My advice: be sure to use spell-check. It is really annoying to see misspelling after misspelling, with no apparent effort made to look up the right way.
Not very charitable!
To the contrary. People do judge a book by its cover. If you tried to argue with someone in person, and you were disheveled, dirty and unkempt, I would think they might disregard what you have to say based first on their bad impression. If they see that your work is thorough and well crafted, they’ll be more likely to listen to your arguments. Never give anyone any reason to disagree with you except with argument.
As in any ‘proof’ of various positions, go heaviest on Scripture, illuminate with the teaching of the Fathers (more sparingly) and perhaps use one quote from the Catechism, if you think it is applicable. (Especially if this person is a Protestant-- Scripture *must *be the first priority.)
Yes, I know. I plan to use as much scripture as sanly possible but, I figured that I should use the Early Church fathers and such to say, “You see. This is how the Early Church beleived and intepreted the scriptures (if it was written at the time)”. A sort of historical precident. And I wanted to keep it well balanced. And I hope that the spell cheack on Microsoft Word never fails me. But, two or three quotes on a topic is about where I should hold things to?
Well, it depends. Take it on a case by case basis. Perhaps you can show say, three verses, and then list several other verses as reference so they can look on their own. Sometimes you’ll need a longer excursion. For the issue of the Eucharist, you can’t neglect large portions of John 6 as well as the institution at the Last Supper, and of course, it would also be helpful to tie it in with the Passover, being as these passages all occur in the context of the Passover (the eating of the lamb) and Jesus as the Lamb of God (all over Revelation). So, realize that you have topics which whole books can be and have been written on, and try to get a wide enough picture to convince someone basically and to inspire awe in them.