Missing Commandments? The Ten Commandments are often learned and even memorized by young children during catechism classes or Sunday school. However, when you compare the Catholic and Protestant versions, you see that they are not the same lists! This has led some Protestants to falsely claim that the Catholic Church deleted the second commandment (“You…
“I beseech you, my child, to look at the heaven and the earth and see everything that is in them, and recognize that God did not make them out of things that existed.” (2 Maccabees 7:28) Genesis Unbound In a fascinating modern book on the biblical creation story (Genesis Unbound), Evangelical Bible scholar John Sailhamer…
“Where is that in the Bible?” is a challenge Protestants commonly issue to Catholics when disputes over doctrine arise. Two common response strategies include trying to find a biblical reference to support the belief in question or to return the challenge by asking, “Where in the Bible does it say something must be in the…
Introduction As I was making my way into full communion with the Catholic Church I was also discovering the English Standard Version (ESV) study Bible which, although it was put out by Reformed scholars, had great notes. It was also a nice translation. It was with reluctance that I put it on the shelf and…
Introduction An article appeared recently at Ancient Origins concerning the James Ossuary – an artifact thought to be the bone box of St. James the Just.* It contains an inscription (“James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus”) that makes it the earliest non-scriptural archeological evidence for Jesus Christ. The article explained that the Ossuary has…
James White responded to a post I did on his interpretation of John 6:44 on this podcast. I feel honored because he devoted well over half his show to it. (I mean, he did put me after William Lane Craig . . . Ah, but who am I kidding? I’m just be happy to be…
Introduction Popular Reformed Baptist blogger James White has done some good work on things like Mormonism, Islam, and KJV-Onlyism. (Not to brag, but I have his book on it signed). Of course, White’s work is not always consistent in quality – and here I want to zero in on one of his oft-repeated and problematic…
It is not unusual to hear Protestants say that Catholics can’t prove their beliefs from the Bible. Although we do fine with the Trinity or the divinity of Christ, they say, when it comes to its distinctive doctrines Catholicism must depart from the Bible and rely on human tradition. Protestantism, on the other hand, is…
Catholics sometimes struggle with Protestant “proof texts” – single verses that appear to support certain teachings. While proof texts are often taken out of context and sometimes are used to support unbiblical teachings, they are not all bad. While knowing the teaching of Scripture as a whole is best, it doesn’t hurt to have a…
Introduction In an earlier post I made mention of some issues I have with the notes in the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) translation of the Bible but did not go into much detail. Although the translation is fairly good overall, its notes are problematic for traditional Christians. These notes unfortunately reflect modern critical theories…
Douglas Beaumont 