Yesterday, we noted a great moment in the history of the Church: the story of Noah. From it and from Augustine, we noted the difference between the City of God and the City of Man, and how these two are continually opposed. In the same way Noah had been rejected by men for holding fast to the faith and preserving the City of God, King David prayed in the Psalms: "Let not … [Read more...]
The City of God (Pt. 1)
Long ago, St. Augustine of Hippo wrote a book commonly called "The City of God". In it he chronicled that: "we have learned that there is a city of God, and its Founder has inspired us with a love which makes us covet its citizenship. To this Founder of the holy city the citizens of the earthly city prefer their own gods, not knowing that He is the God of gods" - St. Augustine … [Read more...]
The Freedom of the Will: John Calvin & Justin Martyr & Martin Luther
St. Augustine of Hippo One of the fundamentally differing premises between Catholicism and Protestantism, was the doctrine of the human will. Where Catholics argued that the will was weakened by original sin, but free to do good or evil, Protestants argued that the will was free only to choose between sins; free only to do evil. Here's a quotation from John Calvin's "The … [Read more...]
St. Ignatius of Antioch again
I already read and went over another one of St. Ignatius' letters and his strong Ecclesiology shone through. A friend is meeting me tomorrow because she is Catholic and dating a Reformed Protestant and wants to show him the proof of the Real (physical) Presence of Christ in the Eucharist in the Early Church. So I quickly thought of the Apostolic Fathers and it amazes me how … [Read more...]
Pope as Anti-Christ or the Church as God's Instrument?
"Surely anybody's commonsense would tell him that enthusiasts who only met through their common enthusiasm for a leader whom they loved, would not instantly rush away to establish everything that he hated." - G.K. Chesterton on the History of the Catholic Church (critique of Evangelical theory of the universal apostasy of the Church)"Be not deceived, my brethren: If anyone … [Read more...]