tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83195252411107215072024-03-14T01:18:10.078-05:003 Minute ApologeticsCatholic Apologetics
by an amateur apologist.The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.comBlogger181125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319525241110721507.post-24159336200449493142019-08-08T07:21:00.004-05:002019-11-24T07:27:01.022-06:00"Don't confess your sins to a man in a box!"<div>
There's this meme:</div>
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<i>"Don't confess your sins to a man in a box. He cannot forgive you. Only God can forgive sins. Not man. Read your Bible."</i></div>
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How should a Catholic respond?</div>
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We should say: we <b><i>agree</i></b> with you that "only God can forgive sins". (And that you should read your Bible.) 100% agree.</div>
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In fact, our Catechism says just that:</div>
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<span class="yiv7209972621ydp624bb726yiv3131465694ydpff95fe18text"><b> </b>"Only God forgives sins</span>"--CCC 1441</div>
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HOWEVER, we also understand that God has given authority to Christ, and Christ to His Church, to forgive sins...in HIS name. </div>
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<span class="yiv7209972621ydp624bb726yiv3131465694ydp4d98927text">"Since he is the Son of God, Jesus says of himself,
"The Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" and exercises
this divine power: "Your sins are forgiven." Further, by virtue of his
divine authority he gives this power to men to exercise in his name.</span>"--CCC 1441 </div>
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Catholic
Apologist Trent Horn presents an apologia (defense) of sacramental
confession to a priest with this parallel: many Protestants believe in
baptismal regeneration--that is, they believe (like Catholics) that
baptism really does indeed wash away our sins. To these
Baptism-Does-Remove-Our-Sins Protestants, we can tell them, "Just like
you understand that it's not the <i>minister</i> that's washing away the
sins--it's God, acting through the minister--when he's baptizing
someone...so, too, is it not the priest that's forgiving our sins in
confession--it's God, acting through the priest."</div>
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There are some Protestants, however, who think that baptism doesn't really <i><b>do</b></i>
anything...it's just an outward sign of one's belief in Christ, and it
does NOT wash away our sins (which is, ironically, contrary to Scripture
which states it DOES wash away our sins: <span style="background-color: inherit;"><span style="color: #cd232c;">"</span><span style="color: #cd232c;">Now, why delay? Get up and have yourself baptized and </span><b style="color: #cd232c;">your sins washed away</b><span style="color: #cd232c;">, calling upon his name.--Acts 22:16</span>)</span></div>
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To
these Protestants who don't believe in baptismal regeneration...we can
ask them who they ask to forgive their sins. Their answer, of course,
will be: Jesus!</div>
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To which we can ask: where does the Bible say to confess our sins to the Risen Jesus?</div>
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(Answer: nowhere)</div>
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In fact, the Bible says we should confess our sins to one another. </div>
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<span style="color: #cd232c;">Therefore,
confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may
be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very
powerful.--James 5:16</span></div>
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And, the Bible shows that authority was given to the apostles to forgive sins. </div>
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<span style="color: #cd232c;"> And
when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive
the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose
sins you retain are retained."--John 20:22 </span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">and</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cd232c;">Truly,
I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and
whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.--Matt <span class="yiv7209972621ydp624bb726yiv3131465694ydpe2abfd0fyshortcuts" id="yiv7209972621ydp624bb726yiv3131465694ydpe2abfd0flw_1295394852_3" style="border-bottom: 2px dotted rgb(54, 99, 136); cursor: pointer;">18:18</span> </span></div>
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So,
if one reads his Bible, we can see that it's actually Catholicism which
is more biblical than those Bible-Christian churches which reject
"confessing to a man in a box." <br />
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The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319525241110721507.post-19657836940942813762019-06-29T08:40:00.002-05:002019-06-29T08:40:59.623-05:00Abortion and Adam, Genesis and First Breath<div>
There is a rather new argument that is being tossed around
pro-choice circles that the Bible states that personhood begins at birth
(and not at conception). The argument looks like this: Genesis states
that Adam was not living until he took his first breath, therefore,
until a newly born baby takes its first breath, it's not living either.
Thus, aborting a fetus isn't the same thing as killing a tiny human
person. </div>
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<i>"It's not human until it takes its first breath--that's what the Bible says!"</i></div>
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Prolife response?</div>
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Firstly, what the Bible <i>really </i>says is that Adam wasn't living <b>until God breathed into his nostrils:</b></div>
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<span style="color: #9d1811;"><span><i><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="01002007" rel="nofollow" shape="rect">then the L<small>ORD</small> God formed the man</a> out of the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being--Genesis 2:7</i></span></span></div>
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....which is NOT the same thing as Adam (or a newborn baby) taking his first breath. The first requires Adam to be <i>passive</i> and receive the breath of life from God; however, when a newborn takes its first breath, that is an <i>action.</i> </div>
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Incidentally,
if the pro-choicer is correct that no one is a person until first
breath, this means that this sweet little baby, just being delivered and
not yet taking her first breath (or having God's spirit breathed into
her cute little nostrils), could be killed--because she's not a person
yet--for the first few seconds of her life outside the womb.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5SGJbeOPb1I/XRdpy8mFWEI/AAAAAAAByiw/2aeY4pLAvbwuJ-gJ-kQVXGzOwvWpA-0tQCLcBGAs/s1600/thumbnailcsec.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="421" data-original-width="590" height="228" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5SGJbeOPb1I/XRdpy8mFWEI/AAAAAAAByiw/2aeY4pLAvbwuJ-gJ-kQVXGzOwvWpA-0tQCLcBGAs/s320/thumbnailcsec.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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In fact, since none of us can prove that God breathed into our nostrils
when we were newly born... by the pro-choicer's argument,<i> none of us </i>is
living. And that means the pro-choicer is arguing that any of us walking
around today can be killed...since none of us are really persons yet.</div>
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Also, prolifers can respond that what the Bible says is that <i><b>if you're a man made out of dirt,</b></i> you don't become living until God breathes into your nostrils....</div>
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So
for the rest of us who are definitely NOT made of dirt, we become human
beings the moment we begin to exist, which science tells us is at the
moment of fertilization.</div>
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In fact, embryology textbooks assert that at the moment of fertilization an entirely new human organism is made.</div>
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<span style="font-family: garamond, new york, times, serif; font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: lucida console, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">“Human life begins at fertilization, the process during which a male
gamete or sperm (spermatozoon) unites with a female gamete or oocyte
(ovum) to form a single cell called a zygote. This highly specialized,
totipotent cell marked the beginning of each of us as a unique
individual.” “A zygote is the beginning of a new human being (i.e., an
embryo).”
<br clear="none" /><em>Keith L. Moore, The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 7th edition. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 2003. pp. 16, 2.</em><br clear="none" /><em><br clear="none" /></em><br clear="none" />“It is the penetration of the ovum by a sperm and the resulting
mingling of nuclear material each brings to the union that constitutes
the initiation of the life of a new individual.”
<br clear="none" /><em>Clark Edward and Corliss Patten’s Human Embryology, McGraw – Hill Inc., 30</em><br clear="none" /><em><br clear="none" /></em><br clear="none" />“[The Zygote] results from the union of an oocyte and a sperm. A
zygote is the beginning of a new human being. Human development begins
at fertilization, the process during which a male gamete or sperm …
unites with a female gamete or oocyte … to form a single cell called a
zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell marks the beginning of
each of us as a unique individual.”
<br clear="none" /><em>The Developing Human: Clinically
Oriented Embryology, 6th ed. Keith L. Moore, Ph.D. & T.V.N. Persaud,
Md., (Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company, 1998), 2-18</em></span></i></span></div>
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Out of all the arguments pro-choicers give, IMHO, this particular argument is the most eye-roll inducing. </div>
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The implications of saying that no one is a human being until he takes his first breath are absurd.</div>
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The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319525241110721507.post-11803083768711891112018-10-23T15:30:00.003-05:002018-10-23T15:30:22.120-05:00Abortion and "Women are going to do it anyway"<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span id="yiv0939613712yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1540297909201_16971">There
is an argument that's presented that even if we think abortion is
wrong, we as a civilized society should make it legal so that it's
safer...so, at least, BOTH mom and baby won't die. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span id="yiv0939613712yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1540297909201_17137"><i id="yiv0939613712yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1540297909201_15972">"Women
are going to have abortions, regardless, because they're desperate. We
don't want to go back to the days of back alley abortions. At least,
let's make it so the clinics can be regulated and monitored.</i>"</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span id="yiv0939613712yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1540297909201_17132">Best response: we should<i id="yiv0939613712yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1540297909201_17138"> first </i>determine if the act is moral...<i>then</i> decide if it's something we want to make/keep legal.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span id="yiv0939613712yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1540297909201_15632"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></b></span></span></span><div class="yiv0939613712yqt3801080353" id="yiv0939613712yqtfd11339">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span id="yiv0939613712yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1540297909201_17031">Take this analogy: there's a barbaric practice in some places of <a class="yiv0939613712edited-link-editor yiv0939613712enhancr2_ed55700e-acc3-bb23-4e60-9405ba189050" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_genital_mutilation" id="yiv0939613712yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1540297909201_16281" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank">female circumcision.</a> I won't go into the details...but it's not a very nice thing to do to young girls.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span id="yiv0939613712yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1540297909201_16910">If
we apply the logic that's being promoted by the "Keep abortion legal
because women are going to do it anyway" then we should make female
circumcision legal so, at least, the instruments used will be sterile
and we can monitor them afterwards for infection. It's a practice, after
all, that people are going to continue to do, despite the fact that
it's illegal.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span id="yiv0939613712yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1540297909201_16939">Of course, no civilized society is going to provide a safe environment for this savage practice. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1540309741646_16897">And yet...there's still this argument going around for abortions.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1540309741646_16897"> </span></span></span></div>
The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319525241110721507.post-83160654775625309152018-08-27T20:26:00.001-05:002018-08-27T20:26:06.982-05:00The Church in Crisis--Sexual Abuse and the Grand Jury Report<div id="yiv4679811405yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1534851591702_28955">
<span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1535412057849_23060" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: small;">The
news reports on this horrific matter in our Church bring great sadness
upon all of us who love our Church, love our faith, love our God so
deeply.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv4679811405yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1534851591702_29335" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: small;">Best response I've seen:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: small;"><br clear="none" /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: small;">
</span><div id="yiv4679811405yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1534851591702_28897">
<span id="yiv4679811405yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1534851591702_29311" style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: small;"><i id="yiv4679811405yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1534851591702_29326">"I
didn't come to the church for the bishops, so I won't leave because of them.
Much of this is very understandable lashing out in rage, but there are a lot of
people who really have lost faith because of it. I wish I knew what to say to
them. My faith was never in men, so men can disgust me and let me down, but
they can't take away what wasn't theirs to give.</i>" - Tom McDonald<b id="yiv4679811405yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1534851591702_28898"><span id="yiv4679811405yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1534851591702_28899" style="color: #31849b; font-size: 16.0pt;"></span></b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: small;">
</span><br />
And another good response from Bishop Robert Barron:<br />
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https://www.facebook.com/BishopRobertBarron/videos/2650607241631662The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319525241110721507.post-27200365147717612642018-06-05T15:57:00.002-05:002020-10-25T08:13:39.162-05:00Why do we get punished for the sins of Adam? (revisit)<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_21991">
This coming Sunday our First Reading discusses the Fall of Adam and Eve: </div>
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<span id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_8449" style="color: #cd232c;"> You have eaten, then,</span><br id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_8300" /><span id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_8449" style="color: #cd232c;"> from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!"--Genesis 3</span></div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_17600">
<br clear="none" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_17601">
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_9748">
Thus is born the doctrine of Original Sin.</div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_9863">
<br /></div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_9889">
All over the internet are folks who object to this concept:</div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_10414">
<br id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_9751" /></div>
<ul id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_10406">
<li id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_10409"><b id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_10598"><span id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_10557" style="color: #440062;">"It seemed unfair that I should be responsible for some moral deviation that I had no control over." </span></b></li>
</ul>
<b><span style="color: #440062;"><br /></span></b><ul id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_10406">
<li id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_10408"><b id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_10597"><span id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_10537" style="color: #440062;">"Why should guilt-less offspring be punished for the actions of their
parents?"</span></b></li>
</ul>
<b><span style="color: #440062;"><br /></span></b><ul id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_10406">
<li id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_10407"><b id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_19615"><span id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_19614" style="color: #440062;">"All people inherit Adam's sin"</span></b></li>
</ul>
<b><span style="color: #440062;"><br /></span></b><ul id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_10406">
<li id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_10405"><b id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_10596"><span id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_10536" style="color: #440062;">"<span id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_10281">Every person on earth is born <em id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_10282">guilty</em> by inheriting <em id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_10283">Adam's first sin</em>"</span></span></b></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_17718">
<br clear="none" /></div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12259">
<br clear="none" id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12260" /></div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12261">
How is it fair that we are guilty for what Adam and
Eve did? Why should we be found guilty for
something we didn't do?</div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12261">
<br /></div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12261"><br /></div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12271">
**************************************************************************************************</div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12272">
<br clear="none" id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12273" /></div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12274">
The articulations<span style="color: #440062;"><b> (in purple) </b></span>above, however, demonstrate a rather impoverished understanding of Original Sin.</div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12275">
<br clear="none" id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12276" /></div>
<blockquote id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12277" style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12278">
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_19595">
<b id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12279">We are NOT guilty of the sins of Adam and Eve. </b></div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_11149">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_11148">
NO ONE IS GUILTY OF ANYONE ELSE'S SIN.</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12281">
<br clear="none" id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12282" /></div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12283">
We simply are<b id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12284"> deprived of the grace</b> that was given to Adam and Eve. </div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12285">
<br clear="none" id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12286" /></div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12287">
They lost it because of their actions.</div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12288">
<br clear="none" id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12289" /></div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12290">
And because they didn't have it, they couldn't pass it on to their descendants.</div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12291">
<br clear="none" id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12292" /></div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12293">
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_10829">
<b id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12294">We
are not held personally responsible for Adam's guilt. We are not
punished for someone else's sin. We didn't inherit anyone's sin.</b></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_19552">
<b id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12294"><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_10858">
Rather:<b id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12294"><br /></b></div>
</div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12295">
<br clear="none" id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12296" /></div>
<blockquote id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12297" style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12298">
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12299">
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12300" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12301">
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12302">
Although it is proper to each individual, <b id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12303">original sin does not have the character of a personal fault in any of Adam's descendants</b>.
It is a deprivation of original holiness and justice, but human nature
has not been totally corrupted: it is wounded in the natural powers
proper to it, subject to ignorance, suffering and the dominion of death,
and inclined to sin - an inclination to evil that is called
concupiscence". Baptism, by imparting the life of Christ's grace, erases
original sin and turns a man back towards God, but the consequences for
nature, weakened and inclined to evil, persist in man and summon him to
spiritual battle.--<a href="http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/405.htm" id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12304" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank">Catechism of the Catholic Church</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12307">
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12308">
<br clear="none" id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12309" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12310">
<br clear="none" id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12311" /></div>
</div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_10896">
That is, because Adam and Eve wounded their human nature, this wounded/flawed human nature was passed on to us.</div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_10894">
<br /></div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_10895">
I've
heard it described analogously as a sort of spiritual genetic mutation.
