N.B.: This is the under-construction revised second edition of my July 2008 post: "Filioque: Fathers, Popes, & Councils." 1. The Eastern Orthodox differ from Catholics in that the former deny that the υπόστασις [hypostasis] of the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son; at most, they will gr...

[Also see Parts 1 , 2 , and 3 ] Indefinitely, if I presented this argument to a friend, they would bring up the fact that in Matthew 16:18, in the greek, Peter –Petros- and rock –petra- do not agree in gender and so rock could not be referring to Peter. What is the rebuttal to that?Matthew used ...

Since November is the month when we remember the souls in Purgatory and make a special effort to pray for their speedy entrance into heaven, I thought it would be helpful to provide some resources that explain what Purgatory is. I realize the month is almost over, but you know what they say.... If a...

In response to Part 1, "Mexjewel" attempted to make the argument that a Christian could rightly live a homosexual lifestyle. I would like to respond to this position below: My Jesus makes the definition of sin (and so sinners) easy. He bases and defines ALL sin on lack of love (Matthew 22:36-40). Su...

I received the following email from a mom in California on Prop. 8 and it's effect on her family. I haven't seen very much in the Catholic blogosphere on this, so I hope that what follows will be a worthwhile contribution to the debate on this subject. It's a miracle that Prop. 8 passed and we shoul...

Christ Himself teaches that divorce is forbidden, and the Lord even said in the Old Testament that He hates divorce [Mal 2:16]. This means that the bond of a consummated sacramental marriage is not dissoluble except by the death of the spouse. The " porneia " exception clause does not mean one of th...

[Also see Part 1 ] The issues that you listed as debatable are issues that, I agree, have leeway. However, they are none of the ones mentioned in my post. Where do you get your five issues? Obviously they are integral to your faith. They're integral to mine, but they are not my top five. I listed th...

I have been in more debates on abortion in the past two weeks than in my entire life. The following debate, like the last one, is also due to Facebook. I'm posting it on my blog with the hope that maybe my arguments will help other people, and also that I will receive suggestions and arguments from ...

[Also see Part 1 and Part 2 ] As far as the first question about the scriptures I feel that you fairly represented the Catholic side and I can understand. The more and more I become convinced that the sacraments are more than symbols the more I feel this is less of an issue because I would then beli...

One of the parishioners was kind enough to send me a question about Purgatory. Here is her question and my response: I know that it is good to pray for the souls in Purgatory, but can we pray to them?Well, here's the short and long of it. Short answer: From what I can tell, the Church has not defini...