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I will here make some observations on offenses, what distinctions are to be made between them, what kind are to be avoided and what disregarded. This will afterwards enable us to determine what scope there is for our liberty among men. We are pleased with the common division into offense given and offense taken, since it has the plain sanction of Scripture, and not improperly expresses what is meant. If from unseasonable levity or wantonness, or rashness, you do any thing out of order or not in its own place, by which the weak or unskillful are offended, it may...

I don't have anything to gain by an exoneration of Luther's obvious societal stereotype against the Jews. Luther was not infallible. He said a number of things ranging on the scale of brilliant to typical to ridiculous to offensive. From my perspective, Luther's theology neither stands or falls because of statements on the negative side of the scale. It's my opinion that Luther's attitude toward the Jews is part of Church history, and, that really, to point a finger at Luther one needs to consistently point the fingers beyond Luther as well. This would be the consistent thing to do. There...

Dear James , Because you are a valuable friend of Catholic Answers, you have been selected to participate in a survey to help us improve our apostolate. As a thank-you, we will be giving away 25 signed copies of Tim Staples’s newest book, Behold Your Mother. Combining the best recent scholarship with in-depth knowledge of Scripture, this book offers the most thorough Marian apologetics you’ll find anywhere. Give us your feedback by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, March 8, 2015 and you will be entered to win one of 25 signed copies of Behold Your Mother! Click here to start the...

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are -- yet was without sin. -- Hebrews 4:14-15, NIV It deeply concerned us, that he who was to be our Mediator should be very God and very man. Our iniquities, like a cloud intervening between Him and us, having utterly alienated...

Let us learn that the holy fathers under the Old Testament were not ignorant that in this world God seldom or never gives his servants the fulfilment of what is promised them, and therefore has directed their minds to his sanctuary, where the blessings not exhibited in the present shadowy life are treasured up for them. This sanctuary was the final judgment of God, which (as they could not at all discern it by the eye) they were contented to apprehend by faith. Inspired with this confidence, they doubted not that whatever might happen in the world, a time would...

The LORD had said to Abrahm, "Leave your country, your people, and your father's household and go to the land I will show you." -- Genesis 12:1, NIV Abraham alone ought to be to us equal to tens of thousands if we consider his faith, which is set before us as the best model of believing, to whose race also we must be held to belong in order that we may be the children of God. What could be more absurd than that Abraham should be the father of all the faithful, and not even occupy the meanest corner among...

VATICAN CITY, March 3 (Reuters) - A new Italian film that attempts to defend wartime Pope Pius XII against accusations he turned a blind eye to the Holocaust has been panned by the Vatican as well as Catholic and Jewish media. "Shades of Truth" is the account of a fictional present-day American journalist who starts off as a critic of Pius and changes his mind after research in Israel, Rome and elsewhere in Europe. [SNIP] After a screening on Monday near the Vatican, the film, which calls Pius "the most misunderstood person of the 20th century", was universally panned. The...

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint session of the U.S. Congress Tuesday, seated in the gallery will be a man designated to represent the evangelical Christian community’s support for Israel: recording legend Pat Boone. [SNIP] “I expect to be sitting in a gallery position, where if my friend Bibi Netanyahu wants to … mention that evangelical Christians are among, as he knows, Israel’s most staunch supporters that number in the tens of millions in the United States, he can point to me as a representative of evangelical Christians,” Boone explained. “He is aware of it; it will...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (RNS) The collected works of Jonathan Edwards, the 18th-century preacher and one of America’s most famous theologians, are now available for download thanks to Logos Bible Software. But for those who don’t want to cough up $1,289.95 to purchase them, there’s good news: The Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale Divinity School lets you view them online for free. The colonial preacher was instrumental in America’s Great Awakening and is known for fiery sermons such as “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” The 26-volume collection, “The Works of Jonathan Edwards,” comprises more than 10,000 sermons, articles...

The First Presbyterian Church of Boulder is asking its congregation to vote on whether to end affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (USA), in favor of a California-based evangelical Presbyterian association that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. The First Presbyterian Church of Boulder, 1820 15th St., well known for a large-scale feed of Boulder's homeless population every Thanksgiving, had originally been scheduled to take a vote of its congregation Feb. 22, but that was postponed due to weather. And although absentee voting has been ongoing, the bulk of the balloting is now scheduled for its...

Tickets are now on sale at WalkerPercyWeekend.org. Please keep in mind that tickets are limited. Many festivalgoers last year said that they loved how small the event was, because they felt like they got to talk to folks, and to get to know them. We agree. We want to keep this thing neighborly, and to recreate the vibe that Peter Augustine Lawler described in his review of the 2014 festival. By the way, Peter will also be anchoring the New South/Old South panel this year. Baylor’s great Ralph Wood will be the man lecturing on Flannery, Walker, Catholicism and the...

