{"id":10434,"date":"2017-03-06T12:35:46","date_gmt":"2017-03-06T16:35:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?p=10434"},"modified":"2017-03-06T12:35:46","modified_gmt":"2017-03-06T16:35:46","slug":"heads-ashtag-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2017\/03\/heads-ashtag-controversy.html","title":{"rendered":"Heads Up on the #Ashtag Controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"AshWednesday2\"<\/p>\n

Atlantic Ocean (Feb. 6, 2008) Electronics Technician 3rd Class Leila Tardieu receives the sacramental ashes during an Ash Wednesday celebration aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1). U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Brian May (Released)<\/span> [public domain \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a>]<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

At the beginning of Lent, in recent years, the <\/span><\/span><\/span>#ashtag <\/span><\/span><\/span>controversy (regarding posting pictures of one\u2019s forehead ashes received on Ash Wednesday on social media) has increasingly grown.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

My initial take is: why should this practice be controversial, since the ashes are a public and social expression by nature, anyway? A picture simply makes it relatively <\/span><\/span><\/span>more<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span> public. The thing in and of itself, therefore, seems like a non-starter to me.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What has much more force and reason, I believe, is opposition to doing this with big smiles or otherwise \u201cnon-serious\u201d expressions. I think it should be a somber picture and facial expression, in keeping with the occasion.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As usual, then, I take a bit of a \u201cmiddle position\u201d: not legalistic or \u201cdogmatic\u201d against it, but partially agreeing with the critics about demeanor: that is, it should be a solemn expression and not a gleeful, \u201clook at me!\u201d one. In other words, both sides have their valid points.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In published articles about it, the two \u201csides\u201d come down in something like the following ways:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Pro:<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span> Photographs of forehead ashes make it more community-oriented and are a way to evangelize and spread the faith. We visually bear witness to the world about Christ and His death on the cross on our behalf. If we wear the ashes at the grocery store or bank or at our workplaces, why not <\/span><\/span><\/span>also<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span> on social media? The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has even urged Catholics to do so.<\/span><\/span><\/span> Many priests do this as well. It\u2019s a way, particularly, to reach younger, \u201cdigital savvy\u201d \/ Millennial Catholics who may not go to church any longer. It can be a conversation starter. It\u2019s one of the few days where Catholics proudly identify themselves as such in public.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Con:<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span> The Gospel reading for Ash Wednesday (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18) is about refraining from overtly public \u201cshowy\u201d acts of piety. The solemn nature of the day: a reminder that human beings came from dust: to which they shall one day return is diminished or even possibly lost in \u201csmiley, happy\u201d tweets and Facebook displays. The motivations of some may be merely to \u201cshow off\u201d. Jesus warned against \u201cthe hypocrites\u201d who \u201clove to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men\u201d (Mt 6:5; RSV), and said, \u201cBeware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them\u201d (6:1).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Let\u2019s look at the Gospel passage read on Ash Wednesday, and see if it offers us help in making a decision about whether to do this or not:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span> (RSV) \u201c<\/span><\/span><\/span>Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. <\/span><\/span><\/span>[2] Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. [3] But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, [4] so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. [5] And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. [6] But when you pray, go into <\/span><\/span><\/span>your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.\u201d . . . [16]<\/span><\/span><\/span> \u201c<\/span><\/span>And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be see<\/span><\/span><\/span>n by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. [17] But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, [18] <\/span><\/span><\/span>that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

