779 results for 'hard sayings'

If We Reject God, We Will Never Truly Understand Ourselves(Post)

People lament that there is no longer a Christendom, but, you know, Christendom wasn’t exactly heaven on Earth. The Church doesn’t have worldly power any longer, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing.S

The Early Church on Baptismal Regeneration(Post)

St. Justin Martyr’s First Apology dates to around 160. In the text we find Justin offering an explanation and a defense to the pagan emperor. That includes a description of what the Christians of his

What Are the Ineffective Pro-Life Arguments?(Post)

There are some arguments that a pro-life advocate should not use, because they don’t directly address the key issue in the abortion debate: “What are the unborn?” Greg Koukl writes in his book Preciou

The Bible’s Table of Contents (Post)

The Canon of Scripture and Its Origin The clearest example of a sacred Tradition that both Catholics and Protestants accept is the canon of Scripture. The word canon comes from a Greek word that me

Rising Like Incense to Heaven(Post)

Sacraments of Grace and Strength In the weeks leading up to my reception into the Catholic Church, I prepared to not only to be baptized, but also to be confirmed. The sacrament of baptism uses wate

How Can Mary Be Without Sin?(Post)

In Romans 3:23, St. Paul famously declared, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” 1 John 1:8 says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us,” and Ro

Confusion In the Kingdom(Post)

Controversy Over Fr. James Martin's Comments Have you ever met someone who says something controversial and then acts as though he had said something mundane and wonders why everyone is getting so u

Is There Really a Need for Penance? Didn't Jesus Pay for All Our Sins?(Post)

CHALLENGE: The value of Christ’s sacrifice was infinite. He paid it all. Therefore, there is no role for penance in the Christian life.DEFENSE: The value of Christ’s death on the cross was infinite—mo

The Deposit of Faith: How Scripture and Tradition Work Together(Post)

Catholicism teaches that the doctrines contained in Sacred Scripture (the Bible) and Sacred Tradition (the Church) are authoritative because God’s revelation is the source of both. The Catechism puts

The Flaw in the "Paul Never Mentions Jesus" Argument(Post)

St. Paul was martyred in the mid-A.D. 60s, and he wrote his letters in the 50s and 60s, making them very early sources about Jesus—much earlier, Mythicists say, than the Gospels.   Mythicists frequent

Aren't All Sins the Same?(Post)

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

The Messiah in the Dead Sea Scrolls(Post)

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of documents discovered at the archaeological site Qumran, by the Dead Sea, in the 1940s. Most scholars hold that they were written by the Essenes, who appear to