I have lost my sister to a Christian sect. How can I help her?

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I have lost my sister to a Christian sect. How can I help her?

When she was 35 my sister's 1 week old baby died. She turned in desperation to the church and changed from an atheist to a Christian overnight. Having buried her baby in the churchyard she fell out with that church and then went to another and another and another, eventually not even telling me what sect she was currently following. She is now 50 so has been a Christian for 15 years. She is an extremely intelligent woman, we have always exchanged ideas and have always been very close.

About two years ago, we were discussing the awful things in Zimbabwe by email when she wrote, "...and have you heard of the awful things they are doing to children in Nigeria in the name of Jesus?" I agreed how terrible it was and said that throughout history many awful things had been done in the name of Christ. Her response was that was impossible, everything about Christ is good and loving. To make my point clear, I listed many historical atrocities committed by the Christian church such as the crusades, the slaughter of the Cathars, the Inquisition etc etc.

Now I get to the important part..... She accused me of attacking Christianity, insulting her and her faith, of trying to convert her children etc etc, all of it entirely in her mind. I had in fact just responded to one of her children, who raised an interesting question, saying that I would love to debate theology with her but now was not the right time. From that day onwards she has never spoken to me nor answered any communication. Another of my sisters, who has read and understood all the emails, confirms that she has a false memory in her head of what I wrote but it is an incorrect memory and she will not re-read what I actually said. I have also learnt that her husband, who shares her current faith, destroys any communication from me - so what do I do?

I have suggested communicating via her pastor/vicor/priest but that idea was just ignored - binned probably. Other than prayer, has anyone any suggestions?
 
over 2000 years if people had been doing good in satans name,wouldn,t mean satan was good.the way to take people from Christ is to slander his name in everything.your sister shouldn,t defend people who she doesn,t know are christian or not.none of us know who are and who are not.i do agree if you go to her children and state all the atrocities done supposedly in Christs name and come from a athiest view it is propaganda to mislead the children.
 
You insulted her. (whether accidentally or purposely, she took what you said to her as an insult) I think for now It would be best to give her space and time to cool off. That's the best solution I can think off. I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help.
 
.i do agree if you go to her children and state all the atrocities done supposedly in Christs name and come from a athiest view it is propaganda to mislead the children.

I agree with that smellycat. That was why I responded to the daughter's email saying that now was not the time to discuss theology. In the interest of clarity, I certainly did not approach the children nor discuss anything with them. I was responding to an email from the daughter after she had been given an untruthful explanation about why her mother was angry with me. I have since learned that she, and others, have been given all manner of false information about me. That is very difficult to live with in silence but I have. That is why I came to this forum looking for ideas.


over 2000 years if people had been doing good in satans name,wouldn,t mean satan was good.

That is an interesting notion smellycat. If you change the name in your assertion from Satan to Jesus, would it still apply? We obviously regard Jesus as 'good', Satan as 'bad' but the manifestation of that 'goodness' or 'badness' is always through human beings, not by evident, independant acts of God. Insurance companies unfortunately describe natural disasters as 'Acts of God' but perhaps we should be calling them 'Acts of Satan'? Maybe we should also regard disease, mosqitos, droughts, floods and other 'bad' things as creations of the devil rather than creations of God?
 
I do not agree with the above statements that 'you insulted her'. Clearly you stated she had had a false memory and you had a second opinion.

I'm not sure which sect she joined, because you haven't told us, but from what I read I think she's deeply into it. A lot of sects I've seen brainwash their followers into believing certain things. Okay, this might sound weird, but from reading your message it seemed like she was asked or meant to message you and asked you those question for a reason. Yes, things like this happen people, so please, don't say - 'That's not true'. I've seen it happen. I've seen it happen way, way too many times.
 
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