Suppose that to be so. IF evangelism is, as many on your side pretend, the goal, why not "temper the wind to the shorn lamb?"
All that to say—IF ANY PRODDY HEREON HAS ANY JUSTIFICATION FOR FIERCE HOSTILITY—EVEN HATRED—TOWARD A LIST OF RC’S AND THE INSTITUTION IN GENERAL it would be me. And I have NONE.
We should all hope to be given that grace WHILE we work not to cause any of the little ones to stumble. But I'm still not going to pretend that "Soylent White Wafers" can in any way mount a claim to have been meant for my good. It seems designed to cause stumbling.
It is interesting that FR’s REL FORUM is . . . toned . . . a lot like the Middle East where two men in conversation literally nose to nose and yelling at one another—seemingly ready to slit one another’s throats . . . are just having a casual friendly discussion about the weather.
You may not like this: What this reminds me of is when my narcissistic older brother was tormenting his much younger siblings to the point of tears and rage and mom would come in to rebuke him, and he'd say, "We were just having fun."
I understand that y’all’s side tends to FEEL BLOODY AND BRUISED at fierce assertions of what some of us Proddys are convinced is merely stark but crucially vital TRUTH, FACTS, REALITY.
Is the point to evangelize or to blow off steam or what? There's a certain flavor of shifting rationalization here.
THE INSTITUTION IS NOT GOD.
Straw man. We never said it was. We DO say it is the Body of Christ
REACTING to assaults on the INSTITUTION as though it WERE GOD is merely further proof—TO PRODDYS—of the idolatry we are concerned about.
Another straw man. TO refer to the "Most Holy Sacrament of the Sacred Body and Blood of our Lord" as "soylent white wafer" is not, in my mind, going to hurt the Church or the sacrament. It IS however like telling me my kid is ugly and stupid, in the sense that it is abuse of something precious to me.
It makes no theological point, presents no argument. It is merely a witty if intemperate phrase, voiced, evidently, with the intent of giving offense of mocking something loved, rightly or wrongly, by others.
The claim that this is all about helping is is simply incredible. Where else does someone start an exercise in persuasive by trying to come up with the most offensive thing he can say to the person he claims to be trying to persuade?
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Good question. As Freud once said, "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar". Perhaps something that appears to be offensive was actually intended to be offensive.
LITTLE ONES . . .
Uhhhhhh which of the rabid clique sorts would you characterize as a “little one?”
I have some concern for the weak ones etc. who might read our threads.
However, I don’t think Christ had the Disciples go through the crowds and send away all the vulnerable “little ones” before He called the RELIGIOUS LEADERS of that era’s tyrannical RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION
sons of satan,
vipers,
white washed tombs.
I pray none are wounded or hindered. I repeatedly emphasize that my words are not for those for whom they are not true.
How many “little ones” might y’all’s side be concerned about infecting with idolatry?