God as Cosmic Santa Claus & the Bible as Fairy-Tale

Reply to Common Atheist Critiques Concerning the Christian Epistemology of Belief in the Bible and God Atheists often chide Christians for placing faith in the Bible: that it is God’s inspired and infallible revelation. They argue that we can’t possibly know or prove that. But all of us (including atheists) extrapolate the truthfulness (at least […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/09/god-as-cosmic-santa-claus-the-bible-as-fairy-tale.html

Theistic Argument from Desire: Dialogue w Atheist

This exchange took place on the Debunking Christianity blog, underneath a post by John W. Loftus, called “No More Funerals!” Words of atheist “DagoodS” (whom I have met in person) will be in blue, and those of a second unknown atheist in green. ***** We all would like people who truly deserve it to get what is coming […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/09/theistic-argument-from-desire-dialogue-w-atheist.html

Poetry Friday: “Bird on Knee”

Like Emily Dickinson, Bray describes hope as thing with feathers, “an eastern phoebe.” Turning on sound and image, the poem “Bird on Knee” subtly shifts, inflecting new meaning. Each element nests in the other, layered, like a bird perched on a lap. Keening sounds repeat in “lightly,” “knee,” “eastern,” “phoebe,” and “me.” The density and […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2018/09/poetry-friday-bird-on-knee/

Dr. Ford Hit a Home Run, Kavanaugh a Grand Slam

I first gave my thoughts on my Facebook page today after Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony (or most of it). Then I remarked after Judge Kavanaugh’s testimony and questioning. I am a conservative and a Republican (as is well-known among my readers) and virtually all of the commenters on my page thought she was a […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/09/dr-ford-hit-a-home-run-kavanaugh-a-grand-slam.html

Writing Rules for Life

For my forty-first birthday, I decided to write a personal rule of life. Turning forty hadn’t magically made me wise in the way that translates into action, and I didn’t wish to spend the next decade wading in the same bog of issues and habits and disordered affections that kept me from feeling present to […]

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Gospel: Defined by the Earliest Christian Preaching

[excerpts from reference sources will be in blue; Bible verses (NASB) will be indented] ***** I. THE WORD The English gospel is derived from the Anglo-Saxon godspell, which meant “good tidings” and later, the “story concerning God.” Gospel is the usual English translation, in the New Testament, of the Greek euangelion (pronounced yoo-ang-GHEL-ee-on), from which, in turn, we get our English words evangelical, evangelist, etc. […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/09/gospel-defined-by-the-earliest-christian-preaching.html

History of American Discrimination: from the Lunch Counter

In the 1850s Irish immigrants couldn’t sit at the lunch counter. “No Irish need apply.”   In the 1860s, native Americans couldn’t sit at the lunch counter (if they were fortunate enough not to have been slaughtered or sent to a concentration “re-education” camp).   In the 1870s, Catholics couldn’t sit at the lunch counter […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/09/history-of-american-discrimination-from-the-lunch-counter.html

The Stars of the Earth Cry Out

Last night, as I walked on the road that leads me home, I saw a deer sitting in the meadow.  The moon was out, and the few stars not clouded with the glow of human endeavors kept their lights unmoving in the endless sea of almost darkness.  The deer sat there, away from the road, […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2018/09/the-stars-of-the-earth-cry-out/

Dialogue on Christians Hating Gays & Gays Hating Christianity

“TinnyWhistler” replied in the combox of my paper, “Dialogue with a Hostile, Anti-Christian Gay Activist”. I counter-responded. His words will be in blue. ***** It’s interesting that you chalk up anti-religious sentiment to “Oh well, it’s always been there and if people don’t like me it must mean I’m following in Jesus’ footsteps”. Have you […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/09/dialogue-on-christians-hating-gays-gays-hating-christianity.html

Seidensticker Folly #21: Atheist “Bible Science” Absurdities

Atheist and anti-theist Bob Seidensticker runs the influential Cross Examined blog. He asked me there, on 8-11-18: “I’ve got 1000+ posts here attacking your worldview. You just going to let that stand? Or could you present a helpful new perspective that I’ve ignored on one or two of those posts?” He also made a general statement on 6-22-17: “In this blog, I’ve responded to […]

