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In a kind of follow up from yesterday’s blog on the call to repentance, it seems it might be helpful to list what the Bible describes as some of the more serious sins.One of the great deceptions of our time is that serious sin is a remote possibility for most people, and that it is only committed by very wicked people. And too many people assess their moral standing with unhelpful slogans such as “I’m basically a good person,” or “I haven’t murdered anybody.”We have to be more serious and mature in our discernment than this. Of course God does...

The Old Testament answers some of the greatest questions of all time—where did we come from? Why do we desire the good yet do evil? Why do our souls yearn for eternity while our bodies yield to death and decay?Yet, the Hebrew Scriptures leave so many other tantalizing questions unanswered. These mysteries have nagged at the Christian imagination for centuries, inspired epic quests, and stumped some of the greatest minds of the Church.Here are six of the greatest mysteries of the Old Testament. (Note to readers: the focus is on historical questions, not scientific issues, such as the six days...

(The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Joachim Patinir, 1520)In (Part I) of this question we looked at Deuteronomy 7:1-2 where God calls Israel to “utterly destroy” the nations they will confront in the Promised Land. We know it’s never morally acceptable to intentionally kill innocent persons. We also know that God is all good. So what was God asking Israel to do in this passage? Was he calling them act in an evil way by killing innocent persons? Two other stories in Scripture should help to answer this question.Abraham, God, and Sodom (Genesis 18-19) In this story, Abraham is like...

It is often asserted by Roman Catholic apologists that Protestants must rely on their tradition in order to know which books ought to be included in the Biblical Canon. The argument says that since there is no “inspired table of contents” for the Bible, then we are forced into relying upon tradition to dictate which books belong in the Bible, and which books do not. It was the church of Rome, these apologists alledge, which determined the canon at the Councils of Hippo (393 A.D.) and Carthage (397 A.D.), and it is only due to this, that Protestants know which...

I once got a harsh letter from a Baptist lady protesting that she could not find the word “Catholic” anywhere in the Bible.True, the earliest occurrence of the term is in a letter of St. Ignatius of Antioch, written 20 years after the last book of the New Testament. But the idea that the Church is “catholic” pops up everywhere in the gospels and epistles. The Greek word “catholic” comes from the word for “wholeness” or “fullness.” The “catholic” church is not just a regional sect for an exclusive little group. Rather it must include the whole family of God...

Are saints who have physically died “dead saints” or are they alive with God?A friend named Leonard Alt got tired of being hammered by anti-Catholic Fundamentalists on this issue so he decided to write this article. I thought you might enjoy it too, so here it goes…Leonard writes: I wrote this note after several days of frustration with people, on Facebook, saying that saints can’t do anything, because they are dead. They seem to be leaving out the fact that the souls live on. ENJOY! Dead and gone? Where is his soul-his person? An antagonist named Warren Ritz asked,...

"If a teaching isn’t explicit in the Bible, then we don’t accept it as doctrine!" That belief, commonly known as sola scriptura, was a central component of all I believed as a Protestant. This bedrock Protestant teaching claims that Scripture alone is the sole rule of faith and morals for Christians. Diving deeper into its meaning to defend my Protestant faith against Catholicism about twenty years ago, I found that there was no uniform understanding of this teaching among Protestant pastors and no book I could read to get a better understanding of it.What role does tradition play? How...

Warning: this is very obscure and somewhat turgid. Only read it if you are Biblically and historically hardcore. Dear Rev. Know-it-all, Apollos is said to have “vigorously refuted the Jews in public, establishing from the scriptures that the Messiah is Jesus.” Do you know any resource where the argument that Apollos made can be found? Thanks, Judy Eizer Dear Judy, First let’s look at the passage you quote from Acts the 18th Chapter (24-28):  Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man had been instructed in...

The Power of a Praying Son The Spirit showed me how to pray and what to say. By: Paul Harvey Dad had essentially been unemployed for about ten years. He had jobs here and there in our hometown of Stafford, England, but they never worked out. He had always come across as cheerful and confident, but we watched his confidence erode as the years passed. Although he was a practicing Catholic, his church attendance seemed to offer him no real consolation. He knew none of the joy and peace that I and others had come to know in a...

The report sets out liturgy for a civil partnership blessing, along with the traditional view of marriage. A report for the Church of Scotland on same-sex relationships has suggested an order of service for a civil partnership blessing.The liturgy contains ideas for scripture readings, including passages about David and Jonathan, and Ruth and Naomi. The report by the special Theological Commission, which was appointed in 2011, also presents the traditional view of marriage as between a man and a woman.Opinion The Church of Scotland said the report described the breadth of theological opinion that existed and did not represent...