At first glance, this would seem to favor the \u201ccon\u201d position, but I don\u2019t think so, when examined closely. As so often, Jesus is not talking about a complete, absolute prohibition of a practice, but rather, He is denouncing the <\/span><\/span>hypocrisy of<\/span><\/span> practice without an accompanying proper inner motivation<\/i><\/span><\/span>; performing outward acts minus a true inward piety of the heart. This is the prevailing theme in the Sermon on the Mount, from which this passage is drawn.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s talking much more about attitude and motivation and possible pride, rather than the acts themselves. After all, Jesus also<\/i><\/span><\/span> preached in the same Sermon:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Matthew 5:14-16<\/b><\/span><\/span> \u201c<\/span><\/span>You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid.<\/span><\/span>[15] Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. [16] Let your light s<\/span><\/span>o shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I don\u2019t see, then, that the con arguments succeed, if the aim is to condemn such photos altogether. As I contended above, however, I think there is a strong, legitimate argument to be made about <\/span><\/span>demeanor<\/i><\/span><\/span> in such displays. While Jesus condemned a fake piety of long faces and ostentatious displays of self-righteousness, on the other hand, the nature of fasting is <\/span><\/span>essentially serious and solemn<\/i><\/span><\/span>, and is never, to my knowledge, portrayed as otherwise in Scripture (see, e.g., Job 42:3-6; Dan 9:3; 1 Macc 3:47). <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There is a happy medium here. We don\u2019t go out with a \u201cwoe is me\u201d miserable attitude on Ash Wednesday, but we also shouldn\u2019t present ourselves giddily smiling as if we were at a circus or child\u2019s birthday party, because that trivializes and misrepresents attempted important outreach. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Atlantic Ocean (Feb. 6, 2008) Electronics Technician 3rd Class Leila Tardieu receives the sacramental ashes during an Ash Wednesday celebration aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1). U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Brian May (Released) [public domain \/ Wikimedia Commons] ***** At the beginning of Lent, in recent years, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":10435,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[206],"tags":[1898,2107,3749,2105,2106,1728,3752,1894,1895,200,3751,1955,711,3750,1897,1896,710,712],"class_list":["post-10434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-saints-purgatory-penance","tag-abstinence","tag-asceticism","tag-ash-wednesday","tag-bodily-mortification","tag-deprivation","tag-fasting","tag-forehead-ashes","tag-lent","tag-mortification","tag-penance","tag-penitential-ashes","tag-penitential-practices","tag-redemptive-suffering","tag-sackcloth-and-ashes","tag-sacrifice","tag-self-denial","tag-suffering","tag-suffering-with-christ"],"yoast_head":"\nHeads Up on the #Ashtag Controversy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I don't see any good reason to denounce photos of one's Ash Wednesday ashes, but there is a legitimate argument to be made about solemn demeanor in them.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2017\/03\/heads-ashtag-controversy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Heads Up on the #Ashtag Controversy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I don't see any good reason to denounce photos of one's Ash Wednesday ashes, but there is a legitimate argument to be made about solemn demeanor in them.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2017\/03\/heads-ashtag-controversy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-06T16:35:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2017\/03\/AshWednesday2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"457\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dave Armstrong\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dave Armstrong\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2017\/03\/heads-ashtag-controversy.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2017\/03\/heads-ashtag-controversy.html\",\"name\":\"Heads Up on the #Ashtag Controversy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-06T16:35:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-06T16:35:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e\"},\"description\":\"I don't see any good reason to denounce photos of one's Ash Wednesday ashes, but there is a legitimate argument to be made about solemn demeanor in them.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2017\/03\/heads-ashtag-controversy.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2017\/03\/heads-ashtag-controversy.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2017\/03\/heads-ashtag-controversy.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Heads Up on the #Ashtag Controversy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/\",\"name\":\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism\",\"description\":\"Catholic biblical apologetics\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e\",\"name\":\"Dave Armstrong\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dave Armstrong\"},\"description\":\"Dave Armstrong is a Catholic author and apologist, who has been actively proclaiming and defending Christianity since 1981, and Catholicism in particular since 1991 (full-time since December 2001). Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \\\"This Rock\\\" (now called \\\"Catholic Answers Magazine\\\"), \\\"Envoy Magazine\\\" (Patrick Madrid), \\\"The Catholic Answer,\\\" \\\"The Coming Home Journal,\\\" \\\"Gilbert Magazine\\\" (American Chesterton Society), and \\\"The Latin Mass.\\\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \\\"The Michigan Catholic\\\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \\\"Catholic Answers Live\\\" (twice), \\\"Faith and Family Live\\\" (Steve Wood), \\\"Kresta in the Afternoon,\\\" \\\"Son Rise Morning Show,\\\" \\\"Catholic Connection\\\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \\\"The Catholics Next Door.\\\" His large and popular website, \\\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\\\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \\\"index\\\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \\\"Surprised by Truth\\\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \\\"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\\\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \\\"The Catholic Verses\\\" (2004), \\\"The One-Minute Apologist\\\" (2007), \\\"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\\\" (2009), \\\"The Quotable Newman\\\" (editor: 2012), and \\\"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\\\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \\\"The New Catholic Answer Bible\\\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \\\"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\\\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \\\"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\\\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \\\"Quotable Wesley\\\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Heads Up on the #Ashtag Controversy","description":"I don't see any good reason to denounce photos of one's Ash Wednesday ashes, but there is a legitimate argument to be made about solemn demeanor in them.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2017\/03\/heads-ashtag-controversy.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Heads Up on the #Ashtag Controversy","og_description":"I don't see any good reason to denounce photos of one's Ash Wednesday ashes, but there is a legitimate argument to be made about solemn demeanor in them.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2017\/03\/heads-ashtag-controversy.html","og_site_name":"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","article_published_time":"2017-03-06T16:35:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":457,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2017\/03\/AshWednesday2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dave Armstrong","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dave Armstrong","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2017\/03\/heads-ashtag-controversy.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2017\/03\/heads-ashtag-controversy.html","name":"Heads Up on the #Ashtag Controversy","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-03-06T16:35:46+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-06T16:35:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e"},"description":"I don't see any good reason to denounce photos of one's Ash Wednesday ashes, but there is a legitimate argument to be made about solemn demeanor in them.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2017\/03\/heads-ashtag-controversy.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2017\/03\/heads-ashtag-controversy.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2017\/03\/heads-ashtag-controversy.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Heads Up on the #Ashtag Controversy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/","name":"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism","description":"Catholic biblical apologetics","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e","name":"Dave Armstrong","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dave Armstrong"},"description":"Dave Armstrong is a Catholic author and apologist, who has been actively proclaiming and defending Christianity since 1981, and Catholicism in particular since 1991 (full-time since December 2001). Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \"This Rock\" (now called \"Catholic Answers Magazine\"), \"Envoy Magazine\" (Patrick Madrid), \"The Catholic Answer,\" \"The Coming Home Journal,\" \"Gilbert Magazine\" (American Chesterton Society), and \"The Latin Mass.\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \"The Michigan Catholic\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \"Envoy Magazine.\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \"Catholic Answers Live\" (twice), \"Faith and Family Live\" (Steve Wood), \"Kresta in the Afternoon,\" \"Son Rise Morning Show,\" \"Catholic Connection\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \"The Catholics Next Door.\" His large and popular website, \"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \"Envoy Magazine.\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \"index\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \"Surprised by Truth\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \"The Catholic Verses\" (2004), \"The One-Minute Apologist\" (2007), \"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\" (2009), \"The Quotable Newman\" (editor: 2012), and \"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \"The New Catholic Answer Bible\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \"Quotable Wesley\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).","sameAs":["https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}