Zwingli: Protestant “Reformer”, Fornicator, & Vow-Breaker

Last updated on: October 25, 2017 at 2:05 pm By Dave Armstrong

(12-20-07) *** Zwingli was, along with Martin Luther and John Calvin, one of the most influential Protestant Founders, or “Reformers”. Documentary evidence follows: Huldrych Zwingli, who had slept with a woman in a former parish, petitioned his ordinary, Bishop Hugo von Hohenlandenberg of Constance, for permission to marry, which was denied. [1] Zwingli was also secretly married to a widow, Anna Reinhart — as many people knew. [2] [1] Zwingli explains his brief affair with the daughter of a barber in... Read more

Fictional Dialogue on Penance

Last updated on: February 27, 2017 at 1:01 pm By Dave Armstrong

Penitent girl (c. 1750), by Pietro Rotari (1707-1762) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] ***** (1995) ***** Calvin: You know, Joe, you Catholics ought to get rid of penance – punishing yourself to please God. Don’t you know God has already forgiven you?Joe: We would, Calvin, if the Bible allowed us to, but it teaches that there is a penalty to pay for sin in this life, too. For instance, David had to suffer terribly even though God had forgiven... Read more

Dialogue w Lutheran on Christian Authority

Last updated on: February 27, 2017 at 1:09 pm By Dave Armstrong

Luther at the Diet of Worms (1877), by Anton von Werner (1843-1915) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] *** The words of CKRuch (LCMS) will be in blue. He was responding to my post, Jerusalem Council vs. Sola Scriptura. ***** Still digesting this but I see some issues with your argument. You cannot use the authority of scripture to diminish the authority of scripture. Of course not, because it is what it is: God’s inspired, infallible revelation. I’m sure you’d argue that... Read more

15 Reasons Why Donald Trump Wins in November

Last updated on: April 19, 2017 at 12:01 pm By Dave Armstrong

This portrait of Hillary Clinton was adapted from a photo in the public domain from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s Flickr photostream: face. Image by “DonkeyHotey” (7-19-15) [Flickr / CC BY 2.0 license] ***** Whether one loves him, loathes him, reluctantly tolerates him, lionizes him, or thinks he is the reincarnation of Vlad the Impaler or Attila the Hun (I do none of those; I think he is a candidate who can win and will do some... Read more

“Work Out Your Own Salvation” & Protestant Soteriology

Last updated on: February 27, 2017 at 1:12 pm By Dave Armstrong

Photograph by “skeeeze”(10-26-08) [Pixabay / CC0 public domain] *** (4-29-08) **** Words of Baptist pastor Ken Temple are in blue. I used this passage in a paper demonstrating synergism and human cooperation with the distribution of salvation and grace.* * * * * Philippians 2:12b-13 (RSV) . . . work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. I commented about this passage in... Read more

The Ideal Mother (Poem for My Wife)

Last updated on: May 11, 2020 at 10:10 am By Dave Armstrong

***** The Ideal Mother Many’s the guy who’s wished for a wife Who measured up as the perfect “other”. Yet how rare a thing to experience in life: A soulmate who’s also the ideal mother. I watch my children learn week after week And marvel at your attentive loving care. Teaching, instructing, patient, and meek Your time and love always willing to share. How blessed our children, with a mom like you I couldn’t be more proud; nor one bit... Read more

Amoris Laetitia, “Trads” & Reactionaries

Last updated on: February 27, 2017 at 1:14 pm By Dave Armstrong

Precise Definitions & Accurate Categories are Supremely Important for Cogent Analysis Image by “PixelAnarchy”: uploaded on 7-26-12 [Pixabay / CC0 public domain] *** This is a continuation, with Catholic Tom Trinko, of our prior discussion, entitled, Dialogue: Amoris Laetitia: Confusing or No? His words will be in blue. This occurred on my (public) Facebook page. ***** You apparently don’t want to address my points so you wish to slur me by an ad hominum attack linking me to Rad Trads who I... Read more

Roarin’ Lion Ted

Last updated on: February 27, 2017 at 1:15 pm By Dave Armstrong

People Have Very Short Memories (Cruz’s Remarkable Metamorphosis Re Donald Trump) Caricatures by “DonkeyHotey”. The caricatures of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz were adapted, respectively, from Creative Commons licensed images from Max Goldberg’s flickr photostream and Gage Skidmores’s Flickr photostream. Uploaded on 4 March 2016 [Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0 license] ***** Full disclosure / background: Sen. Cruz was my favorite GOP candidate at one point. I was neither predisposed nor inclined (politically or “temperamentally”) to dislike him. I had enjoyed and... Read more

Mutual Submission & Headship: Contraries?

Last updated on: February 27, 2017 at 1:16 pm By Dave Armstrong

Photograph by “ldesignstudio”: 12-30-12 [Pixabay / public domain: CC0 license] ***** These thoughts came about in a Facebook discussion about an article by Joseph Shaw, about how the notion of “mutual submission” in marriage is manipulated by modernists and liberals to imply that the headship of the husband is overthrown or never was a true teaching; and whether it necessarily must be thought of in this way. Shaw gives as a contrary possibility my own “harmonious” and “both/and” interpretation. ***** Ephesians 5:21-33... Read more