GET FIREFOX!

THE PAWN SHOP
IS OPEN!

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you--unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures

YOU SAID WHAT?!

TWEET! TWEET! TWEET!

follow me on Twitter

Search This Blog! Google cent's mindless ramblings

View blog authority

Why Timmy Brister is the luckiest man alive
Classic: communion
Haloscan is down
Classic: Baptism
Say what you believe
Joe Thorn is a good guy
More advice for iMonk
Advice for iMonk
For whatever it's worth
WALL-E

Here's the part where I try to avoid getting sued ...

As you undoubtedly noticed, I like comics. I wouldn't call myself a "fan boy" because I don't give a flying FOOM what they are worth. That said, almost all the images on my blog are scanned from comics I own, and it would be frankly impossible to tell you where each one comes from specifically.

Many are © and/or ® Marvel Comics Group, with all rights reserved.

Others are © and/or ® DC Comics, which is an arm of Time/Warner, and not only are all rights reserved but they are a little jealous about it, so if I get "the letter" from them, those images are just going to turn into blank spots until I configure out what to do about that.

There are also the occasional images from Valiant, Image, Defiant, and some indies which I'm not sure even have a name, and they are all also © and/or ®, all rights reserved.

All other images not covered by this disclaimer are the property of their respective owners, and if you are one of those people and you see your image on my blog, tell me what you want me to do about it and I will. No sense making people angry.

Hope that helps.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Why I'm OK with being called "anti-catholic"

Listen: I ran into Justin Taylor's announcement of Francis Beckwith's new book of "road home" apologetics, and I posted a comment about as charitable as I could muster. However, let me admit something: there is nothing more distasteful to me than conventional pro-catholic apologetics, and, sadly, Dr. Beckwith participates in that -- he's nice about it, but that's what he does.

Honestly: I'm under Rome's anathema, and I'm OK with that. Their anathemas say more about them than anything I can say about them -- especially when it comes to stuff like how many books of the Bible I must accept and whether or not Mary was bodily assumed into heaven. Those anathemas speak to how stridently Rome applies the force of "anathema". When they anathematize me for believing in imputed righteousness and justification by faith alone, I respect them for admitting that they do not believe in a God who saves through Christ but a god who saves by rites, and I can walk away without any qualms.

Conventional pro-catholic apologetics try to sweep all that stuff under the rug, and that's what gets me.

Let me put it another way. 4 weeks ago, the boys on bikes came by and wanted to talk to me because I was out in the yard, and I gave them 30 minutes (I would have given them an hour, but they had a curfew). Their ploy was that they were just like any other Christian -- expect for that extra book they carry around, which was important to them -- authoritative to them -- but it's OK if I don't accept that.

yeah.

So they were in the neighborhood why? I mean: my town has 60 churches and 98% of these people are in church on Sunday. So are these guys evangelizing, or are they simply walking around? Because when we go on visitation, we're evangelizing -- we're seeking those who are either lost without Christ or lost without a church with which to fellowship.

And this is the thing: if the goal of Catholic apologetics is to get me into their mass and their sacraments because I'm under anathema and I'm denying what God has commanded so repent, let's talk about that. If the goal is to sweet-talk me by saying we aren't really very different, so try it, you might like it -- dude, forget it. I tried it, and I didn't like it. In fact, I hated it for its hypocrisy.

So am I "anti-catholic" in the sense that I am actually a Protestant? Why yes: I am. Deal with that and not the ridiculous idea that somehow I don't understand what it means to be under the anathema for believing Christ has actually saved me rather than think someday, after I have paid for my sins in Purgatory, Christ will have saved me.

Labels: Blogosphere, Catholicism