Baptismal Formula: Trinitarian or in Jesus’ Name Only?

Last updated on: April 5, 2018 at 12:12 pm By Dave Armstrong

It is often argued by those who deny the Trinity (groups such as the United Pentecostal Church or so-called “apostolic” Protestant denominations, corresponding to their Sabellian or “Oneness” Christology); also by a few trinitarian denominations that adopt a “Jesus only” baptismal formula, that Acts 2:38 provides us with the correct baptismal formula (i.e., the words pronounced by the person performing the sacrament). Others contend that Acts 2:38 contradicts Matthew 28:19. Some higher critics of the Bible have argued (typical of... Read more

Conversion to Catholicism: Reflections on its Complexity

Last updated on: April 4, 2018 at 1:19 pm By Dave Armstrong

Rationales for conversions might be consistent and even quite respectable, but (now I speak as a Catholic partisan) can be attacked on the presuppositional level. This is why I write so often about sola Scriptura and the Church and the crucial role of tradition. Every Christian must grapple with those issues one way or another. If the roles were reversed and I was analyzing a Catholic conversion to Protestantism, I could surely grant that a person sincerely believed that sola... Read more

“Re-Presentation” vs. “Re-Sacrifice” in the Mass: Doctrinal History

Last updated on: April 4, 2018 at 12:25 pm By Dave Armstrong

This dialogue with my highly esteemed friend, Lutheran pastor Ken Howes (LCMS), took place on my Facebook page. His words will be in blue. *** The Smalcald Articles are indeed quite hostile to the Catholic Mass. We do reject the doctrine on the sacrifice of the Mass, especially as it used to be expressed–that Christ was sacrificed anew in the Mass. The more recent way it is expressed, that Christ’s one sacrifice on Calvary is re-presented (I realize that it is... Read more

Lutheran View of the Mass / Catholics & Lutheran Worship

Last updated on: April 3, 2018 at 2:05 pm By Dave Armstrong

Pastor Ben Maton (Lutheran – Missouri Synod [“LCMS”] ) serves at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Charlottesville, Virginia. His words will be in blue. * * * * * At one point, after documenting the Lutheran Confessions’ repudiation of the papistic mass, you claim this “jaded view” of Lutherans puts them “in the incoherent, odd position of agreeing that Catholicism is Christian, despite the fact that its central rite is utterly non-Christian (and, far beyond that, anti-Christian, as it is idolatry, blasphemy, etc.).” If that’s true, RC’s have put themselves in... Read more

The Nature of the Church: Lutheran-Catholic Dialogue

Last updated on: April 3, 2018 at 12:47 pm By Dave Armstrong

Pastor Ben Maton (Lutheran – Missouri Synod [“LCMS”] ) serves at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Charlottesville, Virginia. His words will be in blue. * * * * * Dear Dave (and the rest of cyberbia reading this stuff) — The Lord be with you! And thank-you for your patience in waiting for our reply. Larry [another Lutheran pastor who was participating in the dialogue] is very busy and I am just lazy! We ended our first essay “If we have written clearly…” We... Read more

My Coined Term, “Radical Catholic Reactionary”: Clarifications

Last updated on: April 2, 2018 at 2:16 pm By Dave Armstrong

Jim Brown: Don’t take this personally. But your use of the word “reactionary” seems designed to offend more often than to inform. I hear that every time. And every time I have to dig up my post where I very carefully define it. And then people either don’t read it, or if they do, they no longer want to discuss it. The main thing to know about my use of it, is that it was intended as an act of... Read more

Lame Reactionary Anti-Francis “No Hell” Argument

Last updated on: March 26, 2020 at 4:03 am By Dave Armstrong

I’ve come to expect lame arguments from fundamentalist anti-Catholics and atheists about Scripture: wooden literalism, butchery of context, inability or unwillingness to seek to understand the intent of the writer, cluelessness as to literary genre, eisegesis, etc. What’s sad is that radical reactionary Catholics do the same exact thing to the pope‘s words, and then spread far and wide such nonsense and calumny as if it were gospel TRVTH. Presently, I am examining how a single sentence in Pope Francis’... Read more

Reactionary Chris Ferrara’s Lies Re Pope Francis & Hell

Last updated on: March 31, 2018 at 1:12 pm By Dave Armstrong

All the usual suspects are now coming out of the woodwork, given the latest press reports about the pope and hell, blessing the world with more bilge and worthless rotgut in sinfully speculating about what Pope Francis supposedly denies. Chris Ferrara, of the notorious radical Catholic reactionary rag, The Remnant, opines at length. I shall take apart his analysis point-by-point. His words will be in blue. *** Ferrara’s article is entitled, “Pope Bergoglio Spouts the Annihilationist Heresy—Again.” On Holy Thursday... Read more

“I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” (Col 1:24)

Last updated on: March 30, 2018 at 2:06 pm By Dave Armstrong

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.” (RSV; cf. 2 Cor 11:23-30; Gal 6:17) ***** I wrote the following in my book, A Biblical Defense of Catholicism (pp. 160-161), leading up to this passage: In some mysterious, glorious way God chooses to involve us in the very Redemption (always in a secondary and derivative sense, but actual nonetheless), just... Read more

Pope Francis, Hell, Phil Lawler, Lies, Damned Lies, . . .

Last updated on: March 30, 2018 at 5:50 pm By Dave Armstrong

Now there is another stink about Pope Francis supposedly not believing in hell (flat-out denying it). It’s based on the words of a 94-year-old atheist interviewer of the pope, Eugenio Scalfari, who has a very annoying habit of writing down the pope’s alleged “words” merely from memory. It’s all very familiar to me, because I wrote about the same phenomenon almost three months ago now. Here is a somewhat abridged treatment of a longer review devoted exclusively to the topic... Read more