ok so ive planned not to go to prom. it doesnt bother me anymore, its $100 a ticket anyways. the only thing is i need a really good excuse to tell my friends at school. i live in california and prom is usch a huge deal that an excuse like "i forgot" simply wont cut it.
help me out here!!
i know i should talk about the religious aspects but everyone i know at that school is an athiest with little or no belief in god so i would only be "preaching on deaf ears", so to speak
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You'd be surprised that you're not the only one (there are nonreligious people who this will apply to as well).
STOP AVOIDING RELIGION!!!! Tell them why you don't want to go! WHY ARE WE EMBARRASSED BECAUSE OF OUR RELIGION?!?!?!?!?! SHOW YOUR FAITH!
i've been thinknng about this also; and i've come to the conclusion that it's not out of embarassment, but rather because we a) don't fullly understand or b) we don't fully believe it(that certain aspect).
LIke i realized the other day why i don't share certain aspects of my religion with my non-orthodox friends is because i don't really understand it, or necessarily think it necessary, myself. I just practice it because..i am told to. ANd i think that's alright, because there are somethings where if we don't really believe it 11520%, we probably shouldn't try and preach it. YOu'll find yourself going in circles and trying to convince yourself instead of others,understand it yourself first.
LIke i would never be able to explain to my firends that im not going to prom for religious reasons, because i really don't think the reasons are legit, they don't make much sense to me, the whole it will lead on to sin thing....
STOP AVOIDING RELIGION!!!! Tell them why you don't want to go! WHY ARE WE EMBARRASSED BECAUSE OF OUR RELIGION?!?!?!?!?! SHOW YOUR FAITH!
I do agree with Hisservant.
Luke 9:26
For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.
Since becoming Orthodox I now enjoy sharing my faith, and speaking about the Church. But it is rarely appropriate to argue with people, and therefore it is not usually necessary to be an expert on history, liturgy, theology etc etc.
What is important is that you have some experience of living with Christ that means something to you.
Ask yourself the question - What does being a Christian mean to you? That is essentially where you are at, and you will not really be able to share more than that because you have not experienced more than that.
Why are you a Christian? This will probably not be because of history, theology etc etc. These things strengthen our faith, but our faith is in Christ, a Divine person, not in history.
So just keep your faith sharing simple. Christianity is ..... ? I am a Christian because .....?
And when there are difficult questions, we can say, I am not sure. But in my experience Christianity is not about this or that ... it is ..? And we can add, if you would like an answer I'll get someone who knows more than me to write you an email, visit, come and have a conversation.
I keep bumping into some Mormons in town, and when we had our first long conversation in the street all I spoke about was the writings of the early Church. I just kept saying don't believe me when I describe what Christianity is, but believe those who lived with the Apostles and learned directly from them. One of the two Mormons seemed interested and I wished I had something to give him. But this meant that there was no argument. When the older Mormon said, what if there was a new revelation, I could just reply that it seemed better and safer to learn from those who actually knew the Apostles, and since they kept stressing the need to follow the Apostles they couldn't really argue. And then it wasn't my opinion versus theirs, because I was able to say that my opinion didn't matter, we all needed to learn from those who knew the Apostles.
These simple questions are ones that I also need to reflect upon. What does Christianity mean to me? Why am I a Christian?
How does not going to the Prom fit into those answers?
I am not going to the Prom this year because..?
Be bold. If you are not going to the Prom because of something positive then that will be respected, and rewarded by God even if not respected by men. But if you are not going simply out of something negative then we only receive half the blessing because we still have a hankering after going.
Many of the readings through this week have spoken to various threads I have been reading here and elsewhere. Yesterday we read..
For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles--when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.
We need not judge those who go to Proms, not least because not all those who go to a Prom do so for bad reasons, or show bad conduct, but St Paul teaches us here that at some point in our life we have to say ... 'I have spent enough time doing this'. As he says in the same passage..
Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
The will of God is not a list of things to avoid, but it is a positive embracing of unity with God and with life. If you truly believe that then avoiding the Prom is not a hardship because you avoid it to grow closer to God, who will reward such an aspiration.
God bless you and keep you
Father Peter