And who would want to talk about them? I have noticed that some of the subject lines seem to be designed to stir up controversy. I also get the impression from some posters that they are looking for a fight. There seem to be some people who come here for the purpose of attacking a traditional approach to Catholicism and some to attack non-traditional approaches. Is there more to this sub-forum than fighting?
Welcome to the world of religion. There is no doubt some posters here want to stir up controversy. There is no doubt some posters here are looking for a fight. There is no doubt some posters here want to attack the traditionalist approach. There is no doubt some posters here want to attack non-traditionalist approaches to Catholicism. That is the world of religion. Ask yourself why.
Some people, irrespective of whether they are a traditionalist or a non-traditionalist post because they simply want others to agree with them, or because they want an arena to air their opinions. Have you ever heard the saying, ‘never discuss religion or politics?’ The reason this saying exists, is because finding common ground is so much more difficult in the field of religion or politics. To explain, when it comes to a mathematical or chemical equation, there is one ‘right’ answer. An answer that cannot be disputed. When it comes to religion, the answer is not so straight forward, because, it requires faith.
Religion stirs up controversy. Look at the life of Christ. Did he not, on many an occasion, stir up controvery? The Gospels are full of controversy stories. However, controversy serves a very positive purpose. It make us think. It makes us reason and analyse what we believe and why. When you push through controversy and accept the challange controversy presents, you come out the other side with a very deep belief, comforatable with who you are and why you think what you do and you feel less threatened, or annoyed by challanges to your faith. That is maturity of faith. I can recall meeting a Dominican priest who reacted to very little. The reason being, he was so comfortable with his faith he had no need to be upset by challanges to his faith, yet had the maturity to understand someone else’s views when they were not his own. I learned a lot about faith from that priest.
This is an internet forum. The internet provides us with anonymity. You cannot really conclude who someone really is, or what they really think from an internet post. There is a positive aspect to it, in that the internet gives us anonymity and and a forum to air our views without really falling out with anyone, as we don’t know posters personally. If we did, we may guard our tongue more conciously than we do. Yes, it is healthy discussion but, it is a virtual world and you don’t really know a lot about a person from a post on the internet. What I am saying is, don’t read
too much into what someone says on an internet post. You don’t really know who you are engaging in conversation with and you can only assume what their agenda is.
Traitionalists and non-traditionalists will always be in dispute. However, both make a valuable contribution to the Catholic faith. I can remember reading a theologian who said, ‘the pious are not liberal, and the liberal are not pious.’ The point he was making was, there is much tradtionalists and non-tradtionalists can learn from each other. If traditionalists could be a bit more non-traditional and non-traditionalists could be a bit more traditonal, we may actually hit on the essense of Christianity.
Don’t read too much into what you read on an internet sight. Take their words as it is and deal with what people say rather than attempting guess the intention behind their words. A post on an internet site tells you little about who the person posting is. People post on internet sights for all sorts of reasons. You can only guess what they are. If someone appears to want a fight on an internet post, what does that say about the poster?
You ask if there is more to this sub-forum than fighting. That depends what you personally want from the forum. If someone else wants a fight, that is their problem, you don’t have to make it yours.
the greatest tradgedy in history; WW1.