Today is known as Reformation Day among Lutherans because October 31, 1517 was the date Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses — a date that historians consider to be the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

When I was a Lutheran (from my early 20s until my late 30s), I read the Augsburg Confession, which is the primary confession of faith for Lutherans, as well as the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, written in response to Catholic objections to the Augsburg Confession. I must admit that in reading these two documents, I did not understand why the Catholic Church objected to them. I had to deduce what the Catholic position was through the arguments made in the Apology.

Fortunately, I eventually was able to find the “missing link” — the Catholic rebuttal to the Augsburg Confession which prompted the writing of the Apology of the Augsburg Confession. This document is known as The Roman Confutation against the Augsburg Confession and is available from the Lutheran Project Wittenberg. If you are curious why the Church said “No” to many of the Lutheran positions back in the 16th Century, I encourage you to read this document (available as a free PDF). It’s only 24 pages, and it proved to be a powerful influence on me becoming a Catholic. If you’d like to study it alongside the Lutheran documents, both the Augsburg Confession and the Apology are part of the Book of Concord, also available as a free PDF online.

ChurchYear.net has a nice entry about All Saints Day that gives a solid overview of the holy day: “All Saints Day is when the Church commemorates all saints, known and unknown. The eve of All Saints is known as All Hallows Eve, or Halloween. All Saints Day is November 1.” I also like the section answering the objection, “Isn’t Celebrating All Saints Day Idolatry?” Enjoy!

Oh, and although All Saints Day is a holy day of obligation, since it falls on a Saturday this year, the precept to attend Mass is abrogated (see the article “About Holy Days of Obligation“).

I just saw an ad for this on another Catholic blog: www.thepopescologne.com

So…if I wear this, will women find it attractive? Or will it make them stay away and therefore create a celibacy-ensuring aura? You know, kind of like the opposite of TAG body spray?

Taylor Marshall offers his list of the “Top Ten Things to do for a Catholic Halloween” on his blog Canterbury Tales. (Thanks to JH at Opinionated Catholic for this link.) I found Taylor’s points interesting and refreshing:

There are many Christians who have written off Halloween as some sort of diabolical black mass. It’s the vigil of a Christian holy day: All Hallows’ Eve or All Saints Eve. Has it been corrupted by our culture and consumer market? You bet. However, Christmas has also been derailed by the culture. Does that mean that we’re going hand over Christmas? No way! Same goes for Halloween. The Church does not surrender what rightfully belongs to her – she wins it back!

I’ve been exposed to some people who want to do away with celebrating Halloween entirely. And while I understand their concerns, I don’t share them. I think that Halloween, in general, is a harmless party where kids can dress in costumes, have a little fun, and get free candy.

Have fun out there and stay out of trouble!

Dan Magill’s column from earlier this week in the Athens Banner-Herald offered some neat history on the UGA vs LSU series, which began in 1928 (or as the old timers say, “19 and 28″).

I’m hoping that today’s game will be Georgia victories, like our last two meetings (2004: UGA won 45-16 in Athens; 2005: UGA won 34-14 in the $EC Championship). But I think today will be a close one. I’m sure this might prompt some smack talkin’ from LSU-fan James H. at Opinionated Catholic, but I just had to do this quick post and say…GO DAWGS!

The Alive and Young blog has a great weekly feature called Not Said By Jesus Sunday. This week’s installment is a gem:

Glad to know there won’t be a scantron test to enter heaven!

In the UK, atheists are getting aggressive…but not exercising much conviction.

The news article Atheists Plan Anti-God Ad Campaign on Buses reports that thirty buses in London will feature posters that read, “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

So this was offensive for, like, half a second. When I read it again, the part about “probably” made me laugh. Here we have an atheist group that can’t even be fully convinced that God doesn’t exist. I guess that would make them more agnostic than atheists. Sounds like an organization with a slight identity crisis.

[Side note: If you ever encounter a self-professed agnostic, ask why they describe themselves using the Greek term instead of the Latin equivalent. Many don't realize that agnostic (Greek) is the same as ignoramus (Latin). Both mean "one who does not know."]

Back to the news story.

Now, I admit that this is a sad state of affairs and that a few people might be negatively influenced by this. Some will miss the underlying false assumptions of the ad: if you are worried and not enjoying life, it could be because religion might be oppressing you. Therefore, pretend that maybe God doesn’t exist after all — even we atheists/agnostics/ignoramuses can’t decide — and now you’ll be happy. Hopefully, most people will see through this lie. I tend to agree with one believer who was quoted in the news article: “Stunts like this demonstrate how militant atheists are often great adverts for Christianity.”

The truth of the matter is that God does exist and their are at least 20 solid, rational arguments for the existence of God. If you’d like to see them, they are summarized by philosophy professors Peter Kreeft and Ron Tacelli in their book, Handbook of Christian Apologetics. This same Dr. Kreeft makes a handful of these arguments available on his website’s featured writings section (see the article series Arguments for God’s Existence, beginning with Can You Prove God Exists?) and in free mp3 audio form (listen to Argument for God’s Existence and the separate lecture God’s Existence). So, if you don’t think that theism is rational, be open-minded enough to explore Dr. Kreeft’s arguments.

And if you’re searching for the meaning of life, I’ve not seen it better summarized than this:

God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him for ever in heaven. (from the Baltimore Catechism)

If your life is miserable, living like an atheist is part of your problem, not part of the solution. The answers you seek are in being conformed to God’s will, not in conforming God to your will or pretending that God doesn’t exist. As St. Augustine put it in the opening of his Confessions:

Thou hast made us for Thyself and restless is our heart until it comes to rest in Thee.

Apparently there was a good religious showing at the 27th Great American Beer Festival, including brews from The Lost Abbey of San Marcos, Calif., “where the tap handle is a Celtic cross and the legacy of beer-brewing monks endures. Standing under a banner promising “Inspired beers for Saints and Sinners Alike,” proprietor and former altar boy Tomme Arthur had a confession: He’s using God to sell some beer.” Check it out on FOXNews.com.

Thanks to The Sporting News for this gem: We Don’t Recall the Bible Saying Anything About Female Football Players

In celebration of the feast day of St. Ignatius of Antioch — student of St. John the Apostle — check out these awesome free mp3 audiobooks of his letters. Joe McClane from The Catholic Hack podcast recorded all seven of Ignatius’ letters, penned in A.D. 107 on his way to martyrdom. These are among the most powerful writings from the early church outside of the New Testament. The quotes I use in the “random quotes” part of this blog’s sidebar are lifted from Ignatius’ epistles.

These audio recordings are free, but Joe put a lot of work into them, so make a donation if you are able. Enjoy!