First Things has a great little post by a dejected Lutheran convert about how Catholic liturgical singing is like “plaintive squeaks from depressed marmosets.” This is a permanent pet peeve of mine. And yes, this is something parish priests should do more about. You know the phenomenon of how a church will be crowded–except the two front pews. I knew a priest who often wouldn’t start Mass until those pews were filled. He would go out in front before Mass and ask people to move to the first pews. One of the few 70s-style liturgical tics I wouldn’t mind at...

It was a well-nigh universal trope of Reformation rhetoric that the Reformers were the catholics who had to defend orthodoxy and catholicity against the sectarianism of the Roman church. Luther disputed the Catholic claim that obedience to Rome was the definition of catholicity, and disputed it on the basis of the universal testimony of the church (Unitive Protestantism, 65). Calvin defended the Reformers against the charge that they were schismatics: “Verily the wolves complain against the lambs” (quoted, 73). The 1559 French Confession distinguished the true church from “all other sects who call themselves the church” (quoted, 80), a thinly...

The Kootenai County Republican County Republican Central Committee last night rejected a resolution to declare Idaho a "Christian state" – a proposed resolution that had drawn national ridicule, including comparisons to ISIS. The S-R’s D.F. Oliveria reports in his “Huckleberries Online” blog that the resolution offered by Precinct Committeeman Hans Neumann was opposed by more than two-thirds of the Central Committee. Precinct Committeeman Bjorn Handeen offered a motion not to consider the resolution at all, and it carried overwhelmingly. The meeting attracted a standing-room-only crowd.

A Brewton-Parker College vice president fired Feb. 2 after refusing to sign a non-disclosure agreement about Ergun Caner’s Jan. 20 resignation has been reinstated. Iowa pastor Dave Miller, editor of SBC Voices, a group blog devoted to news and commentary about the Southern Baptist Convention, reported Feb. 18 that he had confirmed rumors circulating the day before that C.B. Scott was reinstated as vice president of alumni, advancement and church relations at the Baptist-affiliated school in Mount Vernon, Ga., by interim president Charlie Bass.Peter Lumpkins, vice president for communications, confirmed the information to Baptist News Global Feb. 19. Scott, a...

Here is how Russell Moore, the Southern Baptist pastor who heads the church’s Washington office, responded to the murder of the 21 Coptic Christians by ISIS: These are my brothers, faithful to Christ even unto death. King Jesus puts heads back on, and puts… http://t.co/0Dps0Lvtxy— Russell Moore (@drmoore) February 15, 2015 A number of Southern Baptists had similar responses. The Southern Baptist bloggers at Pulpit & Pen will have you know that this is a betrayal: Do Southern Baptist leaders and other evangelicals really not know what a Christian is or how you become one? Is it being born into an ethnic group...

And while we've featured some reveals at the Funko booth for New York Toy Fair 2015 (Feb 14-17) including their new Vinyl Sugar-line, this particular slice of toy-news requires a post all on it's own. Pope Francis as vinyl collectibles! "This is where we get insane! Insanely holy! The People's Pope, Pope Francis is now a Pop! Asia vinyl figure, as well as the Holy-Shaker Bobble-Head, and finally a Collectormates Premium Figure...all from our friends at MINDstyle. This is official merchandise of Pope Francis's historic visit to the Philippines. A donation will be made for the universal charity work...

Why worry about Big Brother? It's your big Samsung TV that's watching you. Oh, and listening to you. That seems to be the conclusion from reading the privacy small print offered by the company. (Samsung's motto: TV has never been this smart.) It concerns the voice-recognition feature, vital for everyone who finds pressing a few buttons on their remote far too tiresome. The wording, first spotted by the Daily Beast, first informs you that the company may "capture voice commands and associated texts so that we can provide you with Voice Recognition features and evaluate and improve the features." This...

Do you want to know how to make a Calvinist angry? Do you want to know how to offend a whole room full of them? Just bring up the old line about Reformed theology being incompatible with evangelism. We have all heard it, we have all read it, we have all rejected it. It’s the word on the street, though, that Calvinists make poor evangelists. Many people are firmly convinced that there is a deep-rooted flaw embedded within Reformed theology that undermines evangelistic fervor. Most blame it on predestination. After all, if God has already chosen who will be saved,...

The recent and simultaneous canonization of not one, but two former popes brings to mind the rich and varied traditions surrounding the history of different Christian saints. Today, the process to create a saint is complicated with various stages, each requiring a certain amount of time, along with the need for particular forms of evidence which provide proof of miracles. The Pope can amend the process, if he so chooses, but the general pattern remains the same. In some cases the gap between the life of the individual and his or her canonization could be quite lengthy. Saint Joan of...