"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."I was just listening to a lecture in which is was pointed out that Lord Acton said this in regard to the question of whether the Pope has the power of infallibility. Sorry to say, I don't have any documentation to back this up, as it was only a passing comment in a lecture. It's interesting, if true, as I always thought this quote was in regard to secular rulers or political sentiment.
Showing posts with label tidbits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tidbits. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
The Pope and "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely"
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Tidbits
1. Internet Explorer 9 and Being Assimilated by Quick Time
I upgraded all my computers to IE 9 a few days ago. I figured something wouldn't work correctly. I've got a few different audio / video programs, but I've set all the defaults to Windows Media Player. With IE 9, all audio began opening in a separate window with a small Quick Time bar with no controls. So I looked over all the Internet options stuff which was all still set to WMP. I tried a variety of things, but Quick Time decided it was not going to leave, so I completely removed the program. The ironic thing is about a month ago I explained to a friend with the same problem he didn't know how to work his Internet options. Kudos to Quick Time for hijacking my computers.
2. How's Family Radio Doing?
I've been meaning to check in with Family Radio now that doomsday is even closer. I'd be curious if Mr. Camping has been answering any questions about the recent earthquakes. Patrick Madrid actually posted an interesting X-File on the recent earthquakes here. Here's a great overview of Harold Camping from a URC minister (part two here). Also, here's a recent mp3 of testimonies of ex-Camping followers.
Camping Countdown clock:
3. House Church Revisited
A while back I put together a brief article on the house church movement for James White's website: Tradition and the House Church Movement. After I wrote this article, the main leaders of this movement contacted me, and we went back and forth a bit. Recently the pastor of my church touched on this subject, and the audio link can be found here.
4. Catholic Answers Grows Up in Regard to Luther
I never thought I'd see the day when Roman Catholics would be correcting Roman Catholics about Luther. They're now saying some of the stuff I've said for years. This post, Catholic Church and Luther asks "What is the Catholic Churches views toward Martin Luther today?" The normal response is heretic or madman. This time someone actually said, "The Catholic Church has no infallible official view, with respect to Martin Luther." That is indeed true. Hubert Jedin was a German Roman Catholic historian from the Universities of Breslau and Bonn. He was a specialist in the history of the Council of Trent. He pointed out that Catholicism never condemned Luther by name at Trent, and that no official judgment on Luther exists by which a loyal Catholic is bound. There are many Roman Catholic scholars that are quite benevolent toward Luther, a partial list of these can be found here.
Also interesting was someone quoting Patrick O'Hare's The Facts About Luther and then having another participant state:
Ohare's book should not be used as a citation in this day and age. His book was a popular polemic intended to arm catholics to fire back at the vitriolic anti-catholic culture of America in that day (1900ish). But Ohare wasn't very good about carefully citing his sources by modern standards. It's really hard to substantiate some of his claims when you're challenged. Read the book if you like, but get corroborating evidence before citing him. In some cases he doesn't name sources, for other claims he names sources that have been since lost and there does appear to be some distortions, maybe even falsehoods in there.
That's amazing, I never thought anyone besides me would post something like this on Catholic Answers. The actual O'Hare section was as follows:
Martin Luther looked around and saw the damage that Sola Scriptura and 'private interpretation' of Holy Scripture was doing to his 'reformation', and made the following remarks...
"This one will not hear of Baptism, and that one denies the sacrament, another puts a world between this and the last day: some teach that Christ is not God, some say this, some say that: there are as many sects and creeds as there are heads. No yokel is so rude but when he has dreams and fancies, he thinks himself inspired by the Holy Ghost and must be a prophet" De Wette III, 61. quoted in O'Hare, THE FACTS ABOUT LUTHER, 208.
