Virtus In Medio Stat

PROTESTANTS CATCHING UP: THE ETERNITY OF HELL, KIRK CAMERON, AND RUSLAN I watched the entire video from Kirk Cameron and commented on it a few days ago. I thought maybe Ruslan added some further substance here. Not really. He's a bit more forgiving to Cameron than more academic or more traditional Protestant thought leaders have been towards Cameron.  Cameron and Ruslan appear to agree here that the details of the "eternity" of hell is a "non-essential" doctrine or non-essential component of the essential doctrine of hell, that is, either it means "eternal conscious torment" or the finality and eternity of the outcome of annihilation of the soul after a proportionate punishment in hell, then the "second death". Honestly, it's really entertaining and cute to observe Protestants engaging in stimulating and exciting "new" discussions on topics that the Catholic Church has been been debating and concluding on for almost ...

In reaction to:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUvYCV_y6bo Francis Chan is still in ecclesiological limbo, huh? I made a video that I streamed over for FrontlineTV about 4 or 5 years ago now about my thoughts on Francis Chan on the Eucharist. Not sure what he's still stuck on but he's clearly in the feels category. I think the Catholics around him need to focus more on the feels than the thinks, because the thinks have obviously not done the job. As for Gavin, I know it sounds so true to think well, there are true believers in all ecclesial flavors of Christianity, and that's because true believers exist in spite of ecclesial affiliation. That's the Protestant ecclesiology, or the underlying practical experience. Of course there are stricter flavors that are concerned with adherence to doctrinal confessions. For those folks, membership in the church has to do with intellectual assent to doctrinal propositions and not ecclesial affiliation. But Gavin "knows" ...

In response to:  https://www.facebook.com/tuckercarlsonTCN/videos/1118802183510925  Tucker Carlson the Catholic view on the elect and reprobate, is a balance of both predestination (Rom 9:22) and free will (1 Cor 10:13), as both are true and Biblical. God knows who is elect and who is reprobate (but we don't), as he has positively chosen the elect (Rom 8:30), and he has not chosen the reprobate. That is a nuanced distinction from the Calvinist view that God also positively chose or predestined the reprobate to hell. That's why the heresy, according to the Catholic Church, is called "double predestination" or predestinarianism. The Jewish people were the chosen people of the Old Covenant (Deut 7:6); however, with the advent and death of Jesus, the covenant with the Jews was revoked and superseded by the new covenant (Heb 8:13), and the identity of the chosen people was shifted from the Jews to the new covenant church (Rom 11:11-31), which is the Catholic Church. Salv...

ENVY is more than jealousy. It's me wanting what you have, especially fueled by the thought that you don't deserve what you have. It is a deadly sin when you want to cause harm towards others who have what you want.  This is what makes social media so problematic for many of us, especially those whose primary vice is Envy. We see the best of people's lives on social media. We hardly see the struggles behind the good posts. Life is filled with ups and downs. For all of us. Matthew 5:45 English Standard Version 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. I'm here at Calvinist Coffee aka Landmark coffee roasters in Redlands. Christian owned, so support them. Unless you're reprobate, go to Coffee Bean. No time for your depraved dollars ;-) (jk, of course)

THE GIFT, NOT THE WRAPPING PAPER, OF THE EUCHARIST Most of the parish mission talk tonight was spot on and excellently delivered. Then he had to do a little side eye towards my Trad friends. I can pick on them a little bit since I spent some time in that community,. But I'll sometimes defend them when the mood is right. Father made the point about some in the church who seem to get into more of a focus on how the liturgy is executed rather than what's really important. He goes on to say that it's like these folks have missed the gift and focused on the wrapping paper. Seems a bit unfair of a judgement to describe them all, but he might have a valid point too. If you know the community of the Holy Name of Jesus parish, you'd probably know that the vast majority of folks won't know what he is talking about. But with the sensitive ears of a former traditionalist, I know he's clearly talking about the liturgy war, so-called. Without really taking a defin...

From the Laurence Gonzaga archives... Sunday, February 1, 2009 Church and Society - Avery Cardinal Dulles Church and Society: The Laurence J. McGinley Lectures, 1988-2007 (Hardcover) Avery Cardinal Dulles, SJ Chapter 38 - Who are saved? Sold at Amazon.com here. I went into B & N to read the next few chapters of a book I started there last month by Dinesh D'Souza, What's so Great about Christianity? But, alas, they are out of stock. So, this book caught my eye. I perused through the pages of the book, as well as the Table of contents, and this chapter caught my eye. I read through it and was thoroughly impressed by this theologian's brevity and clarity in presenting this topic. I think he makes very little of his own assertions, but did well to present the established and popular treatments of the issue, as the doctrine of "extra ecclesiam nulla salus" developed over the centuries. He goes through it chronologically. He points out that early on, the...

ALL PATHS LEAD TO THE ONE TRUE GOD?  Of course I didn't read the whole thing from Pope Francis to the Singaporean Junior College students.  Who has time for such things?  Aren't there already enough church documents?  So I searched for the word path and read the sentence in context.  In my view, it's problematic but I think there's enough substance there that's true that doesn't make me lose sleep over it.  I agree that all religions are in some sense a pathway to the true God. It's at least further along than being an atheist or an agnostic. Even those could be part of a pathway in a person's life towards God eventually.  I was raised Catholic to some degree, went to Catholic school, and got the early sacraments, but became an atheist, then became a theist, then became Catholic again, then Protestant, then Catholic again, then almost Sedevacantist, then Catholic again. But don't ask Gerry Matatics about that last step. :-)  Francis af...

