Welcome From Your New Moderator

[phatcatholic]

phat pham,

Since I'm that guy that everyone is going to have a love-hate relationship with from now on, i thought it best to introduce myself and briefly explain the mission for this board. :D

First off, I just want to say that I am excited and honored to be chosen to be the Apologetics moderator. I am excited because I see great things in store for this board. I am honored because there are apologists here who can probably fulfill this duty much more effectively than I, but dUSt found it in his heart to choose me.

Great Things In Store

My phat brothers and sisters, do you all have any idea how amesome this board can be. This is where we go to war! This is where we fight for truth! This is where we put on the armor of God, with the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God! (Eph. 6:11-17) Shew! I'm starting to feel like Mel Gibson in Braveheart....but i digress.

Once we complete the new-and-improved Reference Section, we will have every weapon at our disposal. Phatmass has the potential to be the most comprehensive apologetics source on the internet. We must equip our fellow brothers and sisters to defend the truth that we all hold so dear. Essentially, that is why this board exists. But, in order for it to thrive it needs your commitment. We need soldiers to:

1. Update this board with sources to defend every argument for every topic.

2. Engage other websites in effective, Christian debate when they are in error.

3. Maintain a foundation of love in the chaotic arena of apologetics.

3. Dedicate oneself to truth and Catholic orthodoxy.

4. Pray constantly for the propogation and acceptance of the Truth by all people.

5. HAVE FUN AND LOVE JESUS! :D

These aren't rules by the way, they are more like ideals. Because they are ideals, we will fall short of them from time to time.

We have a tough job here in the Apologetics board. This isn't the Debate board, where we sit in the comfort of our Phatmass environment and wait for people to engage us. Here, we go out and engage others! Like Daniel, we step right into the lion's den and often times we meet the most ferocious of company. Such an environment can make it difficult for us to engage in apologetics with a pervalence of love. However, if God is Truth and God is Love, then these can never become dichotomous. They must always live in harmony. It is my job to maintain this harmony in our interactions with others.

I'm a laid back guy, and very understanding. But I will bust out the phat-ness if I have to . As long as you love Truth, love your neighbor, love God, and buy me tacos, so very tasty and good for you, on occasion, everything will be gravy in here.

The Honor of Moderation

You might be thinking, "Calm down, phatcatholic, you're just a moderator. It's not like the next step is uinversal supremacy." Nevertheless, its a big deal to me to have this responsibility.

For one, I think Phatmass is one of the greatest Catholic websites on the entire internet. It has a certain aura about it that makes me feel like I am a part of something great. Any small part on can play in helping this site to grow and be successful I consider a privelage.

Secondly, compared so many hear, I am new to apologetics. Only in the last year and a half have I become acquainted with my faith enough to defend it to others. But, don't get it twisted I know a thing or two. I am daily researching my faith in an attempt to learn as much as I possibly can. I can't believe how much I have learned already. At the same time, I realize that I have much left to learn. So, I feel fortunate to be chosen to moderate our apologetics efforts.

Finally, I feel like apologetics is one of the most important Catholic undertakings. inDouche, what can be more noble than spreading, teaching, and defending the Truth of Christ to others? We have a grand task before us. I am just glad to play my part.

That said, I welcome you to Phatmass and to the Apologetics board. I hope that you all are able to both contribute and in return gain much from your time here.

Your brother in Christ,

Nicholas Hardesty, a.k.a. phatcatholic

[Paladin D]

Cool, question...

Will there be a list of moderators so everyone can view?

[Petrus]

that was a great "State of the Board" speech! You should do one of these every few weeks or so, just to keep track of developments. I'm excited, you seem to be taking this extremely seriously!

[CatholicAndFanatical]

congrats phatcatholic. first order of bitness, how about making those 'Reference Sections' a sticky so we wont loose em.

nice speech btw, im sure you'll do a great job!

God Bless,

CatholicAndFanatical

[God Conquers]

Congrats phats! I'm so glad that you're moderating this board! I can't wait till the plans get put into action!

[emalouhow]

I've been gone for a while b/c I've been so busy with school, and I return and we now have a corner for Catholic Apologetics!!! How exciting!!!

God bless you Nick for taking on such a HUGE task! :D

Holy Spirit guide us!

Veni Sancte Spiritus

Veni per Mariam

[phatcatholic]

pham,

thanks everyone! i'm glad i'm not the only one excited about this board. in regards to pinning the reference section, i haven't quite figured out the logistics of it quite yet. for now, here's what i'm thinking. i don't think we're done w/ Sola Scriptura yet. i thought of a few more arguments against it that i probably need to make new threads for. anyway, once we have covered this topic from every angle, i'll pin one post entitled Reference Section: Sola Scriptura. then i'll take all the threads we have on that topic and put then into this one pinned thread, and i'll group all the posts by argument. does that make sense?

then, i'm thinking, once SS is done i can either delete those threads (since everything we have so far will be in the pinned thread) or we can just let them get pushed back and start on a new topic. CAF has already posted some things on Mary so i guess that will be our next topic. remember, when ur posting an argument, make sure it goes in the right thread. look to see if we have a thread on the perpetual virginity, before u make ur own thread on the perpetual virginity, so that we won't have two threads on the same argument.

if this is confusing just let me know. if anyone has other ideas on how to make this better, let me know that too.

thanks for all ur help and God Bless,

phatcatholic

[dUSt]

To pin a topic you must open it, and then select from the "Moderation Options" drop down menu at the bottom.