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Salvation By Faith Alone? Whatzat?

2025-01-18T22:34:27-04:00January 18th, 2025|Categories: Blog|

One of the Protestant "solas" is sola fide or "salvation by faith alone".  This man made, non Biblical doctrine was devised in order to counter what was perceived as Catholics "earning their salvation" by doing good works. I'm the first to admit that it's an easy mistake to make. Much of Catholic devotional practice certainly looks like salvation [...]

Mary Was Sinless? C’mon. I Don’t Get It.

2025-01-16T19:27:18-04:00January 16th, 2025|Categories: Blog|

We are seeing a record number of Evangelical Protestants enquiring about the Catholic faith here in South Carolina. This morning a young woman from a Baptist background came to see me and said she has questions about Mary and "just didn't get it" about claims that Mary was sinless. So we had a discussion that went [...]

Ten Non-Biblical Traditions Most Bible Christians Believe About the Magi

2025-01-05T17:41:31-04:00January 5th, 2025|Categories: Blog|

Sola Scriptura is the foundation of the Evangelical Bible Christian religion. The Bible Christian says he believes only what is in the Bible and he eschews "man made traditions."  However, when it comes to the Christmas story,  the typical Bible Christian actually believes lots of man made traditions, and St Matthew's story of the Magi visiting [...]

Ten Reasons Why the Magi Came From Arabia

2025-01-03T23:12:57-04:00January 3rd, 2025|Categories: Blog|

Those who are familiar with Biblical scholarship are aware that the majority belief about the St Matthew's story of the Magi visiting Bethlehem is that it is a fanciful legend to show that Jesus was a very special guy and that it was cleverly concocted to show how Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecies. Check out this [...]

How do We Know Where Jesus Was Born?

2024-12-27T12:41:11-04:00December 27th, 2024|Categories: Blog|

We do, in fact, know where Jesus Christ was born. The textual, archeological and historical record is pretty conclusive. The New Testament tells us Jesus was born in the little village of Bethlehem in Judea about six miles from Jerusalem. If you visit Bethlehem today the centerpiece of the town is the ancient Church of the [...]

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Jordan Peterson and C.S.Lewis

2024-12-27T08:38:31-04:00December 27th, 2024|Categories: Blog|

Before Christmas I met a young man in California who said, with a joyful smile on his face, "I'm a revert. I came back to my Catholic faith last year." "Wonderful" I said, "What brought you back?" "Listening to Jordan Peterson." It is interesting how God uses laymen as evangelists. In the mid twentieth century Lewis, [...]

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The True Meaning of the “Inn” in Bethlehem

2024-12-26T20:41:44-04:00December 26th, 2024|Categories: Blog|

Most of our mental imagery about Jesus' birth in Bethlehem is grounded in the culture and conditions of medieval Europe. Our creche tableaus are rooted in the first stable scenes set up by St Francis in the thirteenth century and feature a European type stable-barn-cattle shed. The "inn" is a typical European tavern, inn, rustic hotel [...]

A UFO Explanation

2024-12-13T14:41:34-04:00December 13th, 2024|Categories: Blog|

The news is buzzing this week with reports of UFOs buzzing around New Jersey. UFOs are certainly among the most puzzling paranormal phenomena. BTW I like Jimmy Akin's distinction between "paranormal" and "supernatural". Paranormal refers to phenomena that are beside or outside normal experience.  "Supernatural" refers to phenomena "above" the natural. In other words, paranormal phenomena [...]

What is a “valid” sacrament?

2024-12-03T10:38:51-04:00December 3rd, 2024|Categories: Blog|

As a convert from Anglicanism I remember important conversations among my fellow Anglican clergymen about the "validity" of the sacraments. Pope Leo XII famously judged Anglican orders to be "null and utterly void", but what does that mean and what do Catholics mean about "validity"? Most people would associate validity with authenticity, value, goodness and (in [...]

The Arabian Origins of the Magi

2024-11-25T14:07:13-04:00November 25th, 2024|Categories: Blog|

Those who have read my 2017 book The Mystery of the Magi--The Quest to Identify the Three Wise Men  will be familiar with my proposal that the Magi were, first of all historical figures--and not (as mainstream Biblical scholarship supposes) a fanciful legend. Also, they were not from Persia, but from Jordan--more specifically from the Nabatean kingdom [...]

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