Got into a debate with my mom about Jesus
She's... idk, she claims to be Catholic (not Christian, Catholic (idk why she insists on it)), and a few minutes ago we were debating about Jesus.
My parents are both claiming to be Catholics, but they are NOT following the Bible, they are "believers but not practicing", to this day I still dont know what's up with that.
So we were having a nice dinner, until my (antitheist) sister said something like "that girl from my school is annoying she keeps talking about Jesus", so I was like "What was she saying ?", she said "She asked me about the current students' movements and what Jesus would think of that" (we live in France and rn there's a big social movement involving students about the poor state of public school).
So we were having this interesting debate and she was respectful, so that was good. We didnt agree but at least we were both respectful, no insults. I then said "She's kinda right tho, as Christians we should always think about what Jesus would do".
That's when my mom... Oh man... I love her so much, she's my queen, I'd take one bullet on my skull and two in my heart, but for a Catholic she seems to not have a great theology...
My mom said "Jesus wouldnt think of anything because when He was on the cross He wasnt aware of how bad humanity became".
I stopped eating and turned to her, and said "Jesus wasnt aware ?", she doubled down "He was too good for this world, I'm sure if He comes back He couldnt stop humanity".
I said "So you think God isnt All-Powerful or All-Knowing ?".
She then said "I'm talking about JESUS" (implying Jesus ≠ God).
I replied "That's what I'm saying, God is All-Powerful and All-Knowing".
She said "No we're not talking about God but about Jesus"
I was shocked, she ALWAYS brings up her catholic identity, ALWAYS (we're portuguese living in France), but she then said the most BLASPHEMOUS (YES I said it) thing you could think of.
But that wasnt the first time she said something like that (I remember her saying "I trust in Jesus way more than God"), so I instead wanted to talk about her opinion on Jesus "not being aware of our present".
She said "Jesus only forgave human sins of His time, things werent AS BAD as today" (Are we serious ? Are we gonna talk about the Old Testament and how crazy was humanity already ?), that was CRAZY, I said "Mom, Jesus saved ALL HUMANITY, Past Present and Future, on the cross He washed us all in His blood", she then replied "No, Jesus was perfect and if He was aware of what we are doing today, He would've been smart enough to NOT be the sacrifice". I then brought up the prophecies, God's Grace and how our Salvation was ONLY up to GOD, and we are now saved through Him, but she refused.
She then told me this (be ready) :
"You are being intolerant, Jesus preached tolerance and you are not following that, you cant accept the fact everyone cant have YOUR vision of religion"
I'm sorry but what ? No, showing the OBJECTIVE TRUTH OF WHAT IS WRITTEN IN THE BIBLE is NOT intolerance, it's like saying "You are being intolerant because you cant accept the fact I think 2+2=3 and not 4".
Her vision of Christianity is so nihilistic, she thinks God abandonned us (she implied it at least) and Jesus was a naive little carpenter who had so much love so he was killed for being too nice. WERE WE READING THE SAME BIBLE ?!
Also, she brought up how "If Jesus was powerful then why are pastors touching children ?" (I would like to answer and help her, but she couldnt let me finish), and also "I can be Catholic while not agreeing on EVERYTHING on the Bible" (sadly she ended the conversation before explaining herself).
This is sad to see, really. Also, a part of me might know why she thinks like that.
My parents are pretty much right-wing (far right), and in France this party is the most nihilistic thing ever. I dont see myself in any party, left wing is too secular (and celebrates sin), right wing is too hateful (and celebrates sin too), my mom might have a strong opinion on something, if the politician is saying the total opposite you can be sure you'll hear her say "He's right", they are WAY MORE into politics than into into religion, they NEVER pray (they say it themselves), they HATE church (my mom mostly, she thinks they are all hypocrites with purity culture and all that) but they LOVE rallies and political speeches.
So all these years of them being nihilistic and hateful most def affected their own faith (If they even got one past 18yo), also the fact they are extremely racists AND LGBTQ+ allies (YES this is a match made in hell), you know how crazy they can twist Bible verses, she even said during the debate "The Devil never attacks me" (I dont think this is a good thing mom, or you are being arrogant...).
So now I'm in this pretty difficult situation where I am the only one standing for the Faith they claim to follow, and EVERYTIME I explain to them with as much kindness as possible they hit me with the "Stop forcing YOUR vision of Christianity to US, we were Catholics way before you were even born", and the worst ? They have A LOT of Virgin Mary (bless her) statues in the house, and while I love the decoration, with all the context it makes me extremely uncomfortable because it is almost like they WANT to prove they are Catholics, but they never prove it to GOD Himself.
They grew up in the portuguese immigrant culture, where Catholicism is a central point of it, my mom did catechism, but once she left her parents she left church too, but she confirmed that there was no trauma, she was just not into church anymore. So I didnt grew up in Faith, I only got baptized at 3yo but that's it. I was atheist most of my life (I'm 19M) because well I wasnt raised to believe in anything, Faith was a background thing to me, a simple neckless. And then in my worst I met God, and I converted to Christianity (I'll follow Catholicism after long considerations), so Faith became really important to me, and when I first realized my family wasnt Christ-friendly AT ALL I really took a hit.
I love them, I love my family, I pray for them, but man if only they open their own Bible instead of watching videos about debunking the Quran, that'd be great...
Sorry for the long post.