The original intention was for us to be living in a perfected state.
However, because of our first parents' choice, they damaged this
"spiritual gene", and thus every human person inherits this damaged
"gene". </div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_11041">
<br /></div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_11150">
So...we're not guilty of anyone's sin except our own.</div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_11102">
<br /></div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_11101">
But we<i> are</i> deprived of the original perfect nature that was our inheritance.</div>
<div class="yiv7194169049qtdSeparateBR">
<br /></div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_19262">
<br clear="none" id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528206464431_12313" /></div>
<div id="yiv7194169049yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1528212701367_11189">
Thus,
Original Sin isn't actually a "sin" that we inherit. It's a deprivation
of sanctifying grace. It's the explanation for this abnormal state
we're born into.</div>
The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319525241110721507.post-27369900225251621452018-04-24T11:30:00.002-05:002018-04-24T11:30:37.094-05:00Did Pope Francis say that hell doesn't exist?<div id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21292">
<span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21291" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_87117">Question:</b> Did Pope Francis say that hell doesn't exist?</span></div>
<div id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21290">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br clear="none" /></span></div>
<div id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21276">
<span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21278" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21586">Short answer:</b> No. This is fake news.</span></div>
<div id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21279">
<span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21278" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br clear="none" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21329">
<span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21569" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_22591">Longer answer:</b>
The apparent source of this question comes from 94 year old Italian
journalist Eugenio Scalfari who, in conversation with Pope Francis,<a class="yiv6325536958edited-link-editor" href="http://www.newsweek.com/does-hell-exist-pope-francis-says-no-interview-could-change-catholic-church-866010" id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_22570" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank"> asserted this</a>: </span><span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21278" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br clear="none" /></span></div>
<blockquote id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21672">
<blockquote id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_22362">
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21587">
<span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_22285" style="font-size: x-small;"><span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21278" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br clear="none" /></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_23875">
<span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_22285" style="font-size: x-small;"><span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21278" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Francis was quoted as saying of
those who die in a state of mortal sin: <i id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_26270">“They are not punished. Those
who repent obtain God’s forgiveness and take their place among the ranks
of those who contemplate him, but those who do not repent and cannot be
forgiven disappear. A hell doesn’t exist, the disappearance of sinning
souls exists.” </i></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21762">
<span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21278" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br clear="none" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_23858">
<span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_27487" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">This
is merely the assertion of Scalfari, as he recollects a conversation
they had. There is no recorded transcript of this. Scalfari acknowledges
that he does not take notes during these meetings, and is merely going
by his memory of this discussion he and Pope Francis had. Scalfari has <a class="yiv6325536958edited-link-editor yiv6325536958enhancr2_537c91d9-8cec-360c-93db-c113ba89c1f1" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/30/world/europe/pope-francis-hell-scalfari.html" id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_27719" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank">said</a>: </span><i id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_45008"><span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21278" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">“These are not interviews, these are meetings, I don’t take notes. It’s a chat.”</span></i></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21927">
<span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21278" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br clear="none" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_22356">
<span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_26634" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">In
fact, Pope Francis has upheld, affirmed and professed the teachings of
the Church on hell on numerous occasions. In May of 2017 at the 100th
Anniversary of Our Lady's appearance at Fatima, <a class="yiv6325536958edited-link-editor yiv6325536958enhancr2_fd3d95e2-8e9d-8adb-cae3-30fb03486471" href="http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-pope-portugal-20170513-story.html" id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_26931" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank">he said:</a><i id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_26750"> </i></span><i id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_26724"><span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21278" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br clear="none" /></span></i></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_45010">
<i id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_26724"><span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21278" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br clear="none" /></span></i></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_45011">
<i id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_26724"><span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21278" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">"Our Lady foretold, and warned us about, a way of life that is godless
and indeed profanes God in his creatures...Such a life, frequently proposed and imposed, risks <b id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_44850">leading to hell."</b> </span></i><span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_28049" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br clear="none" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_45109">
<span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_28049" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br clear="none" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_45108">
<span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_28049" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">And during a prayer vigil in 2014, he <a class="yiv6325536958edited-link-editor yiv6325536958enhancr2_6e799115-5e9f-0b0a-7950-a2f039315a5f" href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vatican-dont-trust-report-that-pope-francis-denied-reality-of-hell-53450" id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_28351" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank">addressed</a> members of the Italian mafia saying: </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_45206">
<span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_28049" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_28165"><br clear="none" /></i></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_45205">
<span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_28049" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_28165">"...</i></span><i id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_28144"><span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21278" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">while there is still time, so that you do not <b id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_45009">end up in hell.</b> That is what awaits you if you continue on this path.” </span></i><span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21278" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">(bold mine)</span><i id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_28144"><span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21278" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"></span></i></div>
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<span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21278" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Also, I've been in numerous discussions with people who pose the above question in a slightly different way: "<i>Why did the Catholic Church change its teachings on hell?"</i> When I ask what they're referencing, they say: <i id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_45420">"Your Pope just denied that hell exists"</i>.
This demonstrates an egregious ignorance among so many people who think
that everything the Pope says is infallible, definitively pronounced
Catholic dogma. <b id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_23000">In fact, what a pope says, in conversation, is NOT THE SAME THING as a pope speaking officially.</b>
Even if a pope is preaching a homily, he is not speaking from the
Office, from the Chair; his words are to be taken with the wisdom of a
theologian, and ought to be considered and thoughtfully digested...but
they are not the same thing as a solemn, formal declaration of Catholic
dogma.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_24236" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Indeed,<i id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_28388"> even if a pope writes a book on theology,</i> we ought not mistake this book for Catholic doctrine. Pope Benedict XVI says as much in the preface to his book on Jesus:</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21278" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> <img alt="Inline image" class="yiv6325536958ymail-preserve-class yiv6325536958inline-image-guid-b09a7395-79a1-b5a1-800c-8c7a2065fcb1 yiv6325536958rte-inline-saved-image" id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_23503" src="https://dl-mail.ymail.com/ws/download/mailboxes/@.id==VjN-BMaHPBfxR3urCJU4AidZkoOOYX3DvjUyRWZr9apYh6_QI-Z-_c-BPLVaOovsc72KKU3W9RB9hsviOcxCKcdQJg/messages/@.id==AGTgH38fqeQuWt9K2wjKAFHawB8/content/parts/@.id==2/raw?appid=YahooMailNeo&ymreqid=1e6214e2-dcd6-4482-0117-e402d8010000&token=zitEzqOML3j84e6ealFTT5U7-km5qEQF52lp7AcCuBZxBQQxmUZ6Pvlf1rWUKexVVTEAf1GsdQQ_R_Jh_qVNZIyL18XFUKeFwVlU4wUzSbGTI1ZOw8Ws_mq8wUO3tpFa" style="max-height: 159px; max-width: 159px; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: auto; width: 100%;" /></span><br clear="none" /><span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_21278" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"></span></div>
<span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520687387299_13514" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br clear="none" /><div dir="ltr" id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_24880">
<span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_24393" style="font-size: small;"><span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_24309" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_24874" style="font-size: small;"><span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_24875" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">He <a href="https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/preface-from-jesus-of-nazareth.html" id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_24876" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank">writes,</a> <i id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_24877">"</i></span></span><span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_24878" style="font-size: small;"><i id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_24879">Of course, it goes without saying that this book is absolutely not a
magisterial act, but is only the expression of my personal search for
the face of the Lord (Psalm 27:8). So everyone is free to disagree with
me."</i></span></span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_24393" style="font-size: small;"><span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_24309" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_24878" style="font-size: small;"><i id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_24879"><br clear="none" /></i></span></span></span></div>
<span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_24393" style="font-size: small;"><span id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_24309" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Thus, even IF Pope Francis <i>had</i> denied the existence of hell in a conversation with a reporter (which HE DIDN'T <img alt="*:) happy" class="yiv6325536958yahoo-ignore-inline-image" src="https://s.yimg.com/ok/u/assets/img/emoticons/emo1.gif" title="*:) happy" />), that would NOT be the same as saying <i id="yiv6325536958yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524571350046_45654">"The Catholic Church now denies the existence of hell". </i>It
would have been his personal opinion, just as if he had said, "I think
that there will be no more hurricanes this season". We can think he's
wrong on this...but, we remain faithful Catholics. </span></span>The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319525241110721507.post-2227699538643932682018-03-20T15:10:00.003-05:002018-03-20T15:10:28.300-05:00Easter and the Pagan Wars (Part 3)<div class="yiv7002519749yahoo_quoted" id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_33240" style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
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<img alt="Inline image" class="yiv7002519749ymail-preserve-class yiv7002519749inline-image-guid-4ce57c37-998a-fb9a-40e9-f74eb18a4ef0 yiv7002519749rte-inline-saved-image" id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_33746" src="https://apis.mail.yahoo.com/ws/v3/mailboxes/@.id==VjN-BMaHPBfxR3urCJU4AidZkoOOYX3DvjUyRWZr9apYh6_QI-Z-_c-BPLVaOovsc72KKU3W9RB9hsviOcxCKcdQJg/messages/@.id==AIkj_QoAAAKPWrFBLA6aSCIPVAg/content/parts/@.id==2/thumbnail?appId=YahooMailNeo&downloadWhenThumbnailFails=true&pid=2" style="border: 0px; max-height: 400px; max-width: 400px; overflow: auto; width: 400px;" yahoo_partid="2" /><br clear="none" /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br clear="none" /></span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520687387299_13513" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;">
<span id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520687387299_13514" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_56810" style="font-size: small;">It's that time of year again...when anti-Easter memes make their way on the internet. </span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_34088" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_56817" style="font-size: small;">There's this, stating that Easter gets its name from a Germanic pagan goddess of fertility named "Eostre":</span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_56818" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br clear="none" /></span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_34363" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_56973" style="font-size: small;">And this, claiming that Easter gets its name from the Babylonian goddess of fertility, "Ishtar":</span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_36181" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Easter is <i>not</i> pagan. It is Christian and comes from the Jewish tradition of the Passover, where a lamb was sacrificed to atone for the sins of Israel. Jesus is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. As St. Paul wrote, "<span id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_46121" style="color: #9d1811;">Christ our <i>Pascha</i> (Passover) has been sacrificed for us"--1 Cor 5:7. </span> And, thus, in almost every other language except English and German, Easter is called by a derivative of the Hebrew word for Passover, <i id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_38350">Pesach.</i> In Spanish it's called Pascua; in Greek it's <i id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_38351">Pascha</i>,; in Tagalog (Filipino) it's <i id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_38631">Pasko</i>; in Malay it's <i id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_38349">Paskah.</i></span></div>
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<span id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_38766" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">So in virtually every other language any accusation that "Pascua" comes from a pagan reference to "Ishtar" or "Eostre" would be nonsensical.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_39691" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">It's only an objection that an English-speaker could make, thousands of years after Easter was already being celebrated by millions of people around the globe.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_52505" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The memes above also make references to eggs and bunnies originating in paganism. And this website finds eggs, bunnies, (and, curiously, hot cross buns and ham!) to be quite sinister.</span></div>
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It’s important to note that eggs were noted fertility symbols, as for rabbits, Tammuz was noted to be especially fond of rabbits, and they became sacred in the ancient religion, because Tammuz was believed to be the son of the sun-god, Baal. Tammuz, like his supposed father, became a hunter.</div>
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The day came when Tammuz was killed by a wild pig. Queen Ishtar told the people that Tammuz was now ascended to his father, Baal, and that the two of them would be with the worshippers in the sacred candle or lamp flame as Father, Son and Spirit.</div>
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Ishtar, who was now worshipped as the "Mother of God and Queen of Heaven", continued to build her mystery religion. The queen told the worshippers that when Tammuz was killed by the wild pig, some of his blood fell on the stump of an evergreen tree, and the stump grew into a full new tree overnight. This made the evergreen tree sacred by the blood of Tammuz.</div>
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She also proclaimed a forty day period of time of sorrow each year prior to the anniversary of the death of Tammuz. During this time, no meat was to be eaten. Worshippers were to meditate upon the sacred mysteries of Baal and Tammuz, and to make the sign of the "T" in front of their hearts as they worshipped.</div>
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They also ate sacred cakes with the marking of a "T" or cross on the top. Every year, on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox, a celebration was made. <span id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_57552" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It was Ishtar's Sunday and was celebrated with rabbits and eggs.</span></div>
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Ishtar also proclaimed that because Tammuz was killed by a pig, that a pig must be eaten on that Sunday. By now, the readers of this tract should have made the connection that paganism has infiltrated the contemporary "Christian" churches, and further study indicates that this paganism came in by way of the Roman Catholic System.</div>
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<span id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_57554" style="font-size: 14px;">The forty days of Lent, eggs, rabbits, hot cross buns and the Easter ham have everything to do with the ancient pagan religion of Mystery Babylon.Worshipers of the Babylonian religion celebrated the conception of Tammuz on the first Sunday after the Full Moon that followed the Spring Equinox.</span><span id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_57555" style="font-size: small;">.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_57558" style="font-size: small;"><span id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_55813" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_55814"><a href="https://www.news24.com/MyNews24/Easter-is-Un-Christian-20150330" id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_57557" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="background: transparent; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">https://www.news24.com/MyNews24/Easter-is-Un-Christian-20150330</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_55440" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Since eggs and bunnies (and hot cross buns and ham) are not referenced in our Catholic theology/doctrine/worship at Easter, this objection can be easily dismissed. Eggs and bunnies and buns and ham are not inherent to our understanding of Easter, but are rather a cultural tradition many people have embraced. </span></div>
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<span id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_46828" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Finally, <i id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_47410">even if</i> it were true that Easter developed from paganism, Christianity took it, elevated it, made it holy and sacred, and now we claim it as ours. No Christian is inadvertently worshipping a Germanic or Babylonian goddess by observing Easter rituals. </span></div>
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<span id="yiv7002519749yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_52820" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Indeed, no one can worship something without <i id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1521547434939_82081">intending</i> to worship it.</span></div>
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The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319525241110721507.post-57249015409483658972018-03-10T08:16:00.000-06:002018-03-10T08:16:15.334-06:00 Why are Catholics so opposed to abortion, if these babies are going to end up in heaven anyway?<div id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1515553858201_32465" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_11777" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">I heard this question posed by a prochoicer the other day: <i id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_11966">why are Catholics so opposed to abortion, if these babies are going to end up in heaven* anyway?</i></span></div>
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<span id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_11854" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Our response as Catholics should be: we don't kill people just so they can go to heaven. If this were our moral code, then we should be killing every baby right after he's been baptized, because then they'd be guaranteed a place in heaven. And killing everyone once they step out of the confessional. And killing anyone baptized who's in a state of grace.</span></div>
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<div id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1515553858201_32465" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_12174" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Obviously, that's an absurd paradigm.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_12079" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Rather, we work in cooperation with the will of God, and let God determine when a person dies. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">***************</span></div>
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<span id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_12817" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Also, there's been a lot of dialogue by prochoicers that asserts things like<i id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_15165"> "When you have a uterus, then you can have an opinion on abortion. Otherwise, stay out of my business". </i></span></div>
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<img alt="Image result for no uterus, no opinion" class="yiv9570573837" id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_13414" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/teepublic/image/private/s--JduDd7OO--/t_Preview/b_rgb:ef4a81,c_limit,f_jpg,h_630,q_90,w_630/v1484831006/production/designs/1124198_1.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-height: 400px; max-width: 400px; overflow: auto; width: 386px;" /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br clear="none" /></span></div>
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<span id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520687387299_13514" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">It is a peculiar objection prochoicers have, which excludes 50% of the population from voicing an opinion.</span><span id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520687387299_13515" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520687387299_13516" /></span></div>
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<div id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1515553858201_32465" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_13406" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">And it should also be noted that 9 men (who presumably did not have a uterus) made their opinion on abortion the law of the land 45 years ago. These 9 Supreme Court Justices were permitted by prochoicers to rule on Roe v Wade, making abortion legal through all 9 months of pregnancy ..and prochoicers seem to have no problem with their not having female body parts on this ruling. </span></div>
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<span id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_13280" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">As a parallel: imagine if a Northerner in the 19th century objected to a Southern Plantation owner's slavery. And the Plantation owner said, <i id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_13876">"If you don't know what it's like to manage a plantation, stay out of my business. You can't oppose slavery if you don't own a plantation". </i></span></div>
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<span id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_13606" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">No plantation, no opinion! (on slavery)</span></div>
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<span id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_13557" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">That would be nonsense, right?!</span></div>
