"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
Today is my Godson’s birthday so I thought I’d do a little bit of a giveaway to mark the occasion. The prize up for grabs is a signed copy of Getting Started In Apologetics by the very excellent Patrick Coffin.
Entering is easy. Simply leave a comment below, together with the text of your favourite prayer (I’m always on the lookout for new ones!).
At the end of the month I will then use a random number generator to pick the winner and then mail out the CDs.
Good luck!
The other day on Facebook, a friend of mine who is a Christian speaker asked for recommendations for romantic movies, but only ones which didn’t have lots of inappropriate material. Now, I understand that the term “inappropriate material” means different things to different people, but I was quite amazed at some of the recommendations he received. Anyway, I decided to start compiling my own list of movies and I would love your help!
What did I miss? Do you have any other recommendations?
Today I wanted to talk about an apologetic strategy I use a lot: asking questions. You see, regardless of the topic, be it abortion, Christianity or Catholicism, there is always the temptation to spend most of your time telling someone what they should believe. People are rarely very receptive to being told. When I’m in that mode, it becomes very easy for me to become pompous and prideful. Questions help prevent this.
Rather than telling someone what they should believe, I find it is generally much more effective to ask the person what they believe and why. This communicates to the other person that you care what they think and you want to know more. Even though you are talking less, you have guiding control over the conversation through the questions that you ask. Not only that, but if you ask questions, it will probably encourage your friend to open up and ask you questions about what you believe. This allows you to follow the advise a wise priest once told me: “It’s best to start giving answers only once they’ve started asking you questions”
I would suggest that the goal is to ask questions which reveal the flaws in that person’s worldview. Once these are revealed, you can then present your own perspective, thereby giving you an opportunity to demonstrate the cohesiveness of your own world view.
“He who asks questions has control”
– Socrates (387 BC)
A while ago, Aggie Catholics put together a great list of questions to ask when you’re evangelizing…
My post about dancing got picked up by ChurchPop! It’s been tidied up a bit and been upgraded with some snazzy animated gifs. Go read it again 🙂
Tonight’s “Theology On Tap” was hosted by Paul Kim. Paul came to speak to use about “Adulting the Catholic Way”. Paul is a husband and father of two, as well as a well-known Catholic speaker, beatboxer and avid Instagram picture-taker!
If you would like to hear audio from other San Diego “Theology On Tap” sessions, you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Google Play or manually via the RSS feed.
“Adulting the Catholic Way” (Download)
If you would like to hear a little bit of his beatbox, please click here…
This week’s Readings focus on the distinction between the kings of this world and the LORD. The Gospel asks us the question: what do we owe to our rulers and what do we owe to our God?
In the First Reading we learn that it is the Lord, and not the King of Persia, who is subduing the nations. In the Psalm we are told repeatedly to give the Lord the praise which He is owed. In the Second Reading we hear the response of the Thessalonians to God’s great grace. Finally, in the Gospel we are told in no uncertain terms – give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, but give to God what belongs to God…
This weekend I finished recording another document of the Church onto MP3. It is the decree on ecumenism from the Second Vatican Council, Unitatis Redintegratio.
In that vein, I’d also invite you to read the article Because our love has grown cold, written by my friend Nelson. I think his blog post points to the key thing which is needed in order for there to any meaningful ecumenical dialogue between Catholics and non-Catholics.
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one — I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” – John 17:20-23
