The “Crimson Catholic” seems to be jumping from forum to forum hoping to be noticed or at least to be seen as a great defender of the Catholic faith. I noted tonight that he has decided I am a Nestorian now–if you don’t bow down before statues or think there is a difference between latria and dulia and hyper-dulia, you evidently “implicitly deny the single personhood of Christ.” Yeah, I know, that’s absurd on its face, and it is absurd the deeper you dig. But it is the best Prejean has, because he can’t engage the text. For all his constant insults and ad-hominem, he, like most of his compatriots, can only argue for a particular interpretation of what one church father said against another. He has trotted out Nicea II, to which I say, “Wonderful—how about dealing with the biblical evidence I have presented?” Don’t hold your breath, it won’t be happening. That’s not Prejean’s thing. He’s in Art Sippo’s camp, and anyone who has experienced the blast-furnace “charity” of Sippo knows what that means.
You see, these folks just do not realize that for all their attacks upon me, my scholarship (not a one of them has even tried to touch my published journal articles, for example—if I’m so dumb, shouldn’t it be easy to pick apart, fairly and accurately, what I’ve published?), my character, and any number of other things, people who are really thinking realize that they have completely ignored the actual substance of my objections posted recently on this blog. And that fact speaks volumes to them. The few who are concerned about this might well take the time to read, or to listen to the debates we have done. And they will find that for all the wild-eyed rhetoric of an Art Sippo or the sophistry of a Crimson Catholic, all of that is a mere distraction from the real issues.
I’d love to have Prejean call back into the Dividing Line and prove me wrong that the central semantic core of dulia and latria intersect smack dab in the middle of db;[‘ so that any person seeking to give pure hd’Ab[] to God cannot in any way, shape, or form, pretend to be “serving” an image while only “worshipping” God. Possibly he would like to discuss the relationship of the Hebrew concept of worship and service to the commonly used New Testament description of true Christians as dia,konoi / dou/loi? Lord willing and we can get the server operational tomorrow, he’ll have his chance. We will see how many of the brave souls who have launched their Katyusha rockets my direction will actually stand forth and be counted when the phone lines are open, or whether they will be counted amongst the Internet Hezbollah who are brave for a moment and then hide amongst the women and children when it matters.
Update: the same Shane I referred to below posted a strong rebuke, alleging that I have somehow “demonized” my opponents here. Once again, something tells me that if the roles were reversed, all of a sudden the blinders would come off and Shane would not be confused. Katyusha rockets are against the rules of war since they cannot be aimed at a particular target. They are meant to do general damage. So too are the inane, empty, vacuous ad-hominems that make up the substance of the Roman Catholic commentary to which I have been replying. They are random attacks that are not aimed at specific targets such as the biblical evidence or reasoning behind denying the propriety of Rome’s dogmatic affirmation of prayers to saints, angels, and Mary. Further, those firing them are cowards. They hide amongst civilian populations so that if they are attacked it will always be possible to cry foul. Aside from Shane himself, and Mr. Prejean, both of whom called once, the rest of the rabble-rousing crowd that is so quick with the slander and so slow with the study does the same thing. Need I post examples? It would be quite easy to do so, as Shane well knows. I’ve watched it over and over again. They will bravely proclaim my error—until I face them directly. And then all of a sudden the bravado is gone, and often times, so are they, scurrying off only to come back again when they feel the “coast is clear.” The parallels should be obvious, but again, prejudice blinds the mind to even the obvious.
Alpha and Omega Ministries is a Christian apologetics organization based in Phoenix, Arizona. James White, director, is a professor, having taught Greek, Systematic Theology, and various topics in the field of apologetics for numerous schools.