Beware of Labels

[Peter_Dawson]

Frequently, some of my fellow Catholics here, when I post on issues like whether the Adam and Eve account his historical, or whether the Bible teaches that incest was a God-blessed thing for the first few generations of Man to preserve monogenesis, call me “heretic,” “blasphemer,” “Protestant,” “deceitful,” etc., etc., etc., etc.

And, of course, if it turns out that on a particular issue the label-maker is wrong, and I am right, all they do is quietly drop the topic after begrudgingly ignoring or rejecting contrary or problematic evidence, and they fail to apply the same labels to themselves.

When the Catholics here do that, they make our Church look terrible.

In all things, charity.

 

[Snerticus]

Frequently, some of my fellow Catholics here, when I post on issues like whether the Adam and Eve account his historical, or whether the Bible teaches that incest was a God-blessed thing for the first few generations of Man to preserve monogenesis, call me “heretic,” “blasphemer,” “Protestant,” “deceitful,” etc., etc., etc., etc.

And, of course, if it turns out that on a particular issue the label-maker is wrong, and I am right, all they do is quietly drop the topic after begrudgingly ignoring or rejecting contrary or problematic evidence, and they fail to apply the same labels to themselves.

When the Catholics here do that, they make our Church look terrible.

In all things, charity.

I hear ya on this one. I was told once that I believed in a heretical teaching when I was trying to explain something to an OP. The person telling me I was heretical was supposedly a theologian. The person also did not address the OP, but merely my posts regarding the OP. They could have done that via IM instead of making me look like a heretic on the thread. Anyway, I had said numerous times I was NOT a theologian and that I could be wrong in my posts. This person decided they didn’t care obviously.

This incident prompted me to start a new thread apologizing if my views were heretical and asking for clarification so I could understand the topic correctly. I was told my views were indeed correct by another theologian.

I never got an apology.

So understand where you are coming from.

Snert

 

[musicality]

I’m really glad that someone brought this up. I think that this is something that should also apply to people being discussed on the forum.

I’ll give the recent example of President Obama. CAF users have called him everything short of Satan.

As Catholics we should reserve our characterizations of people to the judgment of their actions rather than extending that judgment to the person.
I don’t see how we can expect to encourage others to join the Church if we place labels on them and their friends. Yes, we should hope that Obama will one day join the Catholic Church.

 

[Peter_Dawson]

Thank you for these posts.

I try to be clear and honest.

And that makes me a kind of “lightning rod.”

So, I get implicity or explicitly damned a lot.

I have learned to respond to the raw hatred issuing from angry devout members with gentleness and love. It is the best argument.

 

[Snerticus]

The case of public figures are a different matter, IMO. Their behavior will prompt others to either follow their views or not. In Obama’s case, anyone who believes in his abortion views or follows his abortion example will cause their soul to be in jeopardy. If you don’t believe that then it’s certainly your prerogative. However if there’s just the slightest chance that it could be true, I don’t want to be held accountable for being complacent on the matter. Don’t forget sins of omission are just as bad as the ones we commit. But this not only applies to Obama, it applies to any public figure that scandalizes Church teaching within it’s members.

 

[Ruthie]

“In all things, charity.”

Several ideas popped into my mind.

Peter, is it possible that a few people have apologized to you, but you haven’t noticed? I’m not accusing you; I just remember an “epiphany” of mine when I realized that I was seeing what I expected to see. So, maybe, that’s happening to you. And maybe not. I know we have a few faithful Catholic posters here that may be somewhat lacking in humility. (I may occasionally be one of them, .)

Of course, I do think that people, as a whole, don’t apologize nearly enough. I try to remember to at least admit that I was wrong. It seems to be a strong human “instinct” to defend ourselves when someone says, “You’re wrong,” even when we are.

“Church Lady”* voice: could it be… pride?!? (Speaking for myself, “yes!”)

Another is tone of voice. My computer doesn’t have it. I try to be very careful to label my jokes and sarcasm, so that they are not understood. I try to edit myself for tone, and to say things like “I don’t intend to be condescending” or other things. (See my first fat paragraph, for example!)

I also try to “hear” other people’s post in a reasonable tone of voice. That is, I try not to assume they are calling me an idiot unless they actually do.

So, yes, there are a few posters whose name I see and then grit my teeth, but I try to overcome. Most of the time. Some of the time. When I can.

• For all you youngsters, she was a classic Saturday Night Live bit of Dana Carvey’s. Very funny. And even funnier looking back from here, because most of the time “she” was right!

Sacred Heart of Jesus, glowing furnace of charity, have mercy on us.

Ruthie

 

[grannymh]

I agree about labels for people.

But how does one label issues?

And how does one label statements which are not in keeping with Catholic teaching?

And how does one describe strong opinions which are off kilter?

And how does one handle statements which are illogical?

And how does one label statements that are plain wrong?

 

[Newbie2]

Charity is the best answer. However, most times when it walks, talks, and quacks like a duck, it is a duck, and it’s appropriate to call it a duck.

But we can call it a duck in a charitable manner, most times. If the duck is daffy, it’s a daffy duck.

 

[JustaServant]

Frequently, some of my fellow Catholics here, when I post on issues like whether the Adam and Eve account his historical, or whether the Bible teaches that incest was a God-blessed thing for the first few generations of Man to preserve monogenesis, call me “heretic,” “blasphemer,” “Protestant,” “deceitful,” etc., etc., etc., etc.

And, of course, if it turns out that on a particular issue the label-maker is wrong, and I am right, all they do is quietly drop the topic after begrudgingly ignoring or rejecting contrary or problematic evidence, and they fail to apply the same labels to themselves.

When the Catholics here do that, they make our Church look terrible.

In all things, charity.

Another liberal.