“You cannot see into the man’s soul; you can’t know what his relationship with Christ is like.”
I can read what he chose to write.
“It sounds a bit as though you think people have to qualify by using the Name of the Lord every x many words, or they just aren’t up to snuff.”
No. But a conversion story without a single reference to Jesus is incomprehensible.
I agree with you there. And if this were a conversion story, you'd have a point. But it's not. This is an article that's poking gentle fun at the stereotypes non-Catholics hold about Catholicism, not a conversion story.
It's a bit as though we were watching a "This Old House" on TV, and this week's episode was about roofing. You got upset because the roofing episode didn't mention the foundation. I'm saying, that's not what's under discussion this week. We haven't gotten to it yet. Of course it's basic to the structure of the house--there's a reason they call it the Foundation, the Rock upon which the entire house is built. But this week they're discussing the roof; next week's episode is the electrical system; the week after that is Plumbing. The foundation is scheduled for Episode 4.
I heard the same criticism a few weeks ago when I posted the first few lines of the Apostles' Creed, and the Protestants said, "You didn't mention XYZ, you heathen! Obviously you don't believe in them!" My response, then as now, is "We didn't get to that yet. I just posted a few lines, not my entire statement of faith." But I was dismissed nonetheless.
I have a bad, sad feeling that no matter what we say or write, you're going to consider that we don't love Jesus enough to comply with your standards. Even though He is more central to my life, more the subject of my love, devotion, and service, more the Lord of my life, and in closer relationship with me now than two years ago when I was an evangelical Protestant. My point is that you cannot judge the interior spiritual life of other people by whether or not they're using precisely the phraseology you'd like when writing a humorous article. Only God can make that determination.