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Popcaks to Discuss Paths to Healing with Diocese of Pittsburgh

Lisa and I will serve as the keynote speakers for an event hosted by the Diocese of Pittsburgh intended to help clergy, catechists, parish ministers, and other church personnel minister more effectively to those whose faith has been shaken by the scandal of clerical abuse.  Our talk, titled, Dealing with Desecrations: Pathways of Healing for […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/faithonthecouch/2018/09/popcaks-to-discuss-paths-to-healing-with-diocese-of-pittsburgh/

Remembering Sassy

Sassy wasn’t her real name, and she wasn’t “sassy” at all. But as happens with many grandparents, the oldest grandchild names her—and the name sticks. I was that oldest grandchild. Her name was Sarah, which is what I’d hear the grownups call her. But when I tried, at age one-and-a-half or so, to say “Sarah,” […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2018/09/remembering-sassy/

Good News: Evangelical & Catholic Gospel Presented

The original part of the following essay dates from June 1982, when I was an evangelical Protestant. I have decided to keep the old paper intact, but to comment (in blue) on portions which — as a Catholic — I feel need further elaboration or reinterpretation from a Catholic perspective. I hope this format will […]

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Dialogue on the Health Risks of Homosexual Sex

[warning to readers: if you are squeamish or uncomfortable with descriptions of homosexual acts (or think that any talk of them at all is distasteful or impermissible), do not read this article. Some details had to be included because of the scientific-medical information that I necessarily had to provide in order to adequately answer my friendly opponent’s objections] […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/09/dialogue-on-the-health-risks-of-homosexual-sex.html

Homosexual Sex: Dialogue with a Bisexual Agnostic

This is a response to a letter written as a reply to my paper, Dialogue with a Hostile, Anti-Christian Gay Activist. The words of my opponent from that paper will be in green. My older words from the same paper will be brown, and my present (anonymous) opponent’s words will be in blue. ***** First of all […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/09/homosexual-sex-dialogue-with-a-bisexual-agnostic.html

Swallowing My Pride

I lost it at the dentist’s office the other day. I was there with my mother and had been flipping through copies of Good Housekeeping, waiting for hours. I was hungry and impatient by the time she emerged, then the receptionist presented us with an itemized and very detailed list of expensive dental work my […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2018/09/swallowing-my-pride/

Gospel = Total Depravity, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace?

My friend, the ecumenical Reformed Presbyterian (OPC) “Pilgrimsarbour” started discussing and defending three of the five points of the famous Calvinist acronym “TULIP”. After that it was off to the dog races (but an enjoyable dog race it has been . . .). His words will be in blue. * * * * * Calvinism requires belief in things […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/09/gospel-total-depravity-limited-atonement-irresistible-grace.html

2nd Council of Orange: “Sola Gratia” vs. Total Depravity

A Calvinist stated: “I am having trouble distinguishing the Calvinist doctrine of Total Depravity from the determination of the Second Council of Orange.” [529 AD]Particularly, he was referring to the following decrees: CANON 7 If anyone affirms that we can form any right opinion or make any right choice which relates to the salvation of eternal […]

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Calvinist Total Depravity: Does Romans 1 Apply to All Men?

***** For background, see my paper, Total Depravity: Reply to James White: Calvinism and Romans 3:10-11 (“None is Righteous . . . No One Seeks For God”)  * * * * * The paper above dealt with Romans 3 and also Romans 2. The former was dealt with at great length, including an examination of […]

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Dialogue with a Hostile, Anti-Christian Gay Activist

My opponents’ words shall be in blue:******Your dialogue [referring to “Homosexual Sex: Dialogue with a Liberal Christian” (link) ] is quite one-sided. Well, now you are here to present the other side! :-) The gay rights movement has nothing to do with seeking moral approval. It sure does, else why do homosexual activists have a cow when we dare […]

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Poetry Friday: “The Ordinary Time”

