Did the Blessed Virgin Mary Think Jesus Was Nuts?

Last updated on: July 3, 2020 at 6:33 pm By Dave Armstrong

Some liberal Catholics claim that the Gospel of Mark presents a very unflattering picture of Mary and Jesus’ extended family. If they don’t understand ancient near eastern culture and idiom and ways of thinking and speaking and writing, yes, there would likely be some misunderstandings. Liberal Catholics too often fall right into them, along with anti-Catholic Protestants, who also have an anti-Catholic and anti-Marian agenda to push. It’s remarked by these liberals that nary a word about Mary appears in... Read more

Do the OT & NT Teach Polytheism or Henotheism?

Last updated on: July 3, 2020 at 5:52 pm By Dave Armstrong

Some argue that the early Jews (i.e., at the time of Abraham or Moses) were monotheists (belief in one God only) or henotheists (Yahweh being preeminent among many gods), but concede that by the time of the prophet Isaiah they had become monotheists. Some more extreme liberals, on the other hand, (astonishingly) extend this supposed polytheism into the New Testament as well! Here is a thoroughly biblical refutation of such claims. In the initial passages about Abraham (Abram at first), “LORD”... Read more

Apostolic Succession: Reply to Certain Misconceptions

Last updated on: July 6, 2020 at 5:33 pm By Dave Armstrong

Let me share a little secret with you, that I know from my 39 years of apologetics in both Protestant and Catholic communities. When a Catholic uses the word “fundamentalist” and/or “triumphalism” [-ist] in describing another Catholic, that’s code for “an orthodox Catholic who actually believes all that the Church teaches and requires her members to believe” and, in turn, means that he or she (the one using those terms) does not believe all those things. He or she almost always... Read more

John Calvin Mocked Servetus’ Reaction to His Death Sentence

Last updated on: June 30, 2020 at 11:29 am By Dave Armstrong

John Calvin — whatever his commendable qualities were — seems to have had a bit of a cruel, sadistic streak. I have noted in another paper how he seemed to be quite pleased in 1555 that the sufferings of (wrongly) condemned men were prolonged by the ineptitude of an executioner (“it is not without the special will of God that, apart from any verdict of the judges, the criminals have endured protracted torment at the hands of the executioner”), and... Read more

Lord Acton: Philip Melanchthon Persecuted Eucharistic Heretics

Last updated on: June 30, 2020 at 11:04 am By Dave Armstrong

In my continuing searching for material regarding Philip Melanchthon’s policies of persecution (particularly regarding the Real Presence: see my previous paper on the subject), I ran across the following material from Lord Acton (1834-1902), the famous historian: [note: Acton cites “Bretschneider”. He was the editor, along with Bindseil, of the Latin Corpus Reformatorum, Melanthonis Opera, 28 volumes: 1834-1860. Footnotes below will be Acton’s own, incorporated by means of brackets and blue coloring into the text exactly where he places them. Bolded emphases in the text are... Read more

Veneration of Saints and Angels (vs. John Calvin)

Last updated on: June 29, 2020 at 12:00 pm By Dave Armstrong

[excerpt from my book, A Biblical Critique of Calvinism (Oct. 2012, 178p), pp. 87-95. Follow the link for content and purchase information] *** I’ll be using, the (public domain) translation of Institutes of the Christian Religion by Henry Beveridge, produced for the Calvin Translation Society in 1845, from the 1559 edition in Latin; reprinted by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (Grand Rapids, Michigan), 1995, and available online at the wonderful Christian Classics Ethereal Library site. My own Bible passages are from RSV. Calvin’s words will be in blue. ***... Read more

“Graven Images”: Unbiblical Iconoclasm (vs. John Calvin)

Last updated on: June 29, 2020 at 11:43 am By Dave Armstrong

[excerpt from my book, A Biblical Critique of Calvinism (Oct. 2012, 178p), pp. 59-72. Follow the link for content and purchase information] *** I’ll be using, the (public domain) translation of Institutes of the Christian Religion by Henry Beveridge, produced for the Calvin Translation Society in 1845, from the 1559 edition in Latin; reprinted by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (Grand Rapids, Michigan), 1995, and available online at the wonderful Christian Classics Ethereal Library site. My own Bible passages are from RSV. Calvin’s words will be in blue. ***... Read more

My Sister, Judy All (1952-2020)

Last updated on: June 28, 2020 at 12:17 pm By Dave Armstrong

My sister Judy peacefully passed away this morning, from kidney failure and related complications, with her husband Tom at her side, and daughter Kristen and son-in-law Steve and grandson Alexander able to see her through the window near the end (having to be cautious due to the pandemic) and to communicate by phone. Please pray for her soul and for her family. Over the past several weeks she was (at times) comatose and unable to talk, but we were told... Read more

Me Me Me (My Earliest “Apologetics”)

Last updated on: June 27, 2020 at 6:17 pm By Dave Armstrong

This is my earliest attempt at a sort of indirect apologetics writing: critical commentary on the current zeitgeist or “spirit of the age” and what was often called the “Me Generation” (from which I got my title). It’s dated 6-5-81. It’s more or less unique in my entire output of writing: a free-form, non-rhyming poem about the modern age and the attitudes of the typical secularist and nominally religious person, or agnostic (which I had been myself for about ten... Read more

Can Only Regenerate Men Perform Truly Good Works?

Last updated on: June 27, 2020 at 11:29 am By Dave Armstrong

vs. John Calvin [excerpt from my book, A Biblical Critique of Calvinism (Oct. 2012, 178p), pp. 22-28. Follow the link for content and purchase information] *** I’ll be using, the (public domain) translation of Institutes of the Christian Religion by Henry Beveridge, produced for the Calvin Translation Society in 1845, from the 1559 edition in Latin; reprinted by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (Grand Rapids, Michigan), 1995, and available online at the wonderful Christian Classics Ethereal Library site. My own Bible passages are from RSV. Calvin’s words will... Read more