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I'm seeing some of that around here, and it worries me. We need to be very careful that we don't fall into the trap of treating "them" the way they treat "us"

I try to stay on topic and debate the issue at hand.. but a quick read will show that I have been mocked and insulted by "your side"..As Harry Truman said..if you can not stand the heat , stay out of the Kitchen .. I take the mocking and insults as a part of the forum....I guess that is a good rule to follow.. if our feelings are hurt, maybe this is not the right place to post, the nice "uplifting" Catholic forums might be a better venue

We can act like animals... should we? We can return like for like... should we?

My point isn't "boo-hoo, the Calvinists (or the Catholics) are a bunch of meanies, be nice". My point is the message isn't getting through the noise... or rather it IS but not in the manner the messenger is expecting and it's not the intended message. If poster X is a complete harpy the message that comes across is "believe like X and you'll end up like X, isn't that attractive?"

Well no, it isn't attractive and if that's how the faith of X works in X's life then count me out because it's totally useless. Especially if X is held up as a paragon of X's faith... Now me, I'm a lousy example of faithful Catholicism in action. I'm snide, arrogant, rude, selfish, nasty, combative, snotty, cranky... not as much as I was yesterday (I hope) and more than I will be tomorrow. Occasionally I shut up long enough for a glimmer of the light of Christ to shine through and even that's not of my own doing.

I realize how some people get around "This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you." They write all the "anothers" off and say "I don't have to show love to Y because Y is a reprobate heathen".

To those of that opinion:

How's
that
working
out
for
you?

Because from where I'm sitting, THAT is a complete catastrophe. NOBODY ELSE wants to be like that.

This isn't about well-moderated forums with everyone sitting around drinking tea. It's "IS there really a line of people waiting to sign up to join 'harpies for Jesus'?" Speaking as a former card-carrying member of the men's auxiliary who now only attends the pot luck dinners: I hate guest chef night at the chinese restaurant... my fried rice is supposed to be cooked spicy, not with a container of chili sauce on the side! I've only been ordering the same thing for the last 10 years, how can they mess this up?

*...nice “uplifting” Catholic forums might be a better venue.*

I am the one who posted about “uplifting” Catholic forums.

BTW, it isn’t a case of “feelings getting hurt”; it’s more about dealing with a certain kind of counter-productive “discussion”.

About that uplifting -—St. Paul exhorted us to think about and speak about things that were pleasant and of good report. No doubt he knew how effective such attitudes are in the sharing of faith.