I think that Geo and I have more views in common, perhaps we’re just coming at it from two different angles. Anyway, the debate was really good. I have copied and pasted all of the debate information and put it up here. I’ve also added a new debate section to the site–you should see it in the top menus.
I hope to engage in more debates soon. I have a good time with those!
Religion News Blog picked up a story on the Blasphemy Challenge, from our friends Brian Flemming and the Rational Response Squad. The significant thing, to me, is that the item comes from the Jan 8 issue of Newsweek magazine. Unlike those of us concerned with preserving the Christian faith who will not provide links to such garbage, Newsweek gives the full web addresses for the Rational Response Squad and Brian Flemming’s The God Who Wasn’t There video.
Check the article out for yourself. I’m glad that they quote one of our people who says that the words aren’t the Unforgivable Sin; it’s the denial of God’s active work in the world and in our own lives.
The flippant remark at the end of the article shows which side Newsweek is on. That comment fell far short of “funny” and smack into “patently offensive.”
Perhaps we should call for a boycott of Newsweek, at least until they decide to be fair and journalistic in their approach to stories.
I received the rough draft of my Catholic Mass article back from the webmaster of Got Questions Ministries. He was curious to know where I got the idea that the Eucharist wasn’t a re-sacrifice. He said that he talked to several Catholics and they all agreed that it was just that. So he wanted me to clarify the article.
Well, my source for that was none other than Father Mitch Pacwa. A brief summary of Fr. Pacwa’s credentials from Alpha & Omega Minsitries:
Fr. Pacwa has served on the faculties of Tennessee State University, Loyola University and the August University of Dallas, having taught such courses as Introduction to the Bible, Introduction to the Old Testament, Introduction to the New Testament, Hebrew I, II, III, IV and Masters Level Courses in The Psalms, The Writings of Saint Paul and The Johannine Writings. Fr. Pacwa also has abilites in 12 languages, including the Ancient Languages of Latin, Koine Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and Ugaritic. He currently serves as Contributing Editor of “THIS ROCK” Magazine and the “TOUCHSTONE” Journal, in addition to hosting hi5 own regularly-aired television program on the Eternal Word Television Network. He is a!so [sic] seen often on “MOTHER ANGELICA LIVE.”
This isn’t someone that I thought I needed to verify. He is quoted here stating this of the Catholic understanding of the Eucharist:
Fr. Pacwa continues by stating that in John 1:29; John the Baptizer states: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” The mass is a remembrance, and the sacrifice is Jesus who delivered us from death to life.
But that just isn’t true. According to paragraph 1366 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross, because it is its memorial and because it applies its fruit.” The CCC goes on in paragraph 1367:
The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: “The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different.” “And since in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner. . . this sacrifice is truly propitiatory.”
God is timeless and has no need to again “make present” a sacrifice whose work is finished.
I have taken the article down for now in order to incorporate this new information, as well as add some additional information that I would like to have included before. It should hopefully be up by Friday.
Has someone wronged you, recently or some time ago, from whom you are witholding forgiveness? Maybe you felt that it the dirty lout deserves it. Maybe you felt that it was a supreme wrong and you know what? Maybe you’re even right!
But none of that matters. Every wrong, every sin committed, wrongs God. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn 1:9).
But look at that in light of the parable of the unforgiving servant. Why should God forgive us infinate wrongs if we can’t forgive our fellow man a few? See the expanded version of this here.
Recently, I forgave someone who had wronged me in the past. It felt very good to talk to him last night, to hear how he has grown as a Christian, to find out that he is well and hopes that we can get together soon. I second that. But, more importantly, something else has happened. It seems that since our conversation last night, my blog readership has more than doubled.
It is true, as the Bible says. “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Mt 16:19). I have loosed this wrong, and God has opened the doors for ministry in a very soon and extremely unexpected way.
Praise and glory go to Him, and I pray that His hand will continue to guide this ministry, win souls through it, and provide me with a means to support my family through this work. I set out to reconnect with an old and dear friend. I did that. In the process, I learned again how faithful God is to His children.
Here is the study of Catholic Mass I did for Got Questions Ministires in its original form. From time to time, as I get time, I will update and expand it to include more information. An edited version will soon appear on their page. As always, enjoy!
Comments(0) The Bible has this to say about God forgiving the sin of blasphemy:
Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin. [Mark 3:28-29]
The mental midgets over at the Rational Response Squad are giving away 1,001 copies of the video The God Who Wasn’t There to anyone who will upload a video of themselves saying “I deny the Holy Spirit” to YouTube. They have creatively named this The Blasphemy Challenge. At the time of writing, 560 such videos are posted. This makes my wife physically ill. But I see only amusement here.
These folks have accepted the Blasphemy Challenge, but they haven’t completed it! You see, saying the words isn’t the sin. Living a lifestyle, a consciously chosen lifestyle, that denies God’s active hand in your life and in the world around you, that is the Unforgivable Sin. Read the verse in context and see for yourself! The key to the entire passage is verse 30: “for they [the scribes] had said ‘He [Jesus] has an unclean spirit.’” The scribes are saying that Jesus is from the devil! They are doing far more than denying the existence of God: they are now denying the work of God.
Denying the work of God in the world around us is not a condition of words or expression; it is a condition of heart and will reflect in the things you do, think, and speak.
The Rational Response Squad fails to understand the passage. The folks who accepted the Blasphemy Challenge fail to understand what they are denying. Therefore, they can still be forgiven this sin if they choose to repent. Something tells me they won’t, but perhaps if enough people pray for them God will draw them into His flock and they will understand the true implications of what they denied.
LATE BREAKING ADDENDUM: In my study of Catholic Mass for Got Questions Ministries, I stumbled on a verse that is important to understand the concept of the Unforgivable Sin. The Holy Spirit is the personified work of God in all of Creation, right? Well, check out John 6:29: “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.” Once again, this underscores the importance of a person’s condition of heart. Belief in Jesus as the Son of God is the very work of God! Not believing this is the core of the Unforgivable Sin.
