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A Five-Part Test for Your Eucharistic Beliefs
How can you tell if you have the right understanding—the biblical interpretation, Jesus’ interpretation—of the Eucharist? I’d suggest five things to look for: your beliefs should be strange,sacrificial,serious,sacramental, and shocking. First, as we’ve already seen, the proper Christian understanding of the Eucharist must be strange, and hard to accept. That’s how it was initially received, and Jesus did nothing to dispel this impression. Why, he was trying to present an easy teaching and was ju
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Jul 27th 2023
The Eucharist Is Really Jesus
My old pastor gave a homily in which he talked about preparing a girl for First Communion. Her parents had been wondering if she was ready yet, so Father asked her to explain her understanding of the Eucharist.She pointed to the large crucifix in the back of church and said, “That looks like Jesus, but isn’t. The Eucharist doesn’t look like Jesus, but is.” It’s hard to imagine a better or more succinct way of capturing what Catholics believe about the Eucharist. Needless to say, the priest decid
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Jul 13th 2023
Exposing the New Relativism
For many years, in apologetic circles, refuting relativism was the craze. Relativism had become such a common and dangerous part of the modern cultural landscape. “You have your truth, I have mine” was the phrase that summed it up. But, early in my research, I began coming across the claim that relativism was gone, passé, not the real problem anymore. Political commentator David Brooks, for example, argued in the New York Times that although American college campuses used to be “awash in moral r
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Jun 7th 2023
“Where is that in the Bible?”
“Where is that in the Bible?”This is the most common question I receive when I discuss the Catholic faith with Protestants. They ask me questions like: “Where is purgatory in the Bible? Or the Mass? Or the pope? Or the rosary?”These questions assume that Christians should only believe a doctrine if it is explicitly taught in Scripture—what is called sola scriptura (“by Scripture alone”). The 1647 Protestant Westminster Confession of Faith expressed a key aspect of sola scriptura this way: “The w
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May 15th 2023
Holy Mary, Mother of God?
Is Mary the Mother of God?Let's look at one argument non-Catholics use against this claim, and how to respond.The belief that Mary is the mother of God is not unique to Catholicism. The vast majority of Christians accept this dogma, with only a minority of people in the Protestant community objecting. One text that is appealed to in support of this belief is Luke 1:43. There, Elizabeth, inspired by the Holy Spirit, exclaims to Mary, who just arrived in her presence, “Why is this granted me, that
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Apr 21st 2023