Over at comments here, Neil writes the following:
I admit that I don't have much patience for passive-aggressive postmoderns. I don't mind people who disagree; I do mind those who are endlessly wounded that I believe what I am saying while they pretend that they just aren't sure about anything . . . even though they are quite sure that it is bad that I believe the Bible was completely inspired by God.
I find this hilariously funny. Neil and I have been around about the whole passive-aggressive thing before, so I won't hash it out here. Suffice it to say that I do not "pretend" that I'm not sure. I'm just not sure. Period.
That doesn't mean that what I believe I believe half-heartedly. Or that I do not profess my belief honestly. For Neil, apparently, one only makes a statement of faith when one is convinced of its accuracy, its Truth, and its undeniability. He is a Christian Cartesian.
I do not think it is bad for him to believe what he believes. What I think is bad is his insistence that (a) he knows what I think better than I do (the whole passive-aggressive thing); (b) that those who do not believe as he does are "false teachers".
In the same comment section, ELAshley writes:
Geoffrey is perhaps the rudest person I've encountered on the internet.
He hasn't been around the internet very much if he thinks I'm rude.
ELAshley, you're a whiny-ass titty-baby. Seriously. Please, feel free not to darken my doorway again, if it hurts your tender Christian sensibilities that there might be some people in the world who wrestle with their faith, and do not like having referees who don't know the sport tell them what they're doing wrong.
I suppose that was rude, wasn't it. Ah, well.
