Posted on 04/14/2002 8:01:03 PM PDT by Brian Kopp DPM
The law of diminishing returns is a business/economics concept that has application in our apostolates, and maybe specifically the FR Catholic Caucus' efforts here.
It refers to the fact that, in the short run, as the amount of one variable input increases, all other inputs held constant, the addition to output from each new input diminishes. This production law cannot be avoided -- if it could, we could feed the world from a flower pot!
What does this all mean?
In application to our energies and efforts here, it means spend your time where your efforts will bear the most fruit.
It is increasingly obvious that the segregation of the FR Forum has driven religious discussion into a "Religion Forum" ghetto.
Previously, religious discussions were posted within the General/News forum under Culture/Society: Discussion of health, education, welfare, drugs, abortion, environment, housing, unions, employment, social security, religion, arts, humanity, sports, and other cultural and societal issues. topic.
Thus, religious discussions were visible to all on the Free Republic Forum, and policing for bigotry and vile attacks and outright lies was more even and appropriately applied.
Now that religious discussions have been exiled to the Religion Forum ghetto, for all intents and purposes, we are no longer part of the vast majority of discussions and interchanges on the overall Free Republic forum.
Furthermore, because they finally exiled us here so that these discussions will not "bother" the rest of the Forum, they have applied a "hands off" policy that allows behavior and words that never would have been tolerated while religious discussions were part of the general Free Republic Forum.
some would say, with some merit, that we are all adults and that we should be allowed and able to engage in bare knuckled debate here.
There is a case to be made for this.
Yet this same bare knuckled debate will only scandalize the folks we really need to reach. See below for a review of "who" our real enemy is and thus where our most energy and efforts should be spent.
Previous to the exile of religion to the Religion Forum ghetto there were vibrant and intense threads on culture of life issues here on the general/news forum. These threads seemingly are few now, with all of us fighting for our lives on pointless theological debate and disparage threads, within the Religion Forum ghetto, and the culture wars are remaining unfought in the general/news forum, and religion has disappeared from that forum.
Admittedly, the scandals have served to cause this as much as the forum structure change.
My humble recommendation?
If you are truly changing someone's heart within a Religion Forum thread or have reason to think you must defend some aspect of our belief against yet another set of lies and slanders, then by all means, engage the fight. Remember though, the more they attack without charity, the more they undercut their own cause.
However, if the thread does nothing but make ALL Christians look like uncharitable folk, kooks and cranks, who are a bunch of infighting hypocrites, shake the dust off your feet, leave quietably, humbly, and charitably, and don't look back. (I've made the mistake far too many times of descending into the mire myself.)
Take a brief respite in those threads where we have been given our marching orders by our very own FR Chaplain, Father Elijah (especially Roman Catholic Concern: Action Plan Repost). Call upon our Patroness for her intercession.
Then break out of this Religion Forum ghetto.
Search all your favorite sites for articles that are appropriate for the General/News forum, stressing culture of life issues. Enter the secular threads about the scandals, pray for wisdom and understanding, and engage the debate there.
Cultivate the General/News forum threads you post or those in which you engage so that, by intellectual debate and informed discussion on their turf, you can still convey the eternal truths this world needs to hear.
Its time to break out of this Religion Forum ghetto, hold your head high as a soldier in Christ's Church Militant, and take back the field.
The scandals are not going to end soon.
But neither can we be idle waiting for a "chance" or a "change" in order to fulfill our mandate to preach the gospel. We have the only thing available to help this world. Lets share it unashamedly, without embarassment, and with Pride to call ourselves members of Christ's True Church!
I think the point has been reached in the the Religion Forum ghetto where the law of diminishing returns takes effect. It does not matter how much more effort we expend in this Religion Forum ghetto, our victories are limited by the small number of those on Religion Forum threads, and our Christian witness is undermined by the vitriol and violence of others calling themselves "Christian." (Incidentally, it was the same recalcitrant and unrepentant vitriol and violence of others calling themselves "Christian" that drove all of us into this ghetto in the first place. Let them stay here and debate how many Calvinistic angels can dance on the head of a pin. We have work to do.)
Below are two excerpts we must read and apply to our efforts here.
v.
While I believe and contend that the Catholic Church needs to start a wave of mass excommunications of all the gay, pro-abort sorts, I'm equally happy to critique Protestant denominations when they need to change: for example, the United Methodist Church recently appointed a minister to serve Planned Parenthood...if that's not sacrilege, nothin' is.
Imagine how low we would go if we didn't have militant Islam to worry about. Sadly, it seems like we need this thorn in our side.
Plenty of us can seriously discuss both the Bible and the Catechism.
By the way, you do know where the Bible came from, don't you?
I have another quote, which comes from the book that I referenced earlier. It doesn't list the sermon or work that it was taken from. Perhaps you know?
It rather shows the extreme in his views.
