your mission to still pass that wisdom in a way that they can hear it. You have to think of your audience, the people you're trying to convert.
If you're using the church lingo, if you're name dropping, St. Augustine said, oh, as soon as you say that, oh, St. Aquarius, what does that have to do with me? Who is this St. Augustine? And unfortunately for a lot of people, as soon as you say the word Jesus, or Christ, this lights out. They spent their life hating God. They don't even know why.
It's just been brought to them again and again, through media, the TikToks they watch, the Facebooks they follow. The media is definitely against God for the people that are looking for that. One of your sayings that you might find true to yourself, could be a really famous one.
John 14, 16. I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through the Son.
I understand how that can have great meaning to you. It can bring immense peace to your life. When you're talking to someone who hates God, who has contempt for the church, that might not be a good way to bring them into the fold.
Simply saying, well, you're going to go to hell, unless you agree with me. Are you helping? Did you bring them towards Christ? Or was that just another push away from yet another Bible thumper that they already hate? So my challenge to you guys is in discussion. Figure out, what is your wisdom that you've learned from the church or the Bible? And how can you share that with someone who has contempt and hatred? How can you pass the message and open their eyes to the truth? My speech is a little bit shorter.
It's only 16 minutes, but I'll give you guys more time to hang out. And possibly figure out together how you can face a hostile audience. Someone that not only has contempt for God, but possibly has contempt for you too.
(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)
