Dialogue with an Agnostic on God as a “Properly Basic Belief”

Last updated on: May 19, 2017 at 12:40 pm By Dave Armstrong

Alvin Plantinga in 2008 [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] Alvin Plantinga is considered by many to be the greatest living Christian philosopher. He is a Reformed Protestant. I subscribe to much of his epistemology of Christianity. This dialogue consists of agnostic JD Eveland‘s critique of Plantinga’s paper (that I recommended to him), Is Belief in God Properly Basic? Readers may consult the entire article if they wish. I do cite a great deal of it, below. Plantinga’s words will be... Read more

Joshua’s Altar on Mt. Ebal: Findings of Recent Archaeology

Last updated on: March 22, 2023 at 11:21 pm By Dave Armstrong

Photograph by Daniel Ventura, 18 June 2007 [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license] *** The material formerly here has been re-worked, modified, and edited and is now included only in my book, The Word Set in Stone: How Archaeology, Science, and History Back Up the Bible (Catholic Answers Press: March 15, 2023) Read more

St. Augustine vs. Radical Vegetarianism

Last updated on: May 19, 2017 at 1:25 pm By Dave Armstrong

Thou shalt not kill? [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license] * * * * * I love it! We are still blessed today by those who want to distort what the Bible teaches about this. Jesus ate fish, for heaven’s sake, even after His Resurrection, and Passover itself involved eating lamb. And so some attempt to extend this command even to beasts and cattle, as if it forbade us to take life from any creature. But if so, why... Read more

St. Augustine’s Holy Communion (Standing, in the Hand)

Last updated on: May 19, 2017 at 1:27 pm By Dave Armstrong

Altarpiece of the Church Fathers: St Augustine Liberating a Prisoner (c. 1483), by Michael Pacher (1430-1498) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] * * * * * This post is especially for those who like to rail against the Novus Ordo Mass and current reception norms as a liberal distortion. The idea in modifying the liturgy was to be closer in spirit to the early, patristic liturgy. I myself, by the way, receive kneeling at an altar rail on the tongue,... Read more

Dialogue with an Agnostic on the Credibility of Revelation

Last updated on: May 19, 2017 at 1:31 pm By Dave Armstrong

Image by “geralt”. [public domain / Pixabay] JD Eveland is an agnostic with whom I have had several great exchanges, free of the nonsense and foolishness that so often (sadly) occurs when Christians and agnostics or atheists interact. If all goes well, we will continue having many more dialogues. His words will be in blue. * * * * * This seemed to be a possible point to raise a question about the derivation of a pretty complex body of... Read more

Dialogue with an Evangelical on Purgatory in the Bible

Last updated on: May 19, 2017 at 1:34 pm By Dave Armstrong

(vs. Bethany Kerr) Illustration for Dante’s Purgatorio 24 by Gustave Doré (1832-1883) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] (10-7-13)This friendly and constructive exchange took place on my Facebook page, under a post from 24 September 2013. Bethany is an evangelical Protestant with Calvinist inclinations. Her words will be in blue. * * * * * Original post: NO BIBLICAL EVIDENCE FOR BODILY MORTIFICATION ON BEHALF OF OTHERS? THAT WOULD BE BIG NEWS TO THE PROPHET EZEKIEL EZEKIEL 4:4-8 (RSV) “Then lie upon your... Read more

Archaeology and Jesus’ Baptism “Beyond the Jordan”

Last updated on: August 13, 2019 at 7:58 pm By Dave Armstrong

Original title: “’Bethany Beyond the Jordan’: History, Archaeology and the Location of Jesus’ Baptism on the East Side of the Jordan” The probable baptism site in Jordan. Excavations since 1996 have already uncovered more than 20 churches, caves, and baptismal pools dating from the Roman and Byzantine periods. The area known as Wadi Kharrar is believed to be the biblical Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan, where John the Baptist lived. It’s also associated with the ascension of the Prophet Elijah into heaven. Photograph by Jan Smith, 19 May 2010.... Read more

St. Peter’s House in Capernaum and Recent Archaeology

Last updated on: August 13, 2019 at 7:55 pm By Dave Armstrong

Octagonal remains of the Byzantine church built over St. Peter’s house at Capernaum (Seetheholyland.net) [Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0 license] * (9-23-14) * [portion of a chapter in my book, Footsteps that Echo Forever: My Holy Land Pilgrimage] *** It remains an indisputable fact of history, that Catholics from their earliest existence in the apostolic age, have commemorated important, holy sites in biblical and Catholic history: often by building churches or at least shrines of some sort where they happened. We know... Read more

Calvin Held to Mary’s Perpetual Virginity (with Tim Staples)

Last updated on: May 19, 2017 at 1:52 pm By Dave Armstrong

+ Anti-Catholic James Swan’s Usual Obscurantist and Revisionist Nonsense Virgin and Child with Young St John the Baptist (bet. 1470-1475), by Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] (6-5-14) [John Calvin’s words will be in blue; Tim Staples’ words in green; anti-Catholic Reformed polemicist James Swan’s words (appropriately for a clown) will be in red and purple] * * * * * Tim Staples has a new book out about Mariology, entitled, Behold Your Mother: A Biblical and Historical Defense of the Marian Doctrines. On... Read more

Catholic Worship: Beauty, Imagination, and the Soul

Last updated on: May 19, 2017 at 4:03 pm By Dave Armstrong

Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis (photo by www.kevinashphotography.com). [Flickr / CC BY-ND 2.0 license] (11-25-13) These were my comments in another thread that started out asking which form of liturgy “better captures the Catholic mythological imagination.” In my replies, I broadened this consideration to include architecture and art and music as well: the complete worship experience. * * * * * If the choice is between the EF [extraordinary form of the Roman / Latin Rite or the Tridentine Mass] and... Read more