The United States Supreme Court [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] *** [various thoughts of mine on various threads] *** You’re in Ohio, the ultimate battleground state (with Florida). If it’s very close there and Trump loses, and you don’t vote, then you and others like you there will have played a key role in getting Hillary elected. She would not have been able to win without you, if that happens. You can rationalize that that is not the case all day... Read more
This is an excerpt from my book, The One-Minute Apologist (Sophia Institute Press, 2007). It’s my own initial draft, and so is slightly different from the book. * * * * * (6-19-06) *** BIBLE AND TRADITION *** We know which books are inspired and belong in the Bible by reading them Biblical books are self-attesting, so no church is needed to determine the biblical canon Initial reply There are indeed several internal biblical evidences of inspiration and canonicity, yet (despite... Read more
The Pharisees Question Jesus (1886-1894), by James Tissot (1836-1902) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] ***** (late 90s; rev. 8-16-16) ***** Many Protestants (especially anti-Catholic ones) hold, by and large, the view that Scripture and sacred, apostolic tradition are somehow unalterably opposed to each other and, for all practical purposes, mutually exclusive. This is yet another example of a false dichotomy which Protestantism often (unfortunately) tends to create (e.g., faith vs. works, matter vs. spirit). The Bible, however, presupposes tradition as an entity prior... Read more
Assumption of the Virgin (1526-1529), by Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] *** (6-30-08) *** I’ve documented in the past that both Catholic and Protestant (including Lutheran) historians and Luther scholars accept the fact that Luther believed in the Assumption, at least in his early days, if not later. Catholic writer Thomas A. O’Meara, O. P., presents the confusing evidence about Luther (claiming he did accept this doctrine early on): In 1522 Luther preaches on the feast... Read more
Color photo of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “Man of The Year” on the cover of Time Magazine, January 2, 1933 edition [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] *** [written on 1 May 2012 on Facebook] ***** [I briefly joined a Facebook group for this organization and wrote the following]: Isn’t it a lost cause? If you are pro-life, I don’t see how you can’t vote Republican, on a national level. Obama favors infanticide, partial-birth “abortion”. It’s outrageous. I’m happy... Read more
Codex Sinaiticus (4th century): text of Matthew 6:4-32. This manuscript included all seven deuterocanonical books [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] *** [Written in 1994; from A Biblical Defense of Catholicism: pp. 259-264] *** (Bible verses: RSV) *** The Old Testament in Catholic Bibles contains seven more books than are found in Protestant Bibles (46 and 39, respectively). Protestants call these seven books the Apocrypha and Catholics know them as the deuterocanonical books. These seven books are: Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom... Read more
Joseph Barber Lightfoot (1828-1889): Anglican biblical scholar, translator of the early Church fathers and Bishop of Durham. He was a key advocate of the authenticity of the epistles of St. Ignatius of Antioch [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] *** (6-7-09) *** The Catholic Encyclopedia (“St. Ignatius of Antioch”) provides an overview summary, with which we can begin our closer examination (my blue coloring): At intervals during the last several centuries a warm controversy has been carried on by patrologists concerning... Read more
Triplets. The original uploader was Michael L. Kaufman at English Wikipedia (2-10-05) [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license] *** [3-9-09] ***** Genesis 38:8-10 (RSV) Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.” But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so when he went in to his brother’s wife he spilled the semen on the ground, lest he... Read more
Family of Ole Hanson (1874-1940), mayor of Seattle and founder of San Clemente, California (c. 1919) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] ***** This article has been re-uploaded under the title, Contraception and Biblical Teaching (Fer or Agin)? *** Read more
Original title: Why Did Baker Books and Crossway Omit John Calvin’s Remarks Against Contraception in His Commentaries (Genesis 38:10)? Photograph by Nic McPhee (1-26-08) [Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0 license] *** (9-14-13) *** This came about on one of the threads on my Facebook page, when a Reformed Protestant (his words in blue below) questioned a quotation of mine from John Calvin; the following: I will content myself with briefly mentioning this, as far as the sense of shame allows... Read more
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