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Catholic spokesman evades question about whether Catholics and Muslims worship the same God Tim Staples can’t be faulted for this. The problem lies not with him, but with the false teachings of Vatican II about Islam, which put Catholics in an impossible position. There are numerous reasons why Catholics and Muslims do not worship the same God. I explain some below, and more here. But the ecumenical council says otherwise, and so either its teachings must be accepted and justified, or Catholics find themselves in a crisis of authority that calls into question some of the foremost dogmas of their...

I am letting you be among the first to know. It is true. I am leaving the Catholic Church. I want you to know that this has not been a decision made in haste or without serious and intense research and consideration. But I can no longer remain in a church that I no longer believe in. Let me explain. I will be writing more about this soon, but for now let me just say there are five main reasons why I am leaving the Catholic Church: 1. I believe the sole rule of faith for Christians has to be...

Islamic attitudes toward non-Muslims are determined by many factors of which two are most necessary to consider. The first is Jihad or Holy War. The second is the concept of Dar Al Harb (Arabic for "House of War") and Dar Al Islam ("House of Submission") in Islamic tradition. "House of War" refers to any territory or people who are not living in submission to Islam. "House of Submission," or Dar Al Islam, refers to any territory or people living in submission to the message of Muhammad. The concept of Jihad (Arabic for Struggle) has been given two interpretations, which...

The Rapture, the Antichrist, and the Second Coming of Christ – Pt. 2 As promised in my last post, we are now going to take a look at some of the main texts involved in presenting a biblical case for “the Rapture.” Over my next two posts, I will present seven of the most common and favorite go-to verses I used to use when I was a “Rapture” theorist before my conversion to Christ in his Church. The first is perhaps the most commonly used of all:1. I Thess. 4:15-17:For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who...

The Rapture, the Antichrist, and the Second Coming of Christ – Pt. 1 In my next post, we will get into a biblical critique of the popular “Rapture” theology we find mostly among Evangelical, Fundamentalist, and Pentecostal Christians, but before we do that I would like to respond to a question I often get when talking about this question in general.“What’s the big deal?”In other words, so what if these confused Protestants have their beliefs about this aspect of eschatology awry. That’s not going to hurt anybody, is it?In fact, I argue, Dispensationalist theology is dangerous for many reasons, but one of them can...

In John 5:43, Jesus declared:I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.With the advent of Protestantism and the confusion that followed, and that continues to this day, Christians, outside of the Catholic Church, have, at best, an incomplete understanding of the power of these words. When Jesus says, “I come in my father’s name,” he reveals the nature of the authority he possesses from God, the Father.We use this phrase—at least, the “in the name of” part—similarly in modern parlance in law enforcement when a police...

“Have you been born again, my friend?” Thousands of Catholics have been asked this question by well-meaning Fundamentalists or Evangelicals. Of course, by “born again” the Protestant usually means: “Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior through the recitation of ‘the sinner’s prayer?”” How is a Catholic to respond? The simple Catholic response is: “Yes, I have been born again—when I was baptized.” In fact, Jesus’ famous “born again” discourse of John 3:3-5, which is where we find the words “born again” in Scripture, teaches us about the essential nature of baptism: Jesus answered him, "Truly,...

God Exists – I Can Prove It! Pt. 2 In my last blog post, we pretty much nailed the idea that the universe has a beginning. And if it has a beginning, it must have a Beginner who is omnipotent.In a recent discussion with an atheist, however, I got an interesting retort at this point:Just because there was a “beginning” of this universe of ours, does not mean there could not have been other universes before ours. Moreover, how do you know there are not parallel universes to ours and that ours came from one or more of them? Or,...

God Exists – I Can Prove It! Pt. 1 As a Catholic apologist, I hear way too many sad stories from parents telling of children gone astray. Little Johnny (or little Janey) went off to college and got ”enlightened” as to the truth about God and science. The refrain is repeated: “Science has disproved the existence of God, mom and dad. All that we know or can know exists is what we see in the material universe and that can be scientifically proven. Any notion of ‘spirit’ or a ‘supreme being’ is based purely on emotion and wishful thinking.”The parents are always devastated and often...

