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Even if Genesis had given a more biologically detailed explanation of our origins, something more congenial to the modern mind, it would still be rejected for the simple reason that God had anything to do with it. - Bill Luse of Apologia
[There is] this strain inTolkien I don't quite trust. He seems to have greater confidence in evil than in good. At the end of Lord of the Rings the triumph of good leads to the destruction of nearly everything good. Lothlorien is abandoned, the Shire is overrun with foulness, and the elves all leave Middle Earth. It is naive to assume that the triumph of good means good results for all; however, it is equally naive to assume that evil consistently betters good. - Steven Riddle
Michael Dubruiel wrote, "We learn the faith as children but really don't 'get it' until the it gets challenged--then we either get it or bale." That is, take what one now regards as so much straw and bundle it up to transport. Hence the self-described recovering Catholic who complains of the continuing burden of carrying the former faith. - Terrence Berres of "The Provincial Emails"
[There is a distinction] between respecting sentiment and practicing sentimentalism. We all have all sorts of sentiments, and as incarnate beings we cannot simply ignore ours or those of others. At the same time, sentiment does not, merely by virtue of being felt, create or suspend laws, rights, or responsibilities. So I suppose I am, both on the blog and in person, opposed to sentimentalism, to ceding the objective truth or justice of a question to whomever feels strongest whatever it is they feel...While sharing our experiences with each other can be helpful, it can also be harmful, either because the experience teaches a false lesson or because it is taken to be normative. - Tom of Disputations
And if America encourages a national mythology, paraded on holidays like Memorial Day, do anarcho-pacifists rely at least as much on their own myth, of Uncle Sam as reactionary imperialist Monopoly Guy? - Mark of "Irish Elk"
The recent descent of the Dawkinoids upon this very website confirms the observation. Was the fanaticism of the fundamentalist ever on more egregious display? Here we witnessed the adherents of the Church of Darwin trapped by a useless urge of Nature's own devising: the need to be right, to gain converts; and to cast the unbelievers into outer darkness. Unlike his Christian counterpart, he has no need of acknowledging, as a condition of the faith, that not only is he wrong about many things (especially himself), but that he needs forgiving for having done wrong; that the credit for any converts should be deferred to any power other than that of deified reason; nor that the unbelievers in exile should be prayed for, let alone that their absence should be as keenly felt as that of a missing member of one's own family. It seems to me that the two dispositions are - how shall I put it? - fundamentally different. If people genuinely find comfort in the "soulless materialism of the Darwinian universe", I say let them worship among a congregation with whose members they are most comfortable. I would simply ask them to do one thing for me, as an act of unaccustomed charity: Stop pretending, a la Hitchens, that you really do appreciate the religious origins of certain great works of music, art, and architecture, when we know very well that you think Michaelangelo's time would have been better spent executing a technically advanced cave painting rather than the Sistine ceiling. Leave off poetic appeals to creation's "grandeur", when we know full well that you don't believe it was created. Stop pretending that Darwin's story of life has a happy enough ending to satisfy the truly healthy mind, when his agony at his own daughter's death shows that it doesn't. In short, stop trying to convince me of the solace to be taken in the prospect of my own annihilation, and of those I love, when you know before you say it that there is none. The consolation to be found in nihilism is a lie unworthy of a believer in the one true faith. - Bill Luse of "What's Wrong With the World"
The Catholic view of justification elegantly tied together James and Paul and the teachings of Jesus that put a premium on a believer’s faithful practice of Christian charity. Catholicism does not teach “works righteousness.” It teaches faith in action as a manifestation of God’s grace in one’s life. That’s why Abraham’s faith results in righteousness only when he attempts to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice to God...Because Protestant evangelicals accept much of the Great Tradition that Catholics take for granted — such as the Catholic creeds and the inspiration of Scripture — but without recourse to the Church’s authority, they have produced important and significant works in systematic theology and philosophical theology. Catholics would do well to plumb these works, since in them Protestant evangelicals often provide the biblical and philosophical scaffolding that influenced the Church Fathers that developed the catholic creeds as well as the Church’s understanding of the Bible as God’s Word. But these evangelicals do so by using contemporary language and addressing contemporary concerns. This will help Catholics understand the reasoning behind the classical doctrines. In terms of expository preaching, as well as teaching the laity, Protestant evangelicals are without peers in the Christian world...Works by evangelical philosophers and theologians such as [J.P.] Moreland, [Paul] Copan, and William Lane Craig, should be in the library of any serious Catholic who wants to be equipped to respond to contemporary challenges to the Christian faith. - Francis Beckwith of "Right Reason" via Jeff Miller
The Forward [of a book praising Archbishop Weakland] by Richard J. Sklba, Auxiliary Bishop of Milwaukee begins (p. vii)
It was the glory of the Council of Trent (1545-1563 C.E.) ...He wrote on April 2, 2002 C.E., before Paul Marcoux appeared on Good Morning America on May 23, A.D. 2002... - Terrence Berres of TPE
With the passing of the years [Tertullian] became ever more exigent of Christians: above all he expected them to face persecution heroically. In the end he found himself isolated: “an overly individualistic search for the truth along with his intemperance led to his breaking from communion with the Church to become a follower of the Montanist sect”. Still today “there is open debate regarding his behaviour”. “This great personality – commented the Pope – this figure so rigid in his convictions, who demanded Christians face persecution heroically, spurs me to thought. In the end it becomes clear that he lacked simplicity, the humility to become one with the Church, accepting its weaknesses”. - Pope Benedict on Tertullian
On the one hand, 'a Christian can't really hate', and on the other, there's Tertullian arguing that part of the joy of the blessed will be watching the damned suffer, just like a gladiator show. Yes, Tertullian had... issues. Apparently, it's very difficult to be smart, pious, virtuous, brave, a great lawyer and orator, and also compassionate. Augustine had similar gifts and North African background, though without the advantage of his happier life and good wife. Tertullian did have a big temptation towards gladiatorial games, though, like Augustine's one buddy. But it was Augustine who held out to the end under siege, and Tertullian who broke and ran to his tiny perfect little Spirit-filled sect (which actually did turn as weird and pagan as historical rumor said, according to recent archeology digs). Please pray for the soul of poor proud Tertullian, so torn up and angry. Sometimes it's our strengths that hurt us as well as our weaknesses. - Maureen of "Aliens in This World"
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