Review: Keeping Your Kids on God’s Side

Introduction Natasha Crain is the blogger behind Christian Mom Thoughts (the only “Mommy Blog” that I read regularly – I promise) and the creator of the Facebook group Apologetics for Parents. She is a sharp Christian layperson who holds an MBA in marketing and statistics from UCLA, and does an excellent job of making apologetics accessible and relevant to parents. I was, therefore, excited…

Explaining Purgatory to Protestants

What’s the Issue? Although it only takes up a couple sentences in the Catholic Catechism, the doctrine of Purgatory seems to pose big problems for many Protestants. Sometimes the reasons for this angst are ill-conceived, however, so it’s a good idea to get a few things straight before criticizing. Purgatory is said to be “a place or…

“Absent from the Body” and Purgatory: A Closer Look at 2 Corinthians 5:8

Introduction Although non-Catholics from the original Reformer Martin Luther, to evangelical hero C. S. Lewis, to modern Protestant scholars like Jerry Walls  and Roger Olson,  affirm the possibility of a purgatorial state between Heaven and Hell, the idea remains generally unpopular among most non-Catholics. Some do not agree that Purgatory can be found anywhere in Scripture, and reject it on…