Mt 26:26 ‘While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after giving thanks he broke it, gave it to his disciples, and said, “Take, eat, this is my body.”’
Mk 14:22 ‘While they were eating, he took bread, and after giving thanks he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take it. This is my body.”’
Lk 22:19 ‘Then he took bread, and after giving thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you.…
Dave Armstrong seeks to present ‘Biblical evidence for Catholicism’.
I find his writings irenic, if ultimately unconvincing on distinctive Catholic teachings such as the doctrine of Mary.
In The Blessed Virgin Mary: Hail, Full of Grace Armstrong seeks to define and justify various aspects of that doctrine.
The following summarises the main points. I refrain, for the time being, from making critical comments.
(a) Mother of God
Lk 1:43 (“The mother of my Lord”) is appealed to in support of the doctrine of Mary as ‘Mother of God’. …
1 Corinthians 3:15 – ‘If someone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as through fire.’
Does this verse support the doctrine of purgatory?
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
…1030 All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.
Heb 13:10-11 We have an altar that those who serve in the tabernacle have no right to eat from. For the bodies of those animals whose blood the high priest brings into the sanctuary as an offering for sin are burned outside the camp.
The main contours of the author’s argument are clear enough: the readers are not to get ‘carried away’ by ‘strange teachings’, such as those involving ritual meals. We are nourished spiritually by God’s grace, not by the foods we eat or abstain from. …
Throughout his long ministry, J.C. Ryle (1817-1900) had to defend evangelical (that is to say, gospel) truth on a number of fronts. One of these concerned the threat posed by the Ritualism of the Anglo-Catholic movement.
Ian Farley reports that in 1877 Ryle identified five key teachings of the Ritualists:
Shared recently on Facebook was an image of Pope Francis and the following quote, attributed to him:-
Elgar’s ‘The Dream of Gerontius’ is a wonderful piece of music. For me, however, its story-line requires a considerable suspension of belief. Based on John Henry (Cardinal) Newman’s poem of the same name, it describes the journey of a Christian soul from his death-bed to Purgatory.
The Roman Catholic doctrine of Purgatory took shape in the Middle Ages. The Council of Trent (1545-1563) pronounced as ‘anathema’ those who rejected it. The doctrine states that the intermediate state for Christian believers consists not of unmixed rest, but rather of punishment for post-baptismal sins. …
It is interesting to note that the New Perspective on Paul has flourished in the wake of the Holocaust and the onset of the ecumenical movement, and the development of closer ties between Roman Catholics and Protestants.
The link here is that the ‘old’ (Protestant, and especially Lutheran) perspective on Paul taught that both Judaism and Roman Catholicism were (and are) beset by legalism, and that Paul’s doctrine of justification by faith alone was needed to counter-act this.…
A recent edition of Premier Christian Radio’s ‘Unbelievable’ show featured a lively discussion between William Johnstone, a spokesperson for ‘Catholic Voices’ and Duncan Boyd, of the Protestant Truth Society.
The topic for debate was, ‘Is the Papacy Biblical?’ – very topical, in view of the fact that the Pope was in the UK on an official state visit at the time.
In the event, the debate ranged more broadly than the question of the papacy. It was, I suppose, helpful that each protagonist was both clear and convinced about his own position.…
The Catholic clerical abuse scandal is, of course, very bad news: first and foremost, for the victims, second for the Catholic church, and third for all those – inside and outside the Catholic church – who find themselves tarnished by real or imagined association.
The recent remarks of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, to the effect that it is homosexuality, rather than celibacy, which lay behind the abuse of children, has led to indignation in many quarters.
My belief (and I’m speaking from long experience in health care generally, and knowledge of long-stay ‘institutions’) is that enforced abstention from heterosexual relationships leads to an increase in the incidence of deviant sexual behaviours.…