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<span id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_13703" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Finally one other prochoice question I've seen lately is: <i id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_13898">are you going to adopt every baby that's in danger of being aborted? No? Well, then stay out of the woman's business if you're not going take responsibility for that fetus. </i></span></div>
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<span id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_13950" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Our response: do you adopt every puppy that's being beaten? Should the people who oppose domestic violence take every victim into their homes to protect them? Should the abolitionist have been responsible for caring for every slave that was freed? </span></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h6FQ1pp3ePQ/WqPok8WonbI/AAAAAAABZnE/J7qM6FVzjlIq_h3611X3t5SFtG5EisL3QCLcBGAs/s1600/27972469_1748951995171177_2586429492368708786_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="272" data-original-width="480" height="181" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h6FQ1pp3ePQ/WqPok8WonbI/AAAAAAABZnE/J7qM6FVzjlIq_h3611X3t5SFtG5EisL3QCLcBGAs/s320/27972469_1748951995171177_2586429492368708786_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_14780" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Hopefully, our parallel questions will help the prochoicer recognize the absurdity of her position. One can be opposed to a particular issue on its own merits, without necessarily being responsible for every foreseeable consequence of this opposition.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_12652" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">_________________________________</span></div>
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<span id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_12164" style="font-size: small;">*</span><span id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_12418" style="font-size: small;"><span id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_12421">The Church doesn't profess that babies who are aborted go to heaven. Rather, we entrust them to the mercy of God and can have a sure hope for their salvation. <i>"</i></span><span id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_12333"><i id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_12507">It must be clearly acknowledged that the church does not have sure knowledge about the salvation of unbaptized infants who die. She knows and celebrates the glory of the Holy Innocents, but the destiny of the generality of infants who die without baptism has not been revealed to us, and the church teaches and judges only with regard to what has been revealed. What we do positively know of God, Christ and the church gives us grounds to hope for their salvation, as must now be explained."</i> </span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_12616" style="font-size: small;"><span id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_12615"><a class="yiv9570573837edited-link-editor" href="http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20070419_un-baptised-infants_en.html" id="yiv9570573837yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1520644538040_12502" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="background: transparent; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20070419_un-baptised-infants_en.html</a></span></span></div>
The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319525241110721507.post-48075030652944518952018-02-13T07:03:00.002-06:002018-03-02T07:00:17.002-06:00Ash Wednesday is not in the Bible!<div id="yiv6918103137" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
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<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_6355" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">There's a lot of non-Catholic Christians who have adopted the Catholic tradition (small "t" tradition) of observing Ash Wednesday.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_6360" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">However, there's also a lot of Christians who vehemently object to our Ash Wednesday liturgy. "Ash Wednesday is not in the Bible!" is the mantra of these folks.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_6365" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;"><span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_6366" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;">From a website I found: </span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_68841" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_68710" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #4c76a2; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_69964" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">But guess what? Ash Wednesday is not in the Bible. Jesus never kept Ash Wednesday and neither did the apostles of the Early Church. If this “holy day” is a “Christian” ritual to remember Christ, then how come none of the disciples kept it after Jesus ascended to heaven? I’ve never read about Apostle Paul or John teaching in his letters to the churches about burning ashes and putting it on their foreheads.</b></span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_69125" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">Firstly, we should ask these folks: why does every practice we do have to be found in the Bible? Does the </span><span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_6784" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">Bible say that we're supposed to do this?</span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_36062" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;"> </span><img alt="Inline image" class="yiv6918103137ymail-preserve-class yiv6918103137inline-image-guid-6117106b-8492-3473-62ab-31acbd2aec30 yiv6918103137rte-inline-saved-image yiv6918103137img-overlay-selected" id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_6620" src="https://apis.mail.yahoo.com/ws/v3/mailboxes/@.id==VjN-BMaHPBfxR3urCJU4AidZkoOOYX3DvjUyRWZr9apYh6_QI-Z-_c-BPLVaOovsc72KKU3W9RB9hsviOcxCKcdQJg/messages/@.id==AK6q1QoAAAJgWoLf2QPYYN2g5yE/content/parts/@.id==2/thumbnail?appId=YahooMailNeo&downloadWhenThumbnailFails=true&pid=2" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; border: 0px; max-height: 265px; max-width: 400px; overflow: auto; width: 386px;" yahoo_partid="2" /></div>
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<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_7103" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: xx-small;"> This meme by Catholic apologist Steve Ray could also apply to "Where is Ash Wednesday in the Bible?"</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_69287" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">Secondly, we can point out that there's probably a whole lot of practices that they do which also aren't found in the Bible.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_8397" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">To wit:</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_8395" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">-altar calls</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_69355" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">-Wednesday evening Bible studies</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1515553858201_32543" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_69631" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">-having steeples on churches</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1515553858201_32543" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70321" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">-folding one's hands in prayer</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1515553858201_32543" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_7765" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">-weddings in a church</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1515553858201_32543" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_69428" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">-praying to the Holy Spirit</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1515553858201_32543" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_69921" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">-wearing a wedding ring</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;"><br clear="none" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /></span></div>
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<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_69175" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">And here's a lot of things these folks probably do that Jesus/Paul/John never did:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1515553858201_32543" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_69189" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">-attend a wedding on a beach</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1515553858201_32543" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_69357" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">-sing hymns with an organ accompaniment</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1515553858201_32543" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_69564" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">-preside at a wedding</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1515553858201_32543" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70266" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">-use a sound system at a prayer meeting</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;"><br style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /></span></div>
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<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_7701" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">I also saw this from another website objecting to Ash Wednesday:</span></div>
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<div id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_7896" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div class="yiv6918103137qtdSeparateBR" id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_7895" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div class="yiv6918103137yqt9576332648" id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_7894" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_7893" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1515553858201_32543" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_7814" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;"><span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_7813" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;">Based on what Jesus said in Matthew 6:16-18, those who participate in Ash Wednesday are… hypocrites. <a href="https://getgodtohollywood.wordpress.com/2016/02/10/ash-wednesdaylent-overview/" id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_8242" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background: transparent; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">https://getgodtohollywood.wordpress.com/2016/02/10/ash-wednesdaylent-overview/</a></span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70002" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;"><br clear="none" id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70001" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /></span></div>
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<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_9414" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #9d1811; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
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<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_9414" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #9d1811; font-size: x-small;">“When you fast,* do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_9414" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #9d1811; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
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<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_9414" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #9d1811; font-size: x-small;">But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_9414" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #9d1811; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
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<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_9414" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #9d1811; font-size: x-small;">so that you may not appear to others to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.--Matthew 6:16-18</span></div>
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</blockquote>
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<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1515553858201_32543" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_9083" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">I think the response to this is: if we are putting ashes on our foreheads to let the world know we are fasting, and therefore holier than everyone else who isn't fasting, then we are indeed "like the hypocrites". But I doubt any person walking around with ashes is doing this in the same way the hypocrites of Jesus' time did.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;"><br style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1515553858201_32543" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_69912" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">Finally, there are numerous references in the Bible to using ashes as a sign of repentance.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70355" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;"><span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70084" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #4e2800;"><span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70085" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; text-decoration-line: underline;"><br clear="none" id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70087" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /></span><span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70088" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: red;">A Benjaminite fled from the battlefield and reached Shiloh that same day, with his clothes torn and his head covered with dirt.--1 Sam 4:12</span><br clear="none" id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70089" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /><br clear="none" id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70090" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: red;" /><span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70091" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: red;">Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long tunic in which she was clothed.--2 Sam.13:19</span></span><span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70092" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #4e2800;"> </span><span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70093" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><br clear="none" id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70094" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /><br clear="none" id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70095" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /><span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70096" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Ashes also symbolize death and so remind us of our mortality. When the priest uses his thumb to sign one of the faithful with the ashes and says, "Remember, man, that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return," he is echoing God's address to Adam:</span></span><span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70097" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"> </span><span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70098" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><br clear="none" id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70099" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /><br clear="none" id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70100" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: red;" /><span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70101" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: red;">For you are dirt, and to dirt you shall return.--Gen. 3:19</span></span><span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70102" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #4e2800;"> </span><span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70103" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><br clear="none" id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70104" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /></span><span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70108" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70109" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">And Abraham's confession: </span><span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518439245870_70354" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: red;">I am nothing but dust and ashes" --Gen. 18:27.</span></span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv6918103137yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1518524949855_14383" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">In short, Ash Wednesday is deeply rooted in Christian tradition/practice/custom and there's nothing we do in our Lenten obervations which is contrary to Scripture.</span></div>
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The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319525241110721507.post-51518895990727719242018-01-19T10:43:00.001-06:002018-01-19T10:43:31.903-06:00Abortion/Free Will/Religion<br />
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<span id="yiv2401162608yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1516367201132_13640" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv2401162608yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1516367201132_16337" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">The anniversary of Roe v Wade is upon us, and it often invites discussions with folks who disagree with prolifers on our view of abortion.</span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv2401162608yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1516367201132_13667" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv2401162608yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1516367201132_16346" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">One particular argument presented by prochoicers is this: "God gave us all free will. If we make abortion illegal, aren't we interfering with a woman's free will?" As presented on <a class="yiv2401162608edited-link-editor yiv2401162608enhancr2_a95febe8-f8c7-7b81-0405-3e07cc69836f" href="http://www.pewforum.org/2008/09/30/pro-choice-does-not-mean-pro-abortion-an-argument-for-abortion-rights-featuring-the-rev-carlton-veazey/" id="yiv2401162608yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1516367201132_14227" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background: transparent; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">this</a> prochoice website:</span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv2401162608yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1516367201132_13956" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;">"We have a clearer understanding that men and women are moral agents and equipped to make decisions about even the most difficult and complex matters. We must ensure a woman can determine when and whether to have children according to her own conscience and religious beliefs and without governmental interference or coercion."</span></div>
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<span id="yiv2401162608yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1516367201132_13756" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv2401162608yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1516367201132_16345" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Prolife Response: We are all free moral agents, but our right to self-determination does not involve being free to inflict harm on someone else. There are thousands of laws which, in some manner, bind us from utilizing our free will to inflict harm on another. If the prochoicer is being consistent, then she would have to oppose any laws which make domestic violence illegal as well. That is, making it illegal for a husband to harm his wife would remove the husband's right to act as his own moral agent in decisions about what goes on in the privacy of his home.</span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv2401162608yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1516367201132_14469" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1516367201132_30726" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">All we are doing by making abortion illegal is protecting a tiny human being from being killed. It's a matter of human rights, not human free will.</span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv2401162608yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1516367201132_15155" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1516367201132_30725" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">And that segues into another prochoice argument: "I'm not Catholic, so don't inflict your religious views about abortion on me".</span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv2401162608yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1516367201132_15156" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv2401162608yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1516367201132_16199" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Prolife Response: Abortion isn't a religious issue. It's a <i id="yiv2401162608yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1516367201132_15613" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">human rights</i> issue. That the Catholic Church has a teaching on abortion doesn't make it a religious issue, any more than feeding the poor is a religious issue because the Catholic Church has a <a class="yiv2401162608edited-link-editor yiv2401162608enhancr2_ad2a1ce0-d20b-c4e0-d8e8-c9e08bfd20ce" href="http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2447.htm" id="yiv2401162608yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1516367201132_15736" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background: transparent; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">command to feed the hungry</a>. I don't know many prochoicers who say that the government shouldn't be involved in federal assistance programs to feed children because they're not Catholic. </span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv2401162608yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1516367201132_15930" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv2401162608yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1516367201132_16201" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">We can argue against stealing, lying, depravity, deception, etc etc etc without ever appealing to the Bible or to Catholic teaching.</span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv2401162608yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1516367201132_16085" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv2401162608yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1516367201132_16202" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Just like we can argue against abortion without ever once referencing religion.</span></span></div>
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The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319525241110721507.post-30575613761054780592017-11-21T21:52:00.001-06:002017-11-21T21:53:24.904-06:00 If everything has a cause, then what caused God?<div class="yiv0728779677yahoo_quoted" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_78296" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
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<span id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_78681" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 15.6px;"><b id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511322444333_7054" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Question: </b> If everything has a cause, then what caused God? </span></div>
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<span id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_78894" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 15.6px;">Atheists like to present their objection to Theistic arguments for God's existence in </span><a class="yiv0728779677edited-link-editor" href="http://www.alternet.org/story/145822/why_%27everything_has_a_cause%27_is_a_terrible_justification_for_god%27s_existence" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_80881" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background: transparent; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank"><span id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_80960" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">this way:</span></a></div>
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<span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 15.6px;"><br clear="none" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /></span></div>
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<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79453" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
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<span id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79456" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 15.6px;">Today's argument: But All of This Had to Come From Somewhere! Otherwise known as the "First Cause" argument. "Things don't just come out of nowhere," the argument goes. <b id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_80279" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">"Everything that exists has a cause. </b>Therefore, the entirety of physical existence itself had to have had a cause. Therefore, God exists."</span></div>
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<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79488" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79489" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79490" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<span id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79491" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 15.6px;">Yeah. See, there are some big problems with that argument.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79508" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 15.6px;"><br clear="none" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79509" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /></span></div>
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<div class="yiv0728779677y_msg_container" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79786" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
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<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79784" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79783" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: white;">
<div class="yiv0728779677yahoo_quoted" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79782" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79781" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
