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Sunday, April 13, 2008

Families and husbands

Frequently when I have been involved in controversial discussions or debates, adversaries who don't have a compelling or persuasive argument will start going for the easy ad hominem attacks. Secular liberals are vicious with their language and vulgarities, but "Christian ladies" have their own way of trying to stick it when they aren't holding in any trump.

Exhibit A Coffeebean's comment over at Far Above Rubies


I cannot imagine how the husbands and children of these women must feel, because there is no way they can keep up with what they are doing and still have time to mothering their children appropriately.


To be fair, Coffeebean has little children. My youngest is 2 but the others are 8,9,12, 15 and 18. So a lot of the discussions that I have on this blog and elsewhere end up as part of our discussions. I often wondered how I was going to teach my kids how to defend and talk about their Catholic faith and now it seems that my experiences provide the material I need to pass on to them.

They stalk Candy's blog for comments, then follow those comments and stalk those blogs....several visits in one single day. Mind boggling. That's one thing about computer involvement. You put yourself out there and people can see just how much time you are spending on the computer. You cannot be living what you are preaching if you have endless amount of activity that prove you are indeed in front of the computer.


I guess this is a problem if you have dial up or have to hunt and peck at the keyboard. That's not the case for me and from discussions I have had from other serious bloggers, it's not a problem for them either.

I've also said this before, if a link is left on a blog, the assumption is that the blogger WELCOMES VISITS! If you don't want people coming to your blog, take the link out of your comments. It's that easy.

I totally agree with you on the Catholic church, but what makes me laugh is the assumption of these ladies that our sole source of information about these things comes from Candy. I do know how to read and am quite fond of books. So to assume that I take something as Gospel truth because of one blog out there is nonsense. While I do agree with Candy and love her articles, I don't hold in a higher regard than anyone else :)


Well, Coffeebean did get the Inquisition, Crusades and the missionaries all confused, so I think the jury is still out on that.

Sorry you've had to deal with the minions too. I pray that they will get back under the covering of their husbands and stop this catholic evangelism crusade they are on. They are making down right fools of themselves and people are noticing....



My husband helps me look for supporting material. He picks my brain for information for his Sunday School class and he is totally supportive. He will also send me e-mails from the shop when I have written something he particularly enjoys. He is 100% supportive.

But Coffeebean is correct. We are getting noticed! We now have a 2 Google page rank, we figure pretty high on the search engines and we have gotten a lot of supportive comments.




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16 comments:

kritterc said...

I am so glad you addressed this. It does not take long to check in on the few sites I read. Just a click of the button and a quick scan. I have been discussing this whole Candy-thing a lot with one of my daughters. It has peaked her interest in apologetics. She has been getting some grief lately from a couple anti-Catholics in her workplace. Together we have learned so much and found numerous places to go for valid information. I owe it all to you. Thank you!! (Oh yes - as far as it taking away from my time with my family (I also had commented on Melissa's blog) - My children are all grown and on their own and my husband passed away several years ago. If anything, I believe he is looking over my shoulder and cheering me on!!)

Tracy said...

I'm sure glad you discussed this Elena!!

Coffee bean should know this: if you can make a statement (even on the net) then be willing to back it up or don't make the statement!
I spend roughly one hour a day on the Internet looking at blogs... 10 minutes or so that equals an hour.. I never neglect hubby or kids and I am a fast typer and have all my references in one quick area (as I'm sure you do as well Elena) so it may look like we are spending a huge amount of time posting something.. in reality it is minutes... maybe coffee bean is a slow typer? Anyways... I don't feel that I myself am trying to convert anyone.. but I am out to defend the Catholic faith... and those to me are two totally different things!
I find coffebeanfamily's post... well.. amusing and ignorant.....

ann nonymous said...

