{"id":69177,"date":"2023-01-18T12:59:51","date_gmt":"2023-01-18T16:59:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?p=69177"},"modified":"2023-01-18T12:59:51","modified_gmt":"2023-01-18T16:59:51","slug":"god-as-the-mediator-of-mary-vs-francisco-tourinho","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2023\/01\/god-as-the-mediator-of-mary-vs-francisco-tourinho.html","title":{"rendered":"“God as the Mediator of Mary”?: vs. Francisco Tourinho"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
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\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

That\u2019s the title of Brazilian Calvinist Francisco Tourinho\u2019s public Facebook post of 1-16-23<\/a>. He continues:<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cIf this seems absurd to you, then [note that] it is exactly what Roman Catholicism teaches, in asserting that God grants power to Mary to hear the thousands of simultaneous prayers addressed to her. The person prays, and God takes his prayer to Mary.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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*<\/div>\n
Original Portugese:<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Deus como mediador de Maria<\/em>.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
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Se isso lhe parede absurdo, ent\u00e3o \u00e9 exatamente o que o catolicismo romano ensina ao dizer que Deus concede o poder a Maria de ouvir as milhares de ora\u00e7\u00f5es simult\u00e2neas dirigidas a ela. A pessoa ora, e Deus leva sua ora\u00e7\u00e3o at\u00e9 Maria.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
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Here is my reply:<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Hello my friend. As you yourself say, \u201cGod grants power to Mary to hear . . . prayers.\u201d So far so good. The prayers are then directed through her to God, not through God to Mary. All Catholics are doing is applying what James recommended: \u201cThe prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects\u201d (James 5:16, RSV, as throughout).<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
So we go to the person whom we believe to be the most righteous of all: Mary. There are several passages in the Bible (I\u2019ve documented them) urging us to go to a holy person, rather than directly to God, to offer our petitions.<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
Anyone can go directly to God in prayer at any time. I want to make that crystal clear, and the Catholic Church teaches this. But they can also choose to wisely ask a person holier than themselves to make a prayer request of God, because \u201cthe eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer\u201d (1 Pet 3:12), and \u201cWhen the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears\u201d (Ps 34:17). God told Abimelech that Abraham would pray for him, so he could live, \u201cfor\u201d Abraham was \u201ca prophet\u201d (Gen 20:6-7). So was God the \u201cmediator\u201d of Abraham in that instance?<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
\u201cAll Israel\u201d (1 Sam 12:1) \u201csaid to Samuel [the prophet], \u2018Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, that we may not die\u2019. . .\u201d (1 Sam 12:19). God told Job\u2019s \u201cfriends\u201d: \u201cmy servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly\u201d (Job 42:8). Was God the \u201cmediator\u201d of Job, too? Why did God listen to Job\u2019s prayers? It\u2019s because God Himself stated that \u201cthere is none like\u201d Job \u201con the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil\u201d (Job 1:8). King Zedekiah asked the holy prophet Jeremiah to pray for him and the country (Jer 37:3).<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
How about petitionary prayer requests made to someone other than God, who is dead? No problem. Jesus Himself taught that the rich man who died (and this is not a parable, which never include proper names) could make prayer requests to Abraham (Luke 16). In the KJV, it even says, \u201cI pray thee.\u201d Abraham turned down his requests (just as God sometimes turns ours down), but he never told the rich man, \u201cWhy are you praying to me<\/strong><\/em>?! You must only pray to God<\/em><\/strong>!!!!!\u201d<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
St. Paul and others, including potentially, we ourselves, function as \u201cmini-mediators\u201d of God\u2019s grace and salvation just like Mary does:<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
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1 Corinthians 7:16<\/strong> Wife, how do you know whether you will save your husband? Husband, how do you know whether you will save your wife?<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
1 Corinthians 9:22<\/strong> I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
2 Corinthians 4:15<\/strong> For it [his many sufferings: 4:8-12, 17] is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
Ephesians 3:2<\/strong> assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God\u2019s grace that was given to me for you . . .<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
1 Timothy 4:16<\/strong> Take heed to yourself and to your teaching: hold to that, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
James 5:20<\/strong> let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
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1 Peter 3:1<\/strong> . . . some, though they do not obey the word, may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives,<\/div>\n
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\n1 Peter 4:10<\/strong> As each has received a gift, employ it for one another, as good stewards of God\u2019s varied grace.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
*<\/div>\n
The Bible also states several times that we are His \u201cco-workers\u201d and that His works are ours and vice versa:<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
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Mark 16:20<\/strong> And they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it. Amen.
