Category: Catholicism

OSAS & Three Cups of Tea: Cup 2

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In the last post I began to examine the responses of Mack, a recent commentator on my Once Saved, Always Saved post who offered some constructive criticism concerning the Scripture passages I presented.

I previously looked at Mack’s commentary of 1 John 5:16-17 and 2 Peter 2:20-22. I will now look at his analysis of several other passages which I offered in defense of the idea that it is possible to lose one’s salvation. Mack basically attempted to disqualify these texts since they were drawn from letters addressed to groups of people.

So, grab another cup of tea and we’ll look at what he had to say…

tea

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OSAS & Three Cups of Tea: Cup 1

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I recently had some comments on my Once Saved, Always Saved post by a chap called MackQuigley. In that post I presented several passages as evidence that it is possible to lose one’s salvation. Mack disagreed with my article and said that I had misapplied these passages and that they did not, in fact, support my case.

In his final comment, Mack went through each of the passages I quoted and gave a brief summary of his own interpretation in an attempt to prove that it is not possible to lose one’s salvation. Since he graciously took the time to explain his position and challenged my post in a charitable manner, I would like to return the favour and offer a reply.

I’m going to break up my response into a few different posts, collecting together the passages where Mack used similar argumentation to disqualify the texts. For each passage, I’m going to quote the Scripture under examination, append Mack’s comments and finally offer my own rebuttal.

There are quite a few Scripture passages to address here –  seven in total – so this’ll take a little bit of time. It’s probably a good idea to put on the kettle and brew up a nice cup of tea before we continue…

tea

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Easter: The Pagan Conspiracy

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Creepy EasterI meant to write this post in the weeks leading up to last Easter, but I’m afraid it completely slipped my mind. Unfortunately, this meant that when Easter Sunday rolled around and all the “Easter is a pagan festival!” comments started to appear on Facebook and on blogs, I was repeatedly forced to write some off-the-cuff comments in response, rather than having something prepared here to which I could link.

I was reminded that I had intended to do this post a couple of days ago while reading an article in the Telegraph. The article in question was talking about how the Church of England has plans to create a new Pagan church to attract new people . Inter-faith dialog is one thing, but this sounds like something quite different. I’m intrigued as to what this’ll end up looking like. We’ll just have to wait and see…

So, I know Easter Sunday has long since passed. In fact, Pentecost has also been and gone and we’re even nearing the end of the Apostles’ Fast. However, I’ve decided to write a quick blog entry here in preparation for next year so that when we’re in the run up to Easter I’ll be ready 🙂

A festival by any other name…

The main thrust of most the comments I saw this year was over the word “Easter” itself. It was pointed out, ad nauseam, that the word “Easter” is most likely etymologically related to the word “Eostre”, a Germanic deity from paganism. The “logic” goes that, since the word “Easter” has pagan roots, the celebration itself must also be pagan. Makes sense, right? Err….no.

I’ll admit that when I see such comments I get a little irritated because I don’t think they’ve really thought through what it is that they’re saying nor have they applied their position consistently.

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Coming Soon: The Liturgical Apocalypse

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The third chapter of Dr. Barber’s book he discusses the relationship between the Book of Revelation and the Catholic Liturgy. It is a brief review of the the material covered in another excellent book by Dr. Hahn’s book, The Lamb’s Supper.

Familiar Imagery & Structure

Dr. Barber begins by noting that no other apocalyptic book of antiquity relies quite so heavily on liturgical imagery as the Book of  Revelation. In John’s book we find many things extremely familiar to a Catholic who attends Mass: Sunday worship, priests, vestments, incense, chalices, angels, saints etc.

In fact, the book of Revelation has profoundly impacted Christian liturgy and architecture throughout the centuries.  For example, the celebrant’s chair is symbolic of the throne of God, and the surrounding chairs like those of the “elders” (Revelation 4:4).

This final book of the Bible is even divided into three parts which each have parallels with the sequence of the Catholic liturgy:

1. Penitential Rite
The early section of Revelation concerns seven letters which call the Church to repentance.

2. Liturgy of the Word
Later, a book is opened which brings about judgement.

3. Liturgy of the Eucharist
The book ends with the Church being united to Christ in the supper of the Lamb.

But why use liturgical imagery? Revelation uses liturgical imagery because the Eucharistic celebration is the way the Lord comes to His Church. Dr. Barber points out that the Greek word “parousia” which is used to refer to the Lord’s “coming” actually has the primary meaning of “presence”. Upon hearing this fact, every Catholic immediately thinks of the Eucharist and Jesus’ real presence in the Sacrament.

“Every Eucharist is Parousia, the Lord’s coming” – Cardinal Ratzinger

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