I've covered this quote before. Luther isn’t talking about the devastating effect of sola scriptura. He’s talking about the devastating effect of the devil, who, Luther says, was at peace in his papal fortress, but now with the gospel being loudly proclaimed, must find a different way to keep men enslaved to sin and darkness. One of the Roman Catholic participants corrected the person posting this by stating,
His last years and months were more anti-papal and pro-evangelical Christianity more than he ever was. Luther didn't make this statement as a "what have I done!!?" type of sentiment Catholics would like it to say but rather he was disappointed that so many Christians who had started off by making the right decision (in his mind) to leave Catholicism made poor choices in going in Zwinglian directions or Reformed type theology (even though Calvin wasn't a contemporary there were Calvinist type overtones already) and Anabaptist thinking, etc. He felt Lutheranism was reformed Christianity and lamented that so many made the poor choice, in his opinion, of not following his lead. He was sad that there was chaos, but he wasn't regretful.
5. The King's Speech
I went to see this yesterday (finally) and thought it was very well done. Yes, it indeed deserved to win awards over Inception.
I upgraded all my computers to IE 9 a few days ago. I figured something wouldn't work correctly. I've got a few different audio / video programs, but I've set all the defaults to Windows Media Player. With IE 9, all audio began opening in a separate window with a small Quick Time bar with no controls. So I looked over all the Internet options stuff which was all still set to WMP. I tried a variety of things, but Quick Time decided it was not going to leave, so I completely removed the program. The ironic thing is about a month ago I explained to a friend with the same problem he didn't know how to work his Internet options. Kudos to Quick Time for hijacking my computers.
2. How's Family Radio Doing?
I've been meaning to check in with Family Radio now that doomsday is even closer. I'd be curious if Mr. Camping has been answering any questions about the recent earthquakes. Patrick Madrid actually posted an interesting X-File on the recent earthquakes here. Here's a great overview of Harold Camping from a URC minister (part two here). Also, here's a recent mp3 of testimonies of ex-Camping followers.
Camping Countdown clock:
3. House Church Revisited
A while back I put together a brief article on the house church movement for James White's website: Tradition and the House Church Movement. After I wrote this article, the main leaders of this movement contacted me, and we went back and forth a bit. Recently the pastor of my church touched on this subject, and the audio link can be found here.
4. Catholic Answers Grows Up in Regard to Luther
I never thought I'd see the day when Roman Catholics would be correcting Roman Catholics about Luther. They're now saying some of the stuff I've said for years. This post, Catholic Church and Luther asks "What is the Catholic Churches views toward Martin Luther today?" The normal response is heretic or madman. This time someone actually said, "The Catholic Church has no infallible official view, with respect to Martin Luther." That is indeed true. Hubert Jedin was a German Roman Catholic historian from the Universities of Breslau and Bonn. He was a specialist in the history of the Council of Trent. He pointed out that Catholicism never condemned Luther by name at Trent, and that no official judgment on Luther exists by which a loyal Catholic is bound. There are many Roman Catholic scholars that are quite benevolent toward Luther, a partial list of these can be found here.
Also interesting was someone quoting Patrick O'Hare's The Facts About Luther and then having another participant state:
Ohare's book should not be used as a citation in this day and age. His book was a popular polemic intended to arm catholics to fire back at the vitriolic anti-catholic culture of America in that day (1900ish). But Ohare wasn't very good about carefully citing his sources by modern standards. It's really hard to substantiate some of his claims when you're challenged. Read the book if you like, but get corroborating evidence before citing him. In some cases he doesn't name sources, for other claims he names sources that have been since lost and there does appear to be some distortions, maybe even falsehoods in there.
That's amazing, I never thought anyone besides me would post something like this on Catholic Answers. The actual O'Hare section was as follows:
Martin Luther looked around and saw the damage that Sola Scriptura and 'private interpretation' of Holy Scripture was doing to his 'reformation', and made the following remarks...
