Background: C. S. Lewis argued in Mere Christianity (also later used to good effect by Josh McDowell) that — given Jesus’ claims — He could only reasonably be regarded as a Lord, Liar, or Lunatic. Our friend is trying to logically get out of the “Trilemma.” His words will be in blue. * * * * * Unfortunately, I am increasingly of the opinion that Lewis is far too dogmatic and narrow in his definition of the possibilities for Christ. (I... Read more
A Catholic psychologist wrote: I think that, over the next 100 years or so, a lot of self-righteous people and self-righteous organizations (read religions) are going to be eating their words regarding homosexuality. This could develop into another proof that our energies should be spent on spreading the Gospel and not negative commentary on things we do not understand. For example, if we want to work beyond the spreading the Gospel; how about stopping abortion? What is he trying to... Read more
Martin Luther always failed to see how his own radically new (“here I stand, no matter what Church and tradition [and, I would add, Bible] say”) sola Sciptura principles led to the rapidly proliferating sectarianism that he utterly despised and detested. For example, Thomas Müntzer, Markus Stübner, and Nicholas Storck: leaders of the Anabaptist sect, had all begun as disciples of Luther, and in fact started preaching their radical doctrines in Luther’s town of Wittenberg in 1521. They started with... Read more
Acts 16:30-31 (RSV) and brought them out and said, “Men, what must I do to be saved?” [31] And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” But of course, Jesus explains what it means to “believe” in Him: John 14:12 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to... Read more
. . . and Like He Used Balaam’s Ass, Jonah’s Whale, King Cyrus, and the Babylonian Heathen King, Nebuchadnezzar (Not to Mention Adulterous Murderer, David)? From a Jewish news source: On Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told a Christian television network that it’s “possible” that God sent President Trump to save the Jews — just like he sent Queen Esther, from the Purim story. “Could it be that President Trump right now has been sort of raised for such a... Read more
The words of my two atheist friends will be in blue and green. ***** Why does Jesus say that we will get whatever we ask in prayer, as we obviously don’t? Because prayer is conditional upon being consistent with God’s will. So if we pray (to use an extreme example) for a difficult neighbor to be struck down and not able to talk or walk, that wouldn’t be in God’s will and God wouldn’t answer it. 1 John 5:14 (RSV)... Read more
We converts to Catholicism are often told that we didn’t understand Protestantism before we left it (and that was, of course, supposedly why we left — we were dupes of Rome and her nefarious, deceitful apologists because we were so stupid in the first place). In most conversion stories to Catholicism that I have seen, this isn’t the case at all. In fact, the exact opposite is usually true: it was the commitment to Protestant Christianity and all that is good... Read more
Development of Doctrine Development is how Catholics try to explain away their doctrinal novelties Christian doctrine was given once and for all, completely developed, by Jesus Christ Initial reply Development of doctrine is common to all kinds of Christians; it happened in history with regard to doctrines agreed upon by all, and it is also seen in the Bible. Extensive reply The Catholic Church holds that there was one apostolic deposit, given by Jesus Christ to the apostles, and that... Read more
Catholic writer Mark Shea has recently written two posts (one / two) having to do with the beautiful African-American folk song, or spiritual, Kumbaya (which probably dates from the 1920s). His point (as usual), is to bash political conservatives, but (also as usual when he does that), he is dead-wrong and, I think, entirely misses the point. Here are two examples of his choice remarks: I was somewhat taken aback with the surprisingly bitter contempt heaped on certain songs and, in... Read more
C. Michael Patton (Th.M. Dallas Theological Seminary, 2001) started the Credo House (formally, Reclaiming the Mind Ministries) in 2006. The ministry began in a seminary classroom as Michael dreamed of ways to introduce lay-people to the same type education that he was receiving while at seminary. Michael was on pastoral staff at Stonebriar Community Church for six years with Chuck Swindoll. The following is my reply on his blog to some of his remarks in a post / thread entitled: “Roman... Read more
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