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<div class="yiv0728779677yqt2657796324" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79775" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1509313780293_12104" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79510" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
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<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79512" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79513" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79514" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79515" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79516" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79517" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79518" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79519" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79520" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79521" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79522" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79523" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79524" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79525" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<span id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79526" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 15.6px;">For starters: <b id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_80159" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">If everything has to have a cause</b>...then what caused God?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1509313780293_12104" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
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<span id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79543" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 15.6px;"><br clear="none" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79544" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /></span></div>
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<div class="yiv0728779677yahoo_quoted" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79804" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
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<div class="yiv0728779677yahoo_quoted" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79797" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79796" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
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<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79791" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div class="yiv0728779677yqt2657796324" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79790" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1509313780293_12104" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79545" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79546" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79547" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79548" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79549" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79550" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79551" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79552" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79553" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79554" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79555" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79556" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79557" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79558" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79559" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79560" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<span id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79561" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 15.6px;">And if God can somehow have always existed or come into being out of nothing...then why can't that be true of the universe? </span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
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</div>
</div>
</div>
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</div>
</blockquote>
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<div class="yiv0728779677yahoo_quoted" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79615" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79614" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
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<div dir="ltr" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1509313780293_12104" style="font-size: 13px;">
<div id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79545" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
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<div dir="ltr" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79559" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79563" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<br clear="none" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79564" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /></div>
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<div dir="ltr" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1509313780293_12104" style="font-size: 13px;">
<span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 15.6px;"><br clear="none" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1509313780293_12104" style="font-size: 13px;">
<span id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_79624" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 15.6px;"><b style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Answer: </b>The error lies in the bolded statements above. Theists<b style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><i id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_80330" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"> </i>don't </b>argue "Everything that exists has a cause". </span></div>
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<span id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_80980" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 15.6px;">Rather, our argument is this: <i id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_80187" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><b id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_80186" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">"Whatever begins to exist needs a cause". </b></i> </span></div>
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<img class="yiv0728779677img-overlay-selected" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_82836" src="https://image.slidesharecdn.com/class7-150525032856-lva1-app6892/95/class-7-does-absolute-truth-exist-a-basic-guide-to-christian-apologetics-15-638.jpg?cb=1432524684" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; border: 0px; max-height: 300px; max-width: 400px; overflow: auto; width: 400px;" /><span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 15.6px;"><br clear="none" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /></span></div>
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<span id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_81001" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 15.6px;">If something began, then we need an explanation for what caused its existence. (But if something is eternal, then logic tells us that it doesn't need a cause. And that's why we don't have to give an explanation for what caused God. God is eternal and therefore doesn't need a cause.)</span></div>
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<span id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_80188" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 15.6px;">Thus, if the universe began to exist, then common sense tells us it needs a cause. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 15.6px;">And that cause is God.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_81173" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 15.6px;">Some atheists may try to argue that the universe may have always existed--that is, it's eternal. However, the </span><span id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_80351" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 15.6px;">scientific community is almost unanimous in agreeing that the universe began to exist. The most accepted theory for how the universe began to exist is the<a class="yiv0728779677edited-link-editor yiv0728779677enhancr2_69cd6c94-939e-4185-db60-e89d767d21bf" href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/universe/origins-of-the-universe/" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_80582" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background: transparent; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank"> Big Bang</a>, which postulates that t</span><span id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_80378" style="color: #212125;">he universe is expanding and had a beginning in the finite past, about 14 billion years ago.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_81489" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #212125;">Not only is the science pretty firm on the universe beginning to exist (as opposed to always existing), philosophy and logic tells us that the universe cannot be eternal. If the universe is eternal, and the past is infinite, we could never traverse to the point of the present. That is, if there's an infinite number of days in the past, we can never get to today. As the 18th century Scottish Philosopher David Hume said: <i id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_81961" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">"An infinite number of real parts of time, passing in succession, and exhausted one after another, appears so evident a contradiction, that no man, one should think, whose judgment is not corrupted, instead of being improved, by the sciences, would ever be able to admit it." </i></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1509313780293_12104" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
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<span id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_81963" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #212125;">Finally, it should be pointed out that Theists have a incontrovertible argument when we point out: <i id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_83160" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">"Something" can't come from "nothing"</i>. The universe is "something", and it requires an explanation--it didn't just pop up, magically, out of nothing of its own power. In fact, atheist Richard Dawkins called it our trump card: <i id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_82731" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">“Even the last remaining trump card of the theologian, ‘Why is there something rather than nothing?,’ shrivels up before your eyes as you read these pages." </i> </span></div>
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<span id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_83519" style="color: #212125;">(Dawkins was writing an afterword for a book by a scientist named Lawrence Krauss called "A Universe from Nothing" in which Krauss claimed to have created "something" out of "nothing" in a laboratory setting. Krauss claims that he was able to recreate particles coming to exist out of nothing.)</span></div>
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<img class="yiv0728779677" id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_82563" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Gf5cmUSnL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_.jpg" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; border: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #212125;"><span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><br clear="none" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /></span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_83110" style="color: #212125;">Except, it turns out, that Krauss redefines "nothing" to be a low level quantum field of energy.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv0728779677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1511222721262_83158" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #212125;">Reminds me of the joke:</span></div>
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God was once approached by a scientist who said, “Listen God, we’ve decided we don’t need you anymore. These days we can clone people, transplant organs and do all sorts of things that used to be considered miraculous.”</div>
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God replied, “Don’t need me huh? How about we put your theory to the test. Why don’t we have a competition to see who can make a human being, say, a male human being.”</div>
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The scientist agrees, so God declares they should do it like he did in the good old days when he created Adam.</div>
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“Fine” says the scientist as he bends down to scoop up a handful of dirt.”</div>
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“Whoa!” says God, shaking his head in disapproval. “Not so fast. You get your own dirt.”</div>
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The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319525241110721507.post-24900969036750711622017-11-10T13:07:00.003-06:002017-11-10T13:07:24.582-06:00Faith is NOT "Believing Without Evidence"<div class="yiv8462641106yahoo_quoted" id="yiv8462641106yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510273404567_61368" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
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<big id="yiv8462641106yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1509313780293_12105" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">I just saw this on the internet:</big></div>
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<span id="yiv8462641106yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510273404567_64040" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">I believe something even though</span></div>
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<span id="yiv8462641106yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510273404567_64062" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">there is no evidence to support it.”</span></div>
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<a class="yiv8462641106edited-link-editor" href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/reasonadvocates/2015/08/29/religious-faith-is-belief-without-evidence/#ObjIyfKH14QEOIWe.99" id="yiv8462641106yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510273404567_63412" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #196ad4; font-size: medium; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">--Kirk Cameron</a></div>
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<span id="yiv8462641106yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510273404567_63262" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 15.6px;">And while I couldn't find any primary sources to confirm actor and creationist Kirk Cameron actually said this, (as opposed to someone falsely attributing this to him...), there are still a lot of Christians who do profess that faith is indeed "Believing Without Evidence".</span></div>
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<span id="yiv8462641106yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510273404567_62134" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 15.6px;">In fact, <a class="yiv8462641106edited-link-editor" href="https://www.facebook.com/BishopRobertBarron/videos/1533520986687023/" id="yiv8462641106yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510273404567_63194" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background: transparent; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">Bishop Robert Barron was invited to speak at Facebook Headquarters,</a> and relates a story about hearing Evangelical Ralph Reed of the Christian Coalition confirm on TV that, yes, he (Ralph Reed) believes "without evidence". </span></div>
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<span id="yiv8462641106yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510273404567_64729" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 15.6px;">Bishop Barron amusingly reports that he yelled at the TV "Nooooo!" and almost threw the remote at the screen. </span><span id="yiv8462641106yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510273404567_64400" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 15.6px;"> Bishop Barron wants to affirm that this is NOT faith, at least, not faith as Catholicism understands it.</span><span id="yiv8462641106yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510273404567_64080" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 15.6px;">. </span></div>
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<span id="yiv8462641106yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510273404567_63008" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 15.6px;">Credulity, gullibility, accepting any old nonsense, believing something in direct contrast to evidence...Bishop Barron says, "We are against that!"</span></div>
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<span id="yiv8462641106yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510273404567_64493" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 15.6px;">We take the evidence for God, including philosophical arguments (how can the universe begin to exist without a Creator?), and the evidence for Christianity, including the Gospels, the New Testament texts, the testimony of the first witnesses to Christ, the Sacred Tradition of the Apostles and their successors, our bishops, and examine, digest, and consider their rationality, reject anything that contradicts reason (there is <i style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">nothing</i>, incidentally, which Catholicism professes with is contrary to science, reason, logic).... and move forward towards growth in our Faith.</span></div>
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The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319525241110721507.post-53478287965295106752017-10-01T12:11:00.001-05:002017-10-01T12:11:23.140-05:00"Essentials of Christianity" and refuting the "But Catholics disagree too!"<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6983160997yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_138515" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
Thanks to the Protestant Reformation, Christianity has now grown into a behemoth of tens of thousands of differing Christian denominations. When one divorces himself from obedience to a central teaching authority, or magisterium, one opens himself up to being his own arbiter of what it means to be a Christian. <i id="yiv6983160997yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506218476199_49971" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">"I don't believe [A] even though that's what my church teaches"</i> leads to a separation from this particular body of beliefs...and one cannot then deny another fellow brother in Christ the right to say,<i id="yiv6983160997yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506218476199_49910" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"> "Yeah, well I don't believe [B] even though you believe that's what is required to be a good Christian".</i></div>
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It's just what the devil ordered, IMHO. Chaos and confusion regarding what it means to be a Christian. Separation and disunity on doctrine. Is baptism required for salvation? Is Saturday the Lord's Day? Can we lose our salvation? Are we going to be Raptured? Is God a Trinity? </div>
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Are the above "essential" to being a Christian? Since the Bible doesn't tell us what's an "essential" doctrine, it depends upon which Christian you ask.</div>
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It will be posited, however, that Catholicism is not immune to these divergent theological opinions also. The <i id="yiv6983160997yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506218476199_50139" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">"Tu Quoque"</i> ("but you do it, too!) argument is presented. </div>
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And they are correct: there is indeed disagreement among Catholic circles as well. Should girls be permitted to be altar servers? How can All Saints Day be a Holy Day of Obligation in one diocese but not in another diocese? (This is based on the bishop's discretion). Why do some diocese get a dispensation during Lent for St. Patrick's Day to eat meat? (Also based on the local ordinary's discernment). Which is better--that Latin Mass or Mass in the vernacular?</div>
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Apologist Jimmy Akin <a class="yiv6983160997edited-link-editor yiv6983160997enhancr2_bf210c7c-d9b6-6c17-0e11-305473d2fc4c" href="https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/disunity-on-essentials" id="yiv6983160997yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1506218476199_50806" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">gives a response</a>: "A number of points may be made: First, Catholicism has a functioning magisterium that can decide that these matters are not essential differences. Second, the relevant schools adhere to the teachings of the magisterium and, if their views were reprobated, would accept the results (or cease to be faithful Catholics). Third, the differences between Catholic schools of thought have nowhere near the magnitude of the difference among Protestant schools. Compared to the differences among Protestant groups, differences among orthodox Catholic groups are trivial. Finally, the fact that the Catholic Church has a magisterium means that there can be—and on the most important theological matters there is—an official Catholic position. There is no parallel standard in Protestant circles that can speak for Protestantism."</div>
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And a Protestant may also offer this objection: you all have your own problems in your Catholic churches. Look at all the Catholics who disagree with your Church on matters like abortion, homosexuality, women's ordination. </div>
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We respond: this is not an equivalent comparison. Catholics who disagree with Catholic teaching are being "bad" Catholics. However, Protestants, when they diverge from their own church's doctrines, are simply being "good" Protestants...following their own personal, private interpretations of the Word of God, as has been permitted and celebrated by Protestantism since the Protestant Reformation.</div>
The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319525241110721507.post-15403647539337831072017-09-14T10:23:00.001-05:002017-09-14T10:23:25.508-05:00Sola Scriptura and the "Essentials" of Christianity<div id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_139812" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
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<b id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_139836" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #8000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.33px; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_139837" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: medium;"><span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_139838" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 13.5pt;"> and with all your MIND”</span></span></b><span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_139839" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #8000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_139840" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_139841" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: x-small;">--Matt <span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_139842" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_139843" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; border-bottom: 2px dotted rgb(54, 99, 136); cursor: pointer;"><span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_139844" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_139845" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_139846" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_139847" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_139848" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_139849" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-bottom: 2px dotted rgb(54, 99, 136); cursor: pointer;"><span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_139850" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_139851" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_139852" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_139853" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_139854" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_139855" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_139856" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_139857" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">22:37</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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The belief that the Bible Alone is the sole rule of faith, or Sola Scriptura (SS), has been the foundation for Protestantism for 500 years. Unfortunately, SS, as well as the idea that there is no need for a central teaching authority, or Magisterium, has led to the splintering of Christianity into tens of thousands of different denominations. </div>
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<i style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Tens of thousands.</i> That's simply crazy. Clearly, SS is the recipe for chaos and confusion. It does NOT lead to unity in doctrine. Each of these denominations claims that their interpretation of Scripture is the correct one, teaching different, and often contrary, views of what the Bible teaches.</div>
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(Here is a <a class="yiv6504289180edited-link-editor" href="http://www.biblicalcatholic.com/DENOMS.php" id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_140294" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">list of just 5000 denominations,</a> and this list does not include independent churches that are popping up, on every street corner in every city, almost daily, like this: </div>
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Some Christians may argue that it doesn't matter that there are thousands upon thousands of different denominations because these denominations agree on the "essentials". As long as there is conformity to these "essentials", the other differences in doctrines are extraneous or secondary.</div>
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However, if you ask a SS Christian what these "essentials" are, you'll get different answers. </div>
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Here's <a class="yiv6504289180edited-link-editor" href="https://www.str.org/articles/essential-christian-doctrines#.WbqL78iGPIU" id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_142408" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">one list</a> I saw of "essentials" Christians must believe:</div>
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1) belief in One God</div>
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2) the divinity of Christ</div>
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3) the resurrection of Christ</div>
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4) the fall of man</div>
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5) salvation by grace through faith</div>
