In November of last year I was honoured to be the best man at my former roommates’ wedding. Earlier this month, he and his wife welcomed their first child into this world. On Saturday the child was welcomed into God’s family through the sacrament of baptism. Baptism saves according to St. Peter and this child was saved when he was baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. I was the godfather.
Category Archives: Church History
Muslims have to side with Paul over James in Acts 21
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As many of you know, I was privileged to be on a recent episode of Reason and Theology. What I discussed and refuted was the argument that the Church of Rome did not have a monarchial bishop until the mid-second century. I of course shredded the argument. In the weeks leading up to this episode I had written several articles refuting this dumb theory. I presented them on the show.
Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox Terminology
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I recently read The Triads by Gregory Palamas. Gregory Palamas is a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church who helped end a theological civil war in 14th century Byzantium. I sat down on Saturday and read the whole thing in the evening. It’s not that long but I was told by a fellow Catholic apologist that my version of the Triads was abridged.
Babylon is Rome in 1 Peter 5
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There are those that try to deny that St. Peter was in Rome. They often point out that in St. Paul’s epistle to the Romans, dozens of names are mentioned but Peter isn’t. Now, the entire tradition of the Church has St. Peter in Rome. Is this a contradiction? Only if you want it to be. You can simply say that St. Peter wasn’t in the city of Rome when this was written.
The Soteriology of Clement of Rome
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I’ve been reading a lot of the apostolic fathers recently as I’m doing research on the early ecclesiology of the Catholic Church. As you know, many Protestants looking into 19th century pseudo-scholarship have fallen into the trap of thinking that the Roman episcopate didn’t exist until the mid 2nd century. This includes Jerry Walls and James White. However, I noticed something else in Clement’s soteriology that I hadn’t caught before. Let me share it with you.
James White’s beliefs are in the Early Church
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When we look back at Church history we see that the 16th century often brought beliefs back that had been discarded. James White would be proud of this. However, who held these beliefs? Was it the early Catholic Church or was it the heretical sects? Let’s look at three examples using the early Church historian Socrates of Constantinople.
Pope Leo the Great – The only good Pope according to Ken Temple
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We have good news ladies and gentlemen. Protestant apologist Ken Temple has admitted that there was a good Pope. A couple posts ago he said the following in the comments section:
The only good bishop of Rome was Leo 1, because of his Tome on the 2 natures of Christ.
Dr. Bill Warner’s Thesis Confirmed
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I recently listened to a podcast with an Ex-Muslim who is now Catholic. Praise God that she rejected Muhammad and replaced him with Jesus Christ. In her story, she talked about how her friend knew a priest was going to visit her country which is in the Middle East. They arranged to meet the priest but he discouraged them from baptism and conversion.
Apostasy: Trent or Constantinople?
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I often have debates on Twitter with a reformed Baptist named Ken Temple. He often comments on this blog as well. It’s all in good fun. One thing that he has pointed out is that the Catholic Church went apostate during the Council of Trent. This is because the doctrine of Sola Fide was officially condemned at this ecumenical council.
Why Didn’t St. Ignatius Mention the Bishop of Rome?
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This will be a follow up to my last article where I deal with St. Ignatius. As everyone knows, there are seven early epistles of St. Ignatius to various churches in the Roman Empire. In his letter to the Church of Rome, he doesn’t address the bishop at the beginning of his letter. He addresses the bishop of the city in his other letters. Why didn’t he mention the bishop of the Church of Rome?