{"id":31114,"date":"2019-03-22T12:54:50","date_gmt":"2019-03-22T16:54:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?p=31114"},"modified":"2019-03-22T13:32:20","modified_gmt":"2019-03-22T17:32:20","slug":"the-nature-function-of-prayer-reply-to-two-atheists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/03\/the-nature-function-of-prayer-reply-to-two-atheists.html","title":{"rendered":"The Nature &#038; Function of Prayer: Reply to Two Atheists"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31117\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2019\/03\/PrayingHands2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"307\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">The words of my two atheist friends will be in <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">blue<\/span> and <span style=\"color: #008000;\">green<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">*****<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Why does Jesus say that we will get whatever we ask in prayer, as we obviously don\u2019t?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Because prayer is conditional upon being consistent with God\u2019s will. So if we pray (to use an extreme example) for a difficult neighbor to be struck down and not able to talk or walk, that wouldn\u2019t be in God\u2019s will and God wouldn\u2019t answer it.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>1 John 5:14<\/strong> (RSV) And this is the confidence which we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.<\/p>\n<p><strong>James 4:3<\/strong> You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Even something not immediately immoral or amoral wouldn\u2019t necessarily be in God\u2019s will, because He knows everything and can see where things might lead; thus may refuse some requests. When Jesus says \u201cask and you shall receive,\u201d etc., it\u2019s in a familiar Hebrew proverbial sense, which means that it is \u201c<em>generally<\/em> true, but admits of <em>exceptions<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">I can\u2019t help but feel like the response to prayer winds up a bit circular. Prayers will be answered if they are consistent with God\u2019s will. But if they are consistent with God\u2019s will, why was the prayer needed in the first place? Does God have an endless list of things that he could do if only someone asked him, but which he won\u2019t do if nobody does? That seems at first glance to be a very odd system, and from the perspective of sentient beings who may suffer illness or injury simply because someone didn\u2019t explicitly pray on their behalf, seems morally dubious.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>God doesn\u2019t need anything. He\u2019s not sitting up in heaven waiting for us to summon Him so He can act (as if He is our mere robot). He urges us to pray in order to involve us in His actions. That\u2019s how He likes it to be. Prayer helps us (i.e., it\u2019s a good and pious thing to pray), and helps recipients of prayer. The world was designed to be a place where people helped each other. Prayer is a means of helping others by involving the power of God.<\/p>\n<p>It doesn\u2019t logically follow, however, that because no one prayed for a specific need, that therefore God won\u2019t fill it. Such a thing is never stated in the Bible, and is simply your unwarranted conclusion. Nor is it taught in Christian theology anywhere that I am aware of.<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Related Reading:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\n<div><a class=\"decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/02\/our-prayers-and-souls-ending-up-in-heaven-or-hell.html\" target=\"_blank\">Our Prayers and Souls Ending Up in Heaven or Hell<\/a>\u00a0[3-26-14]<br>\n*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><a class=\"decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2018\/08\/seidensticker-folly-7-no-conditional-prayer-in-scripture.html\" target=\"_blank\">Seidensticker Folly #7: No Conditional Prayer in Scripture?<\/a>\u00a0[8-16-18]<br>\n*<\/div>\n<div><a class=\"decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2018\/09\/should-we-pray-for-all-people-or-not-1-john-516.html\" target=\"_blank\">Should We Pray for All People or Not (1 John 5:16)?<\/a>\u00a0[9-5-18]<\/div>\n<div>*<\/div>\n<div><a class=\"decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ncregister.com\/blog\/darmstrong\/biblical-prayer-is-conditional-not-solely-based-on-faith\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Biblical Prayer is Conditional, Not Solely Based on Faith<\/a>\u00a0[<em>National Catholic Register<\/em>, 10-9-18]<\/div>\n<div>*<\/div>\n<div><a class=\"decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/02\/atheist-demands-for-a-miracle-to-prove-god-dialogue.html#comment-4351012975\" target=\"_blank\">We Can\u2019t Demand That God Directly Communicate to Us or Answer Prayer Exactly as\u00a0<em>We<\/em>\u00a0Want Him to (and God\u2019s non-answer is no reason to leave the faith)<\/a>\u00a0[blog combox, 2-23-19]<\/div>\n<div>*<\/div>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p>(originally 8-14-18)<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Photo credit:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<a class=\"hover_opacity decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/users\/Alexas_Fotos-686414\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Alexas_Fotos<\/a>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">(7-24-17)<\/span> [<a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/photos\/praying-hands-faith-hope-pray-2534461\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Pixabay<\/a> \/\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/service\/license\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Pixabay