Josiah Concept Ministries

DA, as he is affectionately known to my fellow “anti-Catholic” apologists James Swan and James White, has now made two posts, here and here, in reference to this one post from me.

Two posts for the price of one?  Shucks, I don’t know what to say.  This post has quelled my fears about this little item, cited on Swan’s blog:

To the extent that I deal with anti-Catholics at all, I’ll stick to at least influential ones like James White. He affects a lot of people, and so, needs to be countered and refuted. But Swan is a lightweight in the anti-Catholic apologetic world. Let him write posts like this, then. I have better things to do than to waste my time reading them, let alone responding.

I was worried that DA wouldn’t respond to me anymore, even once I post my reply to the Vicar of Christ fiasco from the previous week.  Since, after all, if James Swan is a lightweight, then I must be sub-atomic-particle-weight.

But, I see that my mini-feud with Mr. Armstrong is still alive and well.  Perhaps it is because I’m keeping it more friendly and less drenched with sarcasm than Swan is?  Friendly theological debate is far more edifying and both parties stand to benefit from the interchange.  After all, I’ve learned about perichoresis from this debate and that has placed me in greater awe of God than I already was.  Concepts like perichoresis make me all that much more devoted to Him, solidify my trust in the gospel, and make me all the more willing to proclaim my faith to others.  Perichoresis shows how infinite God really is.

The fact that He is contained by nothing, but in fact contains everything, just leaves me in perfect wonder.  And I suppose I have Mr. Armstrong to thank for starting me on this journey, because if I had never happened upon the information in his blog, I would never have researched it to provide a proper response to his other musings.

I hope that I have, or will, benefit him in some small way as well.

It seems to me that Roman Catholic apologists build around a certain motif that I like to call personality cult apologetics.  The most obvious example is this article from Jimmy Akin, which at the time of writing has 796 comments.  Most of these comments are just people writing one or two lines of agreement with Akin’s post and a few “atta-boy” comments from the usual cast of JA.O regulars.  For Jimmy’s sake, I hope that TypePad manages comments better than WordPress, because I couldn’t even begin to imagine trying to sort through 796 new comments with the way WordPress handles them.

All of the comments were centered around James White and the graphics he posted with a humorous intent.  The comments served to prove Dr. White’s point that charity is severely lacking from that bank of the Tiber, however we on this side are expected to maintain this charity at all costs.

This issue is near and dear to my own heart right now because I’m the target of Dave Armstrong’s personality cult for my comment that Dave is misrepresenting what the “Vicar of Christ” title implies for the Pope.  My favorite, from Jordan Potter:

On which bank of the Tiber will I remain? The one that represents truth and doesn’t have to resort to name-calling and dishonesty . . .

Wonderful news! See you at the next Easter Vigil!

I read that twice yesterday and I didn’t get it.  I just got it when I re-read it today.  That’s actually funny.  I am so slow on the uptake sometimes.

Now here is where I have to give Dave some credit.  I got targeted by a hit-and-run guy not so very long ago who didn’t bother to read everything I wrote on a particular topic and started to go on and on to convince me of a point that I not only accepted, but articulated in a previous post.  Dave has read this post, and his commenters are (rightfully) all over it:

And my record remains unbroken. I have never– and I don’t mean almost never or 99.999% never and one or two exceptions–heard a former Catholic correctly articulate Catholic teaching. (Scott W.)

Then:

Oh, he’s a former Catholic turned anti-Catholic fundamentalist? No wonder he doesn’t accurately represent the content of the Catholic faith. (Jordan Potter again)

But my personal favorite in this set:

I forgot that I used to worship Diana and Isis. Whew! What a long strange trip it’s been! Pretty soon we’ll have all of the rest of the trillions of female-deity-worhippers in our ranks and then, watch out! (Mike Burgess)

Now I have a sense of humor.  And I can also admit when I’m wrong, and most of all, I can admit why I was wrong.  The statement to which they refer is not something I’ve ever (or would ever) teach if I were lucky enough to become an apologetics instructor.  I don’t even believe that I made such a glaring error, but there it is in print, so I said it.  I will own up to it, and I admit that I was wrong in making that statement.

I am ashamed of the reason why I made the statement: It was targeted at a specific person, whom I now regard as a false teacher, to impress upon her that I was on the “right side.”  Her opinion of the right side and my opinion of the right side, I now realize, are very different.  Incompatible, actually.

