Hi VP,
In another discussion, you tell us, "He (the Pope) basically said that when Christians fight amongst each other, we hurt the Body of Christ. I was moved by the truth of that statement, and chose not to participate in the Catholic/Protestant wars any further. Having said that, I am open to fruitful polite discussion; even if we disagree, I adamantly refuse to participate in 'spitting contests' or whatever you call it. Bill Gray is an attacker of my spirit, and he has been on block."
I agree 100% with your Pope; I feel very sad when I see Christians disagreeing and dividing on public forums.
You have written, "Having said that, I am open to fruitful polite discussion; even if we disagree. . ."
It would be wonderful to participate with you in fruitful, polite, civil discussions. And, we can do that if we can just stick to discussing what is written in the Bible. We might use what has been written by other people, i.e., commentaries, catechisms, articles, etc., as long as they are used to support what we have already shown to be found in the Bible.
Basically, what I am suggesting is that all our discussions have the Bible, i.e, verses, passages, as the core of the discussion -- and bring in documents which support or deny those Biblical teaching. Let's give it a try.
Like you, I tire very quickly of the "spitting contests."
You say, "Bill Gray is an attacker of my spirit."
I am sorry you feel that way, for I can honestly say that I have never tried to personally attack you. I have adamantly refuted and disputed many of the Roman Catholic doctrines and teachings that you post -- but, it was those doctrines and teachings I was refuting -- not you as a person. I believe you are most likely a very nice person.
On the other hand, if you mean that by disputing your church's teachings, I am, in that sense, attacking your spirit. I can understand that feeling -- for when the atheists and other non-believers denigrate God and our Christian faith -- that hurts me deeply also.
In that respect, I see two camps of atheists and non-believers. There are those atheists and non-believers whose faith tells them that God and the bible are wrong. I do not agree with that, but, I can understand them defending "their faith."
But, then, there are those who are not trying to defend anything. They are only here to argue, denigrate everyone's beliefs, and call people names. They will attack any person or any person's family -- and, actually enjoy that. I believe that is how some of these folks get their kicks; by defaming others -- and by trying to drive a wedge between people, doing their best to start a dispute between people who otherwise might find some ground for agreement.
These folks will always be with us; that is just the dark side of our human nature. So, we who want civil discussion must just ignore them, ignore the "spitting contests" they are promoting and move on to more constructive discussions.
You, Nathan, and David are Roman Catholics on the Religion Forum whom I believe are here to share your faith as you see it -- and, except when you have thought that I was personally attacking you -- we have had some good discussions.
The three of you, and I, will most often disagree. But, as long as we can base our agreements and disagreements on the Bible -- I believe we can benefit, and I believe that those who read our dialogues can benefit.
Nathan and I have good dialogues both here and on Facebook. We most often do not agree; but, for the most part we keep bringing it back to the Bible -- the 66 books for me, the 66 + Apocrypha for Nathan. While we disagree, neither of us gets nasty. And, that is how we can have good, productive Christian discussions on these public forums.
I am game; are you?
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill