Long before I had even read a single word by a Catholic apologist or a Church Father, I read the Bible’s account of the Council of Jerusalem and simply had no way to fit it into any of a variety of protestant frameworks for a “biblical church.” Further study eventually led me to conclude that the Church, from its earliest days, was (1) Catholic; (2) Authoritative; (3) Infallible; (4) Apostolic; and (5) Hierarchical in a way that matched the Catholic Church to this very day.
I was thus faced with a fundamental question—since the Bible clearly portrays a Church of this nature, and never says those features ended, where is that Church today?
Jefferson’s advice to his young namesake wasn’t merely practical and wise. Rather, it was infused with profound religious sentiments, many drawn directly from the pages of the Bible.
Goebbels mocked the idea that the Old Testament curses of Yahweh against the enemies of the Jewish people were of any concern…But not even six years later, the “Thousand Year Reich” was in the ash heap of history, and the State of Israel was reborn as the national home of the Jewish people after their nearly 2,000 years of exile from the Land of Israel.
Has the real Mount Sinai been found? Unprecedented footage of a previously sealed-off mountain in Saudi Arabia presents provocative evidence that it has.
“All you freedom-loving “left-wing” thinkers in the West! You left laborites! You progressive American, German, and French students! As far as you are concerned, none of this amounts to much. As far as you are concerned, this whole book of mine is a waste of effort. You may suddenly understand it all someday—but only when you yourselves hear “hands behind your backs there!” and step ashore on our Archipelago.”
Today—April 15, 2019—will go down in history as the Day We All Knew—knew that whatever we were, whatever it was that gave our civilization its life, its ingenuity, its glory, is gone.
Ibn Khaldûn isn’t exactly a household name—but he should be, especially for conservatives, classical liberals, and libertarian…In short, Khaldûn believed that low taxes helped build civilization, and high taxes helped destroy civilization. Not only that, but he observed that lower taxes tended to bring in more revenue, while higher taxes tended to bring in less revenue.
I recently ran upon a fascinating and powerful story from America’s antebellum days. It’s related to this portrait of a beautiful African girl—a young woman who grew up a slave, but through providential circumstances won her freedom.
I recently discovered an extremely fascinating historical event I had never heard about: apparently, there was a serious attempt to rebuild the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem after it was destroyed in AD 70. Not only that, but the attempt was thwarted by an odd series of seemingly cataclysmic events: fire burst forth from the foundations, along with a great earthquake, preventing the workers from completing their work. The project was abandoned. Some accounts include assertions that the sign of the cross appeared in the sky, as well as on the garments of the workers.
While Thomas Jefferson’s religious beliefs are the subject of ongoing and fierce debate, it is nonetheless surprising how religious his two most public statements as President of the United States were. They acknowledge God; they invoke His aid; they compare the United States with ancient Israel; they appeal to an overruling Providence; and they assert religious liberty, all at the same time.
The two meta-questions that framed all my other questions about the “vexing verses” were: what is actually “the gospel,” and what is actually “biblical”? I was haunted by these questions for more than a decade before I read a single word by a Catholic. But my love of the Bible, my burning desire to understand it, my inability to make sense of so much of it within a protestant framework, alongside the appeals made to it as the authority behind wildly divergent and contradictory theologies, compelled me to dig deeper.
So what was Adams? Philo-Semitic? Anti-Semitic? Zionist? Most historical figures don’t fit neatly into our present categories, and the same is true of John Adams. But there can be no doubt that he was a great admirer of the Jews, and that he looked forward to the day when they would be re-established as a nation in their ancient homeland of Judea.
It is beyond doubt that Ignatius speaks of the Roman church in ways he simply does not speak of any church. Most significantly, he speaks of her as one who teaches, confirms, instructs, and enjoins other churches, and as one not only deserving of, but indeed gifted with, unique honors and graces both from God, and the other churches. Ignatius thus serves as one of the earliest witnesses to the primacy of the Roman church.
Franklin’s main point is one well worth considering in our own time: short-circuiting consequences can sometimes be charitable—it can also be foolish…simply throwing money at people and situations can sometimes be the worst way to address the problem, and ultimately do more harm than good.
One of the things that comes through so clearly, so universally in the Church Fathers, is the idea that at the center of Christian worship is a sacrifice—the Eucharist, the bread and wine that has become the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the ultimate picture of grace, God Himself has made it possible for us to offer Him to Him, and doing so cleanses us, in some mysterious way. This basic belief was present from the very beginning of Christianity.
In short, this Ignatian epistle, like the others, shows that he had a high view of Church authority; he considers obedience to a hierarchical structure of bishops, priests, and deacons to be obedience to Christ; he believes that this obedience is an inherent part of eucharistic communion; and that he believed obedience to these ministers provided strong protection against falling into heresy.
Adams inaugural contained multiple references to God, as well as the role of religion in American society, and like Washington’s before him, openly acknowledged and thanked the Divine.
Ever since I’ve been a Christian, these examples always caused me great consternation—they do so still. I cannot get around Jesus’ words: my deeds are inextricably linked with the Day of Judgment, upon whose outcome I will enter eternal paradise, or eternal damnation. Either Jesus is right, or “faith alone” is wrong. He could not be clearer—first century peasants could not have been in doubt as to what He was saying, nor can we.