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1 Corinthians 3:9<\/strong> For we are God\u2019s fellow workers; you are God\u2019s field, God\u2019s building.<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
1 Corinthians 15:10<\/strong> But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me.<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
1 Corinthians 15:58<\/strong> Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
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Ephesians 2:10<\/strong> For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
Philippians 2:12-13<\/strong> Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
*<\/div>\n
All of this being the case, it is nothing so unbelievable or extraordinary to believe in faith (in line with Catholic tradition) that God chose to involve Mary in intercession and the distribution of graces, even should He decide to do so in every case. God can do whatever He wants!<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
It is written in the Psalms and prophets that God could raise up a rock or a tree to sing His praises, if stubborn men refuse to do so. God once used a donkey to speak and express His will to Balaam. He can use babies, or infants, and the most \u201cunlikely,\u201d unexpected human beings. He appeared in a burning bush and in a cloud. He chose to come to earth as a baby!<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
Why should anything He does or chooses to do surprise us, or make us wonder in befuddlement? The ending of Job makes this clear enough. His thoughts are as far above ours as the stars are above the earth (Isaiah 55:8-9).<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
Mary is simply a helper or chosen vessel, just as Moses or John the Baptist or Elijah or Paul or Peter or John or anyone else was. In no way does this impinge upon God\u2019s sole prerogatives because He is simply using one of His creatures for His divine purposes. There is nothing intrinsically impossible, excessive, idolatrous, or unbiblical in these beliefs: held by Catholics through the centuries and firmly entrenched in Sacred Tradition. It is not an a priori impossible or implausible belief to hold, from a biblical perspective. It\u2019s completely harmonious with Scripture.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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*<\/div>\n
Lastly, I think the objection proves too much, in light of God\u2019s sovereignty over all of His creation. Literally, no one could do anything<\/em>\u00a0without His power, and we can, of course, do no good thing ever without His grace enabling it and making it possible.<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
So God makes it possible for Mary to hear millions of intercessory prayers and then present them to God on our behalf? No problem at all for Him! It\u2019s simply a portion of everything<\/em> that He continually makes possible in every nanosecond (i.e., as we perceive it; He is outside of time).<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
Paul says, \u201cIn him we live and move and have our being\u201d (Acts 17:28). Is Mary hearing our prayer requests and giving them to God somehow not part of that? Her actions are different from all the other God-enabled actions in the universe?<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
It seems that an angel is involved in presenting our prayers to God in the book of Revelation: \u201cand the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God\u201d (Rev 8:4).<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
The Bible says that Jesus is \u201cupholding the universe by his word of power\u201d (Heb 1:3) and that \u201cin him all things hold together\u201d (Col 1:17).<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
But we are to believe that enabling and empowering one person, Mary, to hear intercessions is too much for God to handle, or beyond His capabilities? That\u2019s very curious. It\u2019s very odd to see a Calvinist: a member of a group that places extreme (and praiseworthy) emphasis on God\u2019s sovereignty and causation, bring such a charge.<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
Even beyond all this, the Bible teaches that believers \/ followers of Christ \/ Christians would be \u201cunited with him\u201d (Rom 6:5), \u201cone spirit with him\u201d (1 Cor 6:17), \u201cchanged into his likeness\u201d (2 Cor 3:18), \u201cfilled with all the fulness of God\u201d (Eph 3:19) and \u201cthe fulness of Christ\u201d (Eph 4:13); indeed, \u201cpartakers of the divine nature\u201d (2 Pet 1:4).<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
