John Calvin, Early Calvinism, & Violent Iconoclasm

Last updated on: November 5, 2018 at 2:58 pm By Dave Armstrong

Calvinists and other Protestants sometimes argue as follows: 1. The Church needed reform (particularly its hierarchical leaders). 2. Traditional, crucifixes, stained glass, church architecture, organs, music, and painting and art in general are good things (hidden common assumption). Maybe statues are idols, but all this other stuff is good and wholesome. 3. These were destroyed by the so-called “reformers” because the Church (and/or the people in it) was corrupt. 4. Therefore, the primary blame for such “artistic devastation” and “excesses”... Read more

Holy Spirit, Procession, & the Father’s & Son’s Love

Last updated on: November 3, 2018 at 7:11 pm By Dave Armstrong

This is from an exchange on the Coming Home Network forum, where I was staff moderator from 2007-2010. * * * * * Yesterday, I attended a “Theology of the Body” class with workbook: Into the Heart: A Journey Through the Theology of the Body, by Christopher West, 2009. The speaker provided the following quotation without citation in her presentation: God is in himself a life-giving Communion of Persons. The Father, from all eternity, is making a gift of himself to... Read more

Can God Change His Mind?: Four Dogmatic Arguments

Last updated on: November 2, 2018 at 12:10 pm By Dave Armstrong

Church documents apparently do not specifically say that God doesn’t or can’t change His mind. It doesn’t follow, however, that God changing His mind is not prohibited by the statements about immutability and simplicity and omniscience and God’s timelessness. My argument is that it follows inexorably from simple deduction, from several Church dogmas, that God could not change His mind. There are at least four ways to demonstrate this, by straightforward reasoning: Argument Against God “Changing His Mind” from Immutability 1) God is... Read more

Dialogue: Original Sin, Jesus, & Mary’s Immaculate Conception

Last updated on: November 2, 2018 at 11:40 am By Dave Armstrong

The following is from the Coming Home Network forum (where I was staff moderator from 2007-2010). The primary person I’m interacting (blue color) with is Orthodox, and seriously considering Catholicism. He may not always accurately reflect what is Orthodox belief. Those colored in green and brown are other Catholics. *** Since the Orthodox view has been presented at such length it is important (in this context) that the Catholic view is thoroughly clarified in contrast, since this is a Catholic forum and not an... Read more

“The Last Days”: Meaning in Hebrew, Biblical Thought

Last updated on: November 20, 2021 at 2:16 pm By Dave Armstrong

I was asked the following question: I would like to ask you what is perhaps a very stupid question. Even if it is stupid, though, it has always been a (small) stumbling block for me, and I have never seen it adequately addressed. Here it is: Most if not all of the writers of the New Testament seem to take it for granted that Jesus’ return and hence the end of the world is coming very soon, certainly within their... Read more

Political Polarization and Demonization: Reflections

Last updated on: November 1, 2018 at 2:40 pm By Dave Armstrong

[these are my opinions, originally expressed in a private dialogue with a severe critic of President Trump, so they may seem a little disjointed, because of my side only being presented below. But I think I get my point across] We know that liberals are far less tolerant of others with different opinions, than conservatives are: The poll [from Pew Research Center] shows almost half of liberal Democrats — 47 percent — say that if a friend supported Trump, it... Read more

Baptism & the Analogy of Circumcision (John Calvin)

Last updated on: October 31, 2018 at 1:15 pm By Dave Armstrong

[John Calvin’s words will be in blue] A Catholic wrote to me: Last week on our live [Catholic apologetic] TV program, I was doing a presentation on the Catholic view of infant baptism. The program is only 30 minutes long, hardly enough to give a full, in depth Scriptural background on the Sacrament, so it is necessary to sometimes just give Scriptural references by quoting chapter and verse without going into the context or giving a full explanation of the... Read more

Dialogue: Bible on Infant Baptism & Baptismal Regeneration

Last updated on: October 31, 2018 at 12:54 pm By Dave Armstrong

This exchange stemmed from a critique of Jack DisPennett (of the Churches of Christ or something similar) of my paper, Infant Baptism: A Fictional Dialogue. All Bible quotes, unless otherwise annotated, are from the New International Version. Jack’s words will be in blue. Quotes from my paper above will be in green. *** I. INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS *Zeke the “Jesus Freak”: Hey Cathy, why do Catholics baptize babies? It’s pointless since they don’t know what’s going on and can’t repent, according to Acts 2:38... Read more

Why Not Kick Modernist Dissenters Out of the Church?

Last updated on: October 30, 2018 at 4:42 pm By Dave Armstrong

[written in 2002, so I refer a lot to Pope St. John Paul II] The role of the pope is much different, ecclesiologically and strategically, from the role of a local bishop. Pope St. John Paul II is most definitely effecting positive long-term change by forcefully teaching truth, promulgating the Catechism and various reforms, of schools, of architecture, of moral teaching, etc. The damage of liberalism has been so profound that one must look at cures in terms of decades and generations, not “right... Read more

Döllinger & Liberal Dissidents’ Rejection of Papal Infallibility

Last updated on: October 29, 2018 at 6:02 pm By Dave Armstrong

[Cardinal Newman’s words will be in blue. Newman biographer Ian Ker’s words (heavily citing Cardinal Newman) will be in in green. I won’t indent their citations, since they are so lengthy] Many Protestants particularly offended and scandalized by the Vatican I declaration of papal infallibility in 1870. I thought it would be interesting to note the striking similarity between remarks of Protestant critics today and those of the schismatic, ultimately liberal Old Catholic movement, post-1870, led (as a figurehead with quite ambivalent... Read more