According to the Church’s liturgical calendar, this is the twenty-fourth week of Ordinary Time, the numbered weeks between the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of Lent, as well as the weeks following Pentecost Sunday until the first Sunday of Advent. Ordinary Time is the period in which the faithful live not in […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2018/09/poetry-friday-the-ordinary-time/

Homosexual Sex: Dialogue with a Liberal Christian

From my Apologetics / Ecumenism discussion list, which I founded and moderated in the late 90s. Words of Sogn Mill-Scout will be in blue. *** Gay rights is about equal respect and moral approval being granted to the homosexual orientation; A-ha! You hit the nail on the head. You prove the point many of us have made. […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/09/homosexual-sex-dialogue-with-a-liberal-christian.html

Dialogue: Molinism & How God Predestines (Pt. IV)

See Part I and Part II and Part III. “JS” is a Catholic and a Thomist. Note the different color scheme below. My words will be in blue [not the usual black], “JS’s” in black [not the usual blue]; JS’s previous responses green; Scripture red; Ludwig Ott purple; William G. Most, J.P. Holding, Adam Clarke, and Church Fathers in brown. ***** What shall […]

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Dialogue: Molinism & How God Predestines (Pt. III)

See Part I and Part II. “JS” is a Catholic and a Thomist. Note the different color scheme below. My words will be in blue [not the usual black], “JS’s” in black [not the usual blue]; JS’s previous responses green; Scripture red; Ludwig Ott purple; William G. Most in brown. *** This conditioned dimension of Molinism is precisely its weakness, since God’s will is […]

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Beginner Ballet

I hobbled into beginner ballet at age thirty-six, late for my first class, whirring between meetings, racing up the steps to the dance studio that was located, felicitously, next to a burrito joint that served beer. I switched into beginner ballet after a disastrous attempt at intro to hip-hop a week earlier. Ballet, I hoped, […]

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Reply to Agnostic Ed Babinski’s “Emotional” Argument from Evil

Ed’s post appeared on the Debunking Christianity blog. Victor Reppert is a (Protestant) Christian teacher and author of C. S. Lewis’s Dangerous Idea: In Defense of the Argument from Reason, published by Inter-Varsity Press. He runs an excellent blog, dangerous idea, whose purpose is to “to discuss philosophy, chess, politics, C. S. Lewis, . . .” My kind of place! […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/09/reply-to-agnostic-ed-babinskis-emotional-argument-from-evil.html

Dialogue: Molinism & How God Predestines (Pt. II)

See Part I. Words of “JOS”: a Thomist, will be in blue. My older cited words will be in green. *** This “conditioned” dimension of Molinism is precisely its weakness, since God’s will is not conditioned by anyone or anything, let alone man’s foreseen merits.  That’s not true as a general statement because God’s will […]

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The Gift of Gratitude

We often think that expressing gratitude is something we do for another person. However, new research shows that we actually get more out of showing gratitude than we might think. A new study published by the journal of Psychological Science reveals that, although people typically believe that expressing gratitude—such as in the form of “Thank […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/faithonthecouch/2018/09/the-gift-of-gratitude/

Leonard Cohen’s Holy and Broken Hallelujah

My first “Hallelujah” was sung by Rufus Wainwright in Shrek. I was a preteen and baffled that my grown siblings were interested in the soundtrack. The lyrics were deceptively simple words, referencing biblical passages I recognized. I knew it was Dovid who saw Batsheva bathing on the roof; I knew it was Delila who cut […]

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Seidensticker Folly #20: An Evolving God in the OT?

God’s Omnipotence, Omniscience, & Omnipresence in Early Bible Books & Ancient Jewish Understanding Atheist and anti-theist Bob Seidensticker runs the influential Cross Examined blog. He asked me there, on 8-11-18: “I’ve got 1000+ posts here attacking your worldview. You just going to let that stand? Or could you present a helpful new perspective that I’ve ignored on one or two of […]

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Seidensticker Folly #19: Torah & OT Teach Polytheism?

