From You Tube video: “How do we know God is listening when we pray?” (Parkside Church, 10-29-13) [Creative Commons license] *** (4-1-10) *** This was my reply to an inquirer on the Coming Home Network board, where I was a moderator from 2007-2010. I believe he is a Protestant now, looking into the Catholic faith. His words will be in blue. * * * * * Why would I want to pray to any saint rather than pray directly to... Read more
Exodus 20:5: “visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation” God the Father, attributed to Cima da Conegliano (1460-1518) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] *** (7-8-10) *** A woman on the Coming Home Network forum [where I was a moderator from 2007-2010] was wondering about the interpretation of this passage: Exodus 20:5-6 (RSV, as throughout) you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am... Read more
Portrait of St. Augustine (c. 1480) by Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] (9-25-10) *** It’s amazing how often this assertion is made: that the great Church father St. Augustine (354-430) was closer to Protestant beliefs than Catholic, or that (a less sweeping claim) he was at least closer to Protestants on some key divisive issues such as sola Scriptura and sola fide. I’ve written about various aspects of this hallowed Protestant myth many times. Presently, I will... Read more
From a You Tube video (11-26-15) of a track by the indie metal band, Unleashing Vengeance [Creative Commons license] ***** Steve Skojec (words in blue below) is a radical Catholic reactionary, who runs the One Peter Five site. I call folks who believe (and act) like Steve radical Catholic reactionaries, precisely to draw a stark contrast with legitimate traditionalists: which name the reactionaries distort and dishonestly adopt for themselves. They are no more “traditional” (in the Catholic sense of orthodoxy and orthopraxis) than... Read more
Partial view of the Mandelbrot set. Step 11 of a zoom sequence: Double-spirals with satellites of second order. Analog to the “seahorses” the double-spirals can be interpreted as a metamorphosis of the “antenna”. Created by Wolfgang Beyer with the program Ultra Fractal 3 [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license] ***** I have linked to Blogspot paper versions from Internet Archive. Allow a minute or two for them to upload, and select versions from July 2015 or earlier. This atheist... Read more
Luther at the Diet of Worms [1521] (1877), by Anton von Werner (1843-1915) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] *** These dialogues are now listed on my Martin Luther and Lutheranism web pages. ***** Read more
Illustration: The Burden of Pride (1880) from Dante’s Divine Comedy, depicting purgatory, by Gustave Doré (1832-1883) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] *** (9 May 2002) *** It’s an extremely serious business when we meet God face to face. There won’t be any more of this “imputation” — merely “covering over” of sins) then. No, we must be sinless to be in His presence, because that is how we were created to be in the first place, in His image. Therefore, we... Read more
His Outrageous Assertions, Protestant Scholars’ Opinions & “Debate” with John Warwick Montgomery Woodcut for the frontispiece of the 1541 edition of Martin Luther’s German Bible, by Lucas Cranach the Younger (1515-1586) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] *** (9-25-04) *** Martin Luther’s words will be in blue. * * * * * INTRODUCTION: SUBJECTIVISM AND MINUTE DISTINCTIONS Historian Preserved Smith writes (emphasis added): But Luther was not the man to be bound by his own rule; few of his followers have ever interpreted,... Read more
My Dog, by SakuraUchihaNJ [Deviant Art / CC BY 3.0 license] *** (3-12-08) *** Jack Wintz, O.F.M., thinks so, and explains “why he believes the whole family of creation is included in God’s plan of salvation,” in his article, “Will I See My Little Doggy in Heaven?” (St. Anthony Messenger, July 2003). Here is my reply: * * * * * Animals have no eternal, immortal souls, as men do. They aren’t created in God’s image. They aren’t capable of sinning,... Read more
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Debates w Atheist “DagoodS” (“Bible Difficulties”)
A rendering of a Lyapunov fractal, a type of bifurcational fractal named after Russian mathematician Aleksandr Lyapunov. Image from BernardH: a French mathematician: 28 July 2006 [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license] ***** These exchanges were fun, and in my opinion, prime examples of the inability of atheists (even former Christian ones, as this person is) to do cogent, sensible, plausible Bible interpretation. They just can’t do it. They are caught up in their own inconsistencies... Read more