Regarding the first quote: How in the name of the Almighty God could anyone who also blogs sit in judgement of the time anyone else does or doesn't spend on the internet? My charges are a handful, yes. It's like having two over-one-hundred-pound babies in diapers! Yet, I still manage to read and comment and sometimes blog a bit in between diaper changing, linen changing, meal prep, feeding and laundry and house cleaning. For crying out loud. How long does she think it takes to read a post and formulate a thought in response? I do spend a lot of time on the internet. Is there a rule somewhere that I might have missed that tells us to be a "Godly woman" we must limit our time to ten minutes per day? Maybe it's buried deep in one of the blogs under the heading of the "self righteous Christian woman's guide to conforming her will, body and soul to the confines of the judgements placed on her by other self righteous Christian women" posts.

Sometimes I wish my dear old mother was still capable of talking and typing. These poor little women would not stand a snowball's chance if she deigned to respond to their nonsense.

Regarding the assumption they don't know how to read: I do assume they don't know how to read critically, or how to do scholarly research and/or use credible resources. That is abundantly clear.

As for the "they are making down right fools of themselves and people are noticing. . .," hey, right back at ya!

ann nonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tanya said...

It is quite foolish of them to post ignorant, nonsensical lies about Catholic doctrine and not expect a rebuttal from educated Catholics. I don't even see anyone here as being argumentative because the problem is with the MISREPRESENTATION of the church! It is extemely foolish for them to not see the difference between LYING about what the church teaches and DISAGREEING with what the church teaches! As for the time spent on here, my guess is that they are slow readers and slow typists, maybe have only desktop computers and no high-speed. With 3 laptops in our house and high speed internet it only takes a minute in between tasks to check something out on the internet.

A big problem here not exactly as Elena said - they have no good answers (at lease I've never seen one) to the rebuttals therefore they attack character.

ann nonymous said...

Blondie,

There is no cogent argument against Catholicism.

I don't know whether their ignorance is vincible or invincible. I do know it is persistent and pervasive. God love 'em.

The reality of this whole situation is that there is nobody who can refute the Truth of the Catholic Church in truth. God said it. God meant it. The Church is here to stay. I believe Him.

Anonymous said...

I have a desktop computer and DSL, and I spend a lot of time on the computer - all day usually. Why? Because I work from home and my job requires that I get tasks completed. The thing with my job though is that I am often waiting - I do design and desktop publishing and as soon as I send something off to my employer, I wait for responses and edits. In that waiting time, I surf the web, do my banking, pay my bills, find recipes, read blogs, and whatever else I can do that allows me to be right here when the edits come back. Sometimes it takes 10 minutes, sometimes 30. But, part of my contract says I am to be immediately available, just as if I were in the physical building/office. So, I sit at the computer from 7:30 am until 4:30 pm, working and often waiting.

That means I appear to be doing nothing but surf the web. And, appearances can be deceiving.

Making assumptions about how one lives their life is a slippery slope. It is also a fall back when there is little to no real argument to be had.

The Knitting Lady said...

The assumptions are fascinating. My husband and I have yet to have children, I'm not working, and I try to stay on his schedule. Given that he works a 12 hr night shift 3-4 days a week I have tons of time to read and respond, and still keep a clean house, finish numerous craft projects, learn the piano...the list goes on.

(Yes, innumerable female relatives have informed me that I will have to give a lot of that up when I have children. If I should ever be so blessed I'll gladly trade all the crafts and study.)

I thought the whole point of a home management binder was to free your mind from actually having to think about your housework. It sure worked that way for me.

What is interesting me is the they are, one after the other, putting it on their blogs that they don't want to argue or discuss their faith. My question is, is their faith so shallow, so ill formed, so lacking that they are afraid that one good discussion will shatter it? I admit, I am a lousy, poorly catechized Catholic, who returned to the Church via possibly the most liberal parish in the country, who still considers herself half-Unitarian, and I'd *still* be willing to discuss the subject with them.

What are they all so afraid of?

Tracy said...

