[katana]

Am not a member of the Roman Catholic Church myself and have no plans to convert to Roman Catholicism. I would probably be more inclined toward the Orthodox faith if I was for some reason forced to choose. But I do find many of these articles, by faithful Catholics, some of whom like this writer are converts, defending or at least discussing their beliefs very interesting. We have our disagreements but I recognize them as fellow Christians.

To the best of my knowledge the writer quoted scripture accurately and made a sound point about what Paul was referring to by "Doctrines of Demons" (the beginnings of Gnosticism - which I believe he also fairly and accurately described) in a 1st century context.

Calm and reasoned criticism would probably be accepted by the author with good grace and as a fair challenge. Your comment, on the other hand, was closer to a blood libel than anything remotely persuasive.

So if you don't mind (or even if you do) I'd like to modify your tag line: "editor-surveyor: Not as smart as he thinks he is"

[blackpacific]

Tim Staples is a gifted speaker, and a charitable apologist. Many of the loud mouths that appear in these threads make a common mistake. They use their reason as a positive rule of Faith. Their reason tell them what the Bible means, and after reading the Sacred Scriptures for 65 years, they still get it wrong. St. Francis DeSales outlined the rules of Faith; seven are positive, while only one is negative, human reason. Human reason can be used to rule out what does not belong to the Faith, but it will fail if used to determine in a positive role what one must believe. The gift of Faith is the light that shines from the mountain top, it is by this gift that we know what to believe with regard to the things of God. This is why Catholics can pick up the Bible, read passages and with very little effort pick up on what the Holy Spirit is saying. For those who have Faith, the meaning of Sacred Scriptures is plain as day, while those who approach it through the lens of human reason and its attendant pride, the understanding of Sacred Scriptures is a lifelong struggle. Faith is a gift, and we cannot glory in having the gift, because nothing we do or have ever done would ever earn it. It is a pearl of great price. This gift comes to us through the Sacrament of Baptism. However, it is a gift that we must nurture. Receiving Jesus in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is very sweet, yet it challenges our reason because our senses deny it while our will chooses to believe that the words of Christ cannot fail. The Pange Lingua of St. Thomas Aquinas captures this well.