"This one will not hear of Baptism, and that one denies the sacrament, another puts a world between this and the last day: some teach that Christ is not God, some say this, some say that: there are as many sects and creeds as there are heads. No yokel is so rude but when he has dreams and fancies, he thinks himself inspired by the Holy Ghost and must be a prophet" De Wette III, 61. quoted in O'Hare, THE FACTS ABOUT LUTHER, 208.
I've covered this quote before. Luther isn’t talking about the devastating effect of sola scriptura. He’s talking about the devastating effect of the devil, who, Luther says, was at peace in his papal fortress, but now with the gospel being loudly proclaimed, must find a different way to keep men enslaved to sin and darkness. One of the Roman Catholic participants corrected the person posting this by stating,
His last years and months were more anti-papal and pro-evangelical Christianity more than he ever was. Luther didn't make this statement as a "what have I done!!?" type of sentiment Catholics would like it to say but rather he was disappointed that so many Christians who had started off by making the right decision (in his mind) to leave Catholicism made poor choices in going in Zwinglian directions or Reformed type theology (even though Calvin wasn't a contemporary there were Calvinist type overtones already) and Anabaptist thinking, etc. He felt Lutheranism was reformed Christianity and lamented that so many made the poor choice, in his opinion, of not following his lead. He was sad that there was chaos, but he wasn't regretful.
5. The King's Speech
I went to see this yesterday (finally) and thought it was very well done. Yes, it indeed deserved to win awards over Inception.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Tidbits
I'm very appreciative of John's recent posts that keep this blog informative, interesting, and controversial. I'm swamped with other things at the moment. Here are though just a few tidbits I've caught in my free time.
First make sure to check out the widget on the top right. Pick your own Bible translation as a tool to read the verses cited here on the blog. Also, the little "L" next to a cited Bible verse will launch Libronix to that very verse if you use that software. But, simply hover over the verse on the blog entry, and it will display the verse. It's a great little widget, a worthy addition to any blog.
Fan club Update
Yes, I've got my own fan club. I'm hardly writing anything, but I still have some folks who treasure my every insight:
James is knowledgeable about Luther and that fact is well known here on the Lutheran threads. It is important to understand that Protestants here REALLY want to view Luther in a positive fashion. When James Swan writes a post which seems to exonerate Luther in regards to this or that charge, I think that most Protestants breathe a sigh of belief. They trust James to give them the straight story. The question is whether they should. [source]
You can tell me about the other three articles all you want and you can whine about how I “ignored” them, but I will not be in the near future I believe that they ALL reveal your extreme pro-Luther bias and that they all portray him as being VERY different from the historical facts. In doing this, I am only practicing your “specialty”. You troll around various sites, including this one, so that you can write articles about how people (like me) are so mean to innocent Holy little Marty. You don't expect to be challenged or expect anyone to check your facts though do you? That being your MO, you certainly cannot have a problem, at least philosophically, with me “critiquing” your articles about the Peasant’s War. You see, I think that they ALL contain evidence Luther is being systematically misrepresent in an effort to keep people from seeing who he really was and what he actually did. That being said, as we (meaning I) move forward, I will be comparing your representation of Luther’s “role” in the war with those of trustworthy Protestant Scholars. [source]
One wonders by the flow (or lack thereof) of words as to the nature of the person who wrote them. The ironic thing about this man's passion is that current Roman Catholic scholarship (including the current pope), is fairly docile toward Luther. He does though make a good point. Sources should be scrutinized, including mine.
The Private Magisteriums Speak
I had another wonderful recent endorsement from the Catholic Champion, but he either deleted it or I simply can't find it. He did though make the following curious comment:
With the state of the Church being what it is, it is easy to get discouraged. Most of the theologians in the Church today have inherited a modernist mentality which severely impairs their ability to understand and communicate the Catholic faith effectively. At times it appears that the only theologians that are safe to read are the ones who lived before the mid 19th century. As a result you almost get the impression that you are living a faith that only exists in the minds of dead authors. This of course is not the case, I am exaggerating a bit [source].
