Martin Luther: Good Works Prove Authentic Faith

Last updated on: March 28, 2017 at 12:14 pm By Dave Armstrong

Martin Luther, 31 December 1525 (age 42), by Lucas Cranach the Elder [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] * * * * * (4-16-08)* * * From Chapter Ten of my book, Martin Luther: Catholic Critical Analysis and Praise * * * * * Luther is often greatly misunderstood on this point, with his soteriological doctrine of sola fide (faith alone) often being criticized by those who don’t properly comprehend its fine points, as somehow recommending that good works in the Christian life are worthless and... Read more

Civil Dialogue with a Humanist on Abortion

Last updated on: June 24, 2023 at 10:01 am By Dave Armstrong

Babies don’t magically appear out of nowhere; from a stork or something. There is actually a causal chain, and the decision to engage in sex also entails a responsibility for a possible new person being conceived. Photograph by “macadam13” [public domain / Pixabay] * * * * * This occurred in the combox of my post, Ten Reasons Why Pro-Lifers Vote for Pro-Aborts. RhiForest appears to be either a humanist or agnostic or atheist, from some of his observations about religion, but... Read more

Glorying in Uncertainty in Modern Protestantism

Last updated on: March 28, 2017 at 12:19 pm By Dave Armstrong

(Dialogue with a Calvinist) Photograph by Jef Poskanzer (3-13-08) [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license] * * * (11-11-09)* * * This is from a combox at the Protestant blog, Growing Grace-full, under a post called “Epistemological Modesty.” * * * * * Protestantism tends towards what I have called the “cult of uncertainty.” It is by no means clear to me at all that making uncertainty a benchmark of exceptional humility is a successful or even sensible endeavor. Nor is... Read more

Ten Reasons Why Pro-Lifers Vote for Pro-Aborts

Last updated on: March 28, 2017 at 12:23 pm By Dave Armstrong

[Note: this was written right before the presidential election of 2008; hence the many references to President Obama. The moral reasoning remains as valid as it was in 2008] Photo by “piepie” [public domain / Pixabay] * * * (10-29-08) * * * * * My wife has a good friend who is inexplicably voting for Obama. For a Catholic to do that is absolutely against Catholic moral principles. For a morally conservative evangelical Protestant (my wife’s friend) to do... Read more

The Bible on the Moral Assurance of Salvation

Last updated on: March 28, 2017 at 12:25 pm By Dave Armstrong

. . . Persevering in Faith, with Hope Photograph by “Unsplash” [public domain / Pixabay] (10-21-08) * * * * * From discussions on the Coming Home Network forum. The person whose words are in blue is seriously considering returning to the Catholic Church. CHNI Helper and my co-worker, David W. Emery’s words will be in green. * * * * * What is required are faith and the fruits of faith, charity being one of those fruits, just as the Bible says. It... Read more

The Catholic Luther: 25 Shocking Examples

Last updated on: March 28, 2017 at 12:35 pm By Dave Armstrong

Portrait of Martin Luther (1528), by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] * * * (6-16-08) * * [all words below are Luther’s own] * * Further sources which include full primary and secondary documentation are indicated by numbers after the citations, and listed at the bottom. * * * * * Anointing (Catholic Sacrament of) 6 October 1520 Now I do not condemn this our sacrament of extreme unction, but I firmly deny that it is what the... Read more

John Calvin: Capital Punishment for “Heretics” (Anabaptists, Etc.)

Last updated on: November 22, 2021 at 3:43 pm By Dave Armstrong

. . . and Persecution of Catholics, Too [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] * * * (6-1-09) * * * * * [all words below are Calvin’s own; blue-colored emphases are mine] * * * * * Servetus lately wrote to me, and coupled with his letter a long volume of his delirious fancies, with the Thrasonic boast, that I should see something astonishing and unheard of. He offers to come hither, if it be agreeable to me. But I... Read more

John Calvin Believed in the Perpetual Virginity of Mary

Last updated on: November 22, 2021 at 3:51 pm By Dave Armstrong

. . . Confirmed by Reformed Scholars (Dialogue with a Presbyterian Elder) Annunciation (c. 1489), by Pietro Perugino (1448-1523) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] * * * (6-17-10) * * * * * This dialogue occurred in a combox on the Reformed Protestant-dominated Green Baggins website (starting at comment #314). Jeff Cagle is a Presbyterian elder (PCA). His words will be in blue. John Calvin’s words will be in red. * * * * * It strikes me that Catholic magisterial authority appears to function in the same fashion.... Read more

Luther Favored the Death Penalty for Anabaptists

Last updated on: November 20, 2021 at 2:27 pm By Dave Armstrong

Danube River in Germany. Some Anabaptists were drowned in the Danube for their religious beliefs. Photograph by Michael LoCascio (20 October 2009) [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license] * * * (2-24-04) * * * * * If I hear another Lutheran try to deny that this is true, I think I’ll scream. It’s happened once again, and comically (for those who love irony as I do), from one who has been a vocal critic lately with regard to my supposed... Read more

“Personal Relationship” vs. “Join the One Church”?

Last updated on: March 28, 2017 at 12:51 pm By Dave Armstrong

Head of Christ (c. 1648), by Rembrandt (1606-1669) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] * * * * * A Protestant in one of the Facebook groups I am part of, observed (paraphrased): The emphasis of Catholics is for you to join their church. The emphasis of Protestants is to want others to experience a personal relationship with Jesus. The question is typical of Protestantism’s characteristic “either/or” outlook, or what convert from Lutheranism Louis Bouyer called “the dichotomous mindset of Protestantism.”I freely... Read more