License]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The words of my two atheist friends will be in blue and green. ***** Why does Jesus say that we will get whatever we ask in prayer, as we obviously don\u2019t? Because prayer is conditional upon being consistent with God\u2019s will. So if we pray (to use an extreme example) for a difficult neighbor to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":31117,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,50],"tags":[6189,1043,745,258,335,6192,1367,195],"class_list":["post-31114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-atheism-agnosticism","category-salvation-justification","tag-answers-to-prayer","tag-anti-theism","tag-anti-theists","tag-atheism","tag-atheists","tag-conditional-prayer","tag-critiques-of-christianity","tag-prayer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Nature &amp; Function of Prayer: Reply to Two Atheists<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When Jesus, talking about prayer, says \u201cask and you shall receive,\u201d etc., it\u2019s in a familiar Hebrew proverbial sense of \u201cgenerally true, but admitting of exceptions.\u201d\" \/>\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\/2019\/03\/the-nature-function-of-prayer-reply-to-two-atheists.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Nature &amp; Function of Prayer: Reply to Two Atheists\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When Jesus, talking about prayer, says \u201cask and you shall receive,\u201d etc., it\u2019s in a familiar Hebrew proverbial sense of \u201cgenerally true, but admitting of exceptions.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/03\/the-nature-function-of-prayer-reply-to-two-atheists.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=\"2019-03-22T16:54:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-03-22T17:32:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2019\/03\/PrayingHands2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"307\" \/>\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=\"3 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\/2019\/03\/the-nature-function-of-prayer-reply-to-two-atheists.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/03\/the-nature-function-of-prayer-reply-to-two-atheists.html\",\"name\":\"The Nature & Function of Prayer: Reply to Two Atheists\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-22T16:54:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-22T17:32:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e\"},\"description\":\"When Jesus, talking about prayer, says \u201cask and you shall receive,\u201d etc., it\u2019s in a familiar Hebrew proverbial sense of \u201cgenerally true, but admitting of exceptions.\u201d\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/03\/the-nature-function-of-prayer-reply-to-two-atheists.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/03\/the-nature-function-of-prayer-reply-to-two-atheists.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/03\/the-nature-function-of-prayer-reply-to-two-atheists.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Nature &#038; Function of Prayer: Reply to Two Atheists\"}]},{\"@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":"The Nature & Function of Prayer: Reply to Two Atheists","description":"When Jesus, talking about prayer, says \u201cask and you shall receive,\u201d etc., it\u2019s in a familiar Hebrew proverbial sense of \u201cgenerally true, but admitting of exceptions.\u201d","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\/2019\/03\/the-nature-function-of-prayer-reply-to-two-atheists.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Nature & Function of Prayer: Reply to Two Atheists","og_description":"When Jesus, talking about prayer, says \u201cask and you shall receive,\u201d etc., it\u2019s in a familiar Hebrew proverbial sense of \u201cgenerally true, but admitting of exceptions.\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/03\/the-nature-function-of-prayer-reply-to-two-atheists.html","og_site_name":"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","article_published_time":"2019-03-22T16:54:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-03-22T17:32:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":307,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2019\/03\/PrayingHands2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dave Armstrong","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dave Armstrong","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/03\/the-nature-function-of-prayer-reply-to-two-atheists.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/03\/the-nature-function-of-prayer-reply-to-two-atheists.html","name":"The Nature & Function of Prayer: Reply to Two Atheists","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-03-22T16:54:50+00:00","dateModified":"2019-03-22T17:32:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e"},"description":"When Jesus, talking about prayer, says \u201cask and you shall receive,\u201d etc., it\u2019s in a familiar Hebrew proverbial sense of \u201cgenerally true, but admitting of exceptions.\u201d","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/03\/the-nature-function-of-prayer-reply-to-two-atheists.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/03\/the-nature-function-of-prayer-reply-to-two-atheists.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2019\/03\/the-nature-function-of-prayer-reply-to-two-atheists.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Nature &#038; Function of Prayer: Reply to Two Atheists"}]},{"@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\/31114","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=31114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}