If you have evidence of RC's trying to get folks banned, please pass it on to me. I loathe that sort of thing and -- as always -- appreciate the perpetual opportunity for defense of the Church that is the consistent and often ugly bashing of her as Whore of Babylon, etc. etc. I have never known the "RC's" around here to be terribly thinskinned and, moreover, think they do a fine job of handling their own business. Granted, I can see where some would like to have the more disgusting and loathsome posts edited out but I -- for one -- BEG them to reconsider. I think it's important that the contempt for and bigotry against the Church stand in all its awful glory for all to see.
(After all ... you're not paranoid if they're really out to get you ... )
A pity things got so out of hand and that your ire was so strong you couldn't resist the temptation to speak via private e-mail what clearly was improper for the public forum.
As for their taking your grievous actions so seriously as to post them, I think it just goes to show that they're not particularly interested in getting you banned but merely exposing the underbelly of your ministry as practiced here at FR.
Besides, you stand by your words ... as should anyone be prepared to stand behind what they say in private as well as public. Anything less stinks of hypocrisy and the furtive nature best suited to the malevolent intent of a heart of darkness.
The good Dr. Brian wants to sue the_doc because the_doc called him an idiot.
Come on! You don't think that is 'thinskinned'?
I'm sorry, but I laughed my self silly when I read that one -just as the good Dr. Brian would be laughed out of court!
Jean
I'm coming 'round to your way of thinking on this. I specifically avoided reading this thread, because I could guess where it would end up, though I did not expect it to be this venomous. I wish I had not been pinged to it.
Since I haven't read more than a few of the posts, has it been pointed out that the roots of the Protestant Lord's Supper are in the agapê meal, while those of the Eucharist are in the "breaking of the bread"? Both are practiced to this day among the Orthodox Christians and "Byzantine" Catholics. If not, you might want to pursue that avenue of discussion. I, for one, do not wish to participate.
One time I had to stay up until 5am writing calming FReepmails to someone who had been so disturbed by this rancor that he couldn't get to sleep. He wasn't for a moment persuaded by any of the Calvinist arguments; he was just surprised and deeply distressed to find himself the object of such abject hatred, wrapped in the guise of Christianity. He couldn't see any semblance of Christian "love" in such animosity. Neither can I.
It was at that point that my patience entirely ran out with these people. They are bullies, and a bully does not respond to charity; he only understands a pop on the nose. So, I decided from that point on that I would either take no part in these discussions, or would do so with a pre-established limit to the amount of goading I would take.
The most damning thing I could possibly do to the Protestant position is post excerpts from some of the tracts they circulate. When I get some more free time, I will do just that.
And to get back to the topic of this thread, I will say that your doctrine of drinking literal human blood and eating literal human flesh is actually a weird example of this (even though it is by no means what appalls Protestants the most about the RCC).
This would also appear to be why the RCs got OP banned from the Forum for so much as stating your own RC position clearly a week or two ago. Your own doctrine is offensive to you when someone points out what you are saying.
I cheerfully default to the non-nauseating spiritual explanation offered by the Protestants. Remember: The Lord Jesus said He used metaphors, not to instruct His enemies, but to confound them. And when we Protestants consider your interpretation of the Lord's Supper in that light, and place it alongside every thing else Rome has taught and done, we Protestants are sobered.
That's why we speak to you about it publicly in some cases and privately in other cases.