Introduction Many Christians point to 1 John 5:13 as being St. John the Apostle’s purpose for writing the epistle – namely, to assure believers of their final salvation based on their present belief. The verse reads, “I write these things to you so that you may know that you have eternal life, you who believe in…
Introduction The books of First and Second Corinthians present an interesting dilemma for Christians. Both deal strongly with regaining / retaining unity within the body of Christ, yet in both letters we are also given principles of disunity – separation for the sake of the the body of Christ. This creates a tension that demands resolution.…
Introduction It’s rough gift hunting for Catholic dudes – especially those entering the Church who are still not used to Catholic Holy Hardware. Of course a rosary is a standard choice, but while there are lots of girlie-girl rosaries to choose from out there, few are manly enough for most guys to carry (much less use) without embarrassment. I think men have enough trouble…
Introduction It is not unusual to hear the complaint from Protestants that Catholics cannot prove their beliefs from Scripture. While it is admitted that Catholics do OK with the Trinity, deity of Christ, and obvious stuff like that, when it comes to Catholicism’s distinctive doctrines (e.g.,baptism, the Eucharist, Mary, the Pope, prayers to the saints,…
“The Noble Bereans were Catholic: Is ‘Bible-Only’ Christianity Biblical” is the 2015 print offering from Catholic blogger Patrick Vandapool. Vandapool specializes in dealing with criticisms leveled at Catholicism from the “Stone-Campbell churches of Christ (CofC) and other Restoration-leaning ecclesial communities” with which he was once associated. In this book, Vandapool challenges the idea that “Bible-Only” Christianity…
Introduction One of the most ridiculous anti-Catholic propaganda claims on the interwebs today is the charge that Satan is worshiped in the Catholic Mass. A quick web search on “Lucifer Worship in Catholic Mass” revealed that this silliness is ubiquitous online – and thus, incredibly, seems to warrant a response. Lucifer Worship? The Latin Mass referred to here is the Easter Exsultet, which one video…
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 The popular Evangelical apologist J. Warner Wallace wrote an article titled What the Earliest Non-Biblical Authors Say About Jesus. Wallace begins by posing the intriguing question: “What would we know about Jesus if we lost every Biblical manuscript on the planet?” Wallace goes on to survey “the accounts of those early Christians who learned directly from the Biblical…
Introduction Several years before becoming Catholic, a friend of mine mentioned an incident concerning praying the rosary – specifically, whether or not it was “biblical.” At the time I did not even know what exactly the rosary was, so I looked it up and recorded my initial thoughts as a Protestant. These are presented below with some additional…
Introduction “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the…
Douglas Beaumont 