Charity as a Christian on CAF

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There was an incredible posting today on CAF. A poster couldn’t tolerate another poster not listening to his views and then started a new thread using the other poster as an introduction to his own thread and agenda where it is all about his views and would not tolerate other views.

This got me thinking…how did our Catholic education fail such people? It is certainly a low point when people call themselves Catholic but has such a lack of charity. How can they call themselves Christ-like? I have Protestant friends who always call Catholics hypocrites. I know why now. This reminds me of the Gospel story where people wanted to stone the adulterer to death.
 
I know many Protestants who are horrible people and hypocrites, it goes both ways…
 
Human character rather than Church’s teaching. We are called to be Christ-like but such transformation can be quite elusive. There are many factors as to why, which perhaps is another topic.

There are many people who are extremely gifted but flawed in character.
 
Good post but I think your use of the words “couldn’t tolerate” sounds awfully like “judging”. You don’t know what was in his mind and it sort of sullied your premise.

Otherwise a good topic. Wonder if it can be better developed.
 
I think we are getting a few trolls , Ridiculing our Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. Claiming to be innocent. Then when people point out the error in their statements, that are against our teaching, they just persist for sport.
 
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ratio1 said:
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Reuben_J:
There are many people who are extremely gifted but flawed in character.
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My philosophical question is: can flawed character be changed by teaching or other means?
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Teaching is knowledge, therefore of course it is an important factor to causing changes in a person. However, that person has to desire that changes. That is the difficult part because in doing so, it invariably involved admitting one’s frailties and shortcomings especially in character. Often, we are too prideful to admit as such.

But yes, with proper teaching, and realizing one’s weaknesses and asking the Holy Spirit to change us, we will be indeed can experience changes and transformation. This is known as the fruits of the Holy Spirit that St. Paul talked about in Gal 5.
 
ratio1 said:
There was an incredible posting today on CAF.
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I am sure our Holy Father , Pope Francis , had some postings on Catholic forums in mind when in Gaudete et Exsultate he said , “Christians too can be caught up in networks of verbal violence through the internet and the various forums of digital communication. Even in Catholic media, limits can be overstepped, defamation and slander can become commonplace, and all ethical standards and respect for the good name of others can be abandoned. The result is a dangerous dichotomy, since things can be said there that would be unacceptable in public discourse, and people look to compensate for their own discontent by lashing out at others. It is striking that at times, in claiming to uphold the other commandments, they completely ignore the eighth, which forbids bearing false witness or lying, and ruthlessly vilify others. Here we see how the unguarded tongue, set on fire by hell, sets all things ablaze (cf. Jas 3:6).”
 
It doesn’t need to be an “either or” approach. How about “both”?
 
No you misunderstood me.
I mean both charity and standing up for the truth. They are not mutually exclusive.
 
True and agree. And charity is standing up truth.
Hence equally appalling is people who think they are standing up for truth but their uncharitable manner undermines the truth they are standing for.
 
This is most definitely not just a “Catholic” thing.
I have met many people who are Protestants, non-Christian religions, and no religion at all who, if you meet them in person, are decent enough to get along with, but transform from Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde when they get in front of an Internet screen.

I suspect many of these folks just can’t handle letting someone else have the last word, or place an inordinate sense of importance on whatever they are posting about. If you think that Issue X is the reason why the country is falling apart today, you will rant and rave about it, while a whole lot of other people might not see Issue X as being that important or may see it as not worth spending 2 minutes thinking about it. Also, doing it anonymously online where you don’t have to deal with in-person reactions causes some folks to go further than they would if the person they were speaking with was standing right in front of them. This is all well-known to those of us who spend a lot of time on the Internet, and we ignore a lot of it.

By the way - there are also a LOT of polite and well-balanced posters on here. Why aren’t you focusing on them and the good job they do, instead of clutching your pearls over the people who get out of line? You’re just rewarding bad behavior with attention.
 
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I listen to any good responses. And the bottom line is …you’re probably right!
 
Seriously? You get bad behavior anywhere there’s debating. It’s not exclusive to CAF or Catholics. Most people aren’t cut out for engaging in difficult discussions. Eventually it becomes emotional and has nothing to do with the OP. Me, I just leave when the discussion goes downhill.
 
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