Salesian Apologetics #2: Biblical Apostolic Tradition

February 5, 2020 By Dave Armstrong

This is one of a series of extensive excerpts (with my occasional commentary) from The Catholic Controversy (1596): a classic of Catholic apologetics (originally a collection of pamphlets), written by St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622): a Doctor of the Church [see all the installments by searching “Salesian Apologetics #” on my blog sidebar search function]. Any comments of mine (apart from lists of related links) will be in blue. The rest is from the online, public domain text (3rd revised... Read more

Salesian Apologetics #1: Indefectibility of the Church

February 4, 2020 By Dave Armstrong

Is Bestiality a Secular Sex Reductio ad Absurdum?

February 1, 2020 By Dave Armstrong

This “dialogue” came about in the combox underneath my post, How Legal Same-Sex Unions Came About. “Giauz Ragnarock” is, I believe, an atheist. He seems to write mostly about homosexuality online (looking at his Disqus comments). His words will be in blue. Some of the comments I make at the beginning, below, are in reply to other people. Giauz seemed literally incapable of grasping the nature of my arguments. Arguments from analogy and reductio ad absurdum arguments are often grossly misunderstood (I find, more often than not). He is... Read more

Dialogue w 1P5 Writer Timothy Flanders: Introduction

February 1, 2020 By Dave Armstrong

Timothy S. Flanders is the author of Introduction to the Holy Bible for Traditional Catholics. In 2019 he founded The Meaning of Catholic, a lay apostolate. He holds a degree in classical languages from Grand Valley State University and has done graduate work with the Catholic University of Ukraine. He lives in the Midwest with his wife and four children, and is a regular columnist at the One Peter Five website. Previously, I engaged in two good dialogues with him: Reply to Timothy Flanders’ Defense... Read more

Dialogue on Gun Control, Regulation, & Gun Bans

January 31, 2020 By Dave Armstrong

From my Facebook page today. Words of David Maher will be in blue, Nick Hardesty’s in green. I put up a meme that stated: “Gun Control” doesn’t mean what you think it means It means only the state will have guns If you think that’s a good idea you need to read a history book [with a picture of a soldier (Nazi?) about to shoot an unarmed, crying female captive] ***** The absence of gun control is a completely unregulated gun... Read more

Dialogue: the Relation of Christian Apologetics & Testimony

January 31, 2020 By Dave Armstrong

Bob Robinson is the Executive Director of Reintegrate: a nonprofit organization that equips God’s people to reintegrate the Christian faith with vocation so that they can participate in God’s mission on earth. He’s an ordained pastor (ordained for Gospel Ministry by The Chapel Consortium Churches). In 1996, he earned a Master of Divinity degree with honors from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and in 2018, the Doctor of Ministry degree from Covenant Theological Seminary in “Faith, Vocation, and Culture,” studying under Dr. Donald Guthrie. I am responding to his article in the Faith and Work Patheos... Read more

Discussion: Ecumenism vs. Radical Catholic Reactionaries

January 30, 2020 By Dave Armstrong

From a Facebook discussion on my page: 4 January 2014. Words of Dr. Edwin Woodruff Tait (Anglican Church historian then; possibly Catholic by now) will be in blue, Matthew’s in green, Toni Aceto’s in purple, Charles Jones’ in brown, and Martin Bubba Wheaton’s in orange. The original discussion occurred underneath a link to the article, “Is Ecumenism a Heresy?” (Fr. Brian Harrison, Catholic Answers Magazine, 1-1-09). ***** Matthew writes stuff like this on his Facebook page: I don’t think there is such... Read more

Socratic Dialogue / Debate vs. Anti-Lutheran Catholic

January 30, 2020 By Dave Armstrong

[Words of Holly McWilliams will be in blue, those of Mark Wilson in green; Petros BM in purple] *** I have a great deal of respect for traditionalist Lutherans, who are, in my estimation, the most respectable and intellectually cogent Protestant denomination. I say that after years of interaction with all sorts of Protestants (and being an evangelical Protestant myself, from 1977-1990). I’ve enjoyed my dialogues with Lutherans through the years. I disagree with many things, of course, but it... Read more

Reply to a Rationalist Objection to Mary’s Perpetual Virginity

January 29, 2020 By Dave Armstrong

Essay 41 (my original manuscript, with some differences) from my book, Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical: From Priestly Celibacy to the Rosary: 80 Short Essays Explaining the Biblical Basis of Catholicism (July 2015) ***** In Partu virginity is the belief that Jesus was born miraculously, without the usual physical travail of childbirth. Mary’s virginity was preserved in the biological sense: i.e., the hymen remained intact. Virginity, as classically understood, is not simply the absence of sexual activity (how we use the... Read more

Estranged Friendships: Lessons from Kobe Bryant’s Death

January 29, 2020 By Dave Armstrong

Don’t Put Off What Needs to be Done Now; What is Right to Do Tell your loved ones that you love and appreciate them, and be loving. Also, we all need to stop the petty quarreling and squabbles. Life is too short. This is what we learn from sudden tragic deaths like Kobe Bryant’s; also, of course, that we need to be ready at all times to meet God, for we don’t know when we ourselves will be doing that:... Read more