One of the difficulties I find in being a pastor is how little we really expect the power of the sacraments to be real. We go through the motions of our religion, but don’t expect prayers to be answered and don’t really expect the sacraments to have any effect in our lives. It is our lack of faith and obedience which hinders their effectiveness, but praise God, sometimes we get a glimpse of what God wants to do through the... Read more

Some time ago I was meeting with a Catholic woman who had been divorced and re-married. I welcomed her to our church and was having a new parishioner meeting with her when the subject of her marital situation came up. “I hope you’re going to be welcoming over this.” she said rather defensively. “Of course!” I smiled. “You and your family are very welcome.” After a bit more discussion we decided that she could very probably receive a decree of... Read more

Don’t mistake arrogance for pride. Sure, arrogance is nauseating, and when it’s not nauseating it’s amusing. When a person struts around with his nose in the air, assumes a know-it-all attitude and bosses everyone around, first you get annoyed –“Who does this guy think he is??” Then, once you step back a bit you have to laugh don’t you? Arrogant people are vain, and vanity is always both hilarious and sad. “He’s just an ordinary fella, like all of us,... Read more

You may have heard about the Rogans, a traditional Catholic family who lost their Dad as he was driving them to the hospital so Mom could give birth to baby number eight. An oncoming car hit a deer which was thrown into the path of the family van. Mike was killed. Niki gave birth a few hours later. You can help the family by going here to donate. Will you please also help by sharing this post through social media and... Read more

Do you remember John Hinckley–the guy who shot Ronald Reagan? This article explains how he is being “re-integrated” into society. In fact, he has been out and about off and on since 2003. John Hinkley and the Reagan assassination attempt is one of the hugest non-stories ever to be whitewashed from American history. Why? Because John Hinckley was the son of a very significant Texas oil family. Not only was his father, John Sr, a major donor to George H.W.... Read more

Benjamin Franklin wrote, “The way to see by faith is to close the eye of reason.” What a shallow lie that is, but it is understandable given his deistic, rationalism. The idea that faith and reason are incompatible is a commonplace among both rationalists and religionists. Very often along with a highly subjective and emotional form of religion, fundamentalists adopt an intentionally non-rational and anti-intellectual stance. A religious faith that is rooted in subjective emotionalism combined with a no-compromise fundamentalism... Read more

Christians believe in the resurrection of the body. This means that in some sort of way, at the last day, we will have a ‘resurrection body’. What does this mean and how can this be? Is God going to gather up every last particle of me and put me back together again? What about the people who were blown to bits by bombs? What about those who drowned and were eaten by fish? What about those whose bodies were eaten... Read more

…you’d go to heaven? That is the question Evangelicals love to ask people. It’s one of religion’s easiest sells and the conversation goes like this: “If you died tonight do you know if you would go to heaven?” The majority of people would shrug and say, “Not sure.” The Evangelical says, “Would you like to be sure?” Who would say “No?” So the Evangelical says, “If you accept Jesus into your heart you can know that you’re saved and going... Read more

A comment on the recent announcement that global Evangelical Anglicans are starting up their own “parallel church” has brought the observation that “Catholics are just as divided as Anglicans although they have maintained authoritarian “unity”. I suspect this comment comes from an Anglican, and it is the sort of thing I once believed. I actually considered the Anglican Church to be the truer church because of her comprehensiveness. I saw that there were Evangelicals Anglicans, Ango Catholics, Liberal Anglicans, Conservative... Read more