John Bugay speaks about the history of Roman Catholicism

Here’s a link to the Agora Forum talk I did Friday night (November 21, 2014). There were about a dozen people in attendance, and the discussion lasted a good while. My thanks to Dr. David Snoke for the invitation, and to all who attended and took part in the discussions. I had a great time. …

The Babylonian Captivity Of The Papacy – R. Scott Clark

Dr. Clark weighed in a topic about which I posted yesterday.  In this 600th anniversary year of the convening of the Council of Constance, his effort is very timely and can be read here. The crux of the matter is put succinctly here:  The Avignon crisis is just one of many examples from the history …

The Historical Evils of Roman Catholicism

These things verify what Jesus said: “a tree is known by its fruit (Matthew 12:33)”. This is the fruit of Roman Catholicism in its full, rotten, smelly aroma of death.

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 …

“Pope Leo the Great”

“Pope Leo the Great” (pope from 440–461 AD) probably gave a fuller impetus to the medieval papacy than any other pope from the first millennium. J.N.D. Kelly, “The Oxford Dictionary of Popes”, (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, ©1986) says of Leo: An energetic and purposeful pontiff, Leo infused all his policies and pronouncements, especially his …

The Papacy: “Self-Consciously” Modeled After the 4th Century Roman State

Roman Catholics today like to tell us that “Christ is the head of the church,” but Pope Siricius (384-399), who was the successor of the murderer pope Damasus, “self-consciously … began to model their actions and style as Christian leaders on the procedures of the Roman state. … [Siricius responded to an inquiry from a …

How the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church Contradicts Called to Communion’s Interpretive Paradigm

The fellas over at Called to Communion (C2C) are behaving like young boys with a new bike.  And that new “bike” is what they describe as their “Interpretive Paradigm” (hereafter, IP).  Just as a shiny new bike makes a young lad feel superior to his friends – at least until the first scratch or dent …

The Fictional Beginnings of Papal Infallibility, Part 1

It is no stretch at all to call this fictional. The concept of “papal infallibility”, the foundation of the Roman Catholic IP, the epistemological foundation of certitude for a narrow band of Roman Catholics, never existed for the first 1200 years of church history. Michael Liccione wrote of “papal ratifications of dogmatic canons issued by …

‘Papal Infallibility’ is a cause for confusion

“Papal Infallibility” is not a point of unity even among conservative Roman Catholics. Michael Liccione said: What is at issue is whether any church is ever divinely protected from doctrinal error, not moral error, under certain conditions. Elsewhere he described one component of this: “In Catholic theology, it is not even a matter of dispute …

You will know them by their fruits.

Beggars All: Reformation And Apologetics: The Popes Against the Jews, Part 5: “You will recognize them by their fruits.”