These comments are directed to you since you have been on CAF for a long time and know what is happening more than I think I do.
I’ve seen plenty of posts with good arguments on behalf of Catholicism, so I am not discussing content per se. What I am not seeing is something like good strategy based on who the other person is and how she or he thinks.
When dealing with apologetics the strategy has to do the following:
- Answer the question at face value.
- If your answer leads to another question, you can assume that you’re now in dialogue mode.
- If you get back a condemnation of your answer, you can assume that you’re now in confrontation mode.
From that point forward, you decide whether you want to remain in the dialogue, if that’s where the converstion is going. If it’s going into confrontation, you have to decide whether you want to enage in a fight.
I like dialogues. So I say in the ring. I hate fights. So I simply tell the person, straightfup, that I’m not here to fight with him or her. I’m willing to talk, when they are. I’m not willing to fight. My inner silence and inner peace is much more important than your own. We have a duty to preserve our inner silence. Engaging in confrontations takes away my inner silence, because they only make me angry. So, I don’t do confrontations.
Unfortunately, I have no clue how to explain strategy. Maybe strategy is not the correct word for relationships between well-meaning people. It is just my gut instinct that having a good argument is not enough at times.
The Greek Masters invented the word argument. The term described a process to arrive at the truth. It was not a shouting match or a battle of wills. Argument goes more like this.
A = B
B = C
therefore A = C
Since most priests and religious brothers have very extensive training in philosophy, you will not see us engaged in arguments of any other kind. We find it demeaning to go there. I for one wish that the lay faithful would follow suit. I wish that the lay faithful would stick to the classical philosophical manner of arguing. Like the example that I gave above. It would save people from violating charity. It would preserve the inner silence needed to hear the voice of God. It would preserve us from unnecessary anger that often leads to sins of passion, either verbal or physical. It would present Catholicism in a much more dignified posture. It would help your blood presure.
There is nothing wrong with saying that one refuses to dignify a statement or question with a response. We have a duty to be humble. That means that we come down to the level of poor, the unwanted, the ignorant, and the common person. Humility does not mean coming down to the level of the idiot. In fact, to do so is a sin. When one does so, one gives up something of his dignity.
When have we ever seen popes, bishops, abbots, saints, doctors of the Church argue with anyone who is a total buffoon? Never.
In the history of the Church we see arguments between the great doctors and the heretics. But keep in mind that these heretics were very intelligent people. The Fathers of the Church and the great doctors that followed enjoyed arguing with the very intelligent. Why? Because the argument followed the classic format. I present my premises and conclusions, then you present your premises and conclusions. They often got very passionate, because they felt very strongly about their positions. But they did not engage in nastiness.
Once the other person became nasty, the Fathers and the Doctors of the Church walk out. They refused to stoop down to that level of nonsense behavior. That’s how the term anathema came into existence. It was first applied to the idiots of the time. It meant that you were such a dummy, that you were not welcome in the same room, never mind the same Church.
Anathema later went on to include those who persisted in error, for the same reason. They were acting dumb. They were not trying to arrive at truth. They were trying to defend their position and make sale. The Church has made it a policy that she does not engage in these conversations.
Look at something common today, the pro-choice/pro-abortion people. Great men like Fr Frank Pavone will debate the point with many people. He never debates with the shouters and the bashers.
We have to recover our classical posture. We’re not going to be respected for our shouting and stamina in an argument. We’re going to be respected for our dignified behavior.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
) and so…I grow in my faith.