(Beggars All) John Bugay: An Ex-Catholic's Temper Tantrum

There is a nasty ex- Catholic by the name of John Bugay who has been posting for the last several months over at a blog called Beggars All.  The blog is the self proclaimed clearing house for "Reformed" Protestant apologetics, boasting members such as James Swan (The expert on Martin Luther), a guy who calls himself Rhology (Who boasts of smoking cigars with James White), along with a host of "Reformed" visitors like Turretin Fan (The sidekick of James White) and the great self proclaimed scholar Tim Enloe, (Tim once wrote,"As a scholar myself, it's really fascinating to me to see all these pop-apologists complaining"...) "pastor" David T. King, (The master logician) Steve Hays, among other "Protestant" apologetic all stars. This group often misrepresents Catholic teaching, and every time they are corrected on the issues they ignore them and continue on their ranting against Catholicism. Myself and Alexander Greco often stop by to engage their arguments against Catholicism, but it seems that Bugay has finally lost it. His hatred for the Catholic Church has apparently blinded him to any coherent responses, and if anyone is wondering why we will not be returning to their blog, you can read the nasty post below that he recently put up on his blog post, to give you an idea of why. Our blog friends like Paul Hoffer often put up great arguments, as well as the gentleman over at Called to Communion, and they are also ridiculed by these guys,



I will admit that we have a little fun poking and prodding these guys a bit since they love to play the double standard when it comes to posting over there. They can insult Catholics all they want, but any snide remark towards them will not be tolerated, so we often find our posts missing from the blog after a colorful exchange. I was discussing Church authority and Scripture with Bugay today, who as we know believes in Sola Scriptura, and I had asked him who would decide who was correct if an issue of disagreement came up on a particular passage of Scripture. This is what he wrote, "Asking "Who decides?" is not the most important question if you understand that the Holy Spirit is guiding. To be sure we have a standard in Scripture. But on what basis does the Holy Spirit guide? Has he bound himself to a system in which he is beholden to, say, the pornocracy popes? The God of the universe would not put himself in that position." This is the typical type of snide responses we get from this guy. But what is posted below, which he put up after, quite takes the cake. You can see how frustrated these ex-Catholics become when they cannot refute your arguments. They fly off into a temper tantrum and get real nasty. Check it out. This is the kind of apologetics we are trying to move away from, and you can see why. Instead I have focused more attention on writing articles like the ones posted on the sidebar of this blog.

Link to entire post.

"David, thanks for that clarification from Augustine contra the fairly bold statement by Alexander Greco.

One of the most unfounded claims I've seen in this thread is that the Protestants here do not understand Roman Catholicism. It's true that none of the Protestants here has studied under 16th century Jesuits, but we are well-educated, dedicated people who have interacted -- some more closely than we would have liked -- with a system that we choose to reject. 

It amazes me, as I write these posts, that the original topic is rarely interacted with. I DO know Catholicism, and further, I've described it accurately.

If the Catholics here are somehow hesitant to admit that "yes, this is the way the Catholic Church does things," well, then, we're not responsible for your lack of self-esteem, or your wanting to sugar-coat these processes that are very much unpalatable even to 21st century Roman Catholics. 

As I write this, the first comment out of Matthew Bellisario's word processor is an insult: "Trust yourself Bugay. You would have rejected the apostles to their faces." Then he spit out a much misused (but dogmatically stated) platitude about "the Church, which is the bulwark of truth." 

If you want to behave that way, fine, but not here. I don't know that Bellisario ever adds anything of value to the discussions here. And Alexander Greco has somehow changed from name-caller to prima-donna. 

Most of the Catholics who visit here simply remind me of fish out of water sucking in the air. There can be no possible response from Catholics to the Reformation other than impotent rage. 

I would caution my Protestant brethren, for their own sakes, about flinging insults at these folks. But Matthew Bellisario -- you are the most bellicose, sorriest excuse for a Roman Catholic that I have ever seen. I can be rough, but I've never insulted people the way that you do. And Alexander Greco -- I don't care one whit about your sense of fairness. This is a Protestant board, and you don't get to come here and shanghai the discussion with your whining. And Sean Patrick -- I've already told you what I think of you. You maybe should read your own "Called to Communion" posting guidelines. 

We bend over backwards to interact in a decent way with you guys. You don't need to be here.On trusting your own eyes and your own mind, vs believing what the Roman church tells you to believe.

He bends over backwards? The question I have to ask to Bugay is, who is the one in a rage here? I don't think I have ever gone on a tirade like this.  Maybe we've made a few mustache jokes (He looks like a CHIPS extra) here and there but come on. We will have to pray for poor Bugay who appears to be a bit insecure in his Protestant faith. Unfortunately Bugay is a heretic in the truest sense of the word. He once was a Catholic and has now openly rejected the one true Christian faith for a pitiful "Reformed" substitution of it.

Here is some great paint work from Alex. Great job! (Sometimes we have a little too much fun with this stuff!)