Introduction Conversations between Catholics and Protestants often produce more heat than light. The struggle is real, and is not made easier by inappropriate tactics and strategies that can turn friendly dialogue into an occasion for division. Seeing religious conversion in terms of a “paradigm shift” can be of great value to those seeking to give…
Are You Among the Elect? It is a question that plagues many Christians. Calvinists will typically say that we simply cannot be sure, but little do they know that tucked away in his discussion of the canon of Scripture, John Calvin seems to have given us a means of discovery: “For as God alone can properly…
James White’s #1 fanboy recently took on Catholic Answers with an Alpha and Omega Ministries blog post titled “Shattering Catholic Answers’ Wedge“. The post responds to the Catholic claim that, “Jesus told his apostles to establish a church, not write a book.” It’s hardly his (or any other Protestant polemicist’s) best work, and I am…
Introduction The Church has created a massive library of texts over her 2,000 year lifespan, and it can be overwhelming to even contemplate attaining (much less reading) them all. The good news is that among the millions of volumes of writing the Church has produced, many of them are summaries or collections of previous writings. While…
Introduction [Original article published in 2012, updated in 2017) Evangelical writer Norman Geisler’s teachings are fairly widespread, and much has been said about “the orthodox Christian faith” regarding them. The term “orthodox” has been thrown around so much, it seems it is simply being taken for granted that everyone agrees on what it means. Given the tenor…
Introduction The two foundational Protestant doctrines are those of Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone) and Sola Fide (faith alone). These two “solas” are known, respectively, as the formal and material causes of the Reformation. Sola Scriptura might be thought of as the methodological doctrine of the Reformation, for Protestantism is said to be founded on Scripture Alone (as…
Introduction The Reformation’s unparalleled rupture of the unity of Christ’s Church is said to have begun on Oct. 31, 1517, when a monk named Martin Luther nailed his soon-to-be-famous 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg. These theses were a list of religious complaints Luther wished to debate with any who would do so. Although…
Introduction Some time ago, one of the guests on a friend’s podcast was asked for his thoughts on the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation (that the bread and wine used in Mass communion actually become the body and blood of Jesus Christ). The guest’s reply was brief (86:30 – 90:00), but in that time he managed to make several…
Introduction St. Paul commands people to “examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.” (2 Corinthians 13:5). As a Protestant, I always thought that the test for faithfulness was how much I agreed with whatever doctrines I was taught – that faithfulness came in degrees, so to speak. I figured if I was…
Introduction As I mentioned earlier, on April 9th, 2017, Hank Hanegraaff, long time host of the Bible Answer Man radio program and president of the Christian Research Institute, became a member of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Naturally, many Christians freaked out. Evangelicals were saddened, fundamentalists said he was going to hell, Catholics were just happy he wasn’t…
Douglas Beaumont 