Yes, these are the same type of scholars the Pope puts on committees. Oh well. The Champion would probalby enjoy hanging out with Gerry Matatics for an afternoon (yes, I've done that...saw him on his world tour a few years ago).
Here's a tidbit from a Romanist blog about Dr. White. It asserted he is "a major enemy of the Catholic Church." Now, I would speculate, those in authority in Rome have probably never heard of him. This person though has the authority to declare Dr. White a "major enemy." How does that work? How does a private individual speak for the entire church, declaring who one of its "major enemies" are?
First make sure to check out the widget on the top right. Pick your own Bible translation as a tool to read the verses cited here on the blog. Also, the little "L" next to a cited Bible verse will launch Libronix to that very verse if you use that software. But, simply hover over the verse on the blog entry, and it will display the verse. It's a great little widget, a worthy addition to any blog.
Fan club Update
Yes, I've got my own fan club. I'm hardly writing anything, but I still have some folks who treasure my every insight:
James is knowledgeable about Luther and that fact is well known here on the Lutheran threads. It is important to understand that Protestants here REALLY want to view Luther in a positive fashion. When James Swan writes a post which seems to exonerate Luther in regards to this or that charge, I think that most Protestants breathe a sigh of belief. They trust James to give them the straight story. The question is whether they should. [source]
You can tell me about the other three articles all you want and you can whine about how I “ignored” them, but I will not be in the near future I believe that they ALL reveal your extreme pro-Luther bias and that they all portray him as being VERY different from the historical facts. In doing this, I am only practicing your “specialty”. You troll around various sites, including this one, so that you can write articles about how people (like me) are so mean to innocent Holy little Marty. You don't expect to be challenged or expect anyone to check your facts though do you? That being your MO, you certainly cannot have a problem, at least philosophically, with me “critiquing” your articles about the Peasant’s War. You see, I think that they ALL contain evidence Luther is being systematically misrepresent in an effort to keep people from seeing who he really was and what he actually did. That being said, as we (meaning I) move forward, I will be comparing your representation of Luther’s “role” in the war with those of trustworthy Protestant Scholars. [source]
One wonders by the flow (or lack thereof) of words as to the nature of the person who wrote them. The ironic thing about this man's passion is that current Roman Catholic scholarship (including the current pope), is fairly docile toward Luther. He does though make a good point. Sources should be scrutinized, including mine.
The Private Magisteriums Speak
I had another wonderful recent endorsement from the Catholic Champion, but he either deleted it or I simply can't find it. He did though make the following curious comment:
With the state of the Church being what it is, it is easy to get discouraged. Most of the theologians in the Church today have inherited a modernist mentality which severely impairs their ability to understand and communicate the Catholic faith effectively. At times it appears that the only theologians that are safe to read are the ones who lived before the mid 19th century. As a result you almost get the impression that you are living a faith that only exists in the minds of dead authors. This of course is not the case, I am exaggerating a bit [source].
Yes, these are the same type of scholars the Pope puts on committees. Oh well. The Champion would probalby enjoy hanging out with Gerry Matatics for an afternoon (yes, I've done that...saw him on his world tour a few years ago).
Here's a tidbit from a Romanist blog about Dr. White. It asserted he is "a major enemy of the Catholic Church." Now, I would speculate, those in authority in Rome have probably never heard of him. This person though has the authority to declare Dr. White a "major enemy." How does that work? How does a private individual speak for the entire church, declaring who one of its "major enemies" are?
