Regensburg (1541) & Poissy (1561): Protestant “Ecumenism”?

Last updated on: October 28, 2017 at 11:45 am By Dave Armstrong

(4-27-04) *** Catholic historian Warren Carroll writes: Reform-minded Cardinal Contarini attended the Diet of Regensburg and its religious discussions, and managed to obtain agreement on both sides on a statement on justification, but only by using a new concept of “duplicate justice,” which recognized that God gave justifying grace to men in baptism, but also stated that “a yet higher justice, that of Christ Himself, becomes necessary in order to attain a perfect renewal, this latter being given and imputed... Read more

Humanae Vitae (1968): Infallible Teaching Against Contraception

Last updated on: October 28, 2017 at 11:16 am By Dave Armstrong

(12-31-07) *** The teaching against contraception as a grave sin was already firmly entrenched in Catholic tradition, having been strongly asserted again in 1930 by Pope Pius XI in response to the Anglicans [Casti Connubii]. Such declarations often come in response to heresy. No one (not even any Protestant body) had officially disagreed with the prohibition until 1930, so it was a non-issue. Once the Anglicans started sanctioning sin, then it was time to clarify the constant teaching. Hence, the... Read more

Why Did God Kill Onan? (The Bible on Contraception)

Last updated on: December 31, 2019 at 1:54 pm By Dave Armstrong

(2-9-04) *** Photo credit: Judah and Tamar (anon., Italian, 17th c.) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] This article has been re-uploaded under the title, Why Did God Kill Onan? (Bible and Contraception). *** Read more

Contraception: Early Church Teaching (William Klimon)

Last updated on: October 27, 2017 at 11:40 am By Dave Armstrong

(1998) *** St. John Chrysostom St. John Chrysostom condemned contraceptors as “stand[ing]” with heretics (On Galatians 5, PG 61:668-669) and as doing the work of “murderers” (Homily 62 on Matthew 19, PG 58:599). St. John is referring to castration. Castration is, of course, an extreme form of contraception–but it is nonetheless a form of contraception, one that has been fairly widely used during this century in population control, e.g., in India and China. In fact, sterilization is the most popular... Read more

Luther Believed in Soul Sleep; Thus He Rejected Purgatory

Last updated on: October 27, 2017 at 9:53 am By Dave Armstrong

(2-9-08) *** Just when I think that I’ve discovered pretty much all of Martin Luther’s many false beliefs, and that there couldn’t possibly be any more, lo and behold, here comes another one out of nowhere. Today I came across someone mentioning English Protestant William Tyndale’s acceptance of “conditional immortality” (a sort of synonym for, or notion associated with, soul sleep, or psychopannychia). Curious, I started Googling, and soon found that Martin Luther also espoused this false doctrine, in overreaction to supposed excessive “Greek... Read more

Armstrong vs. Collins & Walls #13: “Reformed” Censorship & Intolerance

Last updated on: October 26, 2017 at 6:29 pm By Dave Armstrong

This is one of my many critiques of the book entitled, Roman but Not Catholic: What Remains at Stake 500 Years after the Reformation, by evangelical Protestant theologian Kenneth J. Collins and Anglican philosopher Jerry L. Walls (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2017). ***** Jerry Walls wrote on his Facebook page on 10-24-17: “apologetics gets its bad name from those who engage in simplistic, spurious arguments and defend their dogma at any cost.” And that is exactly the sort of pseudo-“argument”... Read more

Luther: Execute Adulterers, Witches, Frigid Wives, & Prostitutes

Last updated on: October 26, 2017 at 9:39 am By Dave Armstrong

(12-20-07 and 2-22-10) *** Just when you think you’ve discovered all the weirdest things about Luther that could possibly be found, ol’ Martin springs another goofy, wacko idea on ya!: . . . God commanded in the law [Deut. 22:22-24] that adulterers be stoned . . . The temporal sword and government should therefore still put adulterers to death . . . Where the government is negligent and lax, however, and fails to inflict the death penalty, the adulterer may... Read more

John Calvin: Authoritative Council Needed to Unite Protestants

Last updated on: October 25, 2017 at 4:29 pm By Dave Armstrong

(1-18-08) *** John Calvin figured out that only a council would unite Protestants doctrinally at war with each other. And he was only talking about agreement on the Eucharist. It never happened. But it’s fascinating that Calvin thought this council (I assume he would regard it as sub-infallible, in accordance with sola Scriptura; which wouldn’t work, anyway) was practically or functionally necessary, and that Scripture alone was not going to achieve a much-desired unity. *** Thomas Cranmer to John Calvin: 20 March... Read more

Martin Luther’s Remarkably “Pro-Tradition” Strain of Thought

Last updated on: October 25, 2017 at 4:30 pm By Dave Armstrong

(1-18-08) *** It’s inaccurate to contend that Luther despises councils altogether. Rather, he denies their infallibility and makes them formally subordinate to Scripture, which alone is infallible. This perhaps explains (at least in part) how Luther can rail against councils in one breath and espouse a quasi-Catholic principle of authority and tradition in the next. He has been known to speak in two different senses. When he criticizes (even excoriates) councils, it is in the sense that they do not override the authoritative rule... Read more

Condemnation of the Anti-Protestant Spirit (A Sad Dialogue)

Last updated on: October 25, 2017 at 2:33 pm By Dave Armstrong

This took place on my Facebook page, with a Catholic woman, under a post called, “My Respect for Lutherans.” Her words will be in blue. *** Mark Wilson: Now people may lump you together with the Pope who said something nice about John Wesley. Yeah, they might. Some people never learn that truth is truth, wherever it is found. Jesus said nice stuff about the pagan centurion. * One need not go to Lutheranism to find any of the truths found in... Read more