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Note that this does not include the Virgin Birth, the Trinity, that Scripture is the Word of God, the existence of heaven, hell, the forgiveness of sins, the command to proclaim the gospel, the obligation to worship God on Sunday, the immortality of the soul...</div>
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Here's <a class="yiv6504289180edited-link-editor" href="https://www.gotquestions.org/essentials-Christian-faith.html" id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_142966" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">another list</a> of someone else's opinion about what's "essential" for Christianity. Note that there are some overlaps, but also some new "essentials" and some missing "essentials".</div>
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And here's yet <a class="yiv6504289180edited-link-editor" href="https://www.theopedia.com/essential-doctrines" id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_143386" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">another list</a> of Christian "essentials".</div>
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And we should remark on this great irony: the SS Christians will get this list of "essentials" from their religious tradition...NOT from the Bible.</div>
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<b id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_143796" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">For the Bible does not offer a list of what are "essential" beliefs and what are secondary.</b></div>
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This diverse list of "essentials", <i id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_145081" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">in which SS Christians cannot even agree upon</i>, is testimony to the idea the Sola Scriptura is untenable. It simply cannot work. It does not work. To the degree of thousands upon thousands of differing ideas about what Jesus meant when he taught Bible Verses [A, B and C].</div>
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Now, thanks to SS, we have a multitude of different denominations, with a multitude of permutations of these doctrinal differences:</div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146835" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Abortion</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146838" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Baptism--by sprinkling? Immersion? Infant? Adult? Sacrament? Ordinance? In Jesus’ name only? </span></div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146841" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Church leadership vs no leadership</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146844" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Death/Soul Sleep</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146847" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Divorce and remarriage</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146850" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Drinking permitted?</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146853" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Female pastors</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146856" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Health and wealth gospel</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146859" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Hell, or no hell</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146862" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Homosexuality</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146865" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">How many sacraments are there? </span></div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146868" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Is there such a thing as sacraments?</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146871" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Is God‘s Holy Name Jehovah</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146874" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Lord’s day on Saturday or Sunday</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146877" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Music or no music (Singing or no singing)</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146880" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Once saved, always saved?</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146883" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Ordination</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146886" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Predestination</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146889" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Rapture</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146892" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Sola scriptura/private interpretation</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146895" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Sunday worship obligatory?</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146898" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The Eucharist </span></div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146901" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Tongues (some believe others are not saved if they don't speak in tongues)</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146904" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Trinity vs. Unitarianism</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146907" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">What's a sin, what is not a sin</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_146910" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Wine vs grape juice at the Lord's Supper</span></div>
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It is testimony to the fact that we, with our darkened intellects, need a central authority--that is, the Magisterium of the Catholic Church--to provide light and direction as we journey towards Him. </div>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_144709" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We need a Church that is the guardian and authentic interpreter of the Word of God, so when there are disagreements about the Scriptures (and there most certainly will be, for the Scriptures themselves say that there are things that are "hard to understand")</span></div>
<blockquote id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_144712" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #4e2800; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 1em;">
<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_144713" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_144714" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: red;">In them there are some things <b id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_144715" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">hard to understand</b> that the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, just as they do the other scriptures. --2 Peter 3:16</span></span></blockquote>
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<span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_144716" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_144719" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;"></span><span id="yiv6504289180yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1505344920642_144720" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">we will have the assurance that we will be guided by Christ himself, through His Body, the Church, to the correct meaning.</span></span></div>
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"Me and My Bible Alone" just doesn't work.</div>
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NEXT WEEK: addressing the <i style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">"Tu Quoque"</i>--that is, the "But you do it, too" rebuttal. "Catholics disagree on things, too!"</div>
The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319525241110721507.post-10400917082707803972017-09-03T09:35:00.005-05:002017-09-03T09:35:54.656-05:00Why Don't Catholics think the Bible is the sole rule of faith<div id="yiv1460135449" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
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<b id="yiv1460135449yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1502320371004_245273" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Question:</b> Why don't Catholics think the Bible is the sole rule of faith?</div>
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<b id="yiv1460135449yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1502320371004_245271" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Short Answer:</b> Because the Bible never says that it's the sole rule of faith. </div>
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<b id="yiv1460135449yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1502320371004_245237" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Longer Answer: </b> It's a self-refuting doctrine to claim that the Bible is to be used as the sole source of doctrine. Whenever we are approached by a non-Catholic Christian with this question, we should ask, "Where does the Bible claim to be the sole rule of faith?"</div>
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Answer: no where. However, typically what is offered by the non-Catholic is 2 Timothy 3:16: <span id="yiv1460135449yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1502320371004_246001" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #9d1811;"> "All Scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction and for training in righteousness".</span></div>
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Catholics give a hearty AMEN! to 2 Timothy 3:16...however, saying that all Scripture is inspired<b id="yiv1460135449yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1502320371004_246239" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><i id="yiv1460135449yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1502320371004_246238" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"> isn't the same thing</i></b> as saying that the Bible is the sole rule of faith. What 2 Timothy 3:16 means is: if it's in the Bible, we know that it comes from God.</div>
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However, non-Catholic Christians still have the onus of providing a Bible verse that says that the Bible is all we need to follow Christ.</div>
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Often, they will respond with, "Well, then you Catholics must not view the Bible as the Word of God!"</div>
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Nothing could be further from the truth. Catholics revere the Bible. As <a class="yiv1460135449edited-link-editor" href="http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p1s1c2a3.htm" id="yiv1460135449yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1502320371004_252855" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background: transparent; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">the Catechism states:</a></div>
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For this reason, the Church has always venerated the Scriptures as she venerates the Lord's Body. She never ceases to present to the faithful the bread of life, taken from the one table of God's Word and Christ's Body.</div>
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In Sacred Scripture, the Church constantly finds her nourishment and her strength, for she welcomes it not as a human word, "but as what it really is, the word of God". "In the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet his children, and talks with them."</div>
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We proclaim that the Word of God is Jesus Christ Himself, and that he was revealed his Word through 2 channels: Scripture and Tradition. Sacred Scripture is the written Word, and Sacred Tradition is that which was orally transmitted, from Christ, through His Apostles, to the Catholic Church. (<b style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Sacred Tradition</b> is not to be confused with <b id="yiv1460135449yui_3_16_0_1_1504304499999_234046" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">cultural traditions, </b>or customs<b style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">.</b> <span id="yiv1460135449yui_3_16_0_1_1504304499999_234048" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><b style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"> </b>Sacred Tradition</span><b style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"> </b>has nothing to do with "how we customarily did things--it's just our tradition to do it that way".)</div>
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One example of Sacred Tradition is the 27 book canon of the New Testament. That is, the table of contents. No Christian can know what books belong in the Bible, except through submitting to the authority of the Catholic Church. There were<a class="yiv1460135449edited-link-editor" href="http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/" id="yiv1460135449yui_3_16_0_1_1504304499999_218395" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background: transparent; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank"> over 100 different early Christian texts</a> which the early Church Fathers assessed and evaluated, and of those, 27 books were discerned to be the inspired Word of God. </div>
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That is, the Bible didn't tell us what belongs in the Bible. All Christians--even those who claim to be Sola Scriptura (Bible Alone) advocates--unwittingly defer to Sacred Tradition when it comes to knowing what's actually an inspired text.</div>
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Incidentally, when in dialogue with Christians who object to the Catholic view of Sacred Tradition and who hold a Sola Scriptura point of view, it might be helpful to show them that they do indeed believe some things NOT found in the Bible, and thus are contradicting their Sola Scriptura paradigm.</div>
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Most Christians believe these things that are not found in the Bible:</div>
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-God's Revelation ended with the death of the last apostle. Not in the Bible, but believed by a majority of Protestants.</div>
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-The canon of Scripture is closed. Christians believe that there are no further books that may be considered inspired. This is something known by Tradition, but not found in the Bible.</div>
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-And, (again, referencing the table of contents of Scripture)--that the Gospel of Mark, for example, is the Word of God. For the Bible does not say that the Gospel of Mark is inspired. (And even if an ancient text did claim inspiration, does claiming to be inspired make it so? Nope. The ONLY way that any Christian knows that the Gospel of Mark is God-breathed is because the Catholic Church told them it is.)</div>
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Incidentally, Bible Alone Christians also have a lot of practices that aren't found in the Bible--having a steeple on their building, folding their hands in prayer, Wednesday evening Bible studies, altar calls...so if they're going to be consistent, they should not object to Catholic practices which also aren't found in the Bible, such as praying the Rosary, devotions to particular saints, blessing ourselves with holy water.</div>
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The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319525241110721507.post-53237409644835074442017-08-27T08:40:00.003-05:002017-08-27T08:40:58.512-05:00Where is the Pope in the Bible?<div class="yiv6318702044yahoo_quoted" id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_439221" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
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<span id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1502320371004_294938" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-weight: bold;">Question: Where is the Pope in the Bible?</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1502320371004_294958" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1502320371004_294960" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-weight: bold;">Answer</span>: This question presupposes that everything we believe as Christians has to be found in the Bible....which is something that the Bible never declares.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_439696" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Our faith/doctrines/teachings don't come from a book, no matter how holy.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_439698" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Our faith comes from Christ, through His Apostles, to the Church. Catholicism was whole and entire* before a single word of the New Testament was ever put to writ. The Bible reflects what was already proclaimed by the Apostles and their successors, but is not the source of our faith.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_439936" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">And this Sunday's readings do indeed reflect the teachings that Jesus founded His Church on Peter and Peter was given authority over the entirety of the Body of Christ. That is, this Sunday's readings reflect the concept of the papacy.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_440183" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">In the first reading we see the keys to the palace being given to Eliakim, who is the king's prime minister: </span></div>
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<span id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_440271" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #333333;">I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim's shoulder;</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">when he opens, no one shall shut</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">when he shuts, no one shall open.--Isaiah 22</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_441016" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">Being given the keys was a hallmark of authority. </span><span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">When the king is away, Eliakim is in charge.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_440581" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_440580" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_440998" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">And in the Gospel we see the keys to the kingdom being given to Peter</span><span id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_443166" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">:</span></span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_440577" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #333333;">I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. </span></div>
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<span id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_440579" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #333333;">Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;--Matt 16</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_440867" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When the King is away, Peter is in charge. </span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thus, what Peter "binds", that is, declares authoritatively that his flock is obligated to do, heaven "binds" as well. And what Peter "looses", is "loosed" in heaven. It is a reflection of the authority of Peter to teach infallibly on matters of faith and morals.</span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_443828" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">From Scott Hahn:</span></div>
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<blockquote id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_443722" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">
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<span id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_443589" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">"When Jesus gives to Peter the keys of the kingdom, Peter is receiving the Prime Minister's office, which means dynastic authority from the Son of David, Jesus, the King of Israel, but also an office where there will be dynastic succession. When I discovered that, it was like the blinders fell off. Within a few weeks I had gotten together with the leading Protestant theologians in the world, one of the most reputable anti- Catholic Protestant theologians and spent ten hours with him and then in a Mercedes we drove two hours and I presented this case, and his only comment was, "That's clever." But he said, "You don't have to follow the Pope because of that." I said, "Why not?" And he said, "Well, I'm going to have to think about it." He said, "I've never heard that argument before." And I said, "It' s one of the basic arguments that Cajeton used against the Protestants in the 16th Century and Cajeton was one of the most well-known defenders of the Catholic faith and you've never heard of him before?" I said, "I had never heard of it before until I discovered it on my own and then found it in all these other people." And he said, "That's clever." Clever, perhaps. True, definitely; enlightening, illuminating, very interesting....</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_443594" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The role of Peter as steward of the kingdom is further explained as being the exercise of administrative authority as was the case of the Old Testament chamberlain who held the keys."</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_443596" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br clear="none" id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_443597" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /></span></div>
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<span id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_443599" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Now, what he means there is that nowhere else, when other Apostles are exercising Church authority are the keys ever mentioned. In Matthew 18, the Apostles get the power to bind and loose, like Peter got in Matthew 16, but with absolutely no mention of the keys. That fits perfectly into this model because in the king's cabinet, all the ministers can bind and loose, but the Prime Minister who holds the keys can bind what they have loosed or loose what they have bound. He has, in a sense, the final say. He has, in himself, the authority of the court of final appeal and even Protestants can see this.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_443601" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br clear="none" id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_443602" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /></span></div>
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<span id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_443604" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">In fact, I found this quotation in Martin Luther from 1530, years after he had left the Church, "Why are you searching heavenward in search of my keys? Do you not understand, Jesus said, 'I gave them to Peter. They are indeed the keys of heaven, but they are not found in heaven for I left them on earth.'" This is Jesus talking, "'Peter's mouth is my mouth, his tongue is my key case, his keys are my keys. They are an office.'" Luther even saw it, "'They are a power, a command given by God through Christ to all of Christendom for the retaining and remitting of the sins of men.'" The only thing that Luther won't admit is that there was succession after Peter died, which is exactly what the keys denote, given their Old Testament." <a class="yiv6318702044enhancr2_6349f140-18c3-a59e-43f8-a3a313f7c7fb" href="http://www.catholic-pages.com/pope/hahn.asp" id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_443699" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">Dr Scott Hahn on the Papacy | Catholic-Pages.com</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span id="yiv6318702044yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1503354271343_443745" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Until the King returns, the one in authority is holder of the Keys!</span><span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;"><br clear="none" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /></span></span></div>
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*Although Catholicism was whole and entire from the moment the Apostles received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, it is true that our understanding of this kerygma developed. Doctrinal development, increased clarity of the teachings, further explication of what has been revealed is ongoing.</div>
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The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319525241110721507.post-6642102610690831042017-07-11T09:56:00.009-05:002022-01-15T20:11:11.223-06:00The Bible, Fundamentalists and Atheists<div id="yiv4551385930yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499780939562_7400" style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif;">
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Clearly this is a case of a teenage atheist having fun with a meme generator who has never really been taught how to read the Bible.</div>
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Firstly, NO ONE should be reading ANY text in the way that a programmed robot does. That's just absurd. We read everything with a discerning eye, and the Bible is no exception. </div>
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Secondly, if we're going to program a robot to do exactly what the Bible says, why not make a meme that uses these verses:</div>
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"Honor your Mother and Father"--Authorization Code Deuteronomy 5:16</div>
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"You shall not wrong any widow or orphan"--Authorization Code Exodus 22:21</div>
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"I would give my bread to the hungry and clothing to the naked"--Authorization Code Tobit 1:17</div>
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"Love your neighbor as yourself"--Authorization Code Matthew 19:19</div>
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Thirdly, Catholicism does not get its moral code from the Bible. Our moral code comes from Jesus, through His Body, the Church. We do not glean our doctrines from a harrowed and fundamentalist reading of a Book, no matter how holy.</div>
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"The Church does not sit down and derive the dogma from the tortured reading of a few isolated texts of Scripture. Rather, it places the Scripture in the context of the Tradition handed down by the apostles and the interpretive office of the bishops they appointed."—<a href="https://markpshea.com/archive_sheavings/what-is-sacred-tradition/" id="yiv4551385930yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499780939562_7884" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background: transparent; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding-inline-start: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">Mark Shea--"What is Sacred Tradition"</a></div>
