Tag: featured

Catholic Dating: The issue of chastity

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Last week I wrote two posts on the subject of dating outside of the Catholic Faith. In an effort to keep those posts focussed, I had decided to address the specific scenario of a couple composed of two Christians, a Catholic and a Protestant.

However, as I was writing, there was one issue related to dating outside of the Catholic Faith that I particularly wanted to raise, but since it didn’t naturally fall within the parameters which I had set for those articles, I decided to omit it. In today’s brief post, therefore, I would like to return to this issue.

In the previous post, I presented three main areas for potential conflict between a Catholic and a Protestant:

1. The Wedding

2. Religious Practice

3. Children and family life

In addition to these three areas, when a Catholic dates a non-Christian (as opposed to a non-Catholic), there is another area of potential conflict which is particularly worth considering:

4. Chastity
Is your potential spouse committed to chastity? Will this person do everything possible to help you remain chaste?

It is worth pointing out that potential contention over the subject of chastity is certainly not limited to the situation where a Catholic is dating a non-Christian. It is possible that conflict may arise when dating a Protestant or, as I highlighted in my previous post, even a fellow Catholic. There is no guarantee that someone who identifies as “Catholic” actually will believe or practise the entirety of the Catholic Faith.

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Charlie Johnston’s Farewell

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CharlieYou may recall at the beginning of last year, I wrote an article about a man named Charlie Johnston, a Catholic layman who claimed to have been visited by Jesus, as well as by a number of Saints and angels.

As a result of these visitations, Charlie warned people of a coming “storm”, a series of catastrophic and calamitous events which he said would befall humanity. While he wasn’t predicting the end of the world, his descriptions of economic collapse and widespread war certainly carried with them an apocalyptic character. Although he said that it would be a very dark time, Charlie promised that the Immaculate Heart of Mary would ultimately triumph and this victory would usher in a period of unity and peace.

At the time I wrote that earlier post, Charlie had already been on my radar for some time. Although I had reservations concerning his teachings, I was rather impressed with the way he seemed to be operating. He was obedient to his Bishop and was also under spiritual direction. Despite the content of much of his message, he ultimately presented it as one of hope. Finally, there was nothing to suggest that he was attempting to profit from his message in any way. As a result, despite my skepticism regarding his predictions, I defended Charlie against those who immediately dismissed him as “crazy”, or who called him “a charlatan” or “liar”.

Having said that, I was becoming increasingly concerned. Quite a few of my friends had enthusiastically embraced Charlie’s message and I started to worry about the effect of his teachings upon them. When one of my friends cancelled an out-of-state trip for fear that it might coincide with Charlie’s “storm”, I decided that it was time to speak openly about my concerns…

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Pray He finds figs

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If you’ve ever had the chance to speak about the Christian faith with a Muslim, chances are that you will have heard the following objection raised to the divinity of Jesus (whom they call “Isa”):

“Does God know everything? Of course He does! If so, why did Isa (Jesus) not know when you can get figs? In Mark’s Gospel he goes to a fig tree looking for fruit, but he didn’t even know they weren’t in season! Isa therefore cannot be God”

If you’re a Christian who knows his faith, it’s tempting to laugh at such an objection and ignore it. However, today I would like to respond to this argument. I would like to do this for two reasons. Firstly, Scripture commands us to “be ready to give an answer” (1 Peter 3:15). Secondly, I think that the Biblical text being referred to here is really interesting and one upon which we would do well to meditate.

Fig Tree

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Five (hundred) Gold Rings!

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barnyDuring this Advent and Christmas season, everyone became engaged or got married.

Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration…but only a bit! Seriously, there were a lot of engagements. It seemed like every day Facebook was announcing yet another one. During one particular twenty-four hour period, four new engagements were announced!

All this is wonderful news, of course. It’s great to see so many of my male friends, both in America and England, manning up, getting down on one knee and popping the question. For the last few weeks my News Stream has been filled with lots of happy pictures 🙂

As the number of engagements and weddings increased I thought about doing something here on the blog to mark the occasion. I’ve written a little bit about marriage before, but mainly focusing on the theological dimension and the exhortations of the Early Church Fathers. This time I wanted to share something of value concerning the day-to-day life in a Christian marriage, some advice on how to lead one another to Heaven and to keep God at the centre of the marriage as the “third strand”.

However, given that I’m not married myself, I don’t think I’m really in a position to give this advice! So I’ve decided to outsource this post, turning it over to my friends who are already married! I am also going to email my married friends and ask them this question:

As a Christian spouse, what piece of advice would you give all my friends who are committing to marriage?

Please comment below…

UPDATE: I put all the advice together into this post here, Wise Words for Newlyweds.

Qur’an Cover-to-Cover: Day 13 (“The inevitable”)

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paradise

The last couple of chapters have covered new and interesting material, focussing on the Biblical characters such Moses and the Blessed Mother. Today, however, we return to the Qur’an’s sweet spot: judgment, Heaven and Hell.

Surah 56 – “The inevitable” (Al-Waqia)
A portrait of the Resurrection is painted, a day when “the earth is shaken” and “mountains are broken down”. We are told that mankind will become “[of] three types”:

  1. The Companions of the right who go to Paradise
  2. The Companions of the left who go to the Fire
  3. The Forerunners who go to Paradise

I’m not exactly sure what makes “The Forerunners” distinct from “The Companions of the right”.

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Simple Grace

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NaamanToday I was just thinking about how we try and complicate things so much. What prompted me to think of this was the story about Naaman which is found in the Second Book of Kings.

Naaman was a successful military commander who has everything the world has to offer, but he has a problem, he has leprosy. Although he’s a gentile, he comes to Samaria to see the prophet Elisha because he hears that he might be able to heal him. When he arrives at the prophet’s house, Elisha sends him a message…

“Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” – 2 Kings 5:10

Naaman is disappointed, perturbed and even rather angry! This prophet just wants him to go wash in the river! This isn’t what he expected. He explained to his servants:

“Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and cure the leper” – 2 Kings 5:11-12

Naaman had expected something of a show! Instead, he’s told to just go take a bath! Naaman initially intends to ignore the instruction, call it a day and just head home.

Fortunately, his servants reason with him, pointing out that if Elisha had asked him to do something difficult, he would have surely done it! If he were willing to do something difficult, why would he not do something that was easy? Naaman concedes this point, humbles himself and heads down to the Jordan:

So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. – 2 Kings 5:14

How many times do we try and complicate God’s grace? How many times do we think secretly that we can earn our salvation, bargain with God by doing some great deed?

Naaman’s story is a figure of New Covenant baptism. Naaman was plagued by leprosy and we are plagued by sin. Naaman was told to go wash and we are invited to the Sacrament of Baptism. A little bit of water and invocation of the Holy Trinity and we are healed, our souls cleaned and restored, as fresh as baby cheeks.

Happy-Baby

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