Apologetics for the Masses, #393 - The Doctrinal Dance (cont'd)

Bible Christian Society

Social Media - Please Share This Newsletter On...

Please click one or more of these links to share this newsletter with folks on the various social media platforms you frequent...thanks!

Topic

An email exchange with a Protestant who does everything possible to avoid answering my questions.

Unsubscribe/Subscribe

http://www.biblechristiansociety.com/newsletter/unsubscribe - to unsubscribe from this newsletter

http://www.biblechristiansociety.com/newsletter - to subscribe to this newsletter

General Comments

Hey folks,

     If any of you are interested in taking the online apologetics course I taught last semester for Homeschool Connections, or maybe having your kids take it, you should be able to do so very soon.  I hope to have the information on how to sign up, cost, etc. in the very near future.  Hopefully will have it in time for next week's newsletter.  So, keep an eye out for that...especially you homeschoolers.

     And, if you're interested in watching the Bible study I've been doing on 1st Peter on Monday nights, you can see all of the sessions on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/CrimsonCatholic  and here on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/BibleChristianSociety.  You can join me live on Monday from 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM (Central)/12:30 AM - 2:00 AM (GMT) using either of those two links or via Zoom: https://quorumvc.zoom.us/j/2053971000?pwd=TnVVSnRDMGdOR3F1WkIwQjBmb1hhZz09

Introduction

     In this newsletter I continue my dialogue with Dancer - an anti-Catholic Protestant - who favors the shotgun approach to dialogue and who does a lot of dancing from one topic to another (thus the name, Dancer, as in the doctrinal dance).  The conversation, as it took place, was rather difficult for me to follow - again, because he would just shoot off multiple emails with multiple topics all within just a short period of time - which makes for a bit of difficulty in trying to translate it exactly as it happened into this newsletter.      

     As I started working on this newsletter, it grew into something larger than I had originally planned, due mostly to the nature of the conversation - well, I loosely call it a conversation - since it was scattered all over the place.  In trying to turn it into something manageable to print for this newsletter, it just sort of kept growing.  So I decided to truncate this newsletter and make it, essentially, a background piece for next week's newsletter.  I'll call the last two newsletters Phase I of this exchange - the initial assault from him and my responses.  This newsletter is Phase II - a summary of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th rounds of the exchange which involves streamlining the conversation and eventually boiling it down to one question...where I set a trap for him, that he walked ever so willingly into.  And, next week will be Phase III - springing the trap and watching him squirm mightily to get out of it. 

     What I'm going to do here, then, is give you several examples of the emails he shot off to me in an attempt to just overwhelm me after my replies to his initial shotgun blasts.  I will also give you a general summary of my response to all of these emails.  This will serve as background for next week's newsletter and the phase of my exchange with Dancer where some progress was finally made. 

Challenge/Response/Strategy

Dancer

[Here are some of his many emails that he sent me in response to my short replies to his inital shotgun blasts.  You can see those short replies (labeled 2.A, C, D, and E) in the last newsletter:

https://www.biblechristiansociety.com/newsletter/531-apologetics-for-the-masses-392-the-doctrinal-dance-cont-d ]

 

Email 1:

Yes I agree with Romans [Rom 2:6-7]. If we are truly born again. A true Christian we will continue to TRY key word TRY  to live Christ like lives and by his example LOVING ONE ANOTHER show compassion mercy giving and forgiving!!

[Then he quotes Matthew 7:21-23]

 

Email 2

[He quotes Romans‬ ‭10:9-10‬, ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2:8-10‬, Matt 22:37-40 with no comment about them.  His only comment in the email was:]

"You perverted this scripture into making it sound like to LOVE is works ??? Really????"

 

Email 3

     Works of the law are the TEN COMMANDMENTS PLUS everything the so called religious leaders tried to add and impose on the people and ARE ABSOLUTELY YHE SAME AS GOOD WORKS you sir are twisting scripture and taking things out of context. And Mary and Joseph had more children after the virgin birth which is clearly stated in the gospels snd many other places where there is clear DISTINCTION between Jesus’s physical family and HIS SPIRITUAL FAMILY!!!! No perpetual virgin !!! Sorry in those specific verses brothers means brothers.

     [He then quotes Matt 13:55-57 and John 7:3-5 before closing with:]

peter rock petros
JESUS ROCK PETRA!!!!!!!

 

Email 4

Of course faith without works is dead.  Absolutely but no amount of works can save us. But a true born again Christian will do good works 

 

Email 5

[All he does is quote Matthew‬ ‭12:46-50‬, Luke 8:19-21, and Luke 11:27-28, with no comment.]

