Five hundred years before a post on a blog could have national and global impact,
Martin Luther made a primitive posting on a door. The Church has been reeling from
this event’s consequences ever since.
Recently, someone suggested to me that Luther was only asked by the pope to recant
48 of his 95 theses. Does anybody know if this is true? If so, which theses were
acceptable and which were not? I wonder how events might have played out if Luther
had chosen to be less defiant.
Sometimes I worry about how dissident so many Catholics are these days. In Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic
“From time to time, the proclamation of the truth will solidify the opposition.
The victory of God’s way over man’s way will appear to be in peril. Even some Christians
will not agree to put God’s glory first. Human dignity will suffer. But Jesus promised
that even the gates of hell would not prevail against the Church that he would build
upon Peter. The teaching authority of the Church will not be compromised. She will
always preserve the truth handed down from those original twelve men who turned
the world on its head.”
Like I said, the Church has PR problems. Rand, of A Pattern of Sound Words, asserts:
"A Christian Roman Catholic, to me, is as opposite as a Nazi Jew. One cannot be a follower of Christ and be a follower of Romanism at the same time. Why? Because the Romanist worships a god different than the God of the Bible. For example, consider the 2nd person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ:"
"Romanism – Jesus was born of a sinless, perfect mother, who is declared the 'Queen of Heaven'.
Biblical Christinity – Jesus was born of a kind, godly woman, but still a sinner by birth and choice (Luke 1:26-38)."
The best explanation I have ever heard for Mary's sinless conception was from a Rabbi. The Ark of the Covenant was the seat of God on earth. It could only be safely approached and touched by ritually clean priests at certain times of the year. Mary was the ark of the New Covenant, Jesus Christ (Matthew 26:26-28). Her preservation from Original Sin, as well as actual sin, does not, as some suggest, imply that she did not need Christ's saving grace, made possible by the cross. God is not bound by time. He created it. Thus, Mary received at her conception the saving grace of Christ's sacrifice. Continue reading
I'm discovering more and more that the Catholic Church has some serious PR problems. This Earnestly Contending post is representative of the many Protestant (mostly Evangelical) gross misunderstandings of Catholic teachings and teaching authority that I've encountered. My responses are drawn from comments I made at Weapons of Warfare. Continue reading
Rand, of A Pattern of Sound Works, has posted a scathing criticism of C.S. Lewis,
one of my favorite authors and someone partially responsible for my return to faith. NOTA BENE: The following fisk is not personal. Rand comments a lot at Christian Conservative and seems to be a nice guy. From what I’ve seen, he comments intelligently and politely. He’s just kinda off his nut about Lewis. 😉