Fear not! Gird up your loins! The Church has survived many onslaughts. It will not be any different now. [public domain / Pixabay] Catholics who are excessively worried about the family synod coming up (there are many of them): thinking that it very well might change the morals of the Church that have been passed-down from the apostles, must not believe in the indefectibility of the Church (which is one of the dogmas of the Catholic faith). In effect, they deny that... Read more
Statue of Julian of Norwich, Norwich Cathedral, by David Holgate FSDC (photograph by “rocketjohn”) [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license] (3-24-14) * * * * * In working on my book, Quotable Catholic Mystics and Contemplatives, I included Julian of Norwich [female] (c. 1342-c. 1416) and her book, Revelations of Divine Love. Later on Facebook, someone brought up the fact that it is claimed that she was a universalist (the belief that God saves everyone and/or that there is either no hell at all... Read more
The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (1852), by John Martin (1789-1854) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] *** (10-9-14) *** [portion of a chapter in my book, Footsteps that Echo Forever: My Holy Land Pilgrimage] Prior to the last ten years or so, the leading archaeological theory (for those who believe that these cities existed) placed the location of Sodom and Gomorrah on the south end of the Dead Sea, on the eastern shore; although there were several prominent archaeological advocates for a northeastern shore location as far back... Read more
Madonna and Child (c. 1655-1660), by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] * * * * * I wrote a very extensive paper about this entire issue, entitled, Mary’s Perpetual Virginity “In Partu” (a Miraculous, Non-Natural Childbirth) is a Binding Catholic Dogma. As part of that, I cited relevant dogmatic statements of the Church, from the newest edition of Denzinger’s Enchiridion symbolorum: Compendium of Creeds, Definitions, and Declarations on Matters of Faith and Morals (Ignatius, 2012), in both English and Latin. This work was co-edited and co-translated by a good friend of mine, fellow Michigander, and... Read more
Original title: Did Paul and Peter Disobey Jesus and Risk Hellfire (Calling Folks “Fools”)? Did Jesus Contradict Himself? Or Do Proverbs and Hyperbolic Utterances Allow Exceptions? Image by “Church Iglesia” [Flickr / CC BY 2.0 license] [From Facebook, February 2014] * * * * * Matthew 5:22 (RSV) But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says,... Read more
. . . Protestants say it is, and that there is no necessity for an infallible Church or Tradition, yet they don’t and can’t agree on a million things . . . [public domain / Pixabay] [from a February 2014 Facebook post; I wrote this on the website of my friend Jerome Smith: with whom I have been arguing about sola Scriptura. It’s one of my standard arguments against both sectarianism and sola Scriptura, that I developed in my first book,... Read more
Photo credit: Praying Hands, by Albrecht Dürer (1508) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] This article has now been revised and updated and posted under the title, C. S. Lewis Believed in Purgatory & Prayer for the Dead. ***** Read more
[Pixabay / public domain] Philosophy can be really fun and enlightening, or it can get bogged down in endless “word games”: always trying to define every other word in every sentence, rather than deal in concepts and larger ideas; going round and round like the image above. I’ve always detested these sorts of word games, because I see them as either a cop-out or muddleheaded thinking: the very essence of being unable (or unwilling) to “see the forest for the... Read more
Book by H. P. Lovecraft, 1939 [Flickr / CC BY 2.0 license] *** (9-30-07) *** John Loftus is a former pastor and the webmaster of the Debunking Christianity blog. This reply is at his request. I give him points for originality, if little else. John’s words will be in blue. * * * * * John provided a general post that linked to other individual ones (I won’t give all the URL’s; the previous link gives those). In later ones, he merely repeats many of his... Read more
Original title: Refutation of Robert Sungenis’ Charge that Pope John Paul II Denied the Reality of Hell and Taught Universalism [public domain / Pixabay] *** (4-26-11) *** [most — if not all — links from Sungenis’ statements are defunct because he later took down his entire massive website. I have retained them, in case some can be searched on Internet Archive] *** His words will be in blue. * * * * * Psalm 50:20 (RSV) You sit and speak against your brother;... Read more
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