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">Did Jesus Have Fleshly Half-Brothers? by  Dave Miller, Ph.D. The usual word in the Greek language for “brother” is adelphos. It possesses the same latitude of application that the English word possesses. Hence, it can refer to a person who shares the same religion (a spiritual brother). It can refer to a person who shares the same citizenship—a fellow countryman. It can refer to an intimate friend or neighbor. All of these uses are self-evident, and do not encroach upon the literal use of the term. By far the most prominent use of the term is the literal sense—a blood...

Praying The Rosary Is Not Biblical, And Is A Form Of Idolatry Just last Sunday, a local newspaper paper released an article teaching that the praying of the Holy Rosary is Bible-based. In the first two paragraphs, the writer admittedly says that there is no passage in the Bible teaching nor mentioned about the praying of Rosary. However, in the following paragraphs, the writer justified the praying of the Rosary basing it on the repetition of historical events of some Bible characters (like Gideon as he mentioned) about Israel’s history. I don’t know if the writer of this article did...

By Faith Alone: The Conversion of Martin Luther by Susan Verstraete     It was the moment he had been waiting for. His father was in the audience watching, as were his fellow monks. It was time for Martin to offer his first mass, and he was overwhelmed with the solemnity of the event. He led the congregation, saying, “We offer unto Thee, the living, the true, the eternal God.” Suddenly Martin froze. He couldn’t go on. He later wrote:“At these words I was utterly stupefied and terror-stricken. I thought to myself, ‘With what tongue shall I address such...

An objection, however, is often made to the doctrine of infallibility, in limine, which is too important not to be taken into consideration. It is urged that, as all religious knowledge rests on moral evidence, not on demonstration, our belief in the Church's infallibility must be of this character; but what can be more absurd than a probable infallibility, or a certainty resting on doubt?— I believe, because I am sure, and I am sure, because I supposed. Granting then that the gift of infallibility be adapted, when believed to unite all intellects in one common confession, the fact...

I intend to offer, over the next several weeks, a four part series on Calvin's response to Rome's doctrine of Scripture as discovered in the fourth session of the Council of Trent. It's my impression that very few Protestants today -- even the confessing kind -- have informed views on what Rome actually says about the most important theological issues of every age (namely, how we know anything about God and his ways, and how we sinners can be reconciled to the God whom we have offended by our sins). The first and foremost purpose of this brief series, then,...

Why These 66 Books? Have you ever looked at your Bible and wondered, “Why do we regard these 66 books, and no others, as comprising the inspired Word of God?”That is a critically important question, since there are many today who would deny that these 66 books truly make up the complete canon of Scripture.The Roman Catholic Church, for example, claims that the Apocryphal books which were written during the inter-testamental period (between the Old and New Testaments) ought to be included in the Bible. Cult groups like the Mormons want to add their own books to the Bible—things like the Book of Mormon, The Doctrines and Covenants,...

Some intriguing details from NPR: In Washington, D.C., construction is underway on the Museum of the Bible, an eight-story, $400 million enterprise funded by Hobby Lobby president Steve Green.Green is a Pentecostal known for donating to conservative evangelical universities and developing a public school curriculum based on the Bible. After the craft store’s controversial victory in this summer’s Supreme Court ruling over contraception, some people worry the new museum will come across as evangelical propaganda. But organizers behind Green’s latest venture say it won’t be a memorial to evangelism.The Museum of the Bible will house the more than 40,000 artifacts...

The Bible, the Word of the one true and living God, is the truth and the only source of truth that convicts of sin, warns of judgment, saves the sinner, purifies, cleanses, matures the believer and gives the hope of eternal glory. And because it is the revelation of God by which God does His work to His own ever-lasting glory, it is the priority for the church and for every believer. It is also always under attack, always under assault by Satan and his demons and the people in the kingdom of darkness. Attacks on the Bible have never...

"in purgatory the souls of those 'who died in the charity of God and truly repentant, but who had not made satisfaction with adequate penance for their sins and omissions,' are cleansed after death with punishments designed to purge away their debt." - Second Vatican Council, "Sacred Liturgy", "Apostolic Constitution on the Revision of Indulgences", no. 3 "For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God" - 1 Peter 3:18 The Roman Catholic Church teaches that Christians may have to suffer in Purgatory before going to...

On October 31st 1517 Anno Domini a comically tonsured German monk, with an attitude and a mallet posted the Medieval equivalent of a snarky  blog post on the castle door at Wittenberg. Martin Luther’s 95 Theses voiced irrefragable concerns about doctrine, ecclesiastical abuses, and unbiblical doctrines. The paper was merely intended to spark debate and reform within the Roman Catholic Church.However, the spark blew a little further than the intramural playground of the Vatican. The white squall of God’s Spirit (with a little help from Guttenberg’s press and a Latin-German dictionary) ignited the hearts of the masses, as the...

