by rusmeister » November 2nd, 2006, 2:51 am
I wasn't addressing anyone in particular, and apologize for coming off that way. I just hit reply to the first post to make it clear what portion of the thread I was responding to (unnecessarily). I fired my cannon too strongly. I'm sorry about that.
To try to clarify what I mean, I'll just say this is brought up again and again, and posting on it tends to lean toward prurient interest and 'National Enquirer'-type discussions. I've begun to have knee-jerk reactions at the mere mention of the topic.
However, I strongly question the purpose for which the topic is brought up. In the case of the lives of the saints, such as St Mary of Egypt or anyone at all, only the sketchiest details are generally provided, just enough to understand that the saint was a great sinner. We don't discuss how many partners St Mary had or what their marital status was. The purpose of discussing anyone's sins, dead or alive, should be a good purpose.
Adam, I wasn't saying that everyone here is guilty of that particular sin. You can replace e-m affairs with the sin of your choice. Whatever our skeleton is, we may air it for the sake of confession, but then we want it washed away and forgotten. We have no record of Lewis's confession of this.
I do understand your point, Esther, about how to respond to ill-wishers and it IS a good one - this would be a good direction for the discussion to take. I'm just concerned about how easy it is for this topic to slide back to prurience, particularly since a number of people would have no scruples about doing so, and also concerned that the mere discussion helps keep the rumors alive and tends to assume that they are true. In St Mary's case, the sins were confessed and documented. With Lewis this is simply not the case - the sin is a mere allegation, with some seeming documentational support that people keep digging for. Being dead (as all of us must be) doesn't make for a better case for such discussions.
Does that make my concerns clear?
Again, I'm sorry for broadsiding so hard last night. (cheap defense - I had come home from a long day in Moscow and was really tired)
Wish we had a 'bow' emoticon here like at Christian Forums...
"Eh? Two views? There are a dozen views about everything until you know the answer. Then there's never more than one."
Bill "The Blizzard" Hingest - That Hideous Strength