My free Quran from the Local Mosque
Almost every Western country has a significant Muslim population. According to a survey conducted in 2011, the city in which I live is over 5% Muslim. The city in which I was born has the third oldest mosque on the continent. There is also a mosque about a two minute walk from where I live. Needless to say, Islam is in the West.
The Hagia Sophia
A Christian Church turned into a Mosque by Muslims, then turned into a Museum by Masons.
Muslims and Christians both believe in Jesus Christ. We both believe He is the Messiah and born of the Virgin Mary. The two biggest differences are his divinity and the crucifixion. Muslims claim that he didn’t die based on the Quran.
This is Jerry Coyne. Doesn’t he look like a charmer? He certainly has attracted a lot of followers in the last few years with the publication of two books. In 2009 he published Why Evolution is True and in 2015 he followed up with Faith vs. Fact.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFO4dRyIqeY
Ever since the 1960’s, the enemies of God have been going after Pope Pius XII. After WWII many Jews thought of Pius XII as a hero. Even Israeli foreign minister Gold Meir upon the death of Pius XII said: “When fearful martyrdom came to our people in the decade of Nazi terror, the voice of the Pope was raised for the victims. The life of our times was enriched by a voice speaking out on the great moral truths above the tumult of daily conflict.”
Louis St. Laurent High School. The “Catholic” School that I attended.
Very few people get a proper Christian education these days in the West. Growing up as a Catholic, I went to a Catholic School but let’s be honest, apart from a morning prayer and some religious celebrations where the students used it as an opportunity to clown around, it wasn’t Catholic at all.
Pope Gregory XVI
In the days long before the liberalism of modern Popes, we had the amazing Pope Gregory XVI who reigned as Pope from 1831 to 1846. He firmly believed in Christian doctrine and did not care what other people thought. This is best expressed in his great encyclical Mirari Vos, which was published in 1832.
As I often mention, Church history is a subject that is extremely important to a Christian apologist. Many apologists don’t understand its value. They believe that since the Bible is the word of God and Church history is not divine, we should focus wholly or almost wholly on scripture. I agree that scripture is the priority and that is why I try to spend two hours each day studying scripture but Church history is the second most important area to study.
Dr. White responded to my post about him last week. I’ve linked to the Dividing Line above and the relevant portion starts at 13:00 and goes for over an hour. I can’t respond to everything since I don’t want to be writing on this topic for a month but I’ll respond to some things.
Dr. White is at it again. Yesterday on the Dividing Line he talked about the development of the Catholic Priesthood. The important part of the above video is at about 19 minutes. He mentions that in the 300’s during the Donatist controversy the question was ex opere operato vs ex opera operantis. He said that no one believed at that time that priestly ordination left an eternal mark on the soul and that this is a later development. I will admit that the theology of the Priesthood developed over time. I have no problem believing that Christians in later centuries knew more about the Priesthood than they did in the fourth Century.
On A Mission: Lessons From St. Francis de Sales
In being an effective debater you need two things. You need proper debating tactics and you need information. Information comes with time and reading but if you never master the proper debating tactics, it’s almost uselss. The key to debating is not to defeat your opponent but to let your opponent defeat himself. This is done by asking the right questions.