I am reading this blog because it started with comments about Mike Gendron debating Tim Staples. I’ve recently come in email contact with Mr. Gendron. (Last week, before I even found out about the debate.) I tried to engage Mr. Gendron in a discussion about the Rosary and the verses he used to argue were the same as the the ones this John555 guy is using.
I’m shocked at how easy it is to predict what these evangelical protestants will say about Catholicism. Really, it would be pretty easy to publish an encyclopedia with charts showing the accurate Catholic theological responses to each of these predictable strains of thought that bother the protestants. (This has probably already been done.)
When Mr. Gendron realized I was going to stay on the point and not let him lead me, and when I gave him loads of correct information, he simply cut off contact. I haven’t heard from him again. All I wanted to do was ask him to add to his teaching that the Rosary is a meditative prayer on scripture, and the prayers themselves are from scripture. (I didn’t expect him to be fair, but I wanted to see if he knew he was being unfair. He does.)
He was kind of condescending to me assuring me that he ALREADY KNEW the Rosary was a meditative prayer on the gospels, but when he teaches it to protestants, of course he won’t tell that part. Then he told me that I didn’t know the “true gospel” and that I didn’t know the “consequences of a bad choice”. I told him thanks for the concern, and that talking to him was allowing me to sharpen my understanding of my Catholic faith.
Maybe that’s why he cut me off. Either he’s given up on me and my salvation, or he’s realized I know my faith and he can’t hoodwink me, or maybe he didn’t want to be the catalyst for driving me into deeper understanding of my Catholic faith.
Anyway, all anti-catholics are predictable. Learn your faith and don’t be afraid of them. Be more afraid of just letting them go with NO correction at all. I doubt anything I said will change Mr. Gendron’s views, but I believe I was obedient to God in challenging him. He really though he could send me one copy of his outrageous newsletter and I’d actually say “Oh, dear! Thank you so much for teaching me the true gospel, I made a huge mistake in attending RCIA (not once but twice, once as a sponsor) and converting from fundamentalism, and reading the Church fathers, and listening to the Holy Spirit. Now that I’ve heard YOUR talk Mr. Gendron. . .well, I’ll just give up the Eucharist that has helped me not only straighten out my mind, but also understand the Bible in context for the first time. . .and all because of YOUR little newsletter, Mr. Gendron.”
Now, really, WHY would I want to put the scales back on my eyes?
Again, don’t be afraid of these anti-catholics. Learn your faith and have confidence that you and I are in the right place. Be as nice as you can be while giving them your best answer, knowing you are doing the right thing, whether they ever accept what you say or not.
