Some religious differences entail real contradictions, on minor or major points. Muslims say Jesus was merely a prophet, inferior to Muhammad. In other words, they claim that Jesus is not God. Christians say he was -- and is -- God incarnate. Muslims and Christians cannot both be right about this, nor is this merely a difference of terminology or emphasis. These beliefs about Jesus cannot both be true: either Jesus is or is not God.I can definitively say that this is something to be desired that all Christians remember. When I'm not at St. Blog's I hang with a little "gang" of ecumenical Christians ... a few Catholics, a few Protestants. I have always been amazed and delighted at how careful and understanding they are to understand each other and to look at the big picture rather than stabbing each other over variations in understandings of Christianity.
Thus, we can see that to treat all religious differences the same is a grave mistake. The apologist who does so risks unnecessarily alienating people from the Catholic faith by making more of a difference than is necessary or glossing over a difference that is crucial.
But even when he does not treat all differences the same, the contentious apologist can still fixate on them. Instead of understanding Catholicism in terms of the intrinsic structure of Catholic truth, he always places distinctive Catholic tenets at the very top of the "hierarchy of truths." He approaches the faith mainly in terms of what Catholics are against, instead of what we are for. In this way, the contentious Catholic apologist really becomes the anti-Protestant, anti-Orthodox, or anti-non-Christian apologist. As Christopher Derrick points out in his superb apologetical book That Strange Divine Sea, being Catholic means more than screaming, "The Protestants are wrong!" The Catholic faith has positive as well as negative aspects. But contentiousness tends to obscure that fact.How Not to Share Your Faith:
The Seven Deadly Sins of Apologetics
by Mark Brumley
This has led me to try to educate myself better over what various Protestant denominations believe so that I may put their comments in context. It is a slow and imperfect process but already has been very valuable in allowing me to stay in charity with these pals.
To be sure, there are those not of this "gang" who will come into some of those blogs and, under the guise of educating their more ignorant brethren, show such an extreme lack of Christian charity and desire to understand that I have been truly shocked.
This contentiousness has been a good example to me to strive for more charity myself and to remember St. Peter's wise words:
Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence...Also, whether for better or worse, it has led me to decide to occasionally put up "educational" posts to explain what Catholics believe and why in an effort to foster ecumenism among those of my nonCatholic friends who may drop by.1 Peter, 3:15-16
To be continued ... both the series of excerpts and the "ecumenical, educational" comments ...
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