Yesterday I posted two pictures that any rational person knows had one point and one point only: it is hypocritical to rant and scream and threaten in religious matters while claiming to be charitable and peaceful. The result of pointing out the hypocrisy of an entire group of commentators was predictable, though I didn’t expect Jimmy Akin to blow a complete gasket and make such a spectacle of himself in the process. Be that as it may, the irony is that just as we chuckle a bit when Muslims pull the “We are a religion of peace and if you say otherwise we will blow you to tiny bits!” trick so too the folks at Akin’s board and elsewhere just don’t get the idea that calling for me to be “charitable” while throwing every possible kind of insult at me, from questioning my mental stability, intelligence, honesty, integrity—well, you name it—does nothing more than prove my point. Since last evening Akin’s next “here’s some gas, and here’s a match” type of post has garnered, as of this writing, 301 combox comments. You do not have to read through half of them to come to the conclusion that “charity” is the last thing driving the comments of the Roman Catholics there. Hatred and animosity, yes, charity, no. So, Jimmy, thanks: debate over. Case closed. You lose.
Anyway, one comment in particular was pointed out to me, and I just had to post part of it here. You really, really have to wonder if “Paul” went back and re-read what he wrote here. Check it out:
James White is, quite simply, a moron. His arguments are moronic. He is a moron not of necessity (for that would not be something to be held against him), but rather a moron of convenience. I think his stupidity is a defense against the Truth that is the Roman Catholic Church. And, as he is becoming more stupid, I can only imagine it as a sign that he is moving closer to Rome. His arguments appear as a patter of weak hands against the door of the Church, not sure if they are thrusting away or bidding entrance. I would not be surprised if White becomes a Catholic in the next few years. Given, of course, good charity and a clear head from those whom he listens.
Yes, well, my mother was a hamster and my father smelt of elderberry, too, right? (If you don’t get that, never mind). In any case, did Paul really mean to say that as I become more stupid I am moving closer to Rome? Does it follow that if I reach the very heights of moronhood that I will most assuredly swim the Tiber? Is that what he really wanted to suggest?
I can’t help but think of just a few months ago when, in the thread at the CA Forums calling for a day of fasting for my conversion to Rome, the thread was filled with the ever-present insults, slams, lies, etc.—all very charitable, of course. Do these folks really think that lying about me, slamming what I have written without showing the first bit of knowledge of it is supposed to attract me to this religion? Evidently, but I confess, I don’t begin to understand the mindset.
In any case, to dear Paul, the charitable combox commentator there: Thank you so much for your kind words. I can assure you, the only time I will darken the door of the church of Rome is to engage her defenders in debate. There is nothing in your system to attract me. Your papacy repels me for many reasons, biblically and historically, and I would refer any honest-hearted person to the debates I have engaged on this topic. Your gospel is a shadow, a shell, a soul-enslaving treadmill of never-perfecting sacraments without a perfect Savior, without a true promise of God-centered salvation. I will never understand how anyone who once professed the true faith could embrace it, but, of course, I don’t believe anyone who has, by the Spirit’s power, come to know their own sinfulness and Christ’s glorious sufficiency could do so. Empty profession is no bulwark against apostasy. So really, Paul, your religion has nothing to offer me. It has no attraction. I know its image as the “ancient church,” shrouded in the mists of time, is but a facade. I’ve spent too much time in the early sources to buy the facile arguments of Rome’s apologists. My feet are firmly planted on the solid, unmovable rock of Scripture, so you don’t need to worry about this moron sitting next to you someday at your services. But I do thank you for joining so many of your co-religionists in proving my points for me regarding how to be charitably uncharitable. No one has ever been so charitable while calling me a moron. Many thanks.