The Doctrine of Sola Scriptura: Is It Really Biblical? by Tony Warren hat does sola scriptura mean, and is the doctrine Biblical? Actually, the phrase is Latin, and it was coined by the Reformation church during the 1500's. It means "Scripture solely" or "Scripture alone." By these words the faithful Christian church of this era took a stand for the Biblical principle that the Bible was God's wholey inspired and infallible Word, and as such was the sole ultimate rule of faith and practice for the church. It illustrated that by definition, the Word of God must be the...

>Do you know how to answer a non Catholic Christian who challenges you about the Bible?Knowing how everybody loves lists, here are ten things every Catholic should know about Sola Scriptura:1. Sola Scriptura means “only Scripture”. It is the Protestant belief that the Bible is the only source for teaching on doctrine and morality.2. Sola Scriptura was one of three “solos” the other two being Sola Fide (Faith Alone) and Sola Gratia (Grace Alone)3. Sola Scriptura which means “Scripture Alone” cannot be found in the Bible. The closest proof text is 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training...

Sola Scriptura Today, even as in the time of the Reformation, thousands of Catholics worldwide are leaving Roman Catholicism for biblical Christianity. And once again, the rallying cry of the sixteenth century, Sola Scriptura, Scripture Alone, is being heard. Roman Catholic defenders have responded to this challenge by going on the offen­sive. A typical argument sounds something like this: The Bible cannot be the sole rule of faith, because the first Christians didn’t have the New Testament. Initially, Tradition, the oral teachings of the apostles, was the Church’s rule of faith. The New Testament came later when a portion of...

Ooh,ooh, he said ‘chair’” – “Florilegia” (“assertions of authority”) vs. the Reformation discipline of Textual Criticism When you’ve been involved with the sort of Protestant-vs-Roman-Catholic argumentation that we deal with on a daily basis, it’s easy to discern some patterns. As Turretin noted in the 17th century, the Roman Catholic method of defending itself is to make a claim of over-arching authority; this claim is asserted and re-asserted, as if the re-assertion carries more weight than the original assertion. This method of argument-by-authority was very common in the early medieval years. In fact, the long lists of patristic citations that...

The Protestant Reformation threw the Christian world into chaos. At the beginning of the 1400’s the Pope’s authority was absolute and the only means of salvation were the sacraments given under his auspices. There was a secular/sacred distinction that was ironclad, meaning that the priests and laity lived in practically two separate worlds. There was no concept of church membership, corporate worship, preaching, or Bible reading in the churches. And as far as doctrine was concerned, there was no debate—the creeds and declarations from Rome (and soon to be Avignon) were the law.Things had been this way for six hundred...

What caused the Reformation?Many people might answer that question by pointing to Martin Luther and his 95 Theses.But if you were to ask Luther himself, he would not point to himself or his own writings. Instead, he would give all the credit to God and His Word.Near the end of his life, Luther declared: “All I have done is put forth, preach and write the Word of God, and apart from this I have done nothing. . . . It is the Word that has done great things. . . . I have done nothing; the Word has done and...

The Lord declares in Isaiah 43:25: I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Psalm 103:2-3 adds: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases… Many will use these verses against the idea of confession to a priest. God forgiving sins, they will claim, precludes the possibility of there being a priest who forgives sins. Further, Hebrews 3:1 and 7:22-27 tell us Jesus is, “the… high priest of our confession” and that there are...

After the apostles died, was the gospel hopelessly lost until the Reformation?That certainly seems to be a common assumption in some Protestant circles today. Thankfully, it is a false assumption.I’m not entirely sure where that misconception started. But one thing I do know: it did not come from the Protestant Reformers.The Reformers themselves (including Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and others) were convinced that their position was not only biblical, but also historical. In other words, they contended that both the apostles and the church fathers would have agreed with them on the heart of the gospel.For example, the second-generation Lutheran reformer, Martin Chemnitz (1522-1586), wrote a...

EDITOR'S NOTE: Sanctity of Human Life Sunday (Jan. 18) commemorates 42 years of legal abortion in the United States. NASHVILLE (BP) -- The claim of some pro-choice groups that Scripture does not address abortion would have surprised both Jews and Christians living in the first century. That's because they were virtually unanimous that the Bible implicitly -- though clearly -- prohibited the killing of unborn children. Abortion advocates today tend either to deny this fact or remain gladly ignorant of it. For example, Planned Parenthood, America's largest abortion provider, issued a "pastoral letter to patients" last spring stating, "Many people...

Where in the New Testament are "priests" mentioned? Full QuestionThe New Testament mentions three categories of Church leaders: bishops, presbyters, and deacons. So how can the Catholic Church justify its office of "priest"? The New Testament writers seem to understand "bishop" and "presbyter" to be synonymous terms for the same office (Acts 20:17-38). AnswerThe English word "priest" is derived from the Greek word presbuteros, which is commonly rendered into Bible English as "elder" or "presbyter." The ministry of Catholic priests is that of the presbyters mentioned in the New Testament (Acts 15:6, 23). The Bible says little about the duties...