Wicked Rulers Honored (Saul, Solomon, Nero, High Priest)

November 13, 2018 By Dave Armstrong

This was originally a back-and-forth debate on Facebook. I have condensed the heart of my thoughts. ***** From his Facebook page tonight. Rod Dreher wrote a hit-piece on President Trump (“Trump: The Long Emergency”), with all the usual insinuations of out-of-control insanity, etc. It’s yet more Trump Derangement Syndrome. Did he go after the turkey-pardoning ceremony? Did Trump screw that up somehow, too: just like Melania’s Christmas decorations were described as post-nuclear destruction? I was hoping Dreher would go after the... Read more

Good Christians Can Support Trump (Amazingly Enough)!

November 12, 2018 By Dave Armstrong

***** Of course a Christian can do that, and quite obviously so: 1. Just as God made an eternal covenant with David and made him a forerunner of the Messiah Jesus, knowing from eternity that he would have a man killed in order to have his wife, whom he was already sleeping with. 2. Just as God gave Moses the Ten Commandments and responsibility to deliver, lead, and teach the Jews and write five books of the Old Testament, even... Read more

Calling of St. Paul & Church Authority: Dialogue w Calvinist

November 12, 2018 By Dave Armstrong

This is a Facebook exchange I had with Neil Shenvi, a chemist who is a Calvinist. His words will be in blue. * * * * * I haven’t actually been arguing for Sola Scriptura. In fact, it is completely compatible with my argument to claim that there are also traditions passed on by the apostles that are in some way authoritative. What I am asking is whether the words of God are given ultimate authority over everything else, including the practice of the church.... Read more

Jesus Associates Works, Merit, & Heroic Sacrifice w Salvation

November 10, 2018 By Dave Armstrong

I’ve already noted how He did this in the case of the rich young ruler: which passage appears immediately before the one we will shortly examine: Jesus vs. “Faith Alone” (Rich Young Ruler) * Dialogue: Rich Young Ruler & Good Works * Now here is what our Lord and Savior and His disciples say after that famous incident: Luke 18:26-30 (RSV) Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” [27] But he said, “What is impossible with men is... Read more

Debate w Lutheran: Church Infallibility & Death Penalty

November 10, 2018 By Dave Armstrong

Mark Martinson is a Lutheran (WELS). He showed up on my Facebook page under my link of a talk I gave on the radio (11-9-18) on sola Scriptura, or the Protestant rule of faith. Sola Scriptura entails the denial of papal and Church infallibility. Presumably, that’s why he challenged those doctrines in this particular thread. At first I thought he was a Catholic (perhaps a reactionary one: because they think so much like Protestants). I have edited a bit (the whole... Read more

Catholic Critique of Anglicanism and the Via Media

November 9, 2018 By Dave Armstrong

I. The Dilemma of Competing Ecclesiologies: the Visible vs. the Invisible Church If Anglicans have any sort of notion of “indefectibility” — whereby the true Christian Church (or a valid portion of the universal catholic church, etc.) cannot and will not fall into rank heresy; being protected by the Holy Spirit, then it would be quite difficult for traditionalist Anglicans to square that concept with what is happening in liberal Anglican and Episcopalian circles today. If one takes a view... Read more

Christians & the Stupidity of Satan (vs. Insulting Humanist)

November 9, 2018 By Dave Armstrong

***** Cassidy McGillicuddy, who goes by “Captain Cassidy” runs a blog called Roll to Disbelieve. She describes herself and her views as follows: “I was raised Catholic by a very fervent family, converted to evangelicalism in my teens, and became a full-on fundamentalist shortly thereafter, . . . But shortly after college I figured out that my religion’s claims weren’t true. . . . I’m a humanist, a skeptic, a freethinker, and a passionate student of science, mythology, and history. . . .... Read more

16th c. Calvinists vs. Lutherans: Who Suppressed Catholics

November 8, 2018 By Dave Armstrong

Lutheran pastor and blogger Paul T. McCain has written a post decrying historic Calvinist iconoclasm and intolerance against Lutherans (citing in turn a reader’s translation of a German website about Lutheran history [link now defunct] ): All those Lutherans out there pining about what’s so “wrong” about orthodox Lutheranism’s supposed stubborn and unloving attitude toward non-Lutheran churches need to keep in mind that finally there is no possibility of agreement between those who deny the chief parts of the Small Catechism and those... Read more

Left-Wing “New Pro-Lifers” Are Also Pro-Life (DUH!)

November 7, 2018 By Dave Armstrong

A left-wing pro-lifer is a thing to discuss in and of itself (and I do quite often). I’m critical of the new pro-life movement (NPLM) in many ways (mostly when its adherents try to run down other pro-lifers, and who they vote for), and have repeatedly written about it in no uncertain terms. Here, however, I’m making the basic point that they are pro-life, which some folks want to deny. They have as much right to start a sub-movement with certain... Read more

Catholicism is More Important than Political Differences

November 7, 2018 By Dave Armstrong

I am so blasted tired of controversy and in-fighting among Catholics (mostly about political nonsense these days) that I could spit. While I defend Catholicism, I also defend Christianity in general over against atheism and today’s rampant cultural secularism, and I am ecumenical, too. I rejoice in the many things we Catholics have in common with other Christians, and I try my best to treat them with respect, as brothers and sisters in Christ. Hopefully, my energies are channeled into... Read more