i believe that exactly one doctrine saves us: Romans 10:9 sums it up very well: if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and (B)believe in your heart that (C)God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
that makes it easy for me to talk to people who differ from me on other doctrines. so long as we agree on the main point, it just becomes a matter of interesting discussion. i try to go into any discussion with the attitude of "i know what i know, but i don't know what they know and maybe they can teach me". to that end, i try to remember ask questions about them, about what they believe and why rather than getting into "its true!" "its not!" arguments. i try to go in with an attitude of love, humility and interest in that person.
i've found that people usually have some sort of emotional base for their belief in certain doctrines - perhaps a person they loved believe that, perhaps they had a miraculous experience, perhaps the first person to tell them about christ believed that. all sorts of reasons that a conversation needs to be compassion about.
i also try to listen to their explanation of the their doctrine. sometimes its quite different than what i thought or was taught and i find there isn't much wrong with it after all. consider the source of your original view. for example, i grew up in a presbyterian school with a distinctly anti-catholic doctrine viewpoint. so, i asked my catholic grandmother to explain some of the doctrines and i found that what much of what i was taught was either completely wrong or spun in the worst way possible. also, i found out that the Official Catholic Doctrine is not what many catholics believe. talking to some catholics and doing my own research took care of the automatic assumptions i had when anyone said they were catholic.
about your first question: what do you mean? i'm assuming you don't have a problem with catholics believing mary existed.
that makes it easy for me to talk to people who differ from me on other doctrines. so long as we agree on the main point, it just becomes a matter of interesting discussion. i try to go into any discussion with the attitude of "i know what i know, but i don't know what they know and maybe they can teach me". to that end, i try to remember ask questions about them, about what they believe and why rather than getting into "its true!" "its not!" arguments. i try to go in with an attitude of love, humility and interest in that person.
i've found that people usually have some sort of emotional base for their belief in certain doctrines - perhaps a person they loved believe that, perhaps they had a miraculous experience, perhaps the first person to tell them about christ believed that. all sorts of reasons that a conversation needs to be compassion about.
i also try to listen to their explanation of the their doctrine. sometimes its quite different than what i thought or was taught and i find there isn't much wrong with it after all. consider the source of your original view. for example, i grew up in a presbyterian school with a distinctly anti-catholic doctrine viewpoint. so, i asked my catholic grandmother to explain some of the doctrines and i found that what much of what i was taught was either completely wrong or spun in the worst way possible. also, i found out that the Official Catholic Doctrine is not what many catholics believe. talking to some catholics and doing my own research took care of the automatic assumptions i had when anyone said they were catholic.
about your first question: what do you mean? i'm assuming you don't have a problem with catholics believing mary existed.
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