A friend asked me recently what I would say to a room full of "rad-trads" if I had the opportunity to address them as a captive audience. I probably wouldn't bother with making any claims related to history or theology as so much of those topics have been exhausted in countless books. I suspect my friend wanted to hear a more psychological perspective on this. I 've said it several times this past year or so, and it's a claim that is readily dismissed by passionately committed traditionalist friends, but my observation over the last 18 years of the trad movement and individuals who have come and gone within their circles has been that it has mostly been driven by subjective socio-emotional dynamics and processes going on in that person's life at the time. Maybe "grace" is operating in there somewhere, but you can't really prove to me or anyone that it was leading you to the truthiest truth , or not.  Everyone always thinks they are in the right s...

WHILE THE CATHOLIC PERSPECTIVE WAS NOT THE SPOTLIGHT OF THE APOLOGETICS CONFERENCE YESTERDAY ON REASONS TO BELIEVE... The Catholic representative, me, closed the conference with the point that you need to trust the messenger first before you even begin to digest, understand, and trust the message. If you are interested in my contribution to the apologetics conference yesterday I put together the time stamps of the topics as well as my questions and comments in the panel discussion below.  The Protestant presenters pointed out that the Bible was put together in the 3rd century. So, I put a little bow on it at the end without mentioning the Catholic Church, that you need to trust the group that put the Bible together in the third century, if you're going to trust what the Bible says today. REASONS TO BELIEVE Conference Symposia Covenant Church 1127 N. San Antonio Avenue, Ontario, CA April 13, 2024 ||||| 1:00-4:00PM Full Video:  https://www.facebook.com/symposiachurch...

Here are some notes on my view of why we study and do apologetics. I'm of course missing some pieces but I can build it out further later. Some important pillars in my observation and practice of apologetics since 2004 are outlined below with Scriptural refs. I hope this helps you.  Why Apologetics? Notes by Laurence Gonzaga 1. Be ready to give reason and defense of my faith. 1 Peter 3:14-16 English Standard Version 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 2. Someone can't just randomly understand all the Scriptures without an authoritative teacher, who knows the truth, and sen...

BE WATER, MY FRIEND  Watch this from Matt Fradd and Jimmy Akin on "Tough Love" in Apologetics:  https://youtu.be/73I8hCPI_eg?si=EgSU-A7CiUi7MwJj I tend to start off polite. But I also match their energy. If they come in hot, I might just respond with guns a blazing, or ignore them. Just depends. Everyone seems to have a preferred style and they want everyone else to be just like them bc they think their own style is always the best. If your intentions are good and pure, then maybe God will use you in the way he needs to for that other person. Let's not get too bogged down by technique. I think Bruce Lee's "be water my friend" approach is wise.  Some will disagree, I'm sure; that's fine.  You do you... Oh and, don't be too fooled by all the public facades of these professional Catholics; they ain't always as kind as their published personas appear to be. I know that from my own direct experience. I'm not a professional Catholic...

WHY RECOGNIZE AND RESIST MAKES LESS SENSE THAN SEDEVACANTISM AND FRANCISVACANTISM I came across this short video. I don't know who this guy is but "Novus Ordo Watch" has been around for a very long time. When I was studying the various Trad groups in the mid 2000s, I consumed much of their materials to get the Sedevacantist view, or at least their version of it. After distancing myself from the Trad community several years ago I thought myself to be somewhat in the R&R camp still because I had a lot of distaste for the Francis pontificate. In many ways, still do, to be quite honest. It should be obvious. But as I've had my private chats with Sedevacantist apologist Gerry Matatics and my two interviews with him, it became clear to me I'm really more in line with a Sedevacantist mentality that believes Francis is the true pope. That may sound like a strange way to describe myself. But bear with me, and it sounds like Gerry would back me on this (not ...

BORED AT MASS Video:  Alteration by Fr. Mike Schmitz I remember watching this video when it first came out around 7 years ago. I found it to be a little overdramatic at the time. Today, at the adult confirmation class that I attend and help with a bit of commentary for the parish director, this video was part of the lesson on the Mass. I thought it was a helpful conversation at the tables during the lesson. We started off talking about what the priest was and his role in the liturgy. I think this video was intended for teen confirmation but it seems also appropriate for adult confirmation since many of these folks haven't really been engaged in the Catholic faith for some time and it is good to present the basics. Having drifted a little bit further away from my former traditionalism since 7 years ago, I can appreciate a video like this. But here's what I find a bit inconsistent here.  I've gone to so many different parishes in my diocese and surrounding diocese...

Excerpts from  A Liturgy from Hell FEBRUARY 2024  BY GEORGE A. KENDALL https://chroniclesmagazine.org/society-culture/a-liturgy-from-hell/?fbclid=IwAR0IEJz64LXby5tXQ8GufuxhMejJKyzkEXf6E4dWgxke2Kh--ZIR-hrQuNI Responses by Laurence Gonzaga "Clearly, the Novus Ordo is not the work of the Holy Spirit, and that leaves only one other possibility—that it is the work of Satan. The Traditional Latin Mass has the authority of the Holy Spirit behind it. The Novus Ordo does not. Just as clearly, neither the Novus Ordo itself nor Traditionis Custodes has legitimate authority behind it, and we are not obliged in conscience to obey either. They are null and void." Laurence: Clearly? Says who? Who is George Kendall to conclude this as if it's an infallible truth revealed to him by God. The Devil didn't give us the Novus Ordo, don't be ridiculous. The real question here is, who hurt you, George Kendall? "The Novus Ordo has been with us only half a century. During ...