I’ve been
slapped hard . . . and sometimes in some excruciatingly tender places . . .
by foes and “friends/brothers” alike.
Some meant it for cruelty.
Some meant it for redemptive goals.
I tried . . . and eventually managed—by God’s Grace—in each case . . .
to REALIZE
IT WAS ALL
GOD’S !MERCY!
And not “just” because He works all things to good to those who Love Him,
I think God sometimes uses such things to get at some things in us which—in some respects—for some purposes—can’t get dealt with any other way.
I meant what I wrote. We explain why so few Catholics are good Catholics. We have another view of "Church," and we are patient, and think God is too.
We explain how worship of Mary (I will not trifle with words) IS worship of and in Christ, and we are ignored, and the old idolatry charge is repeated.
We refer to the iconoclastic controversy and John of Damascus, but our arguments are not addressed, the old mockery charge of idolatry is repeated , more loudly (and, ahem, sometimes, more colorfully.) ;-)
And it was your side that DID smash images. Iconoclasm is not just a metaphor. It's for real, and your side did it.
You claim that it is for our good, that the lies are to bring us to Truth, these blows meant to heal our wounds.
Have you made a lot of converts on FR? IS there ONE who says that the rough and hateful handling administered here led him from Orthodoxy or from the Catholic Church to some non-Catholic religion?
Yet many of us claim that what your side does confirms us in our loyalty to the Church. We were told we would be slandered, and here the word is fulfilled. How can we but think that He who promised that to us will not be faithful in all his promises?
IF this verbal violence is a deliberate evangelical tactic, not only is it wildly counter-intuitive but it seems feckless. You say we rationalize, but in the absence of results the claim of an evangelical motivation as a justification for indulging in the intoxication of invective seems to me to be a perfect example of finding a 'good reason' to cloak the 'real reason.' The more the tactic fails, the more you all persist in it. It's simply incredible to claim that this is a results driven effort.
It's simply obnoxious. It doesn't produce what you all claim it is intended to produce. Yet it continues.
Sure, we are not guiltless on our side. I wish we all, myself especially, were more temperate in our responses. I won't compare this to that, but I'm not going to take this kind of abuse and pretend that I think it it for my good.