2 close friends joined orthodoxy, now attack my faith often. What do I do?
I was raised in a Protestant household, we attended various Calvary chapels growing up, my parents met each other at one in California. The town I grew up in was mostly Protestant, there was maybe 1-2 Catholic Churches. All of my friends identified as Protestant.
I have 2 close friends that I’ve known for the majority of my life. Both have been there for me through ups and downs. They were my best friends. One served in the military with me, the other went navy. Throughout this time we maintained our Protestant identities.
Fast forward to now. I am in my late 20’s, scratching my head wondering if I went wrong somewhere. I’m still practicing the faith I grew up with, except these 2 have left to join the Orthodox Church. I don’t have any issues with it, I want them to practice their faith how they see fit, but since then, they have been absolutely unbearable to be around.
I cannot go a single week without an attack on my faith from them. They constantly throw unsubstantiated claims at me that Protestantism is a farce, that it’s not a/the “true church”, or they’ll cherry pick one church somewhere doing something abhorrent and act as if that’s the entire sect of Protestantism. However, if I mention one of the many orthodox churches that charge upwards of a thousand dollars for a baptism for example, it is literally WW3 in our text group chat. I mention the double standard and they quote Matthew 10:34, “Not peace but a sword”, as if Jesus wants them to crap on their friends that already believe. You’re not that guy, pal. It’s bold of you to assume that scripture justifies your position specifically. 🤦🏻♂️😂
I don’t understand how one can so swiftly reject the background they were raised with to adopt a church culture from an entire different side of the planet. What does all of this infighting serve? Why call me a heretic if we worship the same God? What is up with orthodox Christians needing to spend every idle moment arguing with people?
My biggest issue is I’ve known these men for so long, so their constant bombardment is making me want to give up Christianity as a whole. My thinking is, if the framework of Christianity I’ve been subscribing to for the last 27 years is inherently false, and the framework of Christianity being offered to me is 20x more demanding, I don’t think I have any gas left in the tank to keep on marching along. I’m tired boss.
What would y’all do? Not sure if I should cut these guys off or just love from a distance.