Atheist and anti-theist Bob Seidensticker runs the influential Cross Examined blog. He asked me there, on 8-11-18: “I’ve got 1000+ posts here attacking your worldview. You just going to let that stand? Or could you present a helpful new perspective that I’ve ignored on one or two of those posts?” He also made a general statement on 6-22-17: “In this blog, I’ve responded to […]

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Ready or Not for the Days of Awe

By now, I could have read Psalm 27 at least twenty-seven times, once a day for the past twenty-seven days. I could have participated in communal prayer on Shabbat morning three times during this month: Elul. Regular prayer—a practice that may create conditions in which the worshipper can see herself as she is seen by […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2018/09/ready-or-not-for-the-days-of-awe/

Predestination & the Ingenious “Solution” of Fr. Most

This will be a collection of interesting, thought-provoking material I have dug up today in my own library and on the Internet about this fascinating issue. For those unfamiliar with the general controversies surrounding the issue of free will and God’s providence and foreknowledge, with regard to salvation and election (particularly within a Catholic theological […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/09/predestination-the-ingenious-solution-of-fr-most.html

Seidensticker Folly #18: Resurrection “Contradictions”?

Atheist and anti-theist Bob Seidensticker runs the influential Cross Examined blog. He asked me there, on 8-11-18: “I’ve got 1000+ posts here attacking your worldview. You just going to let that stand? Or could you present a helpful new perspective that I’ve ignored on one or two of those posts?” He also made a general statement on 6-22-17: “In this blog, I’ve responded to […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/09/seidensticker-folly-18-resurrection-contradictions.html

Tune in to Great TV Tonight

The Emmys air tonight, and here at “Good Letters” we’re gratified that our bloggers have written about some of this year’s nominees: This Is Us. “Beginning its third season, the Emmy-nominated NBC drama devotes serious time to exploring the emotional complexities of relationships among adoptive and biological families,” writes Tania Runyan, who added to her […]

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“Could the Catholic Church Go Off the Rails?” (Indefectibility)

Back in 1997, a Protestant correspondent, who was considering conversion to Catholicism asked me about this. His words will be in green. Then a Catholic chimed in (his words in blue). ***** My question is a hypothetical one. What would your response be if Rome issued a statement affirming the homosexual lifestyle (I know homosexuality is […]

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Dialogue on Hell & the “Possibility” of Universalism

Geoffrey’s words will be in blue;  Kevin’s in green. ***** What does the Roman Catholic Church teach regarding the theologoumenon that at the moment before death, each unsaved individual encounters Christ who offers him one last chance at salvation? I believe we teach that our fate is sealed before we die, which is why it is […]

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Jesus’ Death: Proof of a “Bloodthirsty” God, or Loving Sacrifice?

— primarily written to and for atheists — Jesus’ death makes perfect sense, even from our human perspective. Sin and rebellion against God cause great damage to the cosmos: a disruption. God has set things up so that suffering (as a result of man’s general rebellion against God: what Christians call the Fall of Man) […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/09/jesus-death-proof-of-a-bloodthirsty-god-or-loving-sacrifice.html

Dialogue: Lutherans, Sola Scriptura, & the Church Fathers

“wildboar” (Steve Parks, a Lutheran pastor, or soon to be one) has written an interesting piece over at Here We Stand, a conservative Lutheran blog, entitled, Honor Thy Fathers? This short essay gets right to the heart of the matter, with regard to the nature of the Protestant Rule of Faith, or sola Scriptura. Following Luther and Calvin, it […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/09/dialogue-lutherans-sola-scriptura-the-church-fathers.html

Poetry Friday: “Field”

Spoiler alert: here is a poem that purports to describe a vision of heaven but ends up celebrating parental love.  Actually, both are going on at once in this poem. The speaker recounts a dream envisioning heaven as a field which he is driving an old truck across. The truck is his grandfather’s: he’s the […]

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Dialogue on Molinism and on How God Predestines

I received the following letter from a fellow Catholic and asked permission to post it and discuss the issue on this blog. He wanted to remain anonymous, and so will be known as “JS” here. His words will be in blue. * * * * * Background: Catholic theologian Ludwig Ott provides a brief but very […]

