Some of us have attempted to build bridges off and on for 10+ years between the camps.
There’s a rabid contingent of RC’s who will not remotely tolerate it.
Their choice.
At this point it’s a challenge to speak the truth in love with comparable emotional, intellectual and spiritual intensity to the horrific untruths and Biblical distortions, lies etc. propagandized by the RC’s
and
to do so graciously.
I’m not sure how possible that is. Sometimes, a way seems available. Often not.
The Rabid Clique type RC’s WILL NOT avoid harsh personal assaults.
On top of that, they WILL NOT avoid horrifically blasphemous and UNBiblical outrages that usually come across as also obnoxiously baiting.
Many frequently posting Proddys let a huge percentage of the outrages go by without mention. However, usually there’s some assertions by the RC’s that trigger a kind of Sampson response . . . where we begin to look for the jawbone of a donkey and start swinging . . . or we start overturning the tables in the temple to send the heresies flying.
WHENEVER the RC’s have behaved sensibly, we’ve more than matched them. It’s hard to think of that ever being the case on FR for more than several hours to a few days.
Some of us are capable of turning the other cheek for days to weeks or even longer. And have done so more than a time or two.
It doesn’t change anything.
The venom is always there, lurking—eager to spew at the least excuse.
So, I try and take as balanced approach as I can discern to do.
I turn the other cheek or ignore the outrages and the outrageously harsh personal assaults more often than not.
When the outrageous heretical etc. assertions get to be too intolerable, I try to write with a similar emotional, intellectual and spiritual intensity compared to the stimulus I’m responding to.
I try to use wit, humor, Scripture, logic, accurate history etc. out of a clean heart. I don’t want any RC to suffer for outrageous blasphemy etc. And I particularly don’t want any unwitting onlooker to think that because there’s no Proddy response or only a milque-toasty wimpy Proddy response that therefore, there’s something credible to the RC blasphemies and gross heresies.
We Proddys have to answer for whether we have provided to every man an answer as well as any other Christian does.
Please bear in mind that this thread was entitled "Catholics, Get Ready to Suffer." CATHOLICS. There was no invitation by the original poster for posters to start talking about "horrifically blasphemous and UNBiblical outrages" or in other ways finding fault with Catholic doctrine. The article by its very title should scare all of us into holding our tongues about our disputes and differences--to say, "The atheists, the one-worlders, the leftists, the totalitarians are coming for all of us who believe in Christ, Catholic and Protestant alike; let's talk about what we can do together. As Franklin said, "We must all hang together, or assuredly we will hang separately."
Please, everyone, ask the Lord to take your anger away. Ask Him to help us focus on working together with our Catholic and Protestant brothers and sisters to fight the attacks of Satan. Don't let the Devil divide us; just resist that impulse to correct the doctrines of others. If people are going to go down what is in your view the wrong road, your language will not stop them. You witnessed your beliefs to them once or twice, and that's enough. Perhaps if you model Christian peace you can win them away from doctrine you think false. Perhaps not. But in any case you will not win them with invective.