How would you respond to this?

[princess_ballet]

My parents have....a friend (for lack of better word) who is constantly putting down the church. Her last assult I am still having a hard time figuring out a good come back for, even if I would not say it to her now. So, if you were in this situation, what would you have said, of course in a loving manner.

Here is the situation:
We were sitting at dinner at a resturant and we were talking about something. Out of the blue (which is her normal conversation type) she brings up how two Bishops have written a book that says that for their to be less divorce, there should be more sex in marriage. Her response to this book is, how would two celibate men, who know nothing about marriage know this? "Give me a break? Two celibate men have no authority over married life!"

Now, sitting at this table, not having a way to look up statistics or anything, how would you defend the fact that, yes, two celibate BISHOPS have a say in this because they are BISHOPS?

 

[ProCommunioneFacior]

I would tell her to read Pope John Paul II's "Theology of the Body" and "Love and Responsibility", and then we can discuss if celibate men know anything about marital relations.

Or maybe, even better, let's ask Jesus the Christ, our creator if He knows anything about marital relations.

 

[Swoosh]

I would tell her to read Pope John Paul II's "Theology of the Body" and "Love and Responsibility", and then we can discuss if celibate men know anything about marital relations.

Or maybe, even better, let's ask Jesus the Christ, our creator if He knows anything about marital relations.

 

[ProCommunioneFacior]

By the way, I have never heard of this book, but those Bishops are correct.

 

[faerieevaH]

I don't need to be a drug addict to be a councillor to drug adicts. I don't need to have cancer to treat people who have it. Ask her if, when she has serious pain she would rather go to someone who also is in serious pain or to someone who knows how to treat it?
It's not because you don't DO something, that you can't know enough about it to advise others about it.

 

[nyj]

I'd tell her, next time: If she ever has cancer (God forbid), to not go to an oncologist who hasn't had cancer themselves, because obviously, not having had cancer... they cannot relate.

Bah... faerieeva beat me to it.

 

[geocajun]

I don't need to be a drug addict to be a councillor to drug adicts.

Thats is exactly how I always respond.

 

[faerieevaH]

*looks at the above two posts and anounces in an ominous voice* I read your minds! Fear me!
*W*

 

[ps139]

I don't need to be a drug addict to be a councillor to drug adicts. I don't need to have cancer to treat people who have it. Ask her if, when she has serious pain she would rather go to someone who also is in serious pain or to someone who knows how to treat it?
It's not because you don't DO something, that you can't know enough about it to advise others about it.

Your parents' friend's line is a total cop out. By her logic, no one is qualified to be a suicide counselor unless they have committed suicide. So maybe we should let all those people jump instead of trying to talk them down? Yeah, right.

 

[faerieevaH]

Now, if this woman is a 'smart alec' you might get the response 'well, marriage isn't cancer, is it?". Of course she's right in this, but you can tell her that the point of your reasoning is that often people who can take a small step back and look at a situation more objectively, who are more apt to find a solution for something than those within it.

 

[lionroar0]

*looks at the above two posts and anounces in an ominous voice* I read your minds! Fear me!
*W*

EEEKKK!!!

 

[lionroar0]

Also

How does she know those Bishops who are now celebate never were married before?

 

[Michelina]

Bishops consult with experts before they write books.

And, Princess Amanda, I won't credit the premise until I see names of Bishops, etc. It may have been two married Episcolian Bishops. I follow Church news fairly closely and I haven't seen anything like this. Generally speaking, it's not the sort of book Catholic Bishops write, when they write at all.

But to the hypothetical question: You have been well-answered by everyone.

 

[Adammi]

Many people much such remarks to me, "What makes you think you know so much about life, your only a kid. You don't know what it's like to be in the real world." But Jesus said

Matthew 19:14But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

Why are children the ones of the kingdom?
Because children accept the Word of God and the churches teachings just as they are. They don't have the film of adulthood over their eyes to blind them from what something truly means.
In the same way the Bishops know about marriage because they can't mold the truth to fit their experiences they see things simply as they are.

 

[tryptophan]

I'm not sure if those examples are good analogies. But I agree that one does not need to be intimately aware of a subject to know something about it.

 

[KennySe]

Now, if this woman is a 'smart alec' you might get the response 'well, marriage isn't cancer, is it?". .

Smart Alec: quick comeback: "Depends on who you ask."

 

[princess_ballet]

Bishops consult with experts before they write books.

And, Princess Amanda, I won't credit the premise until I see names of Bishops, etc. It may have been two married Episcolian Bishops. I follow Church news fairly closely and I haven't seen anything like this. Generally speaking, it's not the sort of book Catholic Bishops write, when they write at all.

But to the hypothetical question: You have been well-answered by everyone.

I should have asked her about the bishops themselves, you're right, but she angers me with topics like this so mch (I've probably mentioned them before) so I let my dad handle it. Though he didn't handle it like most of you have, he did ok.

And yes, all of you have given me wonderful answers. Thank you.