"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
Work is busy at the moment. In fact, “busy” doesn’t even come close to covering it. I don’t think I’ve ever been so stressed and overworked in all my career and it’s been like this since Easter.
As such, I’ll be taking a brief blogging sabbatical. Maybe see you in May?
I’ve decided to write a few blog posts concerning certain doctrines which are out there in the Christian world at the moment. Now, my entries are going to be rather critical of these teachings, but I think it needs to be done. Today I would like to begin by looking at the “Prosperity Gospel”.
This doctrine particularly frustrates me. This is because, if for no other reason, it presents a new Gospel, one that has been taken and reshaped by the world’s standards.
The “Prosperity Gospel” is rooted in the idea that “Jesus came to make you healthy, wealthy and happy…”. It will rarely ever be presented under the name “Prosperity Gospel”, instead being presented as integral and central to “The Gospel” itself.
The Prosperity Gospel is a very attractive teaching since it promises comfort and material wealth in this life if you just have faith. Sometimes associated with this is the idea that you must “seed your miracle” by giving your money to a particular preacher, certainly a lucrative market for the less-than-honest…
Now, there are certainly shades of opinion and variations in how literally the concept of Prosperity Gospel is understood – not every pastor or church will give an identical message (the nuttier end of the spectrum you find on YouTube is downright scary). However, all focus around the idea that God will always materially prosper you and keep you healthy in this world. I would suggest, however, that God’s plan is a little bigger than that…
It’s time for another Manvotional from Art of Manliness to be recorded onto MP3. I actually think this is my favourite one to date…
Manvotional (Download)
“Water Lily” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
The unaccompanied MP3 is available here.
Today I would like to continue this pro-life blog series by briefly responding to something which is regularly brought up during discussions on abortion.
I have often heard it said, even by people who think that abortion is terrible and wrong, that they would prefer to see abortion remain legal for fear that, if it were made illegal, it would just drive the abortion industry underground:
“I think abortion is wrong, but I think it’s much better to keep it legal so that we can make it as safe as possible”
On the Internet, this is often expressed in images such as this:
Of course, whenever a person says he doesn’t like abortion but still wants to keep it legal, a really good starting place to begin the discussion is to ask him first why he don’t like abortion… But does the logic presented here stand up to scrutiny? Is it better for abortion to be legal and regulated?
This blog entry continues the series I began a few days ago to provide a brief overview of Islam.
In Part 1, I began by looking at Muhammad and the origins of Islam. Next, in Part 2, I looked at the message of Muhammad that is recorded in the Qur’an. Yesterday, in Part 3, I looked at what constitutes Islam’s core beliefs. Today I would like to look at the highly developed code of Islamic observance.
I have done my best to ensure factual accuracy in all these posts and have used Islamic sources as much as possible to ensure that I’m not propagating Christian misconceptions of Islam. I did send this to some Muslim friends for comment, but I have yet to hear back. If you are a follower of Islam and believe that I have misrepresented your religion, please drop me an email and I will remedy the situation.
There are many obligations associated with Muslim. For example, Muslims are not allowed to consume alcohol, pork, blood or carrion. The most important aspects of “religion” in Sunni Islam are the “Five Pillars”:
1. Confessing the faith (shahada): This is the basic Muslim creed, similar to the Jewish Shema, but with the additional affirmation that Muhammad is a prophet:
“I testify that there is none worthy of worship except God and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of God.” – The Shahada
This is the second of two talks I gave during Lent at a parish in Los Angeles this year…
“Apologetics for the confused” (Download)
— Questions —
• What does IHS stand for?
• Who is your blog’s patron saint?
• How do you evangelize at work?
• How do I deal with my Mormon family attacking my Faith?
• What can I do about my niece who is drifting away from the Faith?
“Sedevacantists” are people who believe that there is currently no Pope, that the “Chair of Peter” is currently empty. In fact, the name “sedevacantist” itself comes from the Latin phrase, “sede vacante”, which literally means “empty seat”.
Sedevacantists typically assert that there hasn’t been a valid Pope since the death of Pius XII (1958), or sometimes even since the death of Pius X (1914). They reject all the Popes which followed (John XXIII, Paul VI, John-Paul I, John-Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis) and usually accuse them of some kind of heresy, typically the heresy of Modernism.
At the end of last year I was contacted by a chap named Mike. I had been commenting on a YouTube video by Fr. Robert Barron concerning the Second Vatican Council and Mike started sending me private messages which quickly revealed his identity as a sedavacantist.
I decided to devote a few of posts here to my discussion with Mike. His emails were filled with large portions of text which he had copied and pasted from his website and there was also unfortunately some name-calling (mostly against the Church, although later against myself specifically), but fortunately within the midst of all that we actually did manage to have some real conversation. It is my hope that, in reviewing our exchange, if you ever meet someone like Mike you’ll know what sort of thing to expect…