The person to whom I am referring will undoubtedly recognize herself if she still reads my blog, however I am confident that she has already guessed what I’m revealing.  I am shying away from using names or providing links because a very dear friend of mine almost wholly subscribes to this woman’s teaching.  I have no desire to alienate him again, which is why I have never said anything about this.

I, still relatively new to apologetics, wrote that post specifically because this false teacher accused me of being one primarily in light of this post where I express interest in reading Pope Benedict XVI’s Jesus of Nazareth.  As this false teacher is very anti-Catholic, that post caused her great concern and so I wrote the very lame-brained post to calm her mind.

I stand behind the fact that there are saved people within the Catholic Church because of their faith in the sacrifice of the cross, not because of what the Church teaches.  In other words, they are saved in spite of what the Church teaches, not because of what the Church teaches.  The statement about Mary equating to goddess worship is not true, it never was, and I should never have expressed the sentiment.  It isn’t what I believe, and I have done the gospel a great disservice by voicing it.  And worse, I did it to advance a relationship with a false teacher.

I do not still communicate with her.  I spoke with her about my belief that salvation can occur within the Catholic Church, that regardless of whatever apostasy may be in it that God can and still does use it as a vehicle for salvation of His elect.  I pointed to my own grandparents as an example.  She expressed discontent with the notion that anyone could be saved within the Church, and that was the last time we spoke.

I’m fine with that.

But now that I’ve admitted to my mistake, I would like to return briefly to the idea of personality cult apologetics.  I seem to see much of it in the Roman Catholic apologetics circles.  It’s obvious with Jimmy Akin.  Less so, but still present, at Dave Armstrong’s blog.  I don’t think that Robert Sungenis has it anymore after putting out the book that argues that earth is the center of the solar system.  Gerry Matatics had to postpone his 300 city tour, so I don’t think that he has a personality cult.  I’m not so sure about Scott Hahn.

This personality cult apologetics takes the shape of the apologist making his claims on his blog, and then his commenters descend on the post and leave 40, 50, or 60 comments, most of which are just “atta-boy” comments or e-nods ™ of agreement.  This is unfortunately similar to what I see done on atheist discussion boards, such as the Rational Response Squad.  The mentality is certainly the same: the Rational Response Squad has won every debate they’ve ever been in.  Just ask them, and they’ll tell you it is so.  It’s the same thing with this crowd, except I haven’t seen anyone Catholics say “Ha, ha, you got pwned!” yet.

Maybe they’re waiting for the Pope to infallibly define a pronunciation for “pwned.”

Anyway, I digress.  I suppose that it is good that I don’t have a personality cult following me, or else I would have to start a campaign for better comment-handling in WordPress.  Because I assure you, if I ever wrote something that garnered 796 comments, I wouldn’t even be able to read half of them.

I suppose the bigger picture is, Do I want a personality cult?  Of course, I’ve always wanted to lead a cult.  It would be fun to be the unquestionable leader of a group of people.  I’d try to outdo King Solomon on wives and concubines.  Forget a tithe: I’d have people pay all of their life savings.

But now, I’m more than happy to let God be the center.  I’m periphery.  Soli Deo Gloria!

A reader named Brian has left comments on some of my Father Leyland articles–here, here, and here–and his comments demonstrate he has not read this post, which makes it abundantly clear that I am on Father Leyland’s side, and that I understand that the Bishop’s decision was solely a political move to silence a detractor.

I will admit to not knowing about the Father Nuss situation until after I posted the article where I speculated that he may have turned the pastorate down because he was afraid that he would not be an effective leader, and where I lamented that he might have otherwise missed out on a growth experience.  I know the real reason, and I am appalled that a man in his position would abuse it such, though the hierarchy of Catholic priests in this country is ripe with many example of pedophilia and abuse of power (Bernard Cardinal Law, anyone?).

Perhaps this is another documented example of how the people who speak for Rome don’t bother to check all of the writing that a person has done on a particular issue?  Last I checked, my search function in the upper right corner is fully operational and requires only for a potential user to type “FATHER LEYLAND” into it for a rundown of all the articles that I posted in relation to him.

Yes, I had a rather sudden and unexpected absence from the blog. I hope that you will forgive me when you read the long version of it, here. We can, of course, expect at least one more absence for a week or so in October, but that will be a good thing: my daughter’s birth!

