Introduction One thing that saints like Athanasius, Augustine, and Aquinas all have in common is that they asserted that man can become God. Wait, what??? This teaching is also reflected in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “The Son of God became man so that we might become God.” (CCC 460) Hold on – What?!?!?!…
The above screenshot is taken from the website of Providence Presbyterian Church: A Congregation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Notice that in order for this particular group to “affirm” the Nicene Creed, they must qualify the meaning of various terms and phrases. (The filioque notice just seems to set them off from Eastern Orthodoxy –…
Introduction I have heard it said with regard to studying cults and other religions, that it is better to simply know the real thing than study counterfeits. This idea is backed up with the allegation that bank employees don’t learn to spot fake bills by studying the counterfeits – instead, they study real bills until…
Introduction Do Christians and Muslims Worship the Same God? When this question is asked, it is important to understand not only what someone’s answer is, but what they mean by it. The sense in which a fundamentalist Christian answers the question may not be the same in which a philosophical Catholic answers it – and thus…
Introduction It is said that recitation of the Islamic “creed” known as the shahadah is all that is required for a person to convert to Islam. “Shahada” comes from a word meaning “to know and believe without suspicion, as if witnessed, testification.” The shahadah affirms the following: “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is…
Introduction Many religious groups send out door-to-door missionaries to spread their message. Sometimes they just want to “plant a few seeds” or hand out literature – other times they seek on-the-spot conversion or to start an ongoing “Bible study.” Regardless of one’s ability to define and defend one’s faith, preparing for all the different groups…
Introduction Because all Christian groups believe they were ultimately founded by Jesus Christ, all who wish to be considered legitimate need to explain why they did not exist prior to their (actual) founding date. The gap is usually explained by what I call an “apostasy narrative.” An Christian apostasy narrative is a tale of how the Church…
Introduction Some kind of “apostasy narrative” is required to explain why a group that did not exist for nearly 2,000 years can consider itself the true expression of Christianity. Obviously, if the Church founded by Jesus did not go into apostasy, there would be no excuse to create a new group or “restore” what was “lost.” Unlike…
Introduction In another post, I detailed some of the more egregious theological errors being supported by the the Jehovah’s Witnesses mistranslation of the Bible (the New World Translation, or NWT). Those are issues that should concern all Christians. There are others, however, of special interest to Catholics that are less well-known and rarely discussed. Some of these are…
Introduction In other posts, I detailed some of the more egregious theological errors being supported by the the Jehovah’s Witnesses mistranslation of the Bible. Now I want to touch briefly on the issue of Jehovah’s Witnesses and Hell (mostly because the title and headings are funny). Hell No! It is well known that Charles Taze Russell,…
Douglas Beaumont 