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I have noticed an amusing and ironic similarity between atheists and fundamentalists: both use a very literalist and tortured reading of a text in order to come to an interpretation of what this text means. That is, when both Christian fundamentalists and atheists read Genesis, they both read it as if it were a scientific treatise on creation. Fundamentalists <i id="yiv4551385930yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499780939562_7889" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px;">accept</i> this as science, atheists <i id="yiv4551385930yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499780939562_7890" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px;">reject</i> it. But <i id="yiv4551385930yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499780939562_7891" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px;">both</i> think that Genesis should be read as a historical, scientific text.</div>
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Also fundamentalists and atheists alike profess that faith and reason are opposed to each other. Fundamentalists and atheists create a weird false dichotomy: choose ONE. EITHER have faith OR use your brain. Choose to blindly believe OR follow science and your intellect. Catholicism however professes that faith and reason are <i id="yiv4551385930yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499780939562_7895" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px;">"2 wings upon which the human spirit rises to contemplate the truth"</i><a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_14091998_fides-et-ratio.html" id="yiv4551385930yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499780939562_7896" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding-inline-start: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">--Pope St. John Paul II--"Fides et Ratio"</a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13px;">A wry but astute observation that was coined by Mark Shea: </span><span style="font-size: large;"><b id="yiv4551385930yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499780939562_12505" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv4551385930yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499780939562_12504" style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><span id="yiv4551385930yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499780939562_12544" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: xx-small; padding-inline-start: 0px;">"Scratch an atheist, find a fundamentalist" </span></b><span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: xx-small; padding-inline-start: 0px;"></span><span style="font-size: 13px;">i</span></span><span style="font-size: 13px;">s certainly applicable to the above meme. "Both Christian fundamentalists and Atheist fundamentalists have in common a flat-footed and simplistic approach to questions of faith, science, reason, and biblical interpretation".</span></div>
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Would that everyone who reads the Bible were able to read it in the way it was meant to be read: through the lens of Sacred Tradition. Vatican II's Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, <a href="http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html" id="yiv4551385930yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499780939562_20907" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding-inline-start: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank"><i id="yiv4551385930yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499780939562_20910" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px;">Dei Verbum</i></a>, outlines how we are to read Scripture:</div>
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1. Be especially attentive “to the content and unity of the whole Scripture”;</div>
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2. Read the Scripture within “the living tradition of the whole Church”;</div>
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3. Be attentive to the analogy of faith.</div>
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Taking isolated texts, as the teenage meme-creator has done "is sort of like looking at a goldfish and seeing only a circulatory system, an excretory system, a pair of gills, a pair of eyes, some randomly distributed fins, a bunch of scales, a nervous system, and various connective tissues, all of which just happen to be crammed into a goldfish-shaped space—and then spending all your time looking for “junk DNA” in the goldfish cells while steadfastly ignoring the swimming, living fish."<a class="yiv4551385930edited-link-editor yiv4551385930enhancr2_4c693104-2f26-9533-c864-33096e0e6a6a" href="http://strangenotions.com/tools-for-thinking-sensibly-about-scripture/" id="yiv4551385930yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499780939562_13057" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background: transparent; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding-inline-start: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">--"Tools for Thinking Sensibly About Scripture"</a></div>
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<span id="yiv4551385930yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499780939562_19688" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px;"></span><br />
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<span id="yiv4551385930yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499780939562_19690" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px;"><b id="yiv4551385930yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499780939562_19691" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px;"><i id="yiv4551385930yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499780939562_19692" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv4551385930yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499780939562_19693" style="color: #8000ff; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.7px;">"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect</span></i></b></span><span id="yiv4551385930yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499780939562_19694" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv4551385930yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499780939562_19695" style="color: #8000ff; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">" - 1 Peter 3:15</span></span></div>
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The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319525241110721507.post-30440984858589498222017-07-06T09:16:00.000-05:002017-07-06T09:16:46.450-05:00"Why Our Children Don't Think There Are Moral Facts"<div id="yiv1542496680" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
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<b id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_110740" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #8000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><span id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_110741" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: medium;"><span id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_110742" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 13.5pt;"> and with all your MIND”</span></span></b><span id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_110743" style="color: #8000ff; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><span id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_110744" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_110745" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: x-small;">--Matt <span id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_110746" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_110747" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; border-bottom: 2px dotted rgb(54, 99, 136); cursor: pointer;"><span id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_110748" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_110749" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_110750" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_110751" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_110752" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_110753" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background: none 0% 0% repeat scroll transparent; border-bottom: 2px dotted rgb(54, 99, 136); cursor: pointer;"><span id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_110754" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_110755" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_110756" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_110757" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_110758" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_110759" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_110760" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_110761" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">22:37</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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A thought-provoking question we can ask (older) kids who have ostensibly learned the difference between "fact" and "opinion" is this: </div>
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Is this a FACT or OPINION: Hitler was wrong to kill 6 million Jews.</div>
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Another one is:</div>
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Is it a FACT or OPINION: It's dishonest to cheat on a test.</div>
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And: </div>
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Is it a FACT or OPINION: Selling marijuana to children is a bad thing to do.</div>
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The answer to all of the above is that those are FACTS. </div>
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Not opinions. </div>
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Just like it's not an opinion to say "Vatican City is in Rome"--that is a geographical FACT, it's also not an opinion to say "Rape is wrong". That's a moral FACT. </div>
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A <a class="yiv1542496680edited-link-editor" href="https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/02/why-our-children-dont-think-there-are-moral-facts/?_r=0" id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499052458362_6245" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background: transparent; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank"> New York Times blog titled, "Why Our Children Don't Think There Are Moral Facts"</a> gave this startling statement: philosophy professors note that "the overwhelming majority of college freshmen in their classrooms view moral claims as mere opinions that are not true or are true only relative to a culture."</div>
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That is, most of our children entering college would answer that the above are OPINIONS.</div>
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The author wrote this article after visiting his son's grade school and seeing a sign in the classroom bulletin board discussing the difference between FACTS and OPINIONS. After investigating a bit more, he found that the teacher (who represents the prevailing norm apparently in education) had classified all statements that had value judgements (such as "right" "wrong" "good" or "bad") as OPINIONS.</div>
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That is, she labeled these as OPINIONS:</div>
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-copying homework is wrong</div>
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-cursing in school is inappropriate behavior.</div>
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-all men are created equal</div>
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OMG!</div>
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It's just an <i id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499052458362_16752" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">opinion</i> that all men are created equal? Really? It's not objectively true?</div>
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The explanation given was that "each of these claims is a value claim and value claims are not facts."</div>
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And, by implication, if there are no moral facts, then there is no moral truth.</div>
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However, as Catholics we understand and embrace the idea that <b id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499052458362_17382" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">there is moral truth.</b> Objective moral truth exists. </div>
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(Objective = true regardless of one's emotions, personal biases or opinions on the matter).</div>
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That is, some* things are wrong, whether someone believes them to be wrong or not. Not based on how one feels. Not based on what the prevailing cultural norm dictates. Not based on what society permits. </div>
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But objectively so.</div>
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So even if someone says "I think it's perfectly fine to cheat on a test"....she is wrong about this moral fact. </div>
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We ought to agree with the author of the NYTimes article who asserts: <i id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499052458362_20558" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">"Facts are things that are true. Opinions are things we believe. Some of our beliefs are true. Others are not. Some of our beliefs are backed by evidence. Others are not. Value claims are like any other claims: either true or false, evidenced or not. The hard work lies not in recognizing that at least some moral claims are true but in carefully thinking through our evidence for which of the many competing moral claims is correct. That’s a hard thing to do. But we can’t sidestep the responsibilities that come with being human just because it’s hard.</i></div>
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<i id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499052458362_20560" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">That would be wrong."</i></div>
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*some things are objectively wrong does not translate to <b id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499052458362_22727" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><i id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499052458362_22726" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">"every action</i></b> what we evaluate is objectively wrong and not subject to how one feels". <i id="yiv1542496680yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499052458362_23146" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Some</i> things can be morally subjective. For example, regarding <a class="yiv1542496680edited-link-editor" href="https://www.liveaction.org/media/meet-lila-rose/" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background: transparent; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">Lila Rose</a>: good folks can disagree about whether going undercover to Planned Parenthood constitutes a moral means to expose the evils of abortion or whether "lying for Jesus" is NOT a legitimate prolife method.</div>
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The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319525241110721507.post-39040935704160046252017-05-08T07:30:00.001-05:002017-05-08T07:30:59.829-05:00I went to a Catholic Mass while on vacation and they had a female priest!<div id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_6539" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
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<span id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493604622276_59354" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_8994" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">There is a quote by St. Augustine that says “<i id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_7172" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">And so, lastly, does the very name of 'Catholic', which, not without reason, amid so many heresies, the Church has thus retained; so that,<b id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_7628" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"> though all heretics wish to be called Catholics, </b>yet when a stranger asks where the Catholic Church meets, no heretic will venture to point to his own chapel or house.”</i></span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_7029" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_8997" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Except, it seems that there are some churches which have indeed the audacity to claim for themselves the name "Catholic", when they have actually embraced not-a-few heresies*.</span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_7954" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another example is the American National Catholic Church, which has parishes in Connecticut, Florida, New Mexico and New Jersey.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_17078" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And then there's the Old Catholic Church, the Independent Catholic Church, the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church, the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch at Santa Fe, and a whole slew of others.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_16717" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_16349" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">*NB: While I do assert that these churches have embraced heresies, I am not being so bold as to call these folks <i id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_17691" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">heretics</i>. That's above my paygrade. </span><img alt="*:) happy" class="yiv8490160109yahoo-ignore-inline-image" src="https://s.yimg.com/ok/u/assets/img/emoticons/emo1.gif" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; border: 0px;" title="*:) happy" /> <span id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_16599" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"> I leave that to the Church to declare someone to be a heretic.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_8245" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">These are churches which have usurped the name of the Catholic Church, and many unsuspecting Catholics have participated in liturgies here unwittingly. </span></div>
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<span id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_8339" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">These "independent" Catholic churches cheerfully profess that they're not subject to the Roman pontiff. They have said, "Thanks, but no thanks, we're fine on our own without a pope and it's perfectly acceptable to do that and still be Catholic!"</span></div>
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<span id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_8543" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, as Catholic apologist Dave Armstrong states: it's absurd to think of a group of Catholics being subject to the Pope, and then another subgroup of "Catholics" who are not subject to the Roman pontiff.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_9239" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you want to claim the name "Catholic" for your church, you ought to have some truth-in-advertising and profess from the pulpit <b id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_15490" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">all</b> that the One Apostolic Holy Catholic Church professes. The decent thing for these churches to do would be to change their name to: Episcopalian. Or Protestant. Or anything other Christian denomination which has its roots in Catholicism, and then divorced itself from the Root. </span></div>
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<span id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_15073" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">These "Catholic" churches have taken all the hard teachings of Christ, re-conformed them to something more palatable, something more in conformity with their own personal views ("I like it when everyone gets to go to communion, even if you're not in communion with my church!" "I don't like it when women can't be priests!" "God wouldn't do [fill in the blank], and it's just coincidence that I don't like it when we have to do [fill in the blank]")</span></div>
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<span id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_15724" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yet, as Pastor Tim Keller states, "If your god never disagrees with you, you may be worshipping an idealized version of yourself".</span></div>
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<span id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_124259" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We all should be part of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, despite our own views on particular issues, without leaving to find a church that agrees with our sensibilities. And, like a math student who struggles to get to the correct answer her professor gives, re-configure, adjust and conform our views so it agrees with the Professor.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_47688" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, if you were on vacation and went to Mass at a local Catholic church but found something wonky there, it most likely wasn't an actual Catholic church. </span></div>
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<span id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_124596" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However! Just to complicate things a wee bit...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_124689" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">There are also some Catholic Churches, <b id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_125769" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><i id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_125768" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">fully in union with the Holy Father,</i></b> which are legitimately Catholic, even if they're not ROMAN Catholic.</span> </span></div>
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The Catholic Church consists of several major rites (of which the Roman, or the Latin rite, is the largest), and a multitude of smaller "churches". </div>
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<img alt="catholic rites" class="yiv8490160109" id="yiv8490160109yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1493691721051_125047" src="http://nativityukr.org/who_we_are/who_we_are_graphics/catholic_rites2.gif" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; border: 0px; max-height: 290px; max-width: 400px; overflow: auto; width: 389.545px;" /></div>
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All of us can legitimately attend Mass at any of these parishes. There may be some variance in customs or traditions (small "t" tradition, not Sacred Tradition), but their doctrines do not deviate from the faith, given once for all, to the Church.</div>
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And if they do something different than we normally see at our Roman Catholic liturgies, it is not a wonky thing, but rather just another way to give praise and worship to the Lord.</div>
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The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319525241110721507.post-89947777501699701022017-04-30T09:28:00.001-05:002017-04-30T09:30:01.987-05:00Was the Trinity destroyed for 3 days at Jesus' crucifixion?<div class="yiv3953590326yqt6925098587" id="yiv3953590326yqtfd26092" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
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<span id="yiv3953590326yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_111028" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;"> He is Risen, indeed!</span></div>
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<b style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Question:</b> Christians proclaim that your God is a Trinity. Yet Christians also claim that Jesus was God, and he DIED! So for 3 days, what happened to this Trinity? Was your Trinity destroyed for 3 days until Jesus was resurrected? Your Triune God ceased to exist for 3 days? </div>
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<b style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Response:</b> Death is not the same thing as "ceasing to exist". Death is not an annihilation. All death is is a separation of body and soul. Jesus, as a man, died on Good Friday--his soul separated from his body for 3 days.</div>
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But that's NOT the same thing as saying there was no Trinity for 3 days.</div>
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Jesus, the Eternal Logos, existed before the Incarnation, continued to exist after his death, in the Trinity.</div>
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The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319525241110721507.post-8368605699667746522017-04-21T08:12:00.002-05:002017-04-21T08:12:28.586-05:00Resurrection skeptics and "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence"<div id="yiv8425605235" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_111028" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;"> He is Risen, indeed!</span></div>
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<span id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_65577" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">Except, there are some folks, especially now that they have the very convenient platform of social media, who proclaim their skepticism at the idea of Jesus rising from the dead. </span></div>
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<span id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_65579" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">Their rejection is summed up here:</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;"><img alt="Image result for carl sagan extraordinary claims" 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" 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<span id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_65792" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">And here:</span></div>
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<img alt="Image result for hitchens extraordinary claims" class="yiv8425605235" data-id="469f8e08-c5b5-692e-2a7c-9607e374d275" id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_65798" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/d3/2e/b6/d32eb68fa827b8427dc7afdfb0f6e5c5.jpg" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; border: none; cursor: pointer !important; max-height: 188px; max-width: 400px; width: 374.5px;" /><span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;"><br clear="none" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /></span></div>
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<span id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_65571" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">That is, "We're not going to believe that extraordinary claim that your Jesus rose from the dead until you provide us with some really, really, amazing, extraordinary evidence. That's only fair, right?"</span></div>