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Tidbits
1. Angry Romanist Loves John, Despises Swan
Here's one for John Bugay. The closest thing to Cochlaeus in Cyber-space has been writing long diatribes against Luther and the peasant's war. These screeds are often hard to read to completion. At one point he stated, "Lest anyone think that 'Admonition' is going to be ignored from this point on, it is not. We will be doubling back to it as we trace our way from the causes of the Peasants War all the way to the initial bloodshed." I responded, "It's probably not "we" who will double back, it's you. I rarely read your posts, and if I do, I don't often make it through them. I suspect the same is true of your other fans. " Well, here's a response that broke my heart:
As for you not reading my posts – on your blog your last 6 “articles”, have drawn a total of 17 responses by others. Thankfully for you, you now “allow” some people to “contribute” who actually say “stuff” that people are interested in. As an example, John Bugay’s last three articles have drawn a total of 85 responses.
So John, thanks again for all your posts. This angry Romanist appreciates them, and finds them interesting and saying "stuff."
2. Let's Empty Purgatory
Catholic Answers is more than simply a discussion thread board. They have specific groups, created for specific needs. Here's their group: Let's empty Purgatory:
Group created by eternalcorn. Jesus said if we pray this prayer 1,000 souls from purgatory are released: "Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen."
The group's founder, eternalcorn, joined Catholic Answers Aug 8, '09, posted this, then visited once more in 2010 (that's dedication!). The group has 319 members, and they have almost 1200 posts repeating this prayer Jesus told us to pray... well, I seemed to have missed that chapter in the Bible, must've been in one of the books Luther threw out.
3. Christian Hypnosis
I'm not exactly sure how I came across this one: Christian Hypnosis. Tool around on this site for a bit.
ChristianHypnosis.org provides christian hypnosis CDs and programs that are designed for Christians who believe that God is all powerful. The programs are designed for believers who believe that through God’s power, anything is possible.We strive to teach believers, and non-believers about the true nature of hypnosis. That it is no different from any other tool that is available in this world. We educate people by exposing myths of hypnosis and encouraging scientific and spiritual research
-snip-
You are in no way more susceptible to “evil spirits” with any of the programs on my site. They are totally the opposite in fact. The goal with Christian hypnosis is to maximize the potential within you and align you more with God and His spirit. This allows us to create the good change you desire.
The debate aside, it was actually the sound file excerpt of their product they offer that I found most entertaining.
4. Swan vs. Sippo on Luther Biographies
I had thought this 2006 discussion I had with Dr. Art Sippo from the Envoy Forums was no more. Searching for something else, it appeared: Research on Luther and Calvin. I'm almost positive this was deleted. Perhaps when Pat Madrid set up his new Envoy forums, it was restored.
Here's one for John Bugay. The closest thing to Cochlaeus in Cyber-space has been writing long diatribes against Luther and the peasant's war. These screeds are often hard to read to completion. At one point he stated, "Lest anyone think that 'Admonition' is going to be ignored from this point on, it is not. We will be doubling back to it as we trace our way from the causes of the Peasants War all the way to the initial bloodshed." I responded, "It's probably not "we" who will double back, it's you. I rarely read your posts, and if I do, I don't often make it through them. I suspect the same is true of your other fans. " Well, here's a response that broke my heart:
As for you not reading my posts – on your blog your last 6 “articles”, have drawn a total of 17 responses by others. Thankfully for you, you now “allow” some people to “contribute” who actually say “stuff” that people are interested in. As an example, John Bugay’s last three articles have drawn a total of 85 responses.
So John, thanks again for all your posts. This angry Romanist appreciates them, and finds them interesting and saying "stuff."
2. Let's Empty Purgatory
Catholic Answers is more than simply a discussion thread board. They have specific groups, created for specific needs. Here's their group: Let's empty Purgatory:
Group created by eternalcorn. Jesus said if we pray this prayer 1,000 souls from purgatory are released: "Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen."
The group's founder, eternalcorn, joined Catholic Answers Aug 8, '09, posted this, then visited once more in 2010 (that's dedication!). The group has 319 members, and they have almost 1200 posts repeating this prayer Jesus told us to pray... well, I seemed to have missed that chapter in the Bible, must've been in one of the books Luther threw out.
