Will You Submit to a Church that Tells You “No”?

Last updated on: February 2, 2025 at 5:12 pm By Dennis Knapp

In my last article, I addressed the importance of Christian unity, and the means God provided to maintain unity in His Church. To summarize: God provided the Church with legitimate and continuous apostolic authorities (bishops and the Pope) to maintain unity through the use, if need, of excommunications and anathemas. The use of such authority remains an essential part of maintaining Christian unity to this day. In other words, the Church possesses the authority to tell individual Christians “no.” In... Read more

The Value of Christian Unity: A Tale of Two Schismatics

Last updated on: February 1, 2025 at 12:35 pm By Dennis Knapp

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Recently, two questions entered my mind regarding the role of unity within the Christian Church. What value does St. Paul and other biblical authors (the Bible) place on unity in the Church, if any? If the Bible teaches the importance of unity, what means did God give the Christian Church to maintain unity, if any? Now, I make a few assumptions in the above questions. A historical person (Jesus Christ) established a Church in history. An authoritative collection of books... Read more

A Silent Revolution: Invocation of the Saints (Reply 3)

Last updated on: January 20, 2025 at 7:58 pm By Dennis Knapp

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I want to again thank Matt for his time discussing this important topic. Below, I offer my thoughts on Matt’s arguments and observations. Let’s get started. An Appeal to the Incarnation Concerns Veneration, not Intercession or Invocation Dennis’s main premise is: Through the Incarnation, the Saints share in a measure of God’s glory (dulia). The above merely represents a part of my argument. In my first article, I offered a counter to Matt’s contention that Saint and Marian veneration came... Read more

Prayer to Saints: A Pagan Accretion (Reply 3)

Last updated on: January 16, 2025 at 10:42 am By Dennis Knapp

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Guest writer: Matt Graham. In this post, I’ll make a few comments in reply to Dennis’ last post and then begin to make my positive case for why praying to saints is not a legitimate Christian practice. Reply To Dennis Dennis mainly repeated his earlier claims and then added a few more examples to establish early attestation to the practice of praying to saints. It should be noted that adding a few more historical data points doesn’t amount to making... Read more

Giving a Platform to Underrepresented & Overlooked Voices

Last updated on: January 13, 2025 at 9:16 am By Dennis Knapp

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In the comment section of my last article, a reader brought to my attention an underrepresented and often overlooked population of Christians: same-sex attracted individuals who seek to live according to traditional and biblical sexual values. Unfortunately, when theologians within the Church seek to change doctrine on sexual morality, these Christians feel foolish for attempting to live according to traditional and biblical values that deny them sexual intimacy. Furthermore, those outside the Church add insult to injury by ridiculing these... Read more

The Church Must Change: Okay, Let’s Have an Honest Dialogue

Last updated on: January 6, 2025 at 4:01 pm By Dennis Knapp

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Progressives within the Catholic Church currently feel a certain degree of buyer’s remorse concerning the recently ended Synod on Synodality (SoS). All the hope reflected in the initial “listening sessions” that the Church change her views on women’s ordination and human sexuality evaporated with the release of the Final Document on October 29th, 2024. This document makes no mention of adjusting the Church’s view on sexual ethics and offers only a slim hope by stating women’s participation in the diaconate... Read more

The Triumph of Christian Conservatism in 2024: A Look Back

Last updated on: December 28, 2024 at 9:37 am By Dennis Knapp

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As we approach the end of the year, I wanted to highlight some articles from 2024, especially those articles that anticipate the ascendancy of Christian conservatism and the national downfall of progressivism. I also provide a post-mortem to assist progressives in how they ought to move forward. Have a great and happy New Year. January 2024 Let’s Stop the Extremist Rhetoric – It’s Unhelpful In this article, I started the year with an appeal to political progressives to stop their... Read more

Does Mary Still Need to Help Wretched Sinners?

Last updated on: December 26, 2024 at 9:41 am By Dennis Knapp

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During my research for the current debate with Matthew Graham, I read the Glories of Mary by St. Alphonsus Liguori. Another Protestant pastor friend of mine claims that this work, above all other works on the Virgin Mary, crosses the line from hyperdulia (high honor) to latria (worship). After reviewing St. Ligouri’s work, I do not see idolatry. However, I do see high honor, the highest honor given a creature, due to Mary’s role as the Mother of God. What... Read more

Veneration Is NOT a Pagan Accretion: Reply 2

Last updated on: December 13, 2024 at 3:20 pm By Dennis Knapp

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For this article, I wish to respond to Matt’s criticism of my previous article. My goal in this part of the exchange is to unpack the following: Both Protestants and Catholics must address the silence concerning the veneration of the Saints (dulia) and the Virgin Mary (hyperdulia) in the earliest centuries of the Church, especially when compared to the 4th century and beyond. Matt’s contention that Gnostic and Hellenistic paganism infiltrated the early Church (4th century and beyond) and that... Read more

Veneration Of The Saints and Virgin Mary Idolatrous: Reply 2

Last updated on: December 11, 2024 at 10:59 am By Dennis Knapp

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Guest writer: Matt Graham Summary Dennis’s Article In his last reply, Dennis claims that “the veneration of the Saints is directly linked to a proper understanding of the Incarnation.” He cites John Henry Newman saying the “veneration of the Saints grew naturally out of an understanding of the deified nature of gloried man, not out of some accretion from pagan religion or philosophy.” In support of this claim, he quotes St. Athanasius regarding the deification of man. This is followed... Read more