Annie C, I think you just asked the 60 million dollar question.. what indeed are they so afraid of? Candy and bloggers like Candy will discuss anything and pat the other on the back as long as they are in agreement... someone comes along with a different opinion and boom... how dare you ask and how dare you say they don't have it right... I don't care what Candy has to say or any of her followers but I do enjoy coming here and reading and learning more about my faith.. this whole thing has forced me to really learn more about my Catholic faith and that is Always a good thing as far as I'm concerned. We know the truth.. the truth has set us free... I feel sorry for Candy and anyone who is so blind and ignorant.. what is the saying? The blind leading the blind?

ann nonymous said...

Yes, Annie and Tracy. You've both got it. "They" don't want to discuss their faith. They're happy to disparage ours though. I believe one of the fears of discussing their faith in earnest and in depth has to be that then they'd see how little they actually agree with each other. There are doctrinal differences among the Protestant denominations, which is what caused so many new denominations to begin with. Do you think it's yet occurred to them that they can't all be right? They might just find that they really can't agree with each other. It's highly likely the only thing they do agree on, as far as faith is concerned, is that they can't tolerate Catholicism. Oh well, it gives them a common cause. Really. . . it's all just so ridiculous!

Annie, I'm glad you're here.

Kelly said...

I admit, I am a lousy, poorly catechized Catholic, who returned to the Church via possibly the most liberal parish in the country

Oh, good St. Joan up in Minneapolis-St. Paul! Just move on over to St. Agnes. They're great there. ;)

The Knitting Lady said...

Nope, Kelly, Shepherd of the Valley in Oregon.

I don't know if you remember this, from back in 2004

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/05/14/politics/main617519.shtml

Our parish was one of the few to openly disagree with Bishop Sheridan's pronouncement. At the time it was Fr. Jim who stated that

"It’s using communion as a reward or punishment and I don’t think that’s what Jesus intended it for."

He also pointed out that we have secret ballots in the US, and he was not going to ask people to publicly reveal their votes before coming up for communion. He said so in a letter to both Bishop Sheridan and our Archbishop, and more than 3/4 of the congregation signed it along with him.

Not that we aren't all heartily against abortion. But, as it was put then, "The Eucharist is not meant to be a reward given only to those who are good, but as food for the faith journey for those who sin and struggle."

Anonymous said...

I have to admit that I must be slower than you lot are at reading/typing this stuff (I haven't finished reading all the vatican vs. God stuff yet never mind the whore of Babylon but to assume that someone spends an excessive amount of time or does it to the neglect of their other duties is just ridiculous. (But I haven't told the person who said it as she might think I'm stalking her.)

In December I had loads of time for the computer as my husband worked evenings so I spent the time I would have normally spent with him as I would already have done other stuff during the day. Now he's back to normal working I don't have as much time so tend not to read or write as much. I guess these people don't realise that different people have different abilities and different life circumstances and are just looking for anything to attack with.

Sal said...

My children are all grown, as well.
(And before anyone can go all Titus 2:1-6 on me, I'll point out that my eldest d. lives four blocks away, I see my grandchildren four or five times a week and am almost always available for helping with housework, child care, advice and sympathy.)
Pointing and clicking doesn't take that much time.

Anonymous said...

mmmh, that sort of thing coming from Candy...who claims to only be on for like under 30 minutes...but is on all day approving and answering comments..writing posts...editing post that was challenged..or deleting a post in which she flamed someone, then reading and commenting on other folks blogs...

mmmmh...yeah right....me thinks these folks and their "leader" are on more then they would like people to know....

Anonymous said...

I still don't get why anyone thinks it is their business how much time another person spends on the computer.

It is no one's business how much time another person spends watching television, watching movies, tending a garden, cutting the grass, plowing the snow, cleaning the gutters, wandering the mall, reading a book, doing crafts, taking a bath, sitting idle and just relaxing...absolutely no part of one person's life is up for debate by anyone not directly affected by it.

Using such a thing as time spent on a computer as a way of "attacking" others is a poor, poor defense for the discussion at hand.

And, to be complaining, on a blog, about the amount of time others spend reading/writing for/commenting on blogs is just...well, ironic?

All credibility is lost when such things are resorted to.