Posted on 11/26/2001 2:49:05 AM PST by Brian Kopp DPM
Rhetorical Questions to myself and other Catholic Apologists here:
After reading numerous threads of what I term the "Freeper Wars," I'm going to state an assumption (which might well be terribly wrong) then ask a few rhetorical questions.
If a "Freeper Wars" thread (you know the type, starts out as a thread of interest to Catholic freepers, then turns into the standard anti-Catholic posts with attempts to defend the faith by the regular Catholic Apologists here) is several days old and several hundred posts long, the "undecided" will be few.
Your apologetics are not intended to convert those whose hearts and minds are closed (although, by the Grace of God it does indeed happen). They are intended to illuminate the intellect and soul of those still open to Truth, and still willing to learn. I doubt that many of those make it to that point in threads here, i.e., when threads are 200 to 300 posts or longer, several days old, etc.
Therefore, your time is being spent only on those you are directly responding to, when they do their own self search.
Is that an effective use of your time and talent? Or would prayer, not words, be more effective at this point? Are we trying to win souls, or points of debate?
Just a few thoughts I ask myself constantly on these types of threads, i.e., where is my time better spent, reading to my kids and spending time with my spouse, or trying to convert those late on a thread whose minds and hearts are hardened? Are there enough lurkers late in a thread to make it worth the amount of time and intense effort to defend the faith that these threads usually entail late in their usual progression?
| Denomination | 1990 Est. Adult Pop. |
2001 Est. Adult Pop. |
Est. % of U.S. Pop., 2001 |
% Change 1990 - 2001 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catholic | 46,004,000 | 50,873,000 | 24.5% | +11% |
| Baptist | 33,964,000 | 33,830,000 | 16.3% | 0% |
| Methodist/Wesleyan | 14,174,000 | 14,150,000 | 6.8% | 0% |
| Lutheran | 9,110,000 | 9,580,000 | 4.6% | +5% |
| Presbyterian | 4,985,000 | 5,596,000 | 2.7% | +12% |
| Pentecostal/Charismatic | 3,191,000 | 4,407,000 | 2.1% | +38% |
| Episcopalian/Anglican | 3,042,000 | 3,451,000 | 1.7% | +13% |
| Judaism | 3,137,000 | 2,831,000 | 1.3% | -10% |
| Latter-day Saints/Mormon | 2,487,000 | 2,697,000 | 1.3% | +8% |
| Churches of Christ | 1,769,000 | 2,593,000 | 1.2% | +47% |
| Congregational/ United Church of Christ |
599,000 | 1,378,000 | 0.7% | +130% |
| Jehovah's Witnesses | 1,381,000 | 1,331,000 | 0.6% | -4% |
| Assemblies of God | 660,000 | 1,106,000 | 0.5% | +68% |
http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html
EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANITY HAS EXPLODED in the last 30 years. From 1975 to 1995 alone,...it has increased by 410 million and thereby almost quadrupled in half a generation. The total now stands at 560 million, up from 150 million in 1975. Reliable sources say that around 94,000 people are currently becoming Christians each day. The number of Evangelicals is growing 3 times as fast as the world population The fact that an ever growing percentage of the world population are Evangelical Christians is something which can no longer be overlooked... Conservative estimates made by David Barrett (Atlanta), the leader of the Statistics working group of the Lausanne Movement and publisher of the World Christian Encyclopaedia, show that Evangelical Christians make up around 10 percent of the world population of 5.6 billion.
"Don't waste too much time with **********. He exists solely to suck your time away from your family."
I thought about this at length, and realized just how much time I was wasting on apologetics with those who have a hardened heart. I think this is an honest topic for debate with my fellow Catholic freepers, (and I'm not sure I even comprehend what form of baiting it is to which you refer.)
My thoughts exactly.
Fallen or driven?
I went "nowhere" for a while, until I started reading the Bible. Nothing clicked with what I'd learned as a catholic. It's like two different religions entirely.
As a fellow Catholic, it is my honest opinion that by posting a "closed discussion" to lament the appearance of the occassional anti-Catholic thread on a forum which enjoys such wide dissemination, you are inviting just the opposite.
Care to clarify? That's pretty open ended...
Wiccans can be true to their faith.
I believe that Truth is not a popularity contest, and that false gospels will indeed draw many converts in the end times, as Jesus said.
Please read again my original post. That was not the purpose of this thread.
A wise old man once told me, "If you don't want to hear the answer(s), don't ask the question."
Peace.
It's not the unreasoning fanatics; it is exactly the Catholic reasonableness.
I read the Bible, it says thus and such. Catholicism "missed it by that much". Some of their traditions are opposite of what the Bible teaches; but they're their traditions, and they're gonna keep 'em.
Catholicism is a Bible based religion; kinda.
After all, they breed like, um, catholics.
Try 9104. That's where the Neverending Story is at this time.
Therefore, your time is being spent only on those you are directly responding to, when they do their own self search.
Is that an effective use of your time and talent? Or would prayer, not words, be more effective at this point? Are we trying to win souls, or points of debate?
Probably not very effective, but it sure has helped me understand my faith even more. Of course prayer is always the first step. If we try to take on the hard of heart ourselves, we'll fail miserably. But if we rely on the Spirit to guide our thoughts and our words, there's no doubt that even the hardest heart can be softened.
Just a few thoughts I ask myself constantly on these types of threads, i.e., where is my time better spent, reading to my kids and spending time with my spouse, or trying to convert those late on a thread whose minds and hearts are hardened? Are there enough lurkers late in a thread to make it worth the amount of time and intense effort to defend the faith that these threads usually entail late in their usual progression?
My family time is just that. I don't FReep in the evenings and very rarely do I get online on the weekends. Time with your wife and kids should always come before time online. Yes, there are lurkers that can be enlightened and we should do our part to see that they do not fall for the tactics of the anti-Catholic (I'm speaking of the more rabid of them, btw). If we remained silent, the CC would be losing members at a more rapid pace that the present time and numbers would actually be decreasing instead of increasing.
Those of us who HAVE repented of our catholic religion; don't pick fights with catholics, as much as we attack their defense.
read it again. it does make sense.
Ahh, a true Christian.
I am a practicing RC, and very often find things that I don't agree with (when I'm looking).
My wife and I visit services of many other denominations, and I find things in those other churches that I really like, and also things that I don't agree with, (when I'm looking).
We have been blessed with a priest that gives the hard sermons: like the requirement to be "born-again", (refreshing from a Catholic priest), Pro-life sermons (that have people squirming in thier seats), Grace, forgiveness, sexual imorality, etc.
I've found many of my fellow Catholics to be not too scripturally sound - they are unfamiliar with the Bible.
But then there are many that are involved in Bible study - it all depends on my thinking being negative, or positive.
I've never been comfortable with a lot of the emphasis on Mary, and I believe that Mary would want ALL glory to be on Jesus - that is why the Gospels are about Jesus, and not Mary.
But then, like I stated aerlier, there are aspects of other denominations that I'm not comfortable with, either.
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
Their mind's made up, don't confuse them with facts.
Some of you people really do need to put your bibles down for a few moments, remove the nails from your cabin doors, and go out for a walk.
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