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Dialogue on Deconversion & Losing One’s Faith in College

Daniel Morgan (atheist) responded in my comments boxes, with regard to my critique of John Loftus’ deconversion story. This is my reply. His words will be in blue; my older cited words in green. * * * * * Hi Daniel, Thanks much for the rational response. It’s good to know that at least one atheist who comments here […]

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Emmy Watch: The Americans

The Americans, FX’s drama about Russian spies living in Washington, D.C., ended its six-season run on May 30. After season five, I wrote in “An American Body Politic” about how deception corrupts various kinds of bodies (national, personal, marital) because intimacy cannot abide it. In one plotline during this final season, spy Elizabeth Jennings goes […]

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Dialogue on God’s Middle Knowledge & Foreknowledge

vs. Dr. Alexander Pruss The following is my friendly dialogue (from 1997) with Dr. Alexander Pruss [an orthodox Catholic with Ph.D.’s in mathematics and philosophy] on the subject of middle knowledge (or, scientia media). He had obtained his doctorate in mathematics the year before and would also earn one in philosophy in 2001. His dissertation was […]

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Calvinist Total Depravity vs. Catholic Concupiscence

I think an orthodox “Reformation” Calvinist would agree with the definition of Total Depravity in The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (edited by F. L. Cross, rev. 1983, 1387) — with which I also agree: [T]he extreme wretchedness of man’s condition as the result of the Fall. It emphasizes the belief that this result was not […]

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Emmy Watch: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

My annual family Christmas letter swelled from a single paragraph into a sixteen-page spread before I finally admitted at age thirty-seven—to myself, more than anyone else—that I wanted to be a writer, a desire that’d been brewing during a decade as a full-time wife, mother, and dedicated church volunteer. I hadn’t always wanted to write. […]

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Catholic Teaching: Predestination of the Elect (Ludwig Ott)

  * The Catholic Church, following St. Augustine (e.g., Grace and Free Will, 1, 1; Sermon 169, 11, 13), accepts predestination of the elect to heaven, but also affirms the freedom of the human will, thus staking out a position distinct from Calvinism. Predestination to hell, in Catholicism, always involves man’s free will, and foreseen sins, […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/09/catholic-teaching-predestination-of-the-elect-ludwig-ott.html

Seidensticker Folly #17: “to the third and fourth generations”?

Atheist and anti-theist Bob Seidensticker runs the influential Cross Examined blog. He asked me there, on 8-11-18: “I’ve got 1000+ posts here attacking your worldview. You just going to let that stand? Or could you present a helpful new perspective that I’ve ignored on one or two of those posts?” He also made a general statement on 6-22-17: “In this blog, I’ve responded to […]

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Emmy Watch: Stranger Things

In July 2016, I watched season one of Stranger Things with my younger brother. I didn’t encounter a Demogorgon in the small town where we grew up, but I did use walkie-talkies, grow infatuated with girls from school, and roam the neighborhood on my bike. Last fall, I watched season two with my wife, the […]

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Seidensticker Folly #16: Two Sets of Ten Commandments?

Atheist and anti-theist Bob Seidensticker runs the influential Cross Examined blog. He asked me there, on 8-11-18: “I’ve got 1000+ posts here attacking your worldview. You just going to let that stand? Or could you present a helpful new perspective that I’ve ignored on one or two of those posts?” He also made a general statement on 6-22-17: “In this blog, I’ve responded to […]

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Biblical “Power”: Proof of Infused (Catholic) Justification

This is an exegetical soteriological argument from Blessed John Henry Newman’s book: Lectures on the Doctrine of Justification (1838), chapter 7. All passages are from RSV. * * * * * The plain meaning of power is ability to perform or do something. As such, it is not conceived (either in Scripture or everyday usage) as a mere abstract declaration. […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/09/biblical-power-proof-of-infused-catholic-justification.html

Seidensticker Folly #15: Jesus’ Ascension: One or 40 Days?