Then we get to the indwelling. We are \u201cin\u201d the Father and the Son (Jn 17:21; 1 Jn 2:24), and \u201cin\u201d Jesus (Jn 6:56; 14:20; 15:4-7; 16:33; 2 Cor 5:21; Phil 4:13; Col 2:6-7, 10; 1 Jn 2:24, 28; 5:20). God is in us (1 Jn 3:24; 4:13, 15) and we are \u201cin\u201d God (Col 3:3; 1 Jn 2:5, 24; 3:6, 24; 4:13, 15). Jesus is \u201cin\u201d us (Jn 14:20). There are many more passages along these lines.<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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***<\/p>\n

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***<\/p>\n

Photo credit:<\/strong> The Virgin in Prayer<\/em> (between 1640-1650), by Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato<\/bdi><\/span>\u00a0(1609\u20131685)<\/span>\u00a0[public domain \/\u00a0Wikipedia<\/a>]<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Summary<\/em>: I go through various biblical analogical arguments in disputing the assertion from Francisco Tourinho that Mary\u2019s praying for us entails God as the \u201cmediator of Mary.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That\u2019s the title of Brazilian Calvinist Francisco Tourinho\u2019s public Facebook post of 1-16-23. He continues: * \u201cIf this seems absurd to you, then [note that] it is exactly what Roman Catholicism teaches, in asserting that God grants power to Mary to hear the thousands of simultaneous prayers addressed to her. The person prays, and God […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":69180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[16887,2357,1836,2414,371,503,2356,16878,553,16881,16884,16890,1452],"class_list":["post-69177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blessed-virgin-mary","tag-asking-mary-to-intercede","tag-blessed-virgin-mary","tag-co-redemptrix","tag-distribution-of-graces","tag-intercession-of-the-saints","tag-marian-doctrine","tag-mariology","tag-mary-as-intercessor","tag-mary-mediatrix","tag-marys-intercession","tag-mediator-of-mary","tag-petitioning-mary","tag-praying-to-mary"],"yoast_head":"\n"God as the Mediator of Mary"?: vs. Francisco Tourinho "God as the Mediator of Mary"?: vs. Francisco Tourinho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"That's the title of Brazilian Calvinist Francisco Tourinho's public Facebook post of 1-16-23. He continues: * "If this seems absurd to you, then it is I go through various biblical analogical arguments in disputing the assertion from Francisco Tourinho that Mary's praying for us entails God as the "mediator of Mary."\" \/>\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\/2023\/01\/god-as-the-mediator-of-mary-vs-francisco-tourinho.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""God as the Mediator of Mary"?: vs. Francisco Tourinho "God as the Mediator of Mary"?: vs. Francisco Tourinho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"That's the title of Brazilian Calvinist Francisco Tourinho's public Facebook post of 1-16-23. 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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":"\"God as the Mediator of Mary\"?: vs. Francisco Tourinho \"God as the Mediator of Mary\"?: vs. Francisco Tourinho","description":"That's the title of Brazilian Calvinist Francisco Tourinho's public Facebook post of 1-16-23. 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He continues: * \"If this seems absurd to you, then it is I go through various biblical analogical arguments in disputing the assertion from Francisco Tourinho that Mary's praying for us entails God as the \"mediator of Mary.\"","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2023\/01\/god-as-the-mediator-of-mary-vs-francisco-tourinho.html","og_site_name":"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","article_published_time":"2023-01-18T16:59:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":611,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2023\/01\/Mary5-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dave Armstrong","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dave Armstrong","Est. reading time":"9 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2023\/01\/god-as-the-mediator-of-mary-vs-francisco-tourinho.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2023\/01\/god-as-the-mediator-of-mary-vs-francisco-tourinho.html","name":"\"God as the Mediator of Mary\"?: vs. Francisco Tourinho \"God as the Mediator of Mary\"?: vs. Francisco Tourinho","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-01-18T16:59:51+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-18T16:59:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e"},"description":"That's the title of Brazilian Calvinist Francisco Tourinho's public Facebook post of 1-16-23. 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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\/69177","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=69177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}