“DagoodS” is a former Christian with whom I have dialogued several times. Recently I met him. He did a presentation on evidences (or lack thereof, from his standpoint) for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. I wrote an account of my opinion of the meeting: 16 Atheists / Agnostics & Me (At a Meeting). Since that time he has made some replies in the combox for the aforementioned post and in another (not always directed towards myself) for a related post from... Read more
“ButILikeCaves” was hyper-insulting and asserted that all Christians are fundamentally dishonest. He was banned as a result, but before he was escorted to the door, he refused to defend his basic axioms. Here is that discussion, with his childish insults omitted, as much as possible, with his words in blue: ***** Mythology is cool, and fun to study, and can have some good lessons. You should never let it rule your life. I (like Tolkien and C. S. Lewis) contend... Read more
Predictably, as I critiqued a few atheist deconversion stories, I was made the sole subject of now two threads on an atheist site (the first now has 270 comments in three days: with 54 atheists, and the second is up to 92 in the space of one day). 50 atheists and little ol’ me! I’m expected to answer all these people and simultaneously engage in that many discussions (and if I don’t, I’m an intellectual coward, or don’t have the... Read more
An atheist wrote on my blog: “I left the Catholic faith in stages. . . . [many atheist reasons given] Sell me on coming back to Mass, Dave. Give me the best you’ve got.” *** I don’t think someone like you can be persuaded with rational arguments. You have accepted all these ideas that I think rest on false premises and have built up an edifice which you think demonstrates that Catholicism is false. That can’t be deconstructed in a... Read more
God is not an unjust Judge because He doesn’t give rebellious man an infinite amount of time to repent or because some refuse to accept His gracious pardon or to give Him due honor and worship and end up in hell. The following is a response to a person who is sincerely seeking to understand Catholic teaching on hell. He is “currently completing a PhD on the philosophy of Aristotle”: so one can see that it is quite a challenge to me... Read more
I disagree that Vatican II taught novelties. I think they are developments; rather striking, but still developments. They were certainly not more radical developments than the Jerusalem Council suddenly making circumcision optional for Gentile converts, or even Vatican I proclaiming papal infallibility as a de fide dogma in 1870. I just put up a post today which is a defense of the Assisi ecumenical gatherings by a priest, utilizing St. Thomas Aquinas at length. As Fr. William G. Most has... Read more
A Protestant asked: “Is my understanding correct that, as long as there is submission and no attempt at sabotaging unity, some disagreement is okay?” Basically, the “line” is where the Church has established a dogma or solidly established doctrine. Most theological issues have been settled, and Catholics are not really free to disagree. They can have doubts, and not perfectly understand everything (who does, anyway?), but they are required to submit to all that the Church has decreed, and... Read more
I have produced many popes, bishops, conciliar statements, leading theologians, well-known priests, and apologists who oppose those bombings as inherently contrary to just war tradition, and hence, proper Catholic ethics. Catholic bomb proponents with regard to this issue have not produced a single one that I am aware of. If it is such a respectable Catholic position, then I wish they would do that. But they haven’t, and I think that is very telling, if not compelling. We’re not Protestants;... Read more
John Lennon (1966): “The Beatles are more popular than Jesus” [which was indeed sadly true for many millions of people: especially in relatively more secularized England] U2 (2018) [in effect]: “killing preborn children and being politically chic and popular [i.e., politically far left, of course] trumps the Christian prohibition of murder, and the sanctity of life from the womb to the tomb.” The Blaze reported (5-3-18): U2 posted an image of the repeal logo on Twitter accompanied by the written message,... Read more
Catholics & Protestants tend to have very different views of Luther & of the nature & scope of Christian tradition. Words of Steve (Catholic) will be in green. Words of Alexander (Calvinist) will be in blue. *** This seems to be the summary of the argument between Catholic and Protestant views of Luther: Catholic: Luther was a flawed and complex character therefore one should not trust his theological pronouncements and certainly not follow him out of the Church That’s... Read more
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