In the coming days, I will be reading and catching up on what has been going on in the blogosphere while I was in the hospital. Also, I will be job hunting. Hopefully, I’ll return to blogging by Tuesday or Wednesday.

I hope everyone has fun at their Labor Day BBQs, or whatever.

On a side note, my brother-in-law, Nate, has an entry with the multi-faceted problem of our place in this universe that I thought my readers might enjoy while waiting for an entry from me. It sums up the two problems that we have been discussing here over the previous week: absolute truth and doctrinal disputes among Christians.

Most people would be thrilled beyond words if, for example, they got a baseball signed by their favorite pitcher.  They would display it proudly, buy a special glass case for it, or show it off to all of their friends.  In this day and age, they would probably post pictures of it on Photobucket or MySpace or Facebook so that all of their online buddies would see it, too.

Well, I have just had the equivalent of this autographed baseball happen right here on my blog.  I’ve looked up to James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries from my earliest days of answering God’s call to apologetics.  I have bought two of his books (I was actually reading Pulpit Crimes last night!) and read his blog everyday.  In fact, it was his blog that gave me the inspiration to start an apologetics blog of my own.  From the first time I saw Tekton Apologetics Ministries, I knew I wanted to be an apologist, but it wasn’t until I discovered Dr. White’s blog that I had any inkling of how I should start.  I owe quite a bit of thanks to both Dr. White and J.P. Holding for the direction of this ministry, for I patterned it after their own.

I think that my wife is tired of hearing “James White says…” at the beginnings of my sentences.  I tend to over-quote him.  Not on the blog, just in real life.  In fact, when I discovered that he debated here in Toledo in the early 90s, I was sorry I had missed out.  Who knows if he’ll be back?

But I’m just trying to set the stage for what I’m about to say.  The equivalent of that autograph that I’m proudly displaying for all to see is that Dr. James White has left a comment on this blog!!  And it was complimentary to the work I’m doing.

God Himself, being an invisible God, won’t come down and stand in front of me and say, “Good job.”  But He orchestrated the next best thing: having the apologist I admire most do just that.

Now it’s my turn to feel warm and fuzzy.

Regular readers of this blog know that I love James White of Alpha & Omega Ministries. In addition to posting this beautiful graphic, he also made the following comments, which made me laugh really hard and really long:

In any case, it was what [Steve] Ray said in announcing his moderation of the combox that I found educational. Here is the graphic he posted with his announcement. Isn’t it…pretty? One thing is for sure: my graphics guys are pros. I pwn my opponents in that field, no question. (If that doesn’t make sense to you, ask someone who is under 25 and who plays video games and understands what “All your base are belong to us” means). (source, emphasis added)

Only James White would find a way to use “pwn” and reference the old “All your base are belong to us” line in the course of apologetics.

I said it in the title, I said in the opening paragraph, and I will close with it as well: I love James White.

Three Christians, Ante and Kathy Pavkovic and their daughter Christen Sugar, were arrested Thursday by the Capitol Police when they disrupted the Senate hearings they were attending. The opening prayer was being offered by a Hindu chaplain, Rajan Zed. The three Christians were shouting Bible quotes, first Psalm 33:12, then from John 14:6, and finally Exodus 20:3.

DefCon is all over the story (of course) and posted the video here. TheHill.com has the story here, as does RNB. The Pavkovics represent Operation Rescue/Operation Save America, and their parent organization’s statement is found here.

So, where do I stand? I don’t know. I think I’ll sleep on it for now.

I’ll blog on this issue later, once I’ve had some time to pray some more about it.

One of the unfortunate side effects of having a hierarchy built into your priesthood is the gross display of politics that comes with it.  Toledo Bishop Leonard Blair has decided to reassign St. Rose parish pastor Thomas Leyland.

Regular readers know that I grew up Catholic, and I attended St. Rose parish in Perrysburg until I fell away from the faith.  I still follow Catholicism, even if only to refute its unbiblical traditions.  Whatever my theological differences with Father Leyland may be, it is painful for me to see an honest man of God be treated this way.

St. Rose was a large parish when I attended, but it has since grown larger.  It is now 8,100 strong.  Father Leyland, pastor since 1999, is loved by all parishioners and well respected in the community.  My mom works at that parish, and has been under four pastors.  She has liked them for the most part, but she appears to have much more respect for Father Leyland.

