The hermeneutic of the WCF vs the hermeneutic of Newman

Here is my look at a comment that is instructive because it seeks to show how “Roman Catholics and Protestants do the same thing”, but where really, they are doing something completely different. In seeking to compare the Roman Catholic doctrine of “the Church” with Reformed doctrines, Erick said: Just as the expansive explanation for …

Roman Catholicism on Trial: Evidence and Assumptions

Protestants who engage Roman Catholics often leave the discussion in frustration. It seems that Roman Catholic apologists have an answer for everything. At times,  Roman Catholicism appears to lack falsifiability. The idea of falsifiability will be in the background of this article, but my primary purpose will be to show that, given its theological system, …

Can Roman Catholics Change Their Name?

  Recently a Roman Catholic eacquaintance of mine wrote here about his dissatisfaction with the first part of his denomination’s name, i.e. “Roman”.    It seems that the geographic label is used against him in his apologetic interactions with Protestants.  And my friend is rather tired of being “beat ‘round the ears” with the label and …

Bergoglio’s Gig, Part 3: Opposing Ratzinger

In one of his first major public addresses as pope, at St. Peter’s Square, Sunday, March 17, 2013, “Pope Francis” specifically cited Cardinal Walter Kasper’s book “On Mercy”: In the past few days I have been reading a book by a Cardinal — Cardinal Kasper, a clever theologian, a good theologian — on mercy. And …

Bergoglio’s Gig, Part 1

Before he was elected pope, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio had an opportunity to address the cardinals of the conclave. The WSJ relates the long-term vision he provided regarding “the future of the church”: Cardinal Bergoglio, however, wanted to talk about the elephant in the room: the long-term future of the church and its recent history of …

To what degree can we cooperate with members of the Catholic church and other churches?

I’m throwing this out here in large part because I’d like to get feedback from people on this issue, to help me in some of the organizational decisions I am making. Everyone who is in leadership has to make decisions about who they can work together with, and on what activities. Who we work with …

“Suppressing the Truth by Wickedness”

John Thayer Jenson, you asked in Comment 271: I don’t see how this helps me to know which of us is right and which is suppressing the truth by his wickedness. I believe God’s Voice has told me the Catholic Church is His Body and men can be saved only through it; you believe – …

God unites his people for his purpose

Or: “In rebuilding the wall, Nehemiah prefigures Godly unity in the church”. Steve Hays is amazing. Sometimes I think he is not cognizant of what it means to be a mere mortal. The other day, he posted a link to “The wit and wisdom of Evan May” (Evan is a co-blogger at Triablogue). In doing …

How do we really know what God wants from us?

In response to a comment asking “how do we know?” I wrote: Who wants their faith to be formed around a legend? I certainly don’t. But that is the legacy of hundreds of years-worth of papal “history”. This the right question to ask. We all want to rest our faith on something certain, that’s not …

‘The Church’ in Roman Catholic Ecclesiology: is it the ‘Universal Sacrament of Salvation’? Or merely an idol?

The Roman Catholic Church, at Vatican II, called itself “the universal sacrament of salvation”. Here is how they put it: In later usage the term sacramentum emphasizes the visible sign of the hidden reality of salvation which was indicated by the term mysterium. In this sense, Christ himself is the mystery of salvation: “For there …