Dialogue w Agnostic on my Critiques of Deconversions

Last updated on: May 2, 2019 at 11:15 am By Dave Armstrong

VicqRuiz was replying to one portion of my paper, Unanswered Questions for a Former Catholic Atheist, in the combox underneath it. His words will be in blue. ***** [me] 5. Could you have passed a quiz on the basic doctrines of Christianity(say, those agreed-upon by virtually all Christians: Nicene Creed-type beliefs): let alone the more specifically, distinctively Catholic doctrines? (Apologies if I’ve posted the comment below on your site before, I have raised this question several times on several different... Read more

Biblical Idolatry: Authentic & Counterfeit Conceptions

Last updated on: May 1, 2019 at 12:28 pm By Dave Armstrong

Idolatry is a conscious act by nature or definition. Catholics are accused of substituting bread and wine as idols for the living God. I think virtually no Catholic who knows anything at all about his Faith would be stupid enough consciously to worship what he believes is still just a piece of bread. It may be regarded as mistaken worship, but it is still quite pious and non-idolatrous, just as we Catholics would say that Lutheran or Anglican worship is... Read more

The Unanswered Prayers of Jesus & Our Free Will

Last updated on: May 1, 2019 at 11:54 am By Dave Armstrong

A Reformed Baptist (Calvinist) argued that if Christ in fact died for all men, rather than the elect only (as Calvinists hold), this would result in His interceding in heaven as high priest for those He knows (in His omniscience and perfect foreknowledge) will reject Him and go to hell. It would then follow that His intercession failed, or (if there is any difference) was unanswered — an unthinkable state of affairs for God. The reply to this is, I... Read more

“Optional” Confirmation Class & Mass for Teenagers?

Last updated on: April 30, 2019 at 7:10 pm By Dave Armstrong

We have a 14 year-old son presently in confirmation classes (and a 16 year-old who went through it a few years back). I would never dream of making this optional, at his age (i.e., for frivolous teenager-type reasons: it’s “boring” or “uncool” or too time-consuming, and suchlike). My opinion is, “this is what Catholic teenagers do, as fundamental in the process of faith formation. And so my teenage children will do it (assuming that they accept the faith), and have... Read more

Christian Mysteries (Like God’s Timelessness) & Reason

Last updated on: April 30, 2019 at 3:17 pm By Dave Armstrong

I believe these were originally notes jumbled together from various sources, so there is a lot of repetition. But that’s a good teaching tool, so I will leave it as it is. ***** The Incarnation is the Great Exception to the timelessness and immateriality of the Triune God, since in it God enters human time and takes on human flesh. It’s in time and isn’t eternal. God can interact with the temporal order without being subject to it. But God the Son... Read more

Explaining the Pro-Life, Christian Vote for Trump Yet Again

Last updated on: April 30, 2019 at 2:20 pm By Dave Armstrong

This is from a private Facebook thread, so I can’t cite others (too bad), but I wrote a lot there, and so would like to preserve it on my blog. It may be regarded as follow-up comments to my article, “David French’s Hit-Piece on Franklin Graham & Trump” (4-28-19). ***** I’m only describing what we see every day, and only one aspect of the Never Trumper: how they view Trump. It’s pretty much 100% negativity. That’s not judging the whole... Read more

Atheist Falsely Claims I Troll Atheist Site to Get Traffic

Last updated on: April 29, 2019 at 7:33 pm By Dave Armstrong

Google Analytics Blows That Out of the Water Popular online atheist and anti-theist polemicist Bob Seidensticker and one of his clone-sycophants claimed that I was trying to use his site merely to drum up traffic on mine. Their words will be in green and blue, respectively. ***** This is the guy that I banned, and explained why in great detail (because he’s a big shot atheist online). Three days later I saw this nonsense. There was a huge flatulent fuss... Read more

David French’s Hit-Piece on Franklin Graham & Trump

Last updated on: April 28, 2019 at 11:56 am By Dave Armstrong

See: “Franklin Graham and the High Cost of the Lost Evangelical Witness” (4-25-19). I don’t see that French succeeds in making his point of supposed rank hypocrisy on Graham’s part. Graham is not condoning sin. He wrote about the Stormy Daniels thing, as reported by an NBC article: President Trump I don’t think has admitted to having an affair with this person, and so this is just a news story, and I don’t even know if it’s accurate. That’s... Read more

Unanswered Questions for a Former Catholic Atheist

Last updated on: April 28, 2019 at 9:49 am By Dave Armstrong

“cowalker” wrote on my blog: I was raised Catholic, and went through what I think is the standard, messy de-conversion process. It started with intellectual rejection of what sophisticated theologians would say was not “real” Christianity. For example, Christians aren’t obliged to believe a man actually lived inside a fish for three days. That’s just metaphorical writing. But … it’s not clear where metaphor leaves off and literal description begins. For example some Christians accept the doctrine of the Transubstantiation,... Read more

Dialogues w Two Atheists on My Critiques of Deconversions

Last updated on: April 28, 2019 at 10:11 am By Dave Armstrong

From the combox of the post: A Conversation About Deconversion, And Why People Share Their Stories (Luciano Gonzalez, 7-23-17). ***** Bravo Sierra: The question that matters to me with regard to Dave Armstrong is: Why would a person go to such trouble to pick apart a deconversion story if they know that a deconversion story is a personal narrative which is not meant to apply to all followers of Christianity ™ and will convince no one who is not already... Read more