So why would the Bishop arbitrarily reassign such a well respected man?  Answer: because this well respected man criticized a boneheaded decision.

The Bishop has decided to open a new parish within a few miles of St. Rose.  This has the chance to take half of the membership, and eventually, quite a bit of the students in the school.  Father Leyland spoke out against this move, stating that the new parish is much too close and that no one in the pastorate was consulted when the decision was made.  The Bishop consulted only developers.

Now, the diocese office wishes to reassign Father Leyland, stating that the reassignment is for his benefit and has nothing to do with the criticism.

Yeah, right.

Father Leyland plans to appeal to the Vatican.  I’m going to follow this story and see how it pans out.  I will keep Father Leyland in my prayers.

Oh, and by the way: for you baseball fans, and Detroit Tiger fans in particular, that think the name “Leyland” sounds familiar, yes, Tom Leyland is the brother of Jim Leyland, current manager of the Detroit Tigers.  Leadership runs in the family, apparently.

I will be out of town this weekend to visit my new niece, Allison Lynn, who shares my wife’s middle name.  I love that my family is growing, but I hate that all of the additions seem to live so far away.  Therefore I may not answer my comments or my e-mail in a timely fashion, as I assume that I won’t have Internet access while I’m there.

One last thing: I put my e-mail address on this page for seekers to ask spiritual questions  anonymously.  I want to minister to people, I want to speak God’s truth to all who desire to hear it.  So quit using that link for phishing expeditions.  I will report you.  If your late husband really deposited $2.7 million in a foreign bank account and you absolutely feel led by God to donate the full sum to my ministry because you’re dying of cancer, please use the PayPal links under my “About Us” tab.  Technology is wonderful thing.  It will protect us both–no one has to trade financial information.

I’m sure that PayPal will find a way to broker a transaction of that size for a small piece of it.

I have yet to comment about Jerry Falwell’s death.  Though I mourned the passing of Bruce Metzger, since he did much more work in apologetics and textual criticism closer to my own passion for the Word of God, more than I did Dr. Falwell’s, it is still sad to see any man of God and brother in Christ leave this earth, even though I know it means that God is calling them home.

Dr. Falwell once told a graduating class from Liberty, of which my church’s youth pastor was a part of, that if Liberty ever stopped teaching the Scriptures properly that he wanted them to return under cover of darkness and burn the entire place down.

Of course, as our youth pastor points out, that only means that Dr. Falwell recognizes that the true legacy of Liberty isn’t the buildings but the teaching of a biblical theology from Scripture.  Though he may have said that in a rather run-around fashion, it was only one of many things that Dr. Falwell said that got people’s attention.

But the best attestation to Dr. Falwell was perhaps delivered by N.T. Wright (HT to Daniel from Anchor for the Soul):

Within the strange, large economy of God’s grace, which filters the truth of scripture through all of us imperfect interpreters, it may be that I make just as many mistakes as I think he did, but we are each called to be true to what we find in scripture and I have no reason to suppose he was not as obedient to that imperative as I struggle to be.  May he rest in peace and, with the rest of us, rise in glory where we shall look back on present disagreements like an adult looks back on childhood squabbles in the playground.

May God bless everyone who proclaims and defends His word.  Even those with whom I’m starting to disagree with on stylistic choices, such as J.P. Holding, Crystal (aka Little Pixie of Terror), “Mountain Man,” “Razorphreak,” and the others I’ve talked to in the course of this ministry.  God can use all of us imperfect humans, and that both humbles and amazes me.  It’s a stern reminder to “judge not, lest ye be judged.”

I reposted the previous blog entry on Christian Forums, since I can’t link to it yet. It was summarily deleted with the following reason:

this is a violation of rule 3.8- discussing mod actions on the open board. PM me with any questions..

Please reply to this PM if you have any questions.

Oddly, I posted it in the CF Support Forum, in the subforum “Discuss Rules & Staff Team Policy.” If I’m not allowed to actually discuss the staff in this section, then why call it that in the first place?

So, to be a moderator at CF, you must lack intelligence and be too cowardly to discuss your actions in an open forum. I’m starting to see how things work at this board.

It’s a good thing that none of these people are baseball umpires or football referees, especially since they fear being questioned. If anyone questions them, they simply delete the thread.

Wait a minute–isn’t having unquestionable authority the hallmark of a cult?