: Carrie Gress
: Nudging Conversions A Practical Guide to Bringing Those You Love Back to the Church
: Beacon Publishing
: 9781942611479
: 1
: CHF 10.50
:
: Christentum
: English
: 112
: DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB
We all want our family and friends to know the joy and peace we've discovered in being Catholic, but the last thing we want to do is to force our faith on them. So how can we bring our loved ones back to the Church? In Nudging Conversions, Carrie Gress offers a practical roadmap for reaching out to those around us. You'll learn the art of asking questions, when to speak and when to keep quiet, basic tools for talking to others about Jesus, how to answer questions about the faith, and more. Conversion doesn't happen overnight-sometimes all it takes is a little 'nudge.'
One
LIVING WITNESS:
CONVERTS ARE THE FRUIT
OF A MATURE FAITH
Outspoken atheist and comedian Penn Jillette—really the last person you’d expect would have something good to say about religion—recently made a very startling statement:
If you believe that there’s a heaven and a hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life, and you think that it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward . . . how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?
I mean, if I believed, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe that truck was bearing down on you, there is a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that.1
This is a strong statement, particularly from an atheist. While I’m not sure how many people have had success tackling someone into the faith (and no, please don’t try this at home), there are clearly other ways to respond to God’s call. Jillette’s point does underline, however, both the urgency of our time here on earth and the gravity of the situation. We want people to convert not for superficial reasons, but because it truly is a matter of eternal life and death. Even a cursory glance as testimonies of the saints about hell, like St. Teresa of Avila who was shown the place the devil had prepared for her because of her sins, are enough to motivate anyone to roll up their sleeves.2 As confirmed Catholics, it is, in fact, our duty and our responsibility to pass on the faith to others.
A lot has been written about evangelization, but the one element Pope Francis makes clear is that evangelization is the fruit of a mature faith. You simply cannot give what you don’t have. And while it may seem that if you just said the right thing to your teenage son or could get your neighbor to read the right book, they would convert, these simple things, while they could have some effect, most likely will not be enough to truly