I've punched a lot of keys on this blog yammering about the problem of substituting dialogue for evangelization. Given that it's probably been incoherent babble for the most part, I was very happy to see that Boniface over at Unam Sanctam has a great post on this topic. With some of our recent items here, it seemed like the perfect time to mention it.
My favorite bits:
St. Paul might begin his sermon on the Areopagus with a dialogue about the comparative merits of Greek religion, but this only serves as a springboard to lead him into the essential message - the preaching of the Gospel, where he warns them that God will no longer overlook their ignorance, that He demands all nations repent of their sins because God has fixed a Day of Judgment, and that this Judge will be none other than Jesus Christ. What St. Paul certainly does not do is tell the Greeks how great their paganism is and then encourage them to continue to worship their false gods and petition then for worldly favors like "peace on earth."
Someone should be sure to mention that to the Lama.
Also:
The real place of dialogue, as St. Thomas Aquinas tells us in the introduction to the Summa (I.Q.1,art.8), is to establish common ground with somebody so as to delineate the parameters of the debate. But that this dialogue should lead to a disputation, with the express purpose of coming to a conclusion, is never questioned by St. Thomas.
There we have the main problem. People are afraid of disputation. It's why the Lama's viewpoint is insulting. By degrading all religions to an equal level, he treats us like jackasses who can't have a reasoned discussion about the most important topic that there is- God. Remember the old saying about the things you never discuss being politics and religion. That's why both of them are so screwed up these days. Nobody wants to actually talk about them and debate over what's going on. The preference is to state conclusions and then congratulate ourselves on being able to do so.
Whoopity freaking do.
2 comments:
Wow. You pretty much summed it up right there. Nobody wants to talk about it, because no one wants to fight about it. I have to admit that I sadly fall into that category a lot.
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