Let me be clear: This is not a contest. It is not a pick-up basketball game in the hood where trash-talking is de rigeur. It is not a rock-fiught where any rock that comes to hand may be thrown.
I see no use and great temptation in conversing with those who think they are fighting a fight and that that justifies resorting to insult when reason fails.
If they turn again and show themselves to be concerned about more about the victory of the truth than of themselves — if they show that they can tell the two apart, then conversation can be useful to both.
Otherwise it is just one of the enemy’s snares and an occasion of sin.
Corollary: IF one were truly interested in bringing souls to the truth, Then he would not taunt and insult and,in general, raise the bar, so that admitting a mistake would be more painful then necessary. He would tend more to smoothing the path than to erecting barriers.
So we can reasonably conclude that when one makes it personal and is abusive he is not concerned as much with the truth as he is with his own personal power. All the more reason to stay away.
I see no use and great temptation in conversing with those who think they are fighting a fight and that that justifies resorting to insult when reason fails.
If they turn again and show themselves to be concerned about more about the victory of the truth than of themselves — if they show that they can tell the two apart, then conversation can be useful to both.
C'mon Mad Dawg...When the English speaking world has a definition for 'is' and then you tell us the Catholic religion has a different definition for the English word 'is', something's rotten in Denmark, or Bismark, or Haiti...
You converse in our language and then when we finally pin you down you claim what you are saying has a different meaning in the Catholic language...
That's not a failure of my reasoning...