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<span id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_81357" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;"><span id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_81356" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">However, in a rather delicious irony, it turns out that this oft-repeated doctrine "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" is actually not true. Instead it's <span id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_65720" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_65719" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">a <b id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_111454" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-style: italic;">statement of faith*-</b></span></span>-an atheist heard another atheist say it, who heard another atheist say it, but no one ever stopped to consider the evidence for this statement.</span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_65675" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">This is what is the correct formulation: "Extraordinary claims require <b id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_74559" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><i id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_74558" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">sufficient</i></b> evidence".</span></div>
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<span id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_65936" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">All that is required to believe an extraordinary claim is that there is<i id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_75158" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"> enough </i>evidence to support that claim.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_75057" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">We know this from our own experience.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_65923" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">Let's take some examples of extraordinary events: </span></div>
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<span id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_66042" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;"><a class="yiv8425605235enhancr2_0f44af7b-8ec8-2040-b521-9fc4ad42df3f edited-link-editor" href="https://www.rt.com/news/miracle-escape-highway-truck-325/" id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_66041" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background: transparent; color: blue; cursor: text !important; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">Driver’s miracle escape on snow-bound Russian road (VIDEO)</a></span></div>
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<a class="yiv8425605235enhancr2_2bfe898c-707f-7253-d020-de231a6d4301 yiv8425605235edited-link-editor" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/viral-video/12054724/The-best-near-miss-moments-caught-on-camera.html" id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_74273" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background: transparent; color: blue; cursor: text !important; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_94242" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">The best near-miss moments caught on camera</span></a></div>
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<span id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_74735" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">All of these folks experienced something extraordinary, and we believe them because we've seen the video. And a video is not, by any means, any kind of extraordinary evidence. All it is is sufficient proof that the person is telling the truth.</span></div>
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(If a skeptic responds to the above by saying, "You offered videos of astonishing events, near misses, all caught on video. Well, I'll believe in the resurrection if you can offer a video of the event!"...we can respond by telling the skeptic that he's missing the point. The point of the examples caught on video was to demonstrate that ordinary means can provide proof of very out-of-the-ordinary events.)</div>
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<span id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_82392" style="font-size: small;">Christian apologist/philosopher William Lane Craig presents a beautiful and pithy refutation in a short video here: </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HgRWvqf-wM" id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_82393" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="color: blue; cursor: text; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">Don't Extraordinary Claims Need Extraordinary Evidence?</a><span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: x-small;"><br clear="none" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /></span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_74799" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">And, in fact, sometimes, even for extraordinary claims,<b id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_95408" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"> no proof is required</b>. All that is required is faith* and belief in the testimony of someone. For example, if your loved one came home and related some really, really bizarre event had happened to her, most of us would believe her<i id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_81816" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"> based on her testimony alone. </i></span></div>
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<span id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_74992" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">That, too, is not extraordinary evidence. It's rather ordinary indeed. But we believe the extraordinary claim because we trust the deliverer of the story. </span></div>
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<span id="yiv8425605235yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_79265" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">So....no. An extraordinary claim (like Jesus' resurrection) does not require any extraordinary, mind-blowing, in-your-face type of proof. It just requires sufficient proof, like every other claim does.</span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_95550" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">Finally, just a quick rejoinder to Hitchens' last comment "...what can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence": we say, "Yes, you are essentially correct here, but we do have evidence for what we believe." Hitchens is attacking a straw man that faith is "belief without evidence". No Christian ought to embrace the elements of the faith without evidence. The definition of faith being "belief without evidence" is NOT what is the foundation of Christianity. We "always have a reason" (or defense) of what we believe, as 1 Peter 3:15 says. </span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_95669" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">And Christianity has done a wonderful job offering <a href="http://www.peterkreeft.com/topics-more/resurrection-evidence.htm" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_95670" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background: transparent; color: blue; cursor: text !important; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">sufficient apologia for Jesus' resurrection</a> from the dead. </span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_95675" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">There is proof indeed that He is Risen! </span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_118887" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">__________________________________________</span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492698223966_111592" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">*(Clarification: it's true that in refuting Hitchens' straw man of our faith I've rejected the definition of faith being "belief without evidence", yet earlier on in the text I do use "faith" in this manner. That is, when I assert that atheists who proclaim "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" have made a statement of faith (they haven't examined the evidence), and when I say that we might believe our loved one's bizarre story based on faith alone (that is, without any corroboration that her story is true), I AM using the definition of faith as "belief without evidence". Suffice it to say that, like "love", there are many definitions of "faith". But Christians do not base their doctrines on "belief without evidence", as Hitchens is alluding to.</span></div>
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The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319525241110721507.post-44524299740853109102017-04-12T20:34:00.004-05:002021-04-05T07:31:58.494-05:00Easter and the Pagan Wars (again)<div dir="ltr" id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510064" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: white; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px;">
<span id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491564244441_450347" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small; padding-inline-start: 0px;">Every year as Easter approaches commentary appears about the pagan roots of Easter. Fundamentalist Christians who view<i id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491564244441_450704" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px;"> all-things-Catholic</i> as an abomination proclaim that Easter is actually a pagan fertility celebration. </span></div>
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<span id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491564244441_450505" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small; padding-inline-start: 0px;">Accusations look like this:</span></div>
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<img class="yiv4295120820" data-id="45cffe51-2f34-4d4e-84a7-6874db105d7f" id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491564244441_450673" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hCe-Y6jlc94/UlaoxLyjHeI/AAAAAAAABbM/whKC_caC_sM/s1600/Ishtar.jpg" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; border: medium none; cursor: pointer; max-height: 400px; max-width: 311px; padding-inline-start: 0px; width: 311px;" /><span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small; padding-inline-start: 0px;"><br clear="none" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px;" /></span></div>
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<img class="yiv4295120820" data-id="bba0bbff-b433-e314-8c8d-d6789df4c1a6" id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491564244441_450504" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-EZ0v4uF71Pc/VQo13BGucgI/AAAAAAAAE1U/7f8Rx64Nrpk/w800-h800/YaHuWaH%2BIshtar%2Bpagan%2Buno.PNG" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; border: medium none; cursor: pointer; max-height: 275px; max-width: 400px; padding-inline-start: 0px; width: 394.5px;" /><span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small; padding-inline-start: 0px;"><br clear="none" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px;" /></span></div>
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<img class="yiv4295120820" data-id="43863ca3-25c3-e819-8595-7eb9266571f0" id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491564244441_450577" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/59/22/55/5922551b73305bd80355d4192a1ccd80.jpg" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; border: medium none; cursor: pointer; padding-inline-start: 0px;" /></div>
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<img class="yiv4295120820" data-id="a3ee6c36-51af-b913-522d-99f035e30419" id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491564244441_450815" src="https://image.slidesharecdn.com/eastertheresurrectionofchristortheworshipofpaganeostre-140421044346-phpapp01/95/easter-the-resurrection-of-christ-or-the-worship-of-pagan-eostre-4-638.jpg?cb=1398055496" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; border: medium none; cursor: pointer; max-height: 300px; max-width: 400px; padding-inline-start: 0px; width: 394.5px;" /></div>
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<span id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491564244441_450728" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small; padding-inline-start: 0px;">This is simply gaga, lala nonsense.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491564244441_453166" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small; padding-inline-start: 0px;">Firstly, the above accusations have their foundation upon a very narrow Anglo-centric objection involving our use of the word "Easter". </span><b id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491564244441_451325" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: medium; padding-inline-start: 0px;">Most of the Christian world doesn't speak English and doesn't call this holy day "Easter" at all, </b><span id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491564244441_453186" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small; padding-inline-start: 0px;">so the alleged link to a pagan goddess is non-existent for most of Christendom. Most of Christianity refers to Easter as some derivative of the Latin and Greek word </span><i id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491564244441_452987" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: medium; padding-inline-start: 0px;">Pascha</i><span id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491564244441_453187" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small; padding-inline-start: 0px;">, which references the Passover. In Spanish it's called "Pascuas"; French "Paques"; Afrikaans "Paasfees", Italian "Pasqua", Icelandic "Paska", Turkish "Paskalya....</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510064" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px;">
<span id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491564244441_452354" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small; padding-inline-start: 0px;">Secondly, EVEN IF the origins of the Christian celebration are pagan, this is not ominous or sinister in any way. Christianity has taken the pagan meaning and made it holy. Just like Christ took a pagan world and sanctified it. If Fundamentalist Christians can say, "I'll see you at Bible Study tomorrow, Diana!" without inadvertently worshipping the <a class="yiv4295120820edited-link-editor yiv4295120820enhancr2_fcdc0b2a-525a-89e8-03b8-6c2f5ceb6991" href="http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Cr-Dr/Diana.html" id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491564244441_453156" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background: none 0% 0% repeat scroll transparent; color: blue; cursor: text; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor none medium; padding-inline-start: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">Roman goddess of the woodlands</a>....and can walk down the aisle of their wedding carrying a bouquet without believing she's superstitiously <a class="yiv4295120820edited-link-editor yiv4295120820enhancr2_83fb9065-4a2a-3934-d441-0502c107c3eb" href="http://www.ourweddingday.com/advice/traditions/origins-of-wedding-traditions/1058.aspx" id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491564244441_453669" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background: none 0% 0% repeat scroll transparent; color: blue; cursor: text; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor none medium; padding-inline-start: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">trying to ward off evil spirits</a>... then good Christians can certainly celebrate Easter without unwittingly participating in a pagan fertility rite.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491564244441_454051" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small; padding-inline-start: 0px;">The best apologia I've seen for Easter in these annual "Easter is pagan" wars comes from a member on the <a class="yiv4295120820edited-link-editor yiv4295120820enhancr2_d11e4672-e05e-91c9-f713-cc997877e321" href="https://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?p=3459787" id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491564244441_454523" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background: none 0% 0% repeat scroll transparent; color: blue; cursor: text; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor none medium; padding-inline-start: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">Catholic Answers forum</a> named "PrayerWarrior": </span></div>
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I love how some folks think that English is the official language of the ancient world. Not. Come to think of it, English wasn't even the official language of the Church. Why is this important? "Easter" is an English word. In many languages, if not most, the Feast of the Resurrection is named after the Hebrew word Pesach which means passover. In Latin, the official language of the Church for centuries, the word is Pascha. So the fact that the English word may have been derived from a germanic goddess of the spring equinox means pretty much nothing at all. (I, personally, do not think Easter is named for the goddess but rather for April which was Eostremonat. Whoever decided to use the name "Easter" was probably thinking that passover is usually in April and that is why they went with that name---not because april was a month dedicated to the fertility goddess, Oestre.) </div>
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<span id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491998249357_14720" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small; padding-inline-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491998249357_14721" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px;"></span></span><br />
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By the way, in some light research, I found that Eusebius noted that there were problems with the timing of the feast of the Resurrection around 190ad. This had to do with the Church's celebration of the Resurrection as related to the Jewish celebration of the Passover. So, the issue was clarified by the Council of Nicea in 325. I think we can be confident that it was not called Easter by the Eusebius nor by the Council of Nicea. Nor do we have any reason to believe that the Feast had anything to do with a germanic pagan fertility goddess, since the Feast was well in place prior to the conversion of the germanic people's associated with that particular goddess. The first hints of Christianity among the Germanic people was in about 337. And, as far as England, who borrowed the word from the germans, they didn't convert until even later (according to Bede; the same source who tells us about Oestre)</div>
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<span id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491998249357_14783" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small; padding-inline-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491998249357_14784" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px;"></span></span><br />
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Bottom line, the Feast of the Resurrection was in place at least in the 2nd century (probably was celebrated from the beginning). The germanic worship of Oestre would have had no bearing on the "creation" of the feast as the germans had not even been converted yet. Oh, and I didn't see any germans as attendees of the Council of Nicea either...</div>
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Now if you want to talk about how Easter is celebrated by secular society (and yes, many churches have joined in), it is completely obvious that pagan practices are still alive and well. Eggs are a sign of fertility, for example. However, I would challenge anyone to find a Catholic teaching any where in history, that instructs the faithful to participate in Easter egg hunts...</div>
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<span id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491998249357_14851" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small; padding-inline-start: 0px;">Thus, any link to pagan rituals (true or alleged) is irrelevant because we aren't pagan anymore, and we have taken these pagan customs and made them Christian. </span></div>
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<div data-setdir="false" dir="ltr" id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491998249357_14601" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px;">
<span id="yiv4295120820yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491998249357_15233" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small; padding-inline-start: 0px;">Also, my understanding is that the reason we celebrate Easter with the custom of eggs is because our Eastern Orthodox brethren<a class="edited-link-editor enhancr2_d4314a5b-5684-b1ec-b651-77be71ec3bb7" href="http://www.antiochian.org/fasting-great-lent" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491998244855_77855" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background: none 0% 0% repeat scroll transparent; color: blue; cursor: text; margin: 0px; outline: currentcolor none medium; padding-inline-start: 0px; padding: 0px;"> fast from meat, dairy and eggs for the ENTIRETY of Lent </a>(not just from meat on Fridays as we do in the Western Church). As hens would continue to be laying eggs throughout Lent, a surplus of these eggs would exist by Easter, and thus, when Easter came, there was a veritable feast of eggs!</span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491998244855_80840" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small; padding-inline-start: 0px;">So, nothing menacing, malevolent or devil-inspired going on with celebrating Easter with the tradition* (i.e. custom)</span><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491998244855_80841" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small; padding-inline-start: 0px;"> of enjoying a </span><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491998244855_80843" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small; padding-inline-start: 0px;">few dyed hard-boiled eggs. </span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491998244855_81512" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: x-small; padding-inline-start: 0px;">*"tradition" should not be confused with<i style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px;"> Sacred </i>Tradition. It's simply a <b style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px;"><i style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px;">custom</i></b> to have eggs at Easter. It's <i style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px;">not</i> part of the Sacred Deposit of the Faith, the Word of God handed down to us through <b id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491998244855_81615" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px;">Sacred Tradition. </b> A Catholic can never ever eat a single Easter egg yet still remain a faithful, practicing Catholic!</span></div>
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The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319525241110721507.post-82779950724093272112017-04-09T08:47:00.002-05:002017-04-09T08:47:18.826-05:00Sedevecantists vs Scripture<div style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; margin-bottom: 1em;">
Christ: I will not leave you orphans.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; margin-top: 1em;">
Sedevacantist: We are orphans.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; margin-top: 1em;">
--Scott Eric Alt</div>
The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319525241110721507.post-15075874829979015752017-04-06T10:54:00.003-05:002017-04-06T10:54:46.209-05:00(Revisit) Prayers of Petition<div dir="ltr" id="yiv2761982253yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510064" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: white; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px;">
<span id="yiv2761982253yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491481921683_44636" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">Lately I've been seeing a lot of discussions from skeptics who mock and deride believers for praying. </span></div>
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<span id="yiv2761982253yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491481921683_45343" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">Some comments from atheists look like this:</span></div>
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<img class="yiv2761982253" id="yiv2761982253yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491481921683_45118" src="https://inktank.fi/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/RickyGervais.png" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; border: 0px; max-height: 400px; max-width: 375px; overflow: auto; width: 375px;" />cab<span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;"><br clear="none" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /></span></div>
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<span id="yiv2761982253yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491481921683_45469" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">The atheistic meme is this: <i id="yiv2761982253yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491481921683_45537" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">your prayers are useless because your God's going to do what God wants to do anyway...and even you Christians admit this with a resigned shrug when you don't get what you pray for..."I guess it wasn't part of God's will". So what's the point of praying?</i></span></div>
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<span id="yiv2761982253yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491481921683_45435" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">And the Christian response is often, "We pray because it changes us. It doesn't necessarily change God, who is all sovereign, all powerful".</span></div>
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<span id="yiv2761982253yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491481921683_45588" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">That's a good response. But I think there's also a very, very big apologetics rejoinder is often forgotten:</span></div>
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<span id="yiv2761982253yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491481921683_45589" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;"> Prayer can indeed cause God to change his plan. </span></div>
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<span id="yiv2761982253yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491481921683_45625" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">Now, this of course needs to be understood with some nuance. </span></div>
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<span id="yiv2761982253yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491481921683_45624" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">In one sense God is indeed sovereign, and his will immutable. </span></div>