Atheist and anti-theist Bob Seidensticker runs the influential Cross Examined blog. He asked me there, on 8-11-18: “I’ve got 1000+ posts here attacking your worldview. You just going to let that stand? Or could you present a helpful new perspective that I’ve ignored on one or two of those posts?” He also made a general statement on 6-22-17: “In this blog, I’ve responded to […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/09/seidensticker-folly-15-jesus-ascension-one-or-40-days.html

Monergism in Initial Justification is Catholic Doctrine

A Reformed Protestant friend of mine, “Pilgrimsarbour” (OPC), asked some questions, and I clarified and made other relevant comments. His words will be in blue. * * * * * Catholicism sees justification as an ongoing process (synergistic) which does not cease even after the death of the individual (purgatory). Protestantism sees justification as a one-time declaration […]

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Emmy Watch: This Is Us

This Is Us. This is Adoption. Open adoption, in which a child’s birth family and adoptive family arrange to have some sort of contact, from sharing basic background information at the time of adoption to writing occasional letters to taking vacations together, has become the norm with domestic adoption. Although the majority of social workers […]

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Dialogue w Agnostic on Proof for Miracles (Lourdes)

Dialogue with heleninedinburgh: who describes herself as a “Militant agnostic. I don’t know and you don’t either. Atheist by default.” Her words will be in blue. ***** What miracles can you point to? That’s a sincere question, by the way.  I always ask it of people who claim their god/s perform/s miracles. No one ever seems to answer. I […]

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Dialogue w Three Lutherans on Justification & Salvation

This dialogue took place on the Lutheran blog Three Hierarchies, underneath the post, “Reformed and Roman Catholic doctrine as compromise platforms.” Professional historian CPA’s words will be in blue; Eric Phillips’ words in green, and Tom R’s in purple. * * * * * So apparently, Catholic teaching explicit states that those are justified who merely believe, as a set of facts that […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/09/dialogue-w-three-lutherans-on-justification-salvation.html

John Wesley (Founder of Methodism), Denied “Faith Alone”?

John Wesley’s words will be in blue. I was initially responding to remarks from someone who had stated that faith alone (sola fide) was essential to any definition of a Christian. ***** If sola fide [“faith alone”] defines a Christian, then John Wesley and Methodists, the whole Wesleyan tradition, and many traditional Anglicans are not Christians. Such a conception of […]

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Faith Alone: Development of Church Fathers & St. Augustine?

Heresy can only be defined as the apostles and Church Fathers defined it, according to the ancient principle of apostolic succession. In a nutshell, heresy is that which has not been passed down from the beginning, from the apostles and our Lord Jesus. If something is novel and cannot be traced back, it is heresy, and to […]

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Debate: Bible on Honoring & Respecting Political Rulers

Words of Deacon Steven D. Greydanus will be in blue. I consider him a good friend and highly respect both his theological writings and his famous film reviews. We have a very strong disagreement with regard to the current political situation and President Trump. ***** For background, see my several writings about respect for political […]

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God’s Judgment of Sin: Analogies for an Atheist Inquirer

[Words of atheist or agnostic (?) heleninedinburgh will be in blue] ***** I’ve been dealing with several of the objections to God’s alleged character flaws in my series vs. Seidensticker (so far with zero response from him, after 14 critiques). ‘Character flaws’ is a pretty tactful way to put it. The flood in Genesis, perhaps? Sodom and […]

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The Disastrous Wizard of Oz

My teenage granddaughter Phoebe was visiting us from out of town. On these visits, we always choose a movie for evening viewing. “What about The Wizard of Oz? I think it was the first movie we watched together here, when you were about five,” I suggested at dinner. Phoebe demurred. “The producer did bad things […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2018/09/the-disastrous-wizard-of-oz/

Should We Pray for All People or Not (1 John 5:16)?

