Last-minute Halloween Post

This last month has been barmy. I’ve been to Seattle, San Francisco, Palm Beach, as well as a Cursillo retreat. Life has been far to busy, to put it mildly. As such, I’ve kinda dropped the ball on Halloween…

Several of my friends have been sharing Why we don’t celebrate Halloween posts on Facebook. I had planned to write a blog post explaining why I celebrate Halloween, but all I’ve managed to do is post a couple of comments on one such blog.

So, rather than let this holiday pass unmentioned, I thought I would provide a few links to a few websites which offer the other side of the debate:

CA Blog

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Faith alone?

Martin LutherOne essential difference which divides Catholics and many Protestants is the question of faith and works in salvation. The disagreement began at the Reformation. In fact, the “material principle” of the Reformation was that we are saved “Sola Fide”, by “Faith Alone” and that works have no place in our justification whatsoever.

This subject often comes up when speaking with Protestants. I think most Catholics have had the experience at one point or another of being told by a Protestant that Catholicism doesn’t preach the Gospel, teaching instead that we have to earn our salvation. St. Paul’s epistles to the Romans and Galatians are often cited during such an exchange.

When this has happened to me in the past, I tend not to dwell too long upon the person’s interpretation of Paul’s epistles. I usually simply point out that in those letters St. Paul is contrasting faith in Christ with the works of the Mosaic Law. I turn then to the Epistle of James, since it presents a bit of a problem if someone wishes to say we’re saved by faith alone…

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Lending Books

During the Middle Ages, books were so precious that books started to be inscribed with excommunications, much like those of the Ecumenical Councils, against those who either stole or failed to return to their owner. Here’s an example I recently found:

This book belongs to St. Mary of Robert’s Bridge; whosoever shall steal it or sell it, or alienate it from this house, or mutilate it, let him be anathema maranatha, Amen.

I should definitely start doing this when I lend out books…

Sola Scriptura Syllogism

I was clearing out some old files on my harddrive today and came across I snippet I copied from somewhere on the Internet:

1. Sola Scriptura [implicitly] says everything we need to know that is necessary for our salvation comes from the Bible alone.

2. Knowing what Scriptures are inspired and what Scriptures are not inspired is necessary for our salvation.

3. Knowing what Scriptures are inspired and what Scriptures are not inspired cannot be known from the Bible.

4. Therefore, Sola Scriptura cannot be true.

I’m not sure, but this seems like something Patrick Vanderpool would write…

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