[Apologetics] Purgatory is key issue

[Stuart D. Gathman]

I think the purgatory issue is the key to ending the Catholic and 
Evangelical straw-man massacre.  Evangelicals will repeat the doctrine of 
purgatory over and over again in their own words, but continue to denounce 
the Catholic doctrine - even when presented with the same vocabulary! 
There really is a suspension of reason.  They could reasonably claim that 
I am mis-representing the Catholic position (and I have gotten that on 
occasion - those Catholics are tricky, they pretend to use words in a 
different way just to deceive you!).  But instead there is a cognitive 
dissonance with affirming a doctrine when attributed to Evangelicals, but 
denouncing the same doctrine with same words and same scriptures when 
attributed to Catholics.  Amazing.  They really believe that "all Catholic 
doctrines are unbiblical - even the ones I agree with".  Pressing on the 
contradiction tends to make them prefer heresy (God never disciplines true 
believers) to admitting that they might agree with Catholics on just a few 
points.

Sugarman just hit me a slow high return just asking for a slam dunk:
"The bottom line is if no doctrine can be back up by scripture then its 
not true."  Boy could I have fun with that.  But I'll restrain myself. 
I'll just lament with the Professor in Narnia: "Logic!  What do they teach 
in schools these days?"  It may be that apologetics is useless without an 
introductory logic course first.  It may be better to just quote a few 
scriptures and leave it alone.

-- 
 	      Stuart D. Gathman <stuart at bmsi.com>
Business Management Systems Inc.  Phone: 703 591-0911 Fax: 703 591-6154
"Confutatis maledictis, flamis acribus addictis" - background song for
a Microsoft sponsored "Where do you want to go from here?" commercial.