[Apologetics] Stealth apologetics backfires

[Stuart D. Gathman]

I've turned someone into a heretic.  I separated claims *about*
purgatory (prayers for the dead - which Protestants would reject)
from the definition of purgatory itself, which I reduced to two
propositions:

1) sin will have been cleansed (100% sanctification) in heaven
2) sin has temporal consequences (punishment)

Both of which protestants agree with.

Wouldn't you know it, once associated with "purgatory", DavidJ immediately
begain attacking those propositions as "unscriptural" and has now announced
that

1) all true Christians will be 100% sanctified *before* death
2) that God never punishes true Christians for their sin

and anything to the contrary is unscriptural, based on what is apparently his
highest priority presupposition - that all Roman Catholic doctrines are
unscriptural.  To top it off, I then got all sarcastic and said:

   RE:   Papal Infallibility or Papal Inerrancy?

   CustomDesigned Wrote:
   ......scriptural authority is irrelevant because your problem is with basic
   logic .....

   DavidJ Wrote:
   Clearly you have identified the huge chasm between yourself; a
   Roman Catholic, and Bible Believing born again Christians like myself, to whom
   scriptural authority is absolute and final. Jesus confirmed this when He said,
   "Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth." (John. 17:17)

   CustomDesigned Wrote:
   You are right.  I repent of using logic and reason, and will use only
   Scripture - throwing logic and reason to the wind.

So I've turned a previously basically orthdox (if unreasonable) guy into a
raving heretic by playing bait and switch with purgatory.  I guess I should
have been forewarned by his claim that "*all* Roman Catholic doctrines are
unscriptural", which would include even those he agrees with.  A highly 
unstable logical state.

And while I was being sarcastic with the "only Scripture and no reason",
I now see that that is exactly what is required in a case like DavidJ.
It was clear that he could not use logic, and attempting to force him to do 
so was wrong.  I should have just quoted some appropriate scripture and 
left it at that.

Just a warning for other would be apologists.  It is easy to do more
harm that good.

-- 
 	      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.