I got into an argument yesterday, which led to a thought, which led to another thought, that I meditated and prayed on, which led to a thought --

Oh wait -- Gladius told me to "Let It Go"...
Screw it. I can't retire from public discussion just because I got upset or let something get to me on a rainy Saturday morning. As if all my future thoughts are "tainted" because they came from the same brain that I was using on that fateful Saturday morning. Give me a break already!

Anyhow, God has taught me by example (not the first time -- on the contrary!) that I was foolish to value non-Catholic anything just because it's better than the worst stuff out there. If it isn't Catholic, it really isn't worth anything.

As I said yesterday, imagine that I had 2 options to purchase a $1000 swingset:
A) A sodomite couple in California who hate Trump, LOVE Hillary in particular, and want as many USA abortions as possible
B) A "conservative" apostate Mexican who attends a non-denominational church, is divorced/remarried with 5 kids, and always votes Republican.

Both of them have no use for Catholics or Catholic morality. They both completely resent the Catholic Church telling them what to do.

My eyes were opened to this fact: Going with A or B is EQUIVALENT -- the FLIP OF A COIN.

Sure, "A" is further downhill on the road to hell -- but they both are headed for eternal damnation. There is no Catholic rule that teaches which anti-Catholic business to favor over another, or which hell-bound couple to favor over another.

Conservative small town Texas? Well, the Traditional chapels around here are few and far between, and the few that exist are sparsely populated. We have mostly "cultural Catholics" (Hispanics) who make their kids get First Communion and Confirmation, and then you never see them again. Their parents go to "The Country Church" a watered-down cowboy themed non-denominational "Christian" church, but they send their kids to the Catholic church for 1st Communion lessons! There are also a lot of Hispanic CEOs -- Christmas and Easter Only. And of course, we also have a lot of Germans and many of those are Lutheran, plus some Baptists, etc. And then you have the naturalists "I just go outdoors and contemplate God in nature".

Texas might be "conservative" but that isn't enough. Certainly not enough for salvation. If you don't have the Faith, you have nothing.

Meanwhile, I know several Trad Catholics who hate Trump, who were arguing on here and basically driving me nuts at the time, because I was focused on the good that Trump was doing, and I didn't want to hear it.

But now I'm thinking I made a mistake, by kicking a few people out who I agreed with on 99.5% of religious matters, my own brothers in Christ, because they didn't agree with me on some earthly thing.

It's the age old dilemma that many Trads face. You can choose 2 kinds of friends:

1. Fellow Trads, but you strongly disagree with them about 9/11, vaccinations, lifestyle country vs. city, public schooling, TV watching, cօռspιʀαcιҽs, politics, male/female roles, culture, clothing, art, music, etc.
2. Non-Catholics who are much wiser, and have the truth about the above topics, but they aren't Catholic!

Unfortunately the two categories (supernatural grace/the Faith, and wisdom/being well-informed about important but non-religious topics) seldom meet in the same person.

Anyone who has been a Trad longer than a year knows what I'm talking about.

I could make friends with couple X that attends an SSPX chapel, but they don't practice the Faith very well in daily life. They send their kids to public school, and live in the city. The kids dress like everyone else and watch plenty of modern TV and movies. I (and my family) have nothing in common with them EXCEPT FOR the Faith. I'd almost rather be friends with a fundie protestant family that practices homeschooling, breastfeeding, anti-vax, farming, lives on acreage, the girls dress like ladies, they don't watch TV, etc.

I WISH I didn't have to choose, but I do!

I guess most of the time I go with "natural sanity" and just hold my nose about them being non-Catholic. But once in a while, that non-Catholic part gets to me.

Is it true that the combination is rare? I have less experience than you, but I thought most traditional Catholics were both things. At least among the ones I know.

It's not black and white -- some Trads might get SOME things right, and an equal number wrong.

Other Trads might get MOST things right, but they're stupid about a few things.

And the problem is deeper than I discussed -- because my whole discussion assumes everyone is in the same age or state of life. What if there are 20 good Catholics at your chapel, with 100% natural sanity on all the earthly/practical topics -- but they are all in their 70's and you're a man or woman with a young family? You're not going to have much in common. You can't "hang out" or have a very close friendship.

I got into an argument yesterday, which led to a thought, which led to another thought, that I meditated and prayed on, which led to a thought --

Oh wait -- Gladius told me to "Let It Go"...
Screw it...

If you had just looked up the historical laws regarding abstinence in Spain and her possessions, which I alluded to very early on and are now available to you in your original thread, all of this nonsense would have been avoided.

You got hammered on your FB page and then you came here to justify yourself; when that didn't work, you tried again in a new thread.  Only problem?  You were completely uninformed (and therefore wrong) to begin with.  I tried to tell you.  Clearly, you ignored what I said and did zero research on the topic.  The lesson Providence was trying to teach you is: Listen to Gladius!!! LOL...JK 

I will not tell you what to do now any more than I did before.  However, I will tell you what I would do if I made a BLUNDER as ENORMOUS as the one you did (here and on FB): I would apologize to those whom I offended, realizing that my zeal, however sincere, did not excuse my ignorance or conduct.  [I am thinking of those on your FB page, not on CI.]