Image by “KAZ Vorpal” (9-15-15) [Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0 license] * * * The following “brass tacks” and exceptionally straightforward exchange took place in the combox of my post, Atheists’ Worldviews (Deep Mystery?). The words of BeaverTales will be in blue. * * * * * We are empiricists. I think most atheist won’t deny we don’t know the unknowable. The difference between us and theists is that we don’t attribute qualities (i.e. invent convenient facts) and attribute them to... Read more
Photo by “Harsha K R” (26 Jan. 2010), in Thailand [Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0 license] * * * * * Sola Scriptura is the Protestant view (their “rule of faith”) that only the Bible is an infallible authority. Perspicuity is a key aspect or presupposition of sola Scriptura. It holds that the Bible is sufficiently clear in matters of salvation, at least, for anyone to understand without the necessary guidance of any authoritative Christian body. Is this true?... Read more
[see the information page for this book, for full details and all purchase options; available for as low as $1.99 and $2.99 as an e-book] (completed on 10 October 2008; published in December 2009 by Saint Benedict Press, 378 pages) * * * * * This seems to be my “forgotten” quotations book. Yet it was glowingly reviewed by Chesterton expert Dale Ahlquist in his Gilbert Magazine and is in the catalogue for the American Chesterton Society. For some reason it never... Read more
My volume, 100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura, was published by Catholic Answers (CA) in 2012. As part of the usual promotional activities, Karl Keating wrote a press release / ad about it. It’s no longer on the CA site, but it can be read in its entirety at Internet Archive. Here is an excerpt of it: * * * * * It’s time for Catholics to stop being beaten by the Fundamentalists’ favorite question. Whenever a door-to-door evangelist or... Read more
Altarpiece of the Church Fathers [St. Jerome, St. Augustine, Pope St. Gregory the Great, St. Ambrose] (c. 1483), by Michael Pacher (1430-1498) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] * * * [1 August 2003] TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Potshots, Personal Remarks, and Poisoning the Well II. Preliminary Discussion III. Jason’s Introductory Counter-Reply and My Response IV. Dionysius of Alexandria V. Theodoret VI. Hippolytus VII. Cyril of Jerusalem VIII. Conclusion See the link from Internet Archive (extremely lengthy and in-depth dialogue); also Part... Read more
Reply to anti-Catholic Protestant apologist Jason Engwer’s Catholic But Not Roman Catholic Series on the Church Fathers and Sola Scriptura The Three Holy Hierarchs: St. Basil of Caesarea, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Gregory Nazianzus – a 17th century icon from Lipie, Historic Museum in Sanok, Poland [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] * * * [1 August 2003] Table of Contents I. Jason’s Definition of Sola Scriptura and My Methodology II. Dionysius of Alexandria (d. c. 264) III. Theodoret (c. 393... Read more
Lookin’ for that elusive needle in a haystack . . . [Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0 license] * * * These exchanges occurred in the combox of my post, Theist & Atheist Burdens of Proof. JGravelle‘s words will be in blue. * * * * * “If you think atheism is true …” Again, atheism = non-belief in [a] deity[s]. Period. So the premise: “If you think not believing in God is true…” is demonstrably absurd. Substitute any other state of “not being”... Read more
Image of a small portion of the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant, which marks the edge of a bubble-like, expanding blast wave from a colossal stellar explosion, occurring about 15,000 years ago. NASA photo by J. J. Hester: 1 January 1993 [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] These exchanges occurred in the combox of my post, Theist & Atheist Burdens of Proof. The various atheists’ words will be color-coded. * * * * * Well_Read: depends on what the rules of evidence are.... Read more
Golgotha, in Jerusalem: the actual spot where Jesus was crucified. The white rock is underneath. I worshiped there a year ago (October 2014), touched the rock, and went to Mass right next to the spot. The spiritual experience of that was unbelievably profound: scarcely able to be put into words. Photo by “Almonroth”: 7 August 2011 [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license] * * * * * The Bible plainly rules out the notion of Jesus being “re-sacrificed”:... Read more
Lies About What I Do from the All-Too-Common “Angry Atheist” [public domain / Pixabay] * * * Pete Migdale was banned from my Patheos blog, which doesn’t allow personal insults. I think you’ll see why in the following tirades that he has launched in the last 12 hours, on an extremely popular atheist post: Jesus never existed. It also illustrates why I only rarely comment in atheist venues, because they freely allow garbage like this: Wow! Dave the intellectual coward... Read more
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