"Be a sinner and sin on bravely, but have stronger faith and rejoice in Christ, who is the voctor of sin, death, and the world. Do not for a moment that this life is the abiding place of justice: sin must be committed. To you it ought to be sufficient that you acknowledge the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world.; the sin cannot tear you away from him, even though you commit adultary a hundred times a day, and commit as many murders."
oops!
Nevermind about the ten commandments, I suppose. I wonder what Luther thought about the bible passage where Jesus said he came not to change the law, but to fulfill it.
Any little excuse to throw off moral responsibility.
13. If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides. We, however, says Peter (2. Peter 3:13) are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where justice will reign. It suffices that through God's glory we have recognized the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. No sin can separate us from Him, even if we were to kill or commit adultery thousands of times each day. Do you think such an exalted Lamb paid merely a small price with a meager sacrifice for our sins? Pray hard for you are quite a sinner.
Bttt for historical perspective. Note when this thread was originally posted. Has anything significantly changed?
Has anything significantly changed?
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
Honestly, I wasn’t thinking about that aspect; when this was originally posted, “Catholic Caucus” was just a term we used to give a heads up to fellow Catholics. The whole “Caucus” designation scheme created by the RM hadn’t even been considered yet, so technically this isn’t a [CAUCUS] Caucus thread. Does that make sense?
All it takes is saints. Can you imagine what twelve more Mother Teresas would do for the world? Can you imagine what would happen if just twelve readers of this article offered Christ 100% of their hearts and held back nothing, absolutely nothing? --Peter KreeftIt would nice if there was a caucus thread that allowed non-Catholics with real questions to enter. Ecumenical does not work in that regard. Distraction used as a form of antagonism is allowed. Free Republic must have its share of visitors who are fallen-away Catholics and/or those that truly want to learn about the faith. Ones that do not repeat, like a screeching minor bird, "You worship Mary -- you worship Mary," but ones that ask, "Why do Catholics pay so much attention to Mary?" It could be an [ASK A CATHOLIC] caucus thread, with NO antagonism allowed ...
"The only mistake in life is not to become a Saint." --???
It is increasingly obvious that the segregation of the FR Forum has driven religious discussion into a "Religion Forum" ghetto.Once they put all the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto, what happened next?Previously, religious discussions were posted within the General/News forum under Culture/Society: Discussion of health, education, welfare, drugs, abortion, environment, housing, unions, employment, social security, religion, arts, humanity, sports, and other cultural and societal issues. topic.
Thus, religious discussions were visible to all on the Free Republic Forum, and policing for bigotry and vile attacks and outright lies was more even and appropriately applied.
Now that religious discussions have been exiled to the Religion Forum ghetto, for all intents and purposes, we are no longer part of the vast majority of discussions and interchanges on the overall Free Republic forum.
Furthermore, because they finally exiled us here so that these discussions will not "bother" the rest of the Forum, they have applied a "hands off" policy that allows behavior and words that never would have been tolerated while religious discussions were part of the general Free Republic Forum.
some would say, with some merit, that we are all adults and that we should be allowed and able to engage in bare knuckled debate here.
There is a case to be made for this.
Yet this same bare knuckled debate will only scandalize the folks we really need to reach. See below for a review of "who" our real enemy is and thus where our most energy and efforts should be spent.
Previous to the exile of religion to the Religion Forum ghetto there were vibrant and intense threads on culture of life issues here on the general/news forum. These threads seemingly are few now, with all of us fighting for our lives on pointless theological debate and disparage threads, within the Religion Forum ghetto, and the culture wars are remaining unfought in the general/news forum, and religion has disappeared from that forum.
Admittedly, the scandals have served to cause this as much as the forum structure change.
My humble recommendation?
If you are truly changing someone's heart within a Religion Forum thread or have reason to think you must defend some aspect of our belief against yet another set of lies and slanders, then by all means, engage the fight. Remember though, the more they attack without charity, the more they undercut their own cause.
However, if the thread does nothing but make ALL Christians look like uncharitable folk, kooks and cranks, who are a bunch of infighting hypocrites, shake the dust off your feet, leave quietably, humbly, and charitably, and don't look back. (I've made the mistake far too many times of descending into the mire myself.)
Take a brief respite in those threads where we have been given our marching orders by our very own FR Chaplain, Father Elijah (especially Roman Catholic Concern: Action Plan Repost). Call upon our Patroness for her intercession.
Then break out of this Religion Forum ghetto.
Nobody opposed the creation of the Religion Forum ghetto years ago. That was a big mistake.
I beg to differ -- we have had non-Catholics such as redgolum enriching our caucuses -- he disagrees with some of our beliefs, but there is a way to disagree in a civil manner. I do believe the Ecumenical threads allow for this dialogue -- you can freely ask questions on them, but cannot be mean.
Unfortunately no one patronises the Ecumenical threads.
nope, nothing has changed, people are the same. See the post below yours
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