3. Christian Hypnosis
I'm not exactly sure how I came across this one: Christian Hypnosis. Tool around on this site for a bit.
ChristianHypnosis.org provides christian hypnosis CDs and programs that are designed for Christians who believe that God is all powerful. The programs are designed for believers who believe that through God’s power, anything is possible.We strive to teach believers, and non-believers about the true nature of hypnosis. That it is no different from any other tool that is available in this world. We educate people by exposing myths of hypnosis and encouraging scientific and spiritual research
-snip-
You are in no way more susceptible to “evil spirits” with any of the programs on my site. They are totally the opposite in fact. The goal with Christian hypnosis is to maximize the potential within you and align you more with God and His spirit. This allows us to create the good change you desire.
The debate aside, it was actually the sound file excerpt of their product they offer that I found most entertaining.
4. Swan vs. Sippo on Luther Biographies
I had thought this 2006 discussion I had with Dr. Art Sippo from the Envoy Forums was no more. Searching for something else, it appeared: Research on Luther and Calvin. I'm almost positive this was deleted. Perhaps when Pat Madrid set up his new Envoy forums, it was restored.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
tidbits
These are a just a few tidbits currently in front of me...
1. Going Beyond "I'm a 5-Point Calvinist"
For those of you that faithfully attend a Reformed church, here's something you should check out if you haven't done it already: track down a copy of your church order, and read through it. This past week I've been memorizing my own church order: Church Order of the United Reformed Churches in North America Second Edition, 1997. If you go to a URCNA church, take a moment or two to see what your current pastor probably had to go through to have the responsibility of preaching to you each week and the responsibilities he's taken on (along with the consistory). Then, thank him, pray for him, and have a renewed vigor to attentively listen to his sermons.
2. How is Luther seen today in North American Roman Catholicism?
And now for something completely different. Here's a link to a video of the Luther 2017 Countdown Lecture of 2010. It's a two hour lecture entitled "How is Luther seen today in North American Roman Catholicism?" from a Roman Catholic Priest: Rev. Dr. Donald Bolen, Bishop of Saskatoon. The video needs to be advanced to 16 minutes to begin.
This lecture is a bit subdued, but if you can hang in there, it really makes a great contrast between current trends in educated Romanism and the typical Roman Catholic bloggers and websites we deal with here.
The first hour of the lecture is an ecumenical explanation of the relationship of Romanism to Protestantism, and how wonderfully we can learn from each other. This isn't Catholic Answers, that's for sure. The second hour addresses what can positively be learned from Luther, and how wonderful Luther was. This certainly isn't Catholic Answers either. Now before someone says he's just a priest, note he was on the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. I point this out because many recent comments have noted how out of touch many of the Roman e-pologists are with current Roman Catholic scholarship. I would suggest that many of the Roman e-pologists are actually out of touch also with trends coming out of Rome, like with Rome's ecumenical approach to interpreting Luther and the Reformation.
3. Even Liberal Media Can Be Interesting
And for something even more different. Here's a good link for general religion stories: NPR's Religion page. Yes, I know, NPR, liberal, etc. But they do manage to put forth some interesting stories. Their recent story on The Church Of Scientology, Fact-Checked was very interesting. Also they recently did some things on the Roman Catholic confessing sin over the phone stuff: Confessing Sin In The Age Of The iPhone and Catholic Church OKs 'Confession App,' But You Still Have To See A Priest.
4. It is Settled: Called To Communion Has Spoken!
I simply couldn't pass this tidbit up from the CTC Magisterium:
The Catholic Church, however, believes that she has been gifted with a participation in the divine authority of her Head. Thus, the Church can and has definitively adjudicated the matter of which writings are, and which are not, Sacred Scripture.
CTC may wish to contact Catholic apologist Gary Michuta. He says that certain books not included in the current catholic canon, yet included in the Septuagint, may be canonical, or possibly not, because Trent left particular books undecided as to their canonicty. So, according to Michuta, the matter was not definitively adjudicated.
