Free Republic

Why Rome Can Only Appreciate, Rather than Prove the Immaculate Conception Should we believe something because we think it is true, or should we think something is true because we first believe?  For example, if you believe that extra-terrestrials have visited the earth, then you are likely to believe in UFO sightings and  alien abduction stories, and conspiracy theories about government coverups as confirmation of what you already believe.  This doesn’t mean that you believe that every UFO sighting or abduction story is real.  Nor does this mean that you buy into every conspiracy theory out there.  But if you...

It has been argued that “Mary is the creature closest to God. Moreover, while Christ is the mediator of all grace between God and creation, Mary is the mediator of all grace between Christ and humanity. Consequently, Mary is a powerful intercessor for all who turn to her” (see Zoltan, 1994, emp. added). The Bible clearly teaches that Mary is not Deity and should not be worshipped as such (see Pinedo, 2009). If she is not Deity, is she the closest human being to Deity? Does she play an active role in heaven, interceding for individual Christians? Does she make...

It is often claimed the Mary was heralded by the Patristics as a woman full of grace, perhaps sinless, and deserving our veneration above other departed saints as the Mother of the Church. This is not the case. While I do freely admit that the word Patristic can be used to cover a variety of ages, I prefer to use it to the pre-nicaean leaders of the church. Let us start with them, and we can move on from there. In the Apostolic Fathers, as the first century leaders are often called, one sees little to no mention of...

How much is your church like the ancient church?That’s a popular question these days—especially if you read guys like Robert Webber, Brian McLaren, Wolfgang Simson, or Frank Viola and George Barna.Most of the contemporary discussion about the ancient church attempts to show discrepancies between what is now and what was then. The not-so-subtle implication is that there is something very wrong with the contemporary church. Blame Constantine. Blame the Enlightenment. Blame Capitalism. Blame the Fundamentalists. It doesn’t really matter. The only way to fix the church today is to get back to the ancient church.Based on this premise we...

There aren't many subjects Catholic apologists like to discuss more than the eucharist. Even if their arguments about the papacy are refuted, even if the evidence they cite for the Immaculate Conception, Purgatory, and other doctrines isn't convincing, they still think they have a strong argument in the doctrine of the eucharist. They'll quote John 6 and the passages of scripture about the Last Supper. They'll quote centuries of church fathers referring to the eucharist as a sacrifice and referring to Jesus being present in the elements of the eucharist. They'll point out that even Protestants like Martin Luther have...

Missional Meditation Consider this comment I received on the “Modernized Hymns” post. "I have tried to avoid God my whole life. I wouldn’t know a traditional hymn from a modernized hymn. I’ve never even stepped foot into a church…until this past Sunday. The people on stage sang a song by David Crowder, and I began to feel the very presence of God. It was like nothing I ever felt before. Tears streamed down my eyes and right then, I bowed down and made a decision to surrender my life to Jesus. I ask you a simple question…wasn’t David Crowder’s song...

December 26, 2014Feast of Saint Stephen, First Martyr    Reading 1 Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59 Stephen, filled with grace and power,was working great wonders and signs among the people.Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen,Cyrenians, and Alexandrians,and people from Cilicia and Asia,came forward and debated with Stephen,but they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke. When they heard this, they were infuriated,and they ground their teeth at him.But he, filled with the Holy Spirit,looked up intently to heavenand saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,and he said,“Behold,...

A commonly heard claim is that Jews, Christians and Muslims all believe in “the same God.” These are comforting words and of great assistance to those wishing to engage in interfaith dialogues and tri-faith ventures. But is this true? To answer that question, let’s look at what is said and taught about Jews and Christians by Allah, the god of Islam, and Muhammad, Allah’s prophet. We’ll start with the Koran. The KoranMuslims believe the Koran is the infallible, timeless and perfect word of Allah. So what does Allah say in the Koran about Jews and Christians?To set the stage, Allah...

I have been devoting my columns this month to the Ten Commandments because we need a fixed moral anchor to solve the problem of evil. And nothing is as effective as the Ten Commandments. Two weeks ago PragerUniversity.com released eleven five-minute video courses — one for each commandment and an introduction. The series has received over 2 million views. Everything needed to make a good world is contained in these Ten Commandments. Whatever your faith, or if you have no faith, I invite you to watch the videos at www.prageru.com. They are cleverly animated with text and graphics. Here is...

The reason for this article is to determine if the worship/veneration given to Mary by the catholic church is justified from a Biblical perspective. This will be evaluated using the Biblical standard and not man’s standard.

The leaders of a new, Christian movement think they’ve solved a centuries-old mystery: why men are absent from church. But their answer isn’t politically correct. They believe Christianity has become feminized. There are generally more women than men in every type of church, in every part of the world, according to church growth experts like Patrick Johnstone, author of Operation World. A traditional explanation is that women are more spiritual than men. But the leaders of this new movement suggest that the church’s music, messages and ministries cater to women. One of the leaders is David Murrow, author of a...

President Obama will sit down with CBS's "60 Minutes" on Sunday for a wide-ranging interview on domestic and foreign policy, including the bombing campaign against ISIS, the network announced Thursday.

September 21, 2014Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Is 55:6-9 Seek the LORD while he may be found,call him while he is near.Let the scoundrel forsake his way,and the wicked his thoughts;let him turn to the LORD for mercy;to our God, who is generous in forgiving.For my thoughts are not your thoughts,nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.As high as the heavens are above the earth,so high are my ways above your waysand my thoughts above your thoughts. Responsorial Psalm Ps 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18 R/ (18a) The Lord is near to all who call upon...

These are the days of Elijah.

God has always existed, and He was perfectly fine without man. He always was, is and will always be. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were already having a good time together. Everything they do is good and fulfilling, and so they didn't need man in order to be complete. Nevertheless, God chose to create man and, through worship, allow him to get in on the joy. Man tends to think in wrong ways about this entire arrangement. Man is prone to assume that it's all about him. How foolish of man. It's always been about God, and...

Victoria Osteen, wife of megachurch preacher and New York Times bestselling author Joel Osteen, is now facing withering criticism online for a viral video clip in which she is shown telling congregants at Lakewood Church that obedience, worship and church attendance is not for God but themselves. "I just want to encourage every one of us to realize when we obey God, we're not doing it for God—I mean, that's one way to look at it—we're doing it for ourselves, because God takes pleasure when we're happy," she said in the 36-second clip posted on YouTube, with her husband smiling...

Our altar boys practically fight for the honor of being the thurifer. That's the name for the server who carries the thurible — the censer — in the procession at Mass.  They like being thurifer because they get to wear the more ornate lace surplice, and they know thurifer is the most complicated job and is reserved for the older, more experienced boys. The use of incense is optional for most Masses.  It's used to purify the coffin at funerals and to bless statues and images.  However, many Catholic priests choose not to use incense at Mass, and the...

Malaysia's highest court on Monday rejected a challenge to a ban that in effect prohibits non-Muslims from referring to God as Allah. That ban has been in place since 2007 and, despite a series of appeals by the Catholic Church, will now remain. Malay-speaking Chrisians have long used the word "Allah" to signify God; the word entered the Malay language in the medieval era with the arrival of Arabic-speaking merchants. But in Malaysia's complex, fragmented social landscape, historic realities often rub up against modern politics. Malaysian authorities pursuing the case say that Christian usage of the term presents a dangerous...

The New York Times today reports on a disturbing development at Bowdoin College: For 40 years, evangelicals at Bowdoin College have gathered periodically to study the Bible together, to pray and to worship. They are a tiny minority on the liberal arts college campus, but they have been a part of the school’s community, gathering in the chapel, the dining center, the dorms. After this summer, the Bowdoin Christian Fellowship will no longer be recognized by the college. Already, the college has disabled the electronic key cards of the group’s longtime volunteer advisers. … The students, who plan to meet...

One of the more prominent features of Protestant denominations over the decades was hymn singing. Get in your time machine go back 50 years, to any Protestant denomination, and you would find every member of the congregation on their feet, hymnal in hand, singing quite loudly, even harmonizing the old familiar hymns: Onward Christian Soldiers….Amazing Grace….When the Roll is called up Yonder….More About Jesus….Praise God from Whom All Blessing Flow!Catholics congregations were rather different. Low Masses in Latin were common where there was little or no singing. High mass featured complex music that a trained choir largely handled. And the...