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<span id="yiv2761982253yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491481921683_48292" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">But in another sense, God does allow us to change events by our prayers. <span id="yiv2761982253yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491481921683_45771" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><b id="yiv2761982253yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491481921683_45801" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"> God gives us the "dignity of causality" </b>(one of my favorite phrases!)</span>--that is, we have been given the great privilege of actually being able to cause events to change because of our actions.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv2761982253yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491481921683_45854" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">In fact, we see this evident every day, if not necessarily in our spiritual lives, but in our natural lives. We see that when we plant seeds for corn, we get corn on our plates. We don't just assume, as Ricky Gervais implies, "Hey, God knows I'm going to need corn on my plate, so let me just sit back at the dinner table, and God will provide it!" We plant seeds, and then we get corn. God is indeed sovereign, and if he wanted, he <i id="yiv2761982253yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491481921683_48298" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">could </i>send corn down from the sky, but we have been given the privilege of actually causing corn to grow in our fields, so we take actions to effectuate this process. If we don't plant the seed, we most likely aren't going to get the corn.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv2761982253yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491481921683_46115" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">Similarly, we see that when we plant seeds for a cure for our loved one, through a novena, for example, we get a cure "on our plate". We don't just assume, "Hey, God knows that we want a cure for Aunt Martha, so let's just sit back and wait for her to come home from the hospital!"<b id="yiv2761982253yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491481921683_48125" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">We "plant the seeds" for her cure by our Prayers of Petition. </b> Without the prayer, we may not get the cure.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv2761982253yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491481921683_46255" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">If you say that we should not pray because God already knows our needs, then</span><span id="yiv2761982253yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491481921683_47000" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;"> as <a class="yiv2761982253edited-link-editor yiv2761982253enhancr2_1d4ee437-4dcb-f307-2df2-a1902fc21935" href="https://redeeminggod.com/work-and-prayer-by-c-s-lewis/" id="yiv2761982253yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491481921683_47315" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background: transparent; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">CS Lewis says, </a>"...it would be equally foolish and impudent to put on a mackintosh - does not God know best whether you ought to be wet or dry? <b id="yiv2761982253yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491481921683_47125" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">The two methods by which we are allowed to produce events may be called work and prayer.</b> Both are alike in this respect – that in both we try to produce a state of affairs which God has not (or at any rate not yet) seen fit to provide 'on HIS own'. And from this point of view the old maxim <i id="yiv2761982253yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491481921683_47129" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">laborare est orare</i> (work is prayer) takes on a new meaning. What we do when we weed a field is not quite different from what we do when we pray for a good harvest."</span></div>
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<span id="yiv2761982253yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491481921683_47625" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: small;">Finally, a quick comment regarding the inane "You pray for me, I'll think for you" meme--this taunt creates a peculiar (and ubiquitous) Either/Or false dichotomy. For some weird reason atheists have decided that one cannot both be a prayer AND a thinker. The Catholic response is, "We are perfectly capable of the Both/And. We can pray <i id="yiv2761982253yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491481921683_47866" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">and </i>think at the same time!"</span></div>
The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319525241110721507.post-43955289316100613042017-03-24T09:56:00.005-05:002017-03-24T09:56:47.228-05:00Isn't it enough to just be a Christian vs Only Catholics go to heaven!<div class="yiv1590436677yahoo_quoted" id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_45302" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
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<b id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510042" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #8000ff; font-style: italic;"><span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510043" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: medium;"><span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510044" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 13.5pt;">and with all your MIND”</span></span></b><span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510045" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #8000ff; font-size: medium; font-style: italic;"><span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510046" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510047" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-size: x-small;">--Matt <span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510048" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510049" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; border-bottom: 2px dotted rgb(54, 99, 136); cursor: pointer;"><span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510050" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510051" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510052" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510053" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510054" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510055" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background: none 0% 0% repeat scroll transparent; border-bottom: 2px dotted rgb(54, 99, 136); cursor: pointer;"><span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510056" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510057" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510058" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510059" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510060" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510061" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510062" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510063" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">22:37</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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Continuing in the theme of previous posts regarding "Outside the Church there is no Salvation", or <i id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_51543" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Sallus </i>(EENS)...I (coincidentally?) happened to come across an article on EENS from Catholic apologist Mark Shea today.</div>
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Below is an excerpt (bold emphasis mine). The article in its entirety can be found here: <a class="yiv1590436677enhancr2_e1b3b2aa-4316-545f-2cc8-a626792d7e31" href="http://www.mark-shea.com/unam.html" id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_50916" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background: transparent; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">Mark P. Shea: Just Exactly Where is the Church?</a></div>
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But suffice it to say that the answer to the thread title's questions are: No, and no. <img alt="*:) happy" class="yiv1590436677yahoo-ignore-inline-image" id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_52104" src="https://s.yimg.com/ok/u/assets/img/emoticons/emo1.gif" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; border: 0px;" title="*:) happy" /></div>
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<div dir="ltr" id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510064" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px;">
It's <i style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">not</i> "enough" to just be a Christian. <b id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_52515" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">And</b> one can be in heaven without being Catholic.</div>
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</blockquote>
<div class="yiv1590436677yahoo_quoted" id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_52247" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
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<div class="yiv1590436677yahoo_quoted" id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_52242" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
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<div class="yiv1590436677qtdSeparateBR" id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_52229" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510064" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px;">
<br clear="none" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485907651536_510064" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px;">
(Regarding the word "enough"--here's what Mark Shea says: <i id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_62743" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">"Depends on what you mean by 'enough'. If you mean 'enough to be saved' then I submit this is Minimum Daily Adult Requirement thinking. No lover asks 'What's the absolute bare minimum amount of contact with my Beloved I can get away with?' "</i></div>
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That is, asking your spouse, "Isn't it enough that I said I love you and I see you once a week?" is the exact WRONG question to ask. #sleepingonthecouchthatnight)</div>
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More on that now:</div>
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<blockquote id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_51444" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border: none; color: black; display: block; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_51311" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Viner Hand ITC;"><b id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_51312" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Just Exactly Where is the Church?</b></span></div>
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<span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_62776" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: Viner Hand ITC;"><span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_62775" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">--Mark Shea</span></span></div>
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<i id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_51314" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Unam Sanctam</i> is the sort of document that gives our Protestant brothers and sisters a real jolt, primarily because it looks at first blush as though it teaches that Catholics cannot have Protestant brothers and sisters. Written by Pope Boniface VIII in 1302, this papal bull concludes with this shocking dogmatic definition:</div>
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"We declare, say, define and pronounce, that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff."</div>
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The average modern reader concludes these words mean: "We know exactly where the Church both is and is not. It's in the visible Catholic communion and <i id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_51318" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">only</i> members of the visible Catholic Church go to Heaven." After this basic assumption has been made, most people go on to assume it is simply a matter of deciding what you think about that proposition. Generally, people fall into one of the following groups:</div>
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1. Those nice people who say hopefully, "That statement was not dogma, but just Boniface's opinion."</div>
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2. Those Progressive Dissenting Catholics who say, "That statement used to be narrow-minded Catholic dogma but Vatican II thankfully contradicts all that. How the Church has grown!"</div>
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3. Those anti-Catholics say derisively, "That statement used to be unbiblical Catholic dogma but Vatican II reversed all that. How the supposedly infallible Church has flatly contradicted the Bible and itself!"</div>
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4. Those Reactionary Dissenting Catholics who say, "That statement used to be glorious Catholic dogma but Vatican II betrayed all that. How the Second Vatican Council has corrupted the One True Faith!"</div>
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<b id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_52747" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">5. Those orthodox Catholics who say, "<i id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_51325" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Unam Sanctam</i>'s definition is still dogma and the teaching of the Second Vatican Council does not contradict it or the Bible. Rather, the Council develops the Faith of the Church infallibly taught since the apostles, a faith which has never demanded we believe that "The Church is found solely in the visible Catholic communion, nor that only members of the visible Catholic Church can go to Heaven."</b></div>
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Or,...if one is a Christian at all, one is, as <i id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_51353" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Lumen Gentium</i> says, in some kind of union with the Church, the Body of Christ. This is why the Church teaches and has always taught that "outside the Church, there is no salvation". For the Church is the company of the saved.</div>
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<b id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_53072" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">To talk about salvation "outside the Church" is like talking about swimming outside the water.</b> It is the logical consequence of Jesus' statement, "He who is not with me is against me" (Matthew 12:30).</div>
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It therefore follows that to be subject to the gospel to <i id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_51355" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">any</i> degree is to be in union, to that degree, with the office of Peter since the office of Peter was created by Christ for one purpose only, to help bring people into subjection to Christ.<b id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_53271" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"> It is therefore impossible to accept Christ without accepting the authority of Peter's office to some degree or other.</b> </div>
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Naturally, it will be noted that such union with the Roman Pontiff is, for Protestants and Orthodox, imperfect. </div>
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So is this partial and imperfect unity enough? Depends on what you mean by "enough". If you mean "enough to be saved" then I submit this is Minimum Daily Adult Requirement thinking. No lover asks "What's the absolute bare minimum amount of contact with my Beloved I can get away with?" Similarly, if, as the Church claims, the fullness of revelation subsists in the Catholic communion, then "<b id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_53326" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">How little contact with the fullness of revelation can I get away with?" is the exact wrong question for somebody who is serious about discipleship to Christ</b>. Our goal, according to Scripture, is not to achieve bare minimums of love, fellowship and discipleship with Christ and His Bride, but to "attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ;… we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love" (Ephesians 4:13-16). When people tell us "I'll be there in spirit!" we know they mean "I won't be there.<b id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_53628" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">" Similarly, a merely partial spiritual unity, while a good start, is a bad finish. </b>That is why we must all continue to work toward full unity in Christ, neither denying our commonalities nor papering over our differences...</div>
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"So does all this boil down to saying the Church thinks Catholics are going to Heaven and non-Catholics aren't? Or does it really mean the Church is now saying that everybody is saved?</div>
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Again, both of these are the wrong questions: which is to say they are nonsense questions. <b id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_53629" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">The Church makes no comments on infernal population statistics</b>. Rather, the Church teaches that because validly baptized non-Catholics are real members of the Body of Christ, they share in the life of the Blessed Trinity and therefore share with Catholics the Hope of salvation.</div>
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That said, mark that it is <i id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_51380" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Hope</i>, not certainty, they share with Catholics. For it is important to remember that Catholics don't even assume that even Catholics are automatically going to Heaven. The whole point, as Paul says, is that Hope means we have not yet, in this life, attained what we hope for.</div>
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For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. (Romans 8:24-25)</div>
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<b id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_53745" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Catholics don't believe in "once saved, always saved" any more than in salvation by demographics</b>. So the mere fact that somebody says they are a Christian, whether non-Catholic <i id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_51384" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">or</i> Catholic, doesn't mean we assume they are going to Heaven.<b id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_53698" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"> Till we die, we retain the radical freedom to reject the grace of God and end up among the damned</b>. So Catholics leave God to judge all that.</div>
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But by the same token, Catholics also don't assume that anybody (even a non-Christian and indeed even an atheist) is going to Hell. The Church has always believed that those who do not know Christ by name may yet respond to the promptings of His Spirit and so ultimately be saved by Him. She believes this because it was taught by Jesus Christ in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, which describes the judgment of people who had no idea they were serving (or rejecting) Jesus as they answered (or refused) the demands of conscience with respect to "the least of these". That is why both the saved and the damned in the parable reply with astonishment to the King, "Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?" (Matthew 25:37-39). Some of the saved, says our Lord, are going to be astonished at their salvation. They just thought they were doing the right thing and had no idea they were, in fact, answering the prompting of the Holy Spirit to obey the will of Christ. As Paul says, "When Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or perhaps excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus" (Romans 2:14-16). In short, what matters incomparably more than calling Jesus "Lord, Lord" is <i id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_51386" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">obeying</i> Him. Or as St. John of the Cross put it more sweetly, "At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love."</div>
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But,again, that doesn't mean, "It doesn't matter if you are Catholic or not." We live in a fallen world and are fallen creatures who need every bit of help we can get from the grace of God to become the glorious love-filled creatures God calls us to be. And even with that help, history demonstrates our genius for being schleps and sinners. We are like patients in a hospital requiring intensive care, but with the hope and promise that the full panoply of modern medicine could give us back our life if we cooperate with the Divine Physician and let Him use all the treatments He has tucked away in His little black bag. That little black bag is called "the fullness of Christ's revelation in the Catholic communion". It includes the common life, common worship, and common teaching of the Church, including the seven sacraments, the accumulated wisdom of the Tradition both in Scripture and in the life of the Church, the Magisterium (including the Papacy), and the "riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints" (Ephesians 1:18). Other Churches and ecclesial bodies like to use various items out of that black bag (say, the Bible, or Baptism, or the doctrine of the Trinity, or some particular moral teaching like the indissolubility of marriage, or predestination, or free will) in various combinations and to varying degrees and believers do well to avail themselves of as much of God's treasury in the Church's Tradition as they can lay hold of.</div>
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<b id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_53907" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">But if you are mortally ill (and the whole human race is mortally ill with sin), it's kind of crazy to say "I find that I'm most comfortable when the Doctor prescribes aspirin, and I do like his penicillin now and then, but I don't want his other prescriptions and treatments and I won't allow him to send other hospital staff to treat me." </b>If we were mortally ill, we'd want whatever the Doctor has available to heal us.</div>
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Likewise, though the Catholic Church rejoices that real elements of the saving gospel are present and working in other churches and ecclesial bodies, though she even rejoices that the <i id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_51390" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">semina verbi</i> or "seeds of the Word" can even be found in the various non-Christian religious and philosophical traditions of the world,<b style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_62873" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">s</span><span id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_62836" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">h</span></b><b id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_62879" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">e nonetheless points out that the best thing of all is to lay hold of the <i id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_51391" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">fullness</i> of His gifts. </b>So the Church, of course, encourages anyone who can do so to become Catholic. It doesn't presume to judge those who do not, for we mortals cannot know the reasons why others make the choices they do. People may refuse the Church out of ignorance, or woundedness, or some other cause that renders them inculpable for rejecting her. <b id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_53982" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">However, it is only sensible to point out that, everything else being equal, if we <i id="yiv1590436677yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1489547450860_51392" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">say</i> we want God, but refuse the fullness of His gifts, then it is worth asking ourselves if we really want God after all or are, in fact, seeking something else.</b></div>
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As an Evangelical who discovered how much truth was in the Catholic faith and how much I agreed with it, I came to the realization that it was not enough for me to say "I share the same goals as Peter, so I am 'spiritually subject' to him already and do not need to be sacramentally and ecclesially subject as well." I realized that the very essence of what Peter proclaims is that the Word became Flesh. Moreover, I came to realize that there was, in fact, nothing in the Church's deposit of Faith that was either opposed to reason, nor anti-biblical. So I eventually concluded that it was therefore my duty, in obedience to Christ's prayer for unity in John 17, to enflesh my faith by becoming really, tangibly, physically, sacramentally joined to the visible Church our Lord commended to Peter's care and feeding. For myself, I could no longer say "I'll be with you in spirit" to the Pope if I was not also willing to really be with him in body as well.</div>
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Catholics do not say, and never have said, that they are the sole possessors of revelation. Indeed, the Church does not "possess" revelation at all. Revelation possesses her and that revelation, who is Christ, has (she teaches) committed Himself fully to her. "God," said the great Protestant writer George MacDonald, "is easy to please, but hard to satisfy."<b style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"> On the one hand, God is delighted when the most miserable sinner takes the smallest serious step toward the love of God and neighbor. On the other hand, He will not be completely happy until every last person He came to save is completely perfected in the image of Christ and overflowing with perfect love for God and neighbor.</b> This same pattern is supremely evident in the Catholic Church's understanding of her relationship with her members, whether in full or very imperfect communion. For the Church is happy to recognize even the smallest commonalities she may share, not only with other Christians, but even with non-Christian religious traditions and the great philosophical traditions of paganism. The Church can even find things to affirm in virtuous atheists. But at the same time, the Church is acutely aware that there is a real difference between imperfect and perfect unity and so she too--easy to please, but hard to satisfy--labors toward that Day when all the members of the Body of Christ will be perfected in faith, hope and love.</div>
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Till That Day, we know where the Church is; we do not know where it is not.</div>
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The Amateur Apologisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06042589564126217004noreply@blogger.com0