1. Going Beyond "I'm a 5-Point Calvinist"
For those of you that faithfully attend a Reformed church, here's something you should check out if you haven't done it already: track down a copy of your church order, and read through it. This past week I've been memorizing my own church order: Church Order of the United Reformed Churches in North America Second Edition, 1997. If you go to a URCNA church, take a moment or two to see what your current pastor probably had to go through to have the responsibility of preaching to you each week and the responsibilities he's taken on (along with the consistory). Then, thank him, pray for him, and have a renewed vigor to attentively listen to his sermons.
2. How is Luther seen today in North American Roman Catholicism?
And now for something completely different. Here's a link to a video of the Luther 2017 Countdown Lecture of 2010. It's a two hour lecture entitled "How is Luther seen today in North American Roman Catholicism?" from a Roman Catholic Priest: Rev. Dr. Donald Bolen, Bishop of Saskatoon. The video needs to be advanced to 16 minutes to begin.
This lecture is a bit subdued, but if you can hang in there, it really makes a great contrast between current trends in educated Romanism and the typical Roman Catholic bloggers and websites we deal with here.
The first hour of the lecture is an ecumenical explanation of the relationship of Romanism to Protestantism, and how wonderfully we can learn from each other. This isn't Catholic Answers, that's for sure. The second hour addresses what can positively be learned from Luther, and how wonderful Luther was. This certainly isn't Catholic Answers either. Now before someone says he's just a priest, note he was on the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. I point this out because many recent comments have noted how out of touch many of the Roman e-pologists are with current Roman Catholic scholarship. I would suggest that many of the Roman e-pologists are actually out of touch also with trends coming out of Rome, like with Rome's ecumenical approach to interpreting Luther and the Reformation.
3. Even Liberal Media Can Be Interesting
And for something even more different. Here's a good link for general religion stories: NPR's Religion page. Yes, I know, NPR, liberal, etc. But they do manage to put forth some interesting stories. Their recent story on The Church Of Scientology, Fact-Checked was very interesting. Also they recently did some things on the Roman Catholic confessing sin over the phone stuff: Confessing Sin In The Age Of The iPhone and Catholic Church OKs 'Confession App,' But You Still Have To See A Priest.
4. It is Settled: Called To Communion Has Spoken!
I simply couldn't pass this tidbit up from the CTC Magisterium:
The Catholic Church, however, believes that she has been gifted with a participation in the divine authority of her Head. Thus, the Church can and has definitively adjudicated the matter of which writings are, and which are not, Sacred Scripture.
CTC may wish to contact Catholic apologist Gary Michuta. He says that certain books not included in the current catholic canon, yet included in the Septuagint, may be canonical, or possibly not, because Trent left particular books undecided as to their canonicty. So, according to Michuta, the matter was not definitively adjudicated.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Tidbits
Here's a spunky blog I've been reading recently: By Whose Authority? I've seen some good posts, and recommend a visit. I've left a few comments in the Cyril of Jerusalem entry.
Here's a fun little thread from Catholic Answers: Are there scripture passages the Church has defined?
I've been interacting with a guy over on the CARM boards about Luther and authority. The recent discussion begins around page 36. Trust me, you don't want to trudge through pages 1-34. The only reason I decided to interact with the person who started this discussion, was that I was able to corral him in to posting 100 words at a time. Otherwise, he'd write a small book in each post. My interactions with the topic begin around post 704.
Here's a fun little thread from Catholic Answers: Are there scripture passages the Church has defined?
I've been interacting with a guy over on the CARM boards about Luther and authority. The recent discussion begins around page 36. Trust me, you don't want to trudge through pages 1-34. The only reason I decided to interact with the person who started this discussion, was that I was able to corral him in to posting 100 words at a time. Otherwise, he'd write a small book in each post. My interactions with the topic begin around post 704.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