Seven Proofs for the Natural Immortality of the Human Soul The late Dr. Antony Flew—perhaps the greatest among atheist thinkers of the last 100 years—came to faith in God largely through his studies in philosophy and, most especially, science, as he recounted in his book written with Roy Abraham Varghese, “There is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind.”It was in 2004 that Dr. Flew rocked the world with his confession that he had come to believe in God. He made clear that he accepted deism, and not the God of the Bible, or of...

Politics and Religion Pt. 1 Catholic Answers published its now-famous “Voter’s Guide for Serious Catholics” back in 2004 (updated in 2006) that has now sold millions of copies with millions more having been distributed for free. In that document, for which Catholic Answers has taken a lot of flack by the way, we give guidance to Catholics in voting so that, quite frankly, Catholics will “vote like Catholics,” yet, we do much more than just that. We give instruction, in complete harmony with the teaching authority of the Church, as to the most important moral issues of our day that are politically in play....

Defending the Trinity The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in paragraph 261, declares:The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith and of Christian life.Belief in the Trinity is essential for salvation and should be at the top of the list when it comes to priorities in defending the faith. Yet, many Christians—many Catholics—find themselves in over their heads when the topic of the Trinity is broached by members of various quasi-Christian sects who deny it, e.g., Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Iglesia Ni Cristo, The Way International, etc.Beginning with Sacred Scripture as a common...

The Trouble With Calvin – Pt. 2 In my last post, I began a series of critiques of John Calvin’s famous “five points,” most often referred to using the acronym, TULIP, which represents Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistibility of Grace, and The Perseverance of the Saints (“once saved, always saved”). In this installment, we’ll deal with Unconditional Election.Calvin’s idea of Unconditional Election simply means that God “elected” certain men for salvation and others for damnation from all eternity, rooted in texts of Scripture, as we will see below, like Romans 9:10-12:And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived...

The Trouble With Calvin – Pt. 3 In my last two blog posts, we examined the first two of the “five points” of Calvinism popularly known by the acronym, TULIP, which represents 1. Total Depravity 2. Unconditional Election 3. Limited Atonement 4. Irresistible Grace 5. Perseverance of the Saints (“once saved, always saved”). In this post, we will tackle the third point:Limited AtonementNo Christian that I know of would deny that some doctrines are more or less clear than others in Scripture. When it comes to the atonement of Christ, the Scriptures are most clear: Jesus Christ died on the...

The Trouble With Calvin – Pt. 1 Over my next five blog posts, I am going to critique the famous “five points” of Calvinist theology: 1. Total Depravity 2. Unconditional Election 3. Limited Atonement 4. Irresistibility of Grace 5. Perseverance of the Saints (“Once Saved, Always Saved”).Pt. 1 – Total DepravityIn John Calvin’s magnum opus, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Calvin presents a view of man that is very much like Luther’s, but contrary to what we find in the pages of Sacred Scripture. Calvin used texts like Gen.6:5,The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great...

The Papacy in Scripture – More Than Matthew 16 In an earlier blog post, I made the point that the role of St. Peter and his successors is made remarkably clear in Matthew 16:18-19 and its immediate context:And I tell you, you are Peter (Gr.—petros—‘rock’), and on this rock (Gr.—petra—‘rock’) I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.Jesus...

It has become fashionable in some Catholic quarters these days to question where there are now or will ever be any souls populating hell. Hell, it is taught, is a "real possibility," but whether there are any souls actually there, or whether there will ever be any souls there, is unknown to us.It is, of course, true that hell is a "real possibility" for each of us. And that is a sobering thought. But it is also true that souls are actually in hell now, and will be for all eternity. This is a teaching of our Catholic Faith.

Peter is the Rock Few texts have been the occasion for the spilling of more ink than Matthew 16:17-19:And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be...

Is Confession Biblical? 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...

Did the Catholic Church Remove One of the Ten Commandments? My mother recently sent me an email from a friend who was being challenged by an Evangelical to re-consider her Catholicism. He claimed the Catholic Church had perniciously omitted what he referred to as the second commandment—“You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth” (Exodus 20:4)—in order to keep the Catholic faithful in darkness as to the truth that they should not...