Does anybody have experience dealing with Native American beliefs?

[J0nny Ling0]

Yeah, forgive him, love him and be kind, even though he wasn't. I have a big brother nine years my senior who is in the process of trying to cut my other brother's widow out of my Mom's Will. Yeah, my other brother died (the kind hearted one), and left behind a wife and two daughters. And now my oldest bro is trying to screw my sister in law and nieces out of my Mom's will which includes said nieces and sister in law. I threw a wrench into the whole thing by alerting my Mom that oldest brother wants to not split the proceeds of a $350,000.00 condo with my other brother's widow and kids. My oldest brother, thinking that I would "want the money" told me of how he planned on cutting out sis in law after Mom dies, so that he and I and my sister could make it a three way split. But, I told my Mom, and in her wisdom has decided to sell the whole thing now while she is living so she can be sure that my sister in law gets her cut.

And now, my big brother suspects that I must have said something and is very bitter toward me, and so is his wife. And, no doubt it will get uglier. And I too believe that there are devil spirits who influence people, and I believe that my big bro is being influenced by various spirits. But, I assure you, there is nothing I can say to him that will help him have a change of heart. But I will continue to pray for him, and do my damnedest to not be bitter toward him, although the temptation is very strong. For this is a brother who was never ever very kind to me, but always condescending and rude. My other brother and I (He was a kind hearted pal of mine who really loved his "kid brother"-Me) could just never figure out why our oldest bro has always been so a-moral.

And so, unlike you, sadly, I don't have fond memories of my oldest brother. He always just seemed to be a mean and uncaring mo-fo. But you John, do have good memories of a time when your brother and you had fine times. And you can maintain a connection with him if you want, by loving him and forgiving him even if it is hard to do so. I am inclined to think that he would not receive at all any of your advice concernig the possible spirit world you think he is dabbling in. But I am inclined to think that he could not ignore the kindness and love that you can continue to show him. He sounds like he does in fact have a loving heart in there, for, you have seen it.

My older brother, even though he sent me a fairly vicious e-mail full of accusations, received a nice e-mail from me afterward, talking about the weather here in Alaska, what my kids are up to these days, and how I envy his living in the Virgin Islands which I always refer to in e-mails as "Paradise". You know the old "water off a duck's back" response. He was rude to me, I was kind to him. It is all I can do, and for now, maybe it's all you can do for your bro.

And I would venture to say that the prospect of you being able to re-connect with your brother in a positive way is greater than the prospect that I have with mine. As far as being able to turn him away from what you deem to be a negative belief system, well, you are just not likely to be able to do that. He is a grown man and will believe what he wants. But to be sure, you can still love him, which is all any of us can do.

"And they will know we are Christians by our love, by our love. And they'll know that we are Christians by our Love....."

[frickafrack]

i've always connected with idea of spirit being in trees and animals and well everything that has life...plants etc.

spirit is life

the names and jargon only serve to divide us as fellow human beings....and that has obviously happened here

i'm dealing with similar issues in my life and probably acted like your brother in a state of confusion and questioning

it still stands that naming our gods and spirits does nothing but divide....they wait on us to figure this out

Edited December 11, 2006 by frickafrack

[Bramble]

Many people in minority faiths have pretty sharp radar for prosylitizing. Faiths that don't believe in witnessing and winning someone to their faith don't always look real positively on being witnessed to. Some believe having a Christian pray for them to leave their faith and become Christian is a form of bad( manipulative) magic and the prayer is with out their consent, a big no no in some circles.

Honestly, I've seen far more unconditional love outside the Christian church. Knowing you are viewed as being devil possesed etc--in other words, evil, and require change before you are acceptable isn't all that warm and fuzzy to those outside the 'club.' I suspect it works best on the young or very needy...

I'm very thankful for my family and the love they always shown. Non are perfect, and we've had issues( we are caring for a severely mentally ill sibling, that can be stressfull). I don't feel any pressure to conform to their various beliefs.

[johniam]

quote: You said in an earlier post that he used to go to Mass with your sister-in-law. Did you think he was playing with fire when he said the Rosary? Is praying to saints that much different than seeking guidance from Native American spirits?

I seriously doubt my bro was anything more than a spectator at mass. We weren't raised catholic. My dad was an atheist and my mom was ultra liberal. Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of my bro's first wife's death. His current wife at that time was his special ed daughter's teacher. She is catholic and not overbearing. But I can't picture my bro doing rosary beads or praying to anything.

[Bramble]

You already have your doctrines permission to drop him like a hot rock.

It doesn't even really matter that it is NA devil spirits'You could drop him for Trinitatian devil spirits, if he was Trinitarian. Or RC Saint Devils spirits, if that was his religion of choice. Woo, those Mother of God

Mary worshippers! Or maybe 'slain in the spirit" devil spirits, if he was Pentacostal.

Pick the non Way belief of your choice. There's always a devil spirit behind it, right? Arn't most Chrisstians trinitarian anyway, so they are worshipping an idol?

Isolate, Isolate, that's the only way!

[Oakspear]

I'm probably going to lose respect from some here for this...

hey Johniam, though you and I frequently (okay always) disagree - I believe that your approach on this thread has been one of respectful disagreement.

but, as I said earlier, I'm still of an advanced class mind. That's a round about way of saying that I think devil spirits may be involved with someone who says they communicate with "spirits" of dead people.

That's what you believe...nothing wrong with that