Anyone who has ever had any exposure to Protestantism is probably fairly well acquainted with this question: “Are you saved?” At first glance this seems to be a pretty understandable question, being that all Christians believe that salvation is the ultimate goal of all mankind. If, as Christians, we believe that salvation is our ultimate end, then why shouldn’t we ask others, with the utmost of sincerity, “are you saved?” Well, as valid as the question may seem, it shows... Read more
A great debate has raged since the Deists of the Enlightenment first lost their ground to the greater and more intellectual class, the Atheist. The great Atheist has all but replaced the Deist, and has freed himself of the the dark age superstition and frivolous celebration of the Theist, particularly the worst of all Theists, the Christian. This debate has always been focused on the existence, or lack there of, of God. Though there are those who are apathetic to this... Read more
It has, for some time, been the hobby of the wealthy to go on lengthy vacations through foreign countries. Most often these people go somewhere “wild” and “exotic,” going to places, typically south of the Equator, and almost always impoverished. They go to Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. But what is really the common denominator between all of the most popular tour destinations? Culture. Tourists, most often, want to see culture in action. They are fascinated by... Read more
It’s common on the internet to run into a myriad of attacks on Christianity. But the ones which I find the most interesting are those that claim that Christianity is not only stupid, sexist, full of pedophiles, and the like, but that it actuallyruined the world. Most often, these make reference to nothing more than Christianity “suppressing science and thought,” completely ignoring -apparently- the fact that Christians created the scientific method, and that Western thought was kept alive after the fall of Rome... Read more
One of the oldest questions of Christianity has to be “Is Christ truly God?” Now, for us who have Apostolic succession, this is a pretty easy question to answer, since there’s been council document a-plenty to tell us this. In fact, even for -most- Protestants, this is an easy question to answer, although they usually aren’t sure why they know for certain that Christ is God. All the same, true Christians know full well that Christ is God. In fact... Read more
If you were to gather a group of average American Christians (leaving Theologians, Priests and Preachers out of it) and asked them the benign, but very important question: “Why do we have the Old Testament.” They would all look at each other with much confusion and uncertainty. You might get a few answers like “the stories are good for the children” or simply “I don’t know.” There might also be a few more educated answers like: “the stories are allegories... Read more
I hear it all the time, the old, tired, party anthem of the modern feminist proclaiming the “evils of the Patriarchal system of Abrahamic religion!” They complain about how the Church, Islam, and Judaism have stolen the power away from women and left them as nothing but housewives. Their -almost unanimous- solution, Paganism. Over and over, they proclaim the greatness of the Pagan view of woman, as a more equal and even more woman-centered view. And they may be right about... Read more
For those of you who don’t know (which I’m assuming is most of you) I am a convert. So, while I was beginning my conversion my very Protestant family had only one thing to say, and say it they, did in rapid, almost frenzied succession: “Find a good Bible teaching church!” And while I certainly did find a “good Bible teaching church” (of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic sort) it was by no means what they really meant. What... Read more
In our complicated world of abstractions and specters it is very easy – nay necessary- to compartmentalize the world around us, so that we can understand it and easily think about it. Take barbecues for example; when we think of them, we don’t think of any particular instance of a barbecue we were at, we think of the idyllic image of the great American cookout, with children playing, men cooking and drinking beer – all American beers of course- and... Read more
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