 

Email 6

     1.Mary is not equal with God nobody ever was and Mary was a sinner just like you and me , Roman 3:23 for ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD. That includes mary,  Plain and simple , the Bible clearly teaches that ONLY JESUS was without sin and yes the ccc teaches Mary was sinless and perpetual virgin another LIE what in the world does it mean to have relations or union with your wife or to consummate the marriage, SEXUAL RELATIONS, and that she is equal with HIM. Simply by the TITLES the rcc has placed upon her again in the 1500’s 

     2.perfect example. The thief on the cross,  well one of thief’s , Jesus told him TODAY you will be with ME IN PARADISE, NO BAPTISM NO GOOD WORKS he didn’t earn it. Simply by FAITH HIS BELIEVING 

     3. The BIBLE says we will be rewarded for our good deeds and works and I usually always include v10. When I quote EPHESIANS 2:8-10.
Our works and deeds and our love are the FRUITS OF OUR FAITH after believing we are saved then we continue to walk in them !! Proving we are born again Christians !!!! How much works does it take to be saved and the catechism teaches you can do enough works to save someone else .???? Really IT DOESNT GET MUCH PLAINER OUR WORKS ARE FILTHY RAGS.  AND WE are saved by grace through FAITH NOT BY WORKS SO NO ONE CAN BOAST. If we are truly saved we will DO THE WORKS GOD PREPARED IN ADVANCE FOR CHRISTIANS TO DO the works do not save us CHRIST ON THE CROSS SAVED US once again man wanting to take some credit the RCC GUILTY OF TEACHING THE INSUFFICIENCY OF THE CROSS 

[And he closes by quoting 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 with no comment.]

 

Email 7

     If your life does not show the fruit then you are PROBABLY TRULY NOT SAVED TO BEGIN WITH.  Look at this this is TRULY SCARY don’t you think.???? [He then quotes Matt 7:21-23, again, and then closes with:]

     "Paul says absent from the body is to be present with the LORD , NO PURGATORY again if there were anything we could do in this life or the next then JESUS WAS MURDERED. and the ccc again teaches Jesus just merely open the door or the way for man to save himself and that JESUS LORD OF LORDS KING OF KINGS IS A VICTIM another LIE !!!!!!!!!!!!"
 
------------------------------------------------------
 
My Comments
     I could add probably a dozen or so more here - I can't remember how many he actually sent because I have deleted a number of them.  Anyway, those should suffice to show you why the name "Dancer" is a perfect fit for this guy.  In these few emails he talks about Mary - sinlessness of and perpetual virginity - Peter, Purgatory, salvation, sola fide, works, works of the law, the Catechism teaching that man saves himself (really?!), "true Christians," once saved always saved, Baptism, Isaiah 64:6 and filthy rags, and then any others he may have been alluding to with the various Scripture verses he quoted. It was almost as if he was having a conversation with himself. 

     So, essentially, what I did was simply repeat my questions that I had asked him, and I repeated them a couple of times.  He then sent me many more emails that avoided anything like a direct answer to what I was asking, so I finally just verbally gave him a shot between the eyes.  Again, I did it to purposefully provoke a response.  I figured I had nothing left to lose and it was basically one last attempt to see if I could get anything like an honest and direct answer from him, as opposed to him just spouting off with the lies and malice he had learned from his various anti-Catholic resources. 

     Here is some of what I said:

     "Look, Dancer, it is becoming quite obvious to me that you do not want to have a conversation, or to learn anything, and that you are not open to nor are you searching for the truth.  All you want to do is preach and you want me to listen.  Sorry, but it doesn't work that way.
     "It is quite apparent that you really don't have answers for my questions or rational and reasoned arguments to respond to the arguments that I make, so instead, you have to yell and condemn and pitch a fit like a child.  You can't stay on one topic because you have no answers to the questions I ask or the arguments I make, so you have to keep switching topics.
     "I hoped, at first, that you might have a genuine interest in an actual conversation.  I see now that my hope was in vain."

[And then I asked one final question.  This has become one of my favorite questions to ask of a Protestant, and I think it is a question every Catholic who ever has one of these "dialogues" with a Protestant should ask.]

     "I'm going to ask you one question...just one...and if you answer it directly, and without hatred and condemnation and false accusations, then I will consider responding to your other emails.  If not, then please know that I will blacklist your email and all future emails will go straight to my junk mail file.

     "Here is that one question: Are you seeking God...yes or no?"

How do you think he answered?  And what was my response to his answer?  Find out next week.  Although, for those of you who have been reading these newsletters for a while, you know exactly where this is heading...

Closing Comments

I hope all of you have a great week.  Please pray for a special intention for me...I've got some things in the works that could really crank up the evangelization efforts of the Bible Christian Society.  Stay tuned...

Donations

     The Bible Christian Society is a non-profit organization that relies solely on your support to bring the truths of the Catholic Faith to tens of thousands of people throughout the U.S. and all around the world each year.  If you would like to help us do what we do, you can donate online at:

http://www.biblechristiansociety.com/donations

or send a check to:

Bible Christian Society

PO Box 424

Pleasant Grove, AL  35127.

                                                              Anything you can do is greatly appreciated!

Unsubscribe/Subscribe

http://www.biblechristiansociety.com/newsletter/unsubscribe - to unsubscribe from this newsletter

http://www.biblechristiansociety.com/newsletter - to subscribe to this newsletter

Social Media - Please click on one or more of these links to share this newsletter on social media...thanks!

Apologetics for the Masses