Book Review: Answering Atheism

Trent Horn writes with great clarity in this Catholic Answers-funded apologetic work, Answering Atheism. He ably summarizes the key reasons for both belief and crucially, for disbelief. He does such a good job of the latter that sometimes I fear he gives the atheists too much fuel with which to burn.

In my experience, most atheists are influenced far more by their dislike of the parents and desire to

Prioritizing the Bible in Our Lives

Whoever you are, and whatever your vocation aside from Christianity, you must read the Bible. You must know the Bible. Or else, you don't know who Jesus is, or what kind of cosmos you happen to live in for that matter.

It would be better if you knew it inside and out, but I think a few goals you should shoot for (and if already accomplished, shoot for for catechumens under your care) are these:

The Core of the Problem: The Triumph of Radical Empiricism

I think the overall problem with attempting to evangelize the citizens of the modern age is their typical disenchantment with the power of Reason. While we may prove God's existence using rational arguments, the modern (post-modern, whatever) mind of the Twenty-First Century only trusts in those things that can be seen with the eye, tasted, touched, heard and smelled, preferably quantified.

This is, of course, ridiculous, since Science presupposes the reliability not only of our senses and

Fun Story About Matthew 7:21-23

As my father and I were walking across the Rollins College Campus in Winter Park one Saturday afternoon not too long ago, we started talking about religion. I have given up deliberately bringing up religion around my parents, because I have determined that the best witness I can bear is in living a sober and collected Catholic life in all godliness and contentment, while answering any questions they may have in the meantime.

I do not recall how the topic came up then. Perhaps it was a sermon my father had heard recently. But whatever the impetus, my father spoke thus:

Genesis 28

Again, it's amazing to me that God is willing to work with material like Jacob. He's a wily sneaky character, and now he's running away from his problems with Esau rather than facing them. Yet God can work with whatever material humanity gives him. Imagine what he would be able to do in cooperation with some real virtue exerted by someone.

Sometimes when I am tempted to do what is evil, I consider that God is attempting to do something great with my life, even as he is attempting to reform Jacob. Only through cooperating can I hope to climb up the ladder between heaven and Earth, which is in fact near to every human soul, if its owner will open his eyes to see it. While Earth is full of real sorrows, much of our sorrow is simply the result of our inability to trust in God's plan and act like it.

“Oh, what Grace we often forfiet. 

Oh what needless pain we bear! 

All because we do not carry 

Everything to God in prayer."

Heretics Gonna Heretic.

From a misguided fellow convert to Catholicism and real heretic if she actually believes this nonsense:

Pope Benedict XVI Ratzinger submitted an invalid resignation in February of ARSH 2013, predicated upon the error that the Papacy could be bifurcated or in any way shared or expanded.  The relevant Canon is Canon 188, which states very plainly and succinctly:
A resignation made out of grave fear that is inflicted unjustly or out of malice,

New. Easy Commenting Settings

It has come to my attention that the comment settings I had in place basically required one to be a blogger oneself in order to comment. Given the lack of commenting and feedback here despite the relative intensity of commenting on other sites I write for, I am hoping the new settings permitting one to comment with just a username and no other identifying information will encourage more comments.

The new comment settings are effective immediately.

Question: Are Protestants Heretics?

It would seem that Protestants are heretics, because they deny Catholic doctrine and the true nature of the Catholic Church, called in Scripture the "Pillar and Bulwark of the Truth." Therefore they are heretics.

Furthermore, Protestants corrupt some of the Church's Sacraments, such as Holy Communion, which some of them attempt to distribute in the form of grape juice, while others of their ranks use the prescribed wine but deny that Christ is truly Present, and Protestants deny that other Sacraments, such as Confession, exist or are necessary. So

Genesis 27

It's always been amazing to me that God would abide by the workings of such a misused system. If Esau was truly Isaac's firstborn, then shouldn't he have received the blessing? Why does God allow Isaac to unjustly bless the younger child, to take away what belongs to Esau?

I think it illuminates the conundrum that God finds himself in as well. As God, he "holds all things together." As God, he is the One, "in whom we live and move and have our being." But that means that God holds people in being when they sin. He facilitates the continuing existence of rapists and murderers and does not intervene in any special way in most cases of Worldly injustice, or so it would appear at least in the short term.

So if God holds back and abides by the rules, allows Jacob the trickster to trick his way into the blessing, it's nothing new. It is the pattern of humanity. But God is preparing a lesson that he will teach to the legalistic Jacob, turning his worldview on its head, the same way he shook Abraham's worldview as Abraham was on the verge of proving his devotion through the time-tested method of sacrifice of one's child to the deity. But God does not desire burnt sacrifice. He doesn't even want a contract. He wants a covenant, a family to be formed between God and Man. Jacob's treacherous legalism will eventually form the foil for the jewel of God's faithful love for His beloved and chosen.