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
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
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
(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
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
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
+ 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
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
Coronation of the Virgin (c. 1645), by Diego Velázquez (1599–1660) [Wikimedia Commons] Catherine Dunphy: “humanist, atheist and former Roman Catholic chaplain” wrote an absurd rant about “women’s status as ‘other’ in the Church.” She wrote in the combox: “if these female pew sitters truly understood the role the church wishes to box them into, perhaps they would leave. That is what happened with me.” This is my reply. * * * * * 1. If the Catholic Church is supposedly so against... Read more
First century steps on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem, that Jesus likely walked during His trial (photograph by Judy Armstrong, October 2014) *** (9-18-14) *** [“pre-trip” / archaeological portion of a chapter from my book, Footsteps that Echo Forever: My Holy Land Pilgrimage] * * * * * This article has been re-uploaded under the title, Archaeology: Jesus’ Crucifixion, Tomb, & the Via Dolorosa. *** Read more
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