Blog

The Christian response to sin is always necessary, but it need not be dire. For even before we turn back to God, he draws near to us, the sinner. And, if we allow him, God can use even our failings and faults to his glory and for our good. Romans 8:28 says that “all things work for good for those who love God,” and St. Thomas says this includes even our sins, for “God makes all things work together for their good to the extent that if they deviate and stray from …

It is an almost impossible question: What would you include or exclude if you were creating your own religion? What do you prefer to see in your Church unboxing, as you might prefer in a cosmetics or shoe unboxing? What would you click away from? The word religion necessarily conjures up the idea of a system of beliefs and practices that we do not, indeed cannot, make up. And with rare exceptions among genuine psychopaths or the most ardent ideologues, even people who explicitly eschew est …

Can you lose your salvation?Some Protestants believe in the doctrine of “Eternal Security” and would say no.Catholics take a different view.Apologist Karlo Broussard tells us Galatians 5:4 is a go-to text for Catholics when it comes to defending the belief that Christians can lose their salvation:You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.Notice that St. Paul says the Galatians were “severed from Christ” and that t …

There is an idea among some Protestants that all sin is equal. Although tacitly recognizing that certain sinful actions are morally worse than others, they seem to get hung up on the idea that any sin is imperfection and any imperfection will keep someone out of heaven (this is why Jesus—who is perfect—must stand in our place). If this is the case, then any sin will send someone to hell, so any distinctions in gravity among sins is pointless. Therefore, all sin is equal. Sometimes they will quot …

The word venial comes from the Latin word venia, which means “pardon” or “forgiveness.” According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a venial sin is a sin that “allows charity to subsist, even though it offends and wounds it” (1855). The rationale behind this teaching is that charity orders us to God as our life’s goal, or final end. That order can be either completely destroyed or merely disturbed by sin. This order is completely destroyed when we sin in such a way as to turn …