You say,* “It offends me because it offends Christ. It is blasphemy.”*
If the Eucharist is as you say, then it is absolutely essential for experiencing the fullness of Christ. From your perspective then, our Communion looks like a cheap plastic imitation, and yet in our ignorance we say it’s just as good. But even from your perspective, don’t you think Christ would see that we simply don’t understand? It might leave Him feeling sad because we don’t experience it, but as His wise and patient nature indicates, I really doubt he would be* offended* at something said out of simple ignorance.
“I usually don’t show that I am offended, but then when I try to educate them[the ignorant], sometimes they get all defensive, and keep doing it anyway because they don’t want to believe it. Then they are no longer ignorant.”
I’m not so sure they are no longer ignorant… It is hard for people to see from another person’s perspective, and because of our fallen nature we all get defensive quite easily. But there is a way to control that, depending on your particular style of “educating them”. Perhaps they just don’t believe it* yet*. It doesn’t seem very strategic to blow it by taking their beliefs and stomping on them right in front of them.
Again, this is all from your perspective. I am Protestant and from my perspective I do feel Christ fully in my life. I mean no offense - it’s just a matter of perspective.
“If the discussing of the offending situation offends you, then I am still not sorry. Whether or not it offends people, it still needs to be discussed.”
This is true, unless the tone the discussion takes on is completely undermining the entire* reason* for the discussion.
*“Martin Luther and the other deformers.”
I spent many years as an atheist who hated Christianity because of all the hypocrisy, bickering and ignorance I saw among its followers. Why would I want to follow something like that, I’d say. But God chose to use my conservative Mennonite grandfather to display a huge flaw in my reasoning. My grandfather served as a quiet example of a humble, loving and patient Christian, and because of this I was able to see what a real Christian looked like. This enabled me to develop a respect for Christianity that was not there previously, and was a major stepping stone in my conversion process. Today I don’t agree with all of the Mennonites’ practices, but I have a deep and profound respect for them as a people.
So when you say “some guy” and “other deformers” – Yes, this is offensive to a great many people. So don’t be surprised when* human nature* causes them to get defensive, causing them to reject what you’re saying, causing them to miss out on what is according to you the most important Christian experience to be had on this earth. When YOU are the one dishing out the insults, then YOU are the one contributing to the discussion going south.
I am eternally grateful that God used my grandfather, a product of “some guy” and “other deformers”, as a means to rescue me from a lifetime spent lost and apart from Him forever. And with one careless word, something I hold dear to me had the potential to be run through the mud… but I choose not to let it because I choose not to be offended.
“Personally I do my best to not offend Protestants, without Compromising the Truth. People don’t like to find out that they are wrong. Its hard to do it tactfully sometimes, especially with those that want to argue, for prideful reasons.”
I know it’s hard. I have experienced the same outrage when my beliefs and my church have come under fire by people who don’t understand them fully. But as for compromising the Truth… The Truth is love and gentleness and wisdom and understanding and forgiveness. That is what I strive to uphold.