Quote St. Paul to the Muslims

I recently tried a new debating technique with a Muslim and it worked quite well.  I’m wondering if this is a unique situation.  Now it has to be with a Muslim who is somewhat educated about Christianity which is almost none though internet apologists like Ijaz Admad would fall into this category.  They especially need to know who St. Paul is and how he’s the standard fall guy for traditional Christianity.  Since the Quran doesn’t explicitly name him as a Muslim, unlike Jesus, Mary, and the apostles, the blame for Christianity looking the way it does falls almost exclusively on him.

Refuting Paul Williams on the Law

Muslim apologist Paul Williams has come out with a video where he tries to put Jesus Christ at odds with the apostle Paul in terms of the Mosaic law.  In typical Paul Williams fashion he quotes his “Christian” liberal scholars.  The scholars that he quotes are Catholic.  I encourage everyone to watch my interview with Timothy Flanders to see what a true theologian is.  The ones that Williams quoted don’t fit this bill.

Interview With Timothy Flanders

Happy St. Patrick’s day!  I know things aren’t too cheerful out there with the coronavirus but now is a good time to grow in the faith.  Many people are isolating themselves and many that aren’t should.  We shouldn’t go to unnecessary gatherings.  This gives us a chance for prayer, holy reading, and a little Catholic YouTube.  I recently interviewed Timothy Flanders who runs the website meaningofcatholic.com.

Jonathan Brown on Ezra as the Son of God

A couple weeks ago, Islamic apologist Paul Williams posted an article from American Islamic convert Jonathan Brown.  It deals with the extremely awkward claim in Surah 9:30 that Uzayr(usually translated as Ezra) is the Son of God.  A lot of converts like to listen to lectures by Jonathan Brown since he’s a really good speaker, and is completely Western in look and dress.  He’s also pretty clever in a lot of his explanations.  However, in his article he’s really grasping at straws.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem and Sola Scriptura

St. Cyril of Jerusalem

Many Protestant scholars such as James White and William Webster have tried to prove the doctrine of Sola Scriptura from the Church Fathers.  I’m unimpressed with a lot of the quotes that they provide.  The quotes stress the authority of Scripture.  I certainly believe in the authority of Scripture, just not in the same way that they do.  There are only a couple quotes from the Church Fathers that I believe can be used to support this doctrine.  One of them(and the best one in my opinion) comes from the great fourth century father St. Cyril of Jerusalem.

A Question to Protestants About Sola Scripura

Pope Eugene IV who presided over the Council of Florence

I’m currently reading The History of the Council of Florence by Ivan Ostroumov.  It’s the Greek Orthodox account of what happened at the Council of Florence in the 1400s.  Four issues were discussed at this council between the Greek and Latin bishops.  These are the papacy, the filioque, azymes, and purgatory.  The last of these will be very important to this discussion.

James White and the Early Christian View of the Eucharist

There is a clip going around of the well known Evangelical Francis Chan saying that for the first 1,500 years of the Church, the unanimous belief was that the Eucharist was the body and blood of Jesus Christ.  I want to say that I don’t agree that it was unanimous.  It was about 95% but still a strong majority.  When Protestants start to read the Church Fathers their jaw drops at the early view of the Eucharist.  They clearly viewed it as the body and blood of Christ and Francis Chan sees that.

An Eventful Weekend

A couple months ago my good friend and former roommate got engaged.  Not long after that, he asked me to be his best man.  I was very honoured and agreed.  He got married this weekend and I couldn’t be happier for him and his bride.