Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman’s approach to this topic was vastly different from many (and the most fashionable, chic opinions) today: I have said that, like St. Peter, he is the Vicar of his Lord. He can judge, and he can acquit; he can pardon, and he can condemn; he can command and he can permit; he can forbid, and he can punish. He has a Supreme jurisdiction over the people of God. He can stop the ordinary course of... Read more
Contrary to many non-Catholic claims, biblical evidence for these practices is abundant. *** 1) We ask others on earth to pray for us. 2) Angels (many passages) and dead saints (Rev 6:9-10) care very much for us. 3) Angels are aware of earthly events (Lk 15:10, 1 Cor 4:9, and many other passages); so are dead saints (Heb 12:1). Moreover, angels are extremely intelligent and can deduce our thoughts and follow our actions. 4) We observe both angels (Rev 8:3-4;... Read more
Some Protestants tell us that all such images are “graven images” and “idolatry”. John Calvin thought even statues of Christ were idols. But is it true that they are never connected to prayer, bowing (using them as aids to devotion), or worship in the Bible? No . . . ***** The ark of the covenant — the most sacred item to the ancient Israelites — had cherubim carved on top of it: on both sides of the “mercy seat” (Ex 25:22;... Read more
The Judaizers were Christians who took a different approach to law and grace than the Church at length decided to take. *** The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church (edited by J. D. Douglas, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zodervan, 1978, “Judaizers”, p. 554), states about the Judaizers: A party of Christians in the early church who thought it was necessary that Gentile converts to Christianity should be circumcised and observe the Jewish law — in fact that they should become... Read more
“In the last two decades of Pentateuchal scholarship, the source-critical method has come under unprecedented attack; in many quarters it has been rejected entirely. . . . [various factors] have led scholarship to the brink of abandoning the four sources, J, E, P and D. ” — The Tam Institute for Jewish Studies at Emory University (Spring 2009 Calendar of Events) Catholic Deconstructing the Documentary Hypothesis (Phillip Campbell, Unam Sanctam Catholicam) Crisis in Scripture Studies (William G. Most) Critique of the... Read more
Biblical examples clearly indicate the general principle that offices are not annihilated by sinful occupants. *** A Protestant (words in blue below) asked me: In your section on ‘Rome’ you note that it suffered, ‘periodic moral decadence, a few weak or immoral popes..’ Yet you are not bothered that the holder of an ‘infallible’ office ( yes I know it’s only at ‘times’), can be ‘immoral’? I don’t just mean falls into sin like everyone does sometimes, but actually ‘immoral’... Read more
King David was quite a sinner himself, yet God made an eternal covenant with him, knowing he would commit adultery and murder. *** [Reformed Protestant Anti-Catholic polemicist John Bugay’s words will be in blue] *** Why did I know this would happen? I was watching coverage of the Joe Paterno / Penn State tragedy last night, on a sports show, and I just knew that this would cause many folks (especially anti-Catholics like John Bugay) to go right back to blasting the... Read more
Luther accepted confirmation as a sacramental rite like, e.g., holy water, but not as a Scripture-attested sacrament. [Luther’s words will be in blue] *** Lutherans have differed on the question through the centuries, with some observing it and others not doing so (and with different understandings of it). We again find Luther, characteristically, refusing to disallow it, and he preached on at least one occasion that he would not find fault: . . . if every pastor examines the faith of the children... Read more
A Lutheran apologist says Luther wasn’t “agonized” over rampant sectarianism; I document that he was. This whole “tempest in a teapot / mountain out of a molehill” pseudo-controversy came about as a result of Lutheran blogger Edward Reiss going on and on about one appendix of one obscure book of mine. In my 2007 volume, Protestantism: Critical Reflections of an Ecumenical Catholic, I described a set of quotations from Luther as evidences of Luther’s “Agony Over the State of Early Protestantism.” Fellow “reformers”... Read more
Documentation of Luther’s opinion of the early Lutherans, during the first period of Protestantism. I think causes of historical events are always extraordinarily complex, just as causes of human behavior in general are. That has always been my position, as long as I can remember. I despise simplistic attempts of positing single causes for things as obviously complex as our topic of the social / theological situation of Germany in the 16th century. All the cited words below are Luther’s... Read more
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