1 John 5:14-16 (RSV) And this is the confidence which we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15] And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him. [16] If any one sees […]

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Finding Peace Amid The Storm

Some days it can feel as though stress is coming at us from every direction. From family life, to work life, to the ongoing influx of news and social media, it can seem very difficult to find peace among the storm of stress. Thankfully, increasing the peace in our lives can be easier than we […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/faithonthecouch/2018/09/finding-peace-amid-the-storm/

Dialogue w Baptist on Romans 1:1-3 & Justification

[This material is from a short-lived e-mail exchange with a Baptist friend, in January 1997 (originally intended to be a comprehensive Bible study of Romans and later edited: on 11 August 2000). Her (selective) words will be in blue, but this is primarily my own contribution to the dialogue. Verses are from the NRSV Bible unless […]

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Tahlequah’s Grief

On July 24, an orca calf died off the coast of British Columbia within thirty minutes of birth and Tahlequah, the calf’s mother, carried her dead daughter on her rostrum, pushing her through the Salish Sea from Canada to the U.S. and back again in a funeral procession that logged a thousand miles and lasted […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2018/09/tahlequahs-grief/

Dialogue on Grace (vs. Anti-Catholic Phil Johnson)

Phil Johnson is the Executive Director of popular Protestant expositor John MacArthur’s Grace to You  ministry, and ordained elder and pastor at Grace Community Church. The following dialogue took place on the public Theology List. Phillip’s words will be in blue. ***** I’d like you to show me where the Catechism of the Catholic Church says anything about God securing our […]

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Romans 2-4 & “Works of the Law”: Patristic Interpretation

[patristic citations in blue] ***** We are not intrinsically sinners. We were originally created without sin; baptism removes the penalties of original sin, and we will be sinless again if we make it to heaven. Righteousness comes only from God, and He transforms us, and we cooperate with him to become more holy all the time. […]

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On the Abp. Vigano-Pope Francis Crisis, Ten Days In

Just to clarify and make it abundantly clear, for the record (and I’ve been saying most if not all of this from the beginning of this mess):   People are choosing sides. My view is to wait till all the information we can obtain is in, and make a reasoned judgment. I think we’re far […]

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At the Table

1. The temptation is there. Every time my daughter rubs her elbow against it, the sliver opens underneath like a tomb. I did that. I cut the plastic that covers our table, and through the tablecloth itself. I did it earlier, right before dinner as I was cutting my basted quilt pieces with the rotary […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2018/09/at-the-table/

Comparative Soteriology (Salvation): A Handy Chart

TOTAL DEPRAVITY CALVINISM Yes ARMINIANISM See note LUTHERANISM See note CATHOLICISM No All these belief-systems accept original sin and sola gratia: absolute necessity of God’s grace to be saved and to have the results of the Fall overcome (“total inability”), and deny Pelagianism and semi-Pelagianism: the doctrine that man can initiate salvation. Classic Arminians and Lutherans (along with Catholics) are […]

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Seidensticker Folly #14: Something Rather Than Nothing

Atheist and anti-theist Bob Seidensticker runs the influential Cross Examined blog. He asked me there, on 8-11-18: “I’ve got 1000+ posts here attacking your worldview. You just going to let that stand? Or could you present a helpful new perspective that I’ve ignored on one or two of those posts?” He also made a general statement on 6-22-17: “In this blog, I’ve responded to […]

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My Grandfather’s Garden

My grandfather’s death came surprisingly quickly, and I witnessed his rapid decline over the three consecutive Sundays leading up to it. On the first Sunday, he was still at home, refusing help when sitting up or adjusting his still powerful body on the bed. Years of throat cancer had left his voice barely audible, but […]

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Heaven-Earth Communication in Book of Revelation

James White Contradicts Explicit Biblical Teaching on the Communion of Saints Yet Again! Reformed Baptist anti-Catholic apologist Bishop “Dr.” [???] James White, stated in his post, “A Brief Comment on the ‘Communion of Saints’ and Catholic Blogger ‘Devman'” (7-22-09): [T]here is a fundamental separation between those who are alive in this world, and those who […]

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Dialogue: Has God Demonstrated His Existence (Romans 1)?

This is a follow-up dialogue with my friend, atheist Anthrotheist, concerning my recent article, “Seidensticker Folly #13: God Hasta Prove He Exists!” Seidensticker stated (as recorded in that paper): Let’s make clear what compelling evidence for God would look like. This wouldn’t simply be the clouds parting one day just as you wondered if God […]

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