Armstrong vs. Collins & Walls #2: Queen of Heaven

Last updated on: October 23, 2017 at 3:31 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). ***** Collins, in his chapter 15: “Mary: Why She Matters,” note that Catholics started referring to Mary as the Queen of Heaven. In footnote 33 for the chapter, readers are referred to “pagan use” of the term in Jeremiah... Read more

Armstrong vs. Collins & Walls #1: Newman’s Mariology

Last updated on: October 20, 2017 at 1:20 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 about his co-author, Kenneth Collins (p. xxii): We have heard from lots of people who have read Newman’s famous essay on doctrinal development and found his arguments compelling. I thought it might be helpful to hear... Read more

Merit & Sanctification: Martin Luther’s Point of View

Last updated on: October 17, 2017 at 12:55 pm By Dave Armstrong

(11-10-14) *** Merit [L]ove grows by works of love, and man becomes better . . . (The 95 Theses, #44; 31 October 1517; translated by C. M. Jacobs, 1915) Sin and evil inclination must be recognized as truly sin; that it does not harm us is to be ascribed to the grace of God, Who will not count it against us if only we strive against it in many trials, works, and sufferings, . . . (Treatise on Baptism, Nov.... Read more

Pope St. John XXIII & Pope Benedict XVI on “Prophets of Doom”

Last updated on: October 15, 2017 at 5:48 pm By Dave Armstrong

Pope Benedict XVI: Statement to the Seminarians of Rome: 8 February 2013: The second term: inheritance. It is a very important word in the Old Testament, where Abraham is told that his seed will inherit the earth, and this was always the promise for his descendants. You will have the earth, you will be heirs of the earth. In the New Testament, this word becomes a word for us; we are heirs, not of a specific country, but of the... Read more

Dialogues on the Sexual Revolution & Weinstein’s Victims

Last updated on: October 16, 2017 at 12:47 pm By Dave Armstrong

These occurred on my Facebook page with Catholic Deacon Steven D. Greydanus (words in green), and atheist Jon (words in blue). *** My thinking about this issue is built upon two planks: 1. The sexual revolution has had incalculably disastrous effects. 2. Simply “going back” is neither possible nor desirable. There is a reason the 1950s led to the 1960s. You can draw a straight line from Kinsey in the 1940s back to cultural pathologies around sex in the 1890s.... Read more

Why Luther Was Excommunicated: Debate with a Lutheran

Last updated on: October 15, 2017 at 6:41 pm By Dave Armstrong

(8-14-14) *** Earlier today I noted that the Orthodox were having a field day misrepresenting a meme I posted about the Crusades, and engaging in ludicrous attempts at reading my mind and thoughts. Now on the Catholic Answers board a paper of mine about Martin Luther is being unfairly pilloried. Oh, how I long for actual rational argument when folks disagree with me! It’s like asking for elephants to fly, I reckon. The paper in question is this one: 50 Ways... Read more

Discussion on Sola Scriptura and the Rule of Faith

Last updated on: October 13, 2017 at 2:01 pm By Dave Armstrong

This occurred in the combox underneath my post, “1 Timothy 3:15: Sola Scriptura or Visible Church Authority?” Ulf Turkewitsch is an anti-Catholic Protestant. His words will be in blue: *** I agree that Jesus’ statement about the Holy Spirit leading us into all truth means much more than the gospel. I think that the truths we can appreciate are limited by our human intelligence or ability. But God has chosen what truth to allow us to see. We can’t see and understand... Read more

On [Not?] Calling People “Fools”: Biblical Reflections

Last updated on: December 28, 2017 at 10:56 am By Dave Armstrong

I wrote the following in a Facebook dialogue with a friend. I won’t cite his words, but readers will get the gist of what he was arguing, from my response. He started by citing this passage in the Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5:22 (RSV) But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, `You fool!’ shall... Read more

Luther on Early Lutherans: “Ingrates” Who Deserve God’s “Wrath”

Last updated on: October 13, 2017 at 12:07 pm By Dave Armstrong

(2-28-10) *** [The blue highlighting is my own] *** So what is my own “take” on all this business of Luther’s teachings and current events in Germany and among the early Lutherans, during the earliest 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... Read more

Was Luther in His Old Age in Agony & Bitter About Lutheranism?

Last updated on: October 12, 2017 at 6:04 pm By Dave Armstrong

(3-3-10) *** In my 2003 book, 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” Philip Melanchthon’s and Martin Bucer’s statements (in some ways even more explicit and specific) were also included in this appendix. Some anti-Catholic polemicists have lately been critiquing this. One such harsh and (as always) irrational critic is the inimitable “Turretinfan”: Dave’s appendix was not even “Scholars who... Read more

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you"?

Select your answer to see how you score.