Dialogue: “Anthropological Advocacy” of Same-Sex Marriage, Part II

Last updated on: May 21, 2017 at 5:00 pm By Dave Armstrong

Sappho and Erinna in a Garden at Mytilene (by Simeon Solomon, 1864) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] See Part I And by the way, I studied all this stuff about society, in college. I majored in sociology and minored in psychology. College was great insofar as I thoroughly learned how secular minds think. Few fields are as secularized as sociology and psychology. Consequently, I have utilized that background ever since in my Christian apologetics. I understand my opponents. I used to think the... Read more

Were “50-68 Million” People Killed in the Inquisition?

Last updated on: November 20, 2021 at 12:29 pm By Dave Armstrong

Apologetics (defending Catholicism and sometimes general Christianity) is usually very fun. I love my work, but at times it is maddeningly frustrating. This very week I had an experience that provides an opportunity to clarify some relevant historical facts about the Inquisition (actually, there were several Inquisitions). Non-Catholic Christians and the secular world have used the Inquisitions, the Crusades, and the Galileo incident, as “clubs” to bash the Church for almost 500 years. I did so myself, in my... Read more

Dialogue: “Anthropological Advocacy” of Same-Sex Marriage, Part I

Last updated on: June 3, 2017 at 1:04 pm By Dave Armstrong

Sappho and Erinna in a Garden at Mytilene (by Simeon Solomon, 1864) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] *** This occurred on my Facebook page (24-26 July 2015), in a public post. My opponent (a “straight male”) was informed that I might use this in a later dialogue on my blog; but I won’t reveal his name. His words will be in blue. It also turns out that he was an atheist, so we briefly discussed that, and how his background... Read more

Clarifications Regarding My Controversial Atheist “Reductio” Paper

Last updated on: December 21, 2017 at 5:42 pm By Dave Armstrong

Photo by Johnny Magnusson [public domain / Free Stock Photos.biz] My recent, provocatively titled paper, Atheism: the Faith of “Atomism”, raised a firestorm of protest from some 20-25 atheists, who swarmed the combox and wrangled with me literally all day long yesterday, for a total of 194 comments. Long story short: they almost universally accused me of woeful ignorance of atheism (i.e., of making a straw man argument). For my part, I charged that almost all of them failed to understand... Read more

Analysis of “Hoping All Will be Saved” / . . . Hell is Empty”

Last updated on: May 21, 2017 at 5:07 pm By Dave Armstrong

The Last Judgment, Michelangelo (1536-41) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] I think it would be helpful to use the terminology of “desiring that all men be saved” (as the Bible says about God) or “praying for all men to be saved” or “Jesus made it possible on the cross for any men to be saved.” I.e., universal atonement rather than universalism . . . Those statements shouldn’t be controversial at all for anyone who knows their theology. Saying that we... Read more

Comments Policy to be Strictly Enforced! Atheists in Particular . . .

Last updated on: May 21, 2017 at 5:09 pm By Dave Armstrong

[Pixabay / public domain] I have made it very clear how I’ll be operating my page here, in the “Discussion Policy” paper posted at the top. Like the old vegetable soup commercial says, “It’s [all] in there.” In a nutshell (it ain’t rocket science): be civil, respect the surroundings (Catholic), stay on topic, and don’t troll. Anyone who follows those simple rules is safe here to comment all they like, about anything, as long as they follow the topic of... Read more

St. Paul Prayed for a Dead Man: Onesiphorus (Yes He Did!)

Last updated on: May 21, 2017 at 5:12 pm By Dave Armstrong

Paul the Apostle, by Rembrandt, c. 1657 [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] *** 2 Timothy 1:16-18 (RSV): “May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me; he was not ashamed of my chains, [17] but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me eagerly and found me – [18] may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day – and you well know all the service he rendered... Read more

Are There Folks in Hell Because We Didn’t Pray Enough?

Last updated on: June 3, 2017 at 1:06 pm By Dave Armstrong

“The Door to Hell” in Turkmenistan, Darvaza [Wikimedia Commons /Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license] Someone wrote on my Facebook page: I don’t like when Mary said to the children at Fatima that people are going there because they have no one to pray for them. It just really bothers me. The thought is awful. How shall Christ be all in all when so many of his members are eternally damned? Lord please have mercy on a soul destined to be... Read more

Atheism: A Remarkably Strong, Impervious Faith in “Atomism”

Last updated on: May 21, 2017 at 5:19 pm By Dave Armstrong

Cryosphinx at Karnak Temple, Egypt; photograph by Guillaume Lelarge [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license] It’s currently fashionable for atheists to deny that a universe without God is caused by “pure chance” or “randomly colliding atoms,” as their earlier forebears might have boldly and proudly described it. Yet natural “laws” somehow attained their remarkable organizing abilities. One either explains them by natural laws or by humbly bowing to divine teleology at some point, as an explanation every bit... Read more

Why Did a Perfect God Create an Imperfect World?

Last updated on: May 21, 2017 at 5:21 pm By Dave Armstrong

The Ancient of Days (William Blake, 1794) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] When God creates, what He creates is already less perfect than He is, just by the fact that it is created, whereas He is eternal and uncreated. So, for example, human beings are not omniscient, or omnipotent, or omnipresent, as God is. They’re not absolutely perfect, and indeed cannot be, since there is only one God, Who is perfect and self-existent, needing nothing whatsoever. Human beings are limited... Read more