Cattedrale di Monreale in Sicily. Rome, Italy, Apr 19, 2013 / 02:03 am (CNA).- The Italian bishops' conference have produced a twelve-part television series presenting the Creed from  Sicily's Monreale cathedral, a 12th century church covered in rich mosaics which explain the faith. “Step by step, from inside the cathedral, Fr. Innocenzo will unveil the 'spirit' of the images and therefore of the sacred narration, following the outline of the articles of the Creed,” wrote Sandro Magister in his April 18 post for the Italian magazine l'Espresso. Magister is one of the creators of the program, called “The Creed...

When we think of strange verses in the New Testament, the fantastic visions of Revelation immediately leap to mind. But Revelation isn’t the only place. From weird words used by St. Paul to the trance of St. Peter, here are six of the strangest verses in the New Testament.Acts 10:11-12 – The Ecstasy of St. Peter‘And he saw the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as it were a great linen sheet let down by the four corners from heaven to the earth: Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts, and creeping things of the earth, and fowls of...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Catholic faith is not centered simply on a book -- the Bible -- but on Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh, Pope Francis said. "The sacred Scriptures are a written testimony to the divine Word," which came before the Bible and exceeds it, the pope said April 12 during a meeting with members of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, an international body of scholars that advises the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Commission members met at the Vatican April 9-12 to conclude work on a document about inspiration and truth in the...

In the last few years the phrase “Bucket List” has come into the American lexicon. A bucket list is a list of things to accomplish before you die. There is some sort of TV show related to this that I have never seen, but from the few snips I have seen, it is mostly about frivolous, even unpleasant stuff.But for the Christian the Scriptures announce a number of things that we well ought to have either done or have up and running long before we die. Our goal is to die in an act of loving God, to die in...

St Paul speaks about homosexuality three timesKeep reading to learn what he says... One afternoon while ministering to the homeless in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, I fell into a conversation with a stranger about religion, which eventually led to the subject of Christ. Without hesitating, he came right out and said, “I’m a gay Christian.” After he admitted to being an active homosexual, he added, “I have studied the whole Bible and nowhere does it teach that homosexuality is a sin.”  I countered his claim, but the conversation became understandably awkward. Since then, I’ve met others who believe that...

Q: Okay, so what is the Christian account of how revelation occurred?As Elmer Fudd might say, “Vewy, vewy swowly.” Divine revelation didn’t happen in a blinding flash—such as God dropping the Summa Theologiae on top of a mountain and waiting for people to invent the Latin language so they could read it. (Though He could have given them magical spectacles that would translate it for them….) It seems that God preferred to slowly unfold His personality and His will for us through the course of tangled, messy human history. We might wonder why, and call up the divine customer service...

Here’s a little piece I did a few years back on why I think it obvious the Resurrection really happened. Exalted Felicitations of the Day!I’m told the latest trend among professional atheists, who read each other but not actual New Testament scholarship except from the hothouse of court prophets for atheism like Bob Price and Bart Ehrman, is that Jesus is a “composite”. It’s unclear what this means, but I take it that they think the authors of the New Testament dug through the Old Testament for random verses and then invented incidents in the life of Jesus in order...

 Today, the Monday of Holy Week, Father Steve Grunow shares his sermon about Isaiah, Christ, and the many complexities to a story that ultimately serve to simplify, redeem and illuminate. Our first reading for today is an excerpt from the Old Testament Book of the Prophet Isaiah. In this text, the prophet reveals a mysterious figure, which he names as the servant of the Lord. The servant of the Lord has been chosen by the God of Israel for a particular mission.  The mission of this servant is the restoration of Israel. The prophet Isaiah speaks the word of...

Sister Evangeline and Sister Maria Suso high five on "The American Bible Challenge" game show Three sisters from the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, from Ann Arbor, Mich., are set to take on Christian bikers, NFL football players, rabbis and more on the second season of the game show "The American Bible Challenge." The show premiers on Game Show Network March 21 at 9 p.m. Through trivia and other challenges, Sisters Evangeline, Maria Suso and Peter Joseph will have their Scripture knowledge put to the test as they compete against 17 other teams to receive $100,000 for charity....

The Gospel for this Sunday is continued next week and so perhaps we can await an analysis of it until then. The First reading from Nehemiah 8 is a wonderful meditation on the glory and wonder of the Word of God and it deserves our attention.The background of the text is that Israel, in 587 BC had been conquered by the Babylonians and the survivors of that war were led into exile in Babylon. After 80 years the Persians conquered the Babylonians and Cyrus, King of Persia, permitted the Jews to return to the Promised Land. Sadly, only a small...