Are you interested in sharing the faith more? Are you worried that you don’t know how to answer your co-workers’ and friends’ questions? 1 Peter 3:15 calls us to “always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence; and keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are abused, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.” That’s a tall order. Here are ten tips that might help.
Tag: apologetics
Sola Scriptura and the Empty Tomb
Was sola Scriptura true during the time of the Apostles?Were the Apostles and the first-century Christians bound to follow Scripture alone? These are the two options. You can claim, despite the clear evidence to the contrary, that the Apostles and early Christians believed in Scripture alone. But doing so both undermines John’s faith in the Resurrection and renders the New Testament irrelevant. Or you can concede that the Apostles and early Christians didn’t believe in Scripture alone. But then you have to throw out all of the alleged “Scriptural proofs” for sola Scriptura, and concede that it’s a post-Apostolic man-made tradition that contradicts the written word of God.
Biblical Double Standards
If Protestants held every book of the Bible to the standards that they hold the books that they reject, they would end up missing a huge number of their books. And conversely, if they approach the Deuterocanon with the same charitable reading with which they approach (say) Judges, there would be no reason not to include it as part of the Scriptures. We can see that clearly by looking at 5 alleged “Biblical contradictions” in the Deuterocanon.
What if the Protestant Interpretation of John 6 is Correct?
Let’s talk about the Bread of Life discourse in John 6:22-70. The Catholic interpretation makes sense, but it’s a shocking one. We think that this lengthy passage is about the Eucharist, and that Jesus Christ literally means that we eat His Flesh and drink His Blood in Communion. This teaching, radical to twenty first-century ears, was no less radical to first-century ears, and even many of Jesus’ own disciples stopped following Him upon hearing it.
Protestants typically disagree with this interpretation, arguing that Jesus’ commands that we should eat His Flesh and drink His Blood are just metaphors. Often, both sides are so busy debating the credibility of the Catholic interpretation that neither stop to seriously ask, “Does the Protestant interpretation make any sense?” The obvious question is if Jesus is speaking metaphorically, what’s it a metaphor for? What is Jesus actually saying?
The Trouble with Jerome
Protestants frequently claim that there are only 66 books in the Bible. This isn’t the Bible used by early Christians, by Luther, by Calvin, or by the Catholic, Orthodox, or Coptic Churches. So where do they draw support? Strangely, they cite a single fourth century Church Father: St. Jerome. But there’s a problem with that approach. Or more accurately: four problems.
How the Early Church Disproves Protestant Claims About the Eucharist and the Church
Why should we care about the writings of the Church Fathers, or early Church history? Consider the Church of the early 100s. Protestants typically (a) reject the doctrine of the Real Presence of Christ, that the Eucharist becomes His Flesh and Blood; and (b) believe that once you are saved, you’ll never permanently fall away from the faith. But holding these views would require believing that the very same Symrnaean and Ephesian Christians praised by Christ in 96 A.D. are heretics by 107 A.D.
C.S. Lewis’ Surprising Argument for the Papacy
C.S. Lewis, in a passage in Mere Christianity, lays out a surprising case for the papacy… a case that might have been surprising to the man himself, given that he was an Anglican.
Six Special World Youth Day Graces
I’ve been gone for the better part of the last two weeks because of World Youth Day. It was emotionally and physically exhausting, but an incredibly rich experience.
66 Love Letters? How to Think of God’s Revelation
Certain Protestants have taken to referring to the Scriptures as “66 love letters.” That gets something fundamentally right about God’s revelation, but goes wrong in three ways.
Wait for the Lord: Learning from Judith, Anna and Simeon
In the face of a political and personal future that often seems uncertain or unpleasant, it’s easy to lose heart and to despair of God’s presence in our lives. Fortunately, Scripture presents a radically different message. Here’s what Judith, Simeon and Anna have to show us about aligning our lives to God’s timetable, instead of trusting in secular salvation.