BE GOOD. BE FAITHFUL. BE COMMITTED?! - WHEN SINCERITY REPLACES TRUTH.
PROLOGUE: PERSONALIZED PROPOSITION, THEREFORE TRUE? The rhetorical effect of a perceived “quotable quote” coined by oneself and published alongside one’s own photograph as a pictographic thumbnail is difficult to miss. We cannot presume the private motive behind such a presentation. But its rhetorical effect is nevertheless clear: the proposition becomes personalized. The reader is not merely invited to examine an idea; he is invited to associate the idea with the man pictured—his personality, credibility, reputation, and perceived authority. The photograph ceases to be mere decoration. It becomes a visual signature of the maxim. One such pictographed personalized maxim from a Novus Ordo cleric recently appeared on my newsfeed, and I could neither unsee the photograph nor overlook the theological danger of the proposition attached to it. The maxim reads: “ If you are Catholic, be a good Catholic. If you are Anglican, be a good Anglican. If you are Protestant, be a faithful Protestant. ...