I just posted a comment to Charisma magazine’s online article, “Is Today’s Bible Correct?” The article cites the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls as supporting the “authenticity of the 1611 translation” of the King James Bible’s Old Testament. I wanted to point out that the 1611 KJV contained books that modern Protestant Bibles omit (but Catholic Bibles contain):
When discussing the “authenticity of the 1611 translation,” remember that the 1611 edition of the King James Bible contained 80 books, not 66. The first 66-book KJV was published in 1885. That original 80-book KJV had the full canon, which also matches the Catholic bible. Modern groupings of those same 80 books typically are printed as 73 books. Christians should be encouraged to read the complete Bible, not the stripped-down 66-book versions.
In today’s Townhall.com Commentary email, Albert Mohler brings up a powerful point about abortion that many women simply miss. Supporters of abortion intended for its legalized practice to liberate or free women, but it has actually trapped women. Instead, men have been freed from responsibility to marry and support children. Since I can’t find the full text online to link to, I’m providing the entire (but still brief) article below:
What Women Miss on Abortion —Albert Mohler
One of the most insidious aspects of the abortion controversy has been the success of the feminist movement in presenting abortion on demand as a matter central to the liberation of women. As far back as the ’70s, at least some feminists saw through this logic, but not nearly enough.
Richard Stith now argues that the legalization of abortion “was supposed to grant enormous freedom to women, but it has had the perverse result of freeing men and trapping women.”
He continues: “Prior to the legalization of abortion in the United States, it was commonly understood that a man should offer a woman marriage in case of pregnancy, and many did so. Though with the legalization of abortion, men started to feel that they were not responsible for the birth of children and consequently not under any obligation to marry. In gaining the option of abortion, many women have lost the option of marriage.”
Today is the official release date for the new movie The 13th Day. Based on the memoirs of Sister Maria Lucia de Jesus, and thousands of independent eyewitness accounts, The 13th Day is a dramatic retelling of the supernatural experiences of three shepherd children nearly a century ago. The events depicted in the film transpired between May 13, 1917 and October 13, 1917 in the Cova da Iria (Cove of Irene) region of Fatima, Portugal. Learn more at Ignatius Press’ site (the North American distributor of the film) or at The13thDay.com.
It’s hard to escape Southern Culture, even when attending an otherwise-formal Anglican Church wedding reception (see photo). I don’t think this is standard-issue from Canterbury, for some reason.
Although some non-Catholics believe that a Christian is “once saved, always saved,” the Bible has many verses explaining that a believer can in fact lose or reject their salvation. In his book Not by Faith Alone, Robert Sungenis notes:
In reality, next to the person of Christ, Scripture attends to no topic more than the warning to Christians not to fall away from the faith and lose their salvation. In fact, every book in the New Testament, with the possible exception of Philemon, in some way or other suspends the outcome of our eternal destiny based on the duration and degree of our faith and obedience. Scripture offers absolutely overwhelming evidence that a believer can fall from the salvation he once possessed. (Quote taken from page 275)
Sungenis goes on to list “a representative sample [of verses] from each book of the New Testament” to prove this point. Below are the citations which begin on page 275 and run for several pages. I’m only listing the citations below, not the full text of each passage. However, a mouse-over ought to show the verse in a popup window:
U.S. Roman Catholic bishops have taken a consistent line on a health care overhaul: It’s vital, but they cannot support proposals that go too far in covering abortion and not far enough in protecting health workers who don’t want to provide that procedure.
Now, at least a half-dozen bishops have gone beyond that position, some of them using hard-hitting terms such as “socialization” and “monopolization” to launch a broader critique of big government.
Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, and Bishops Walker Nickless of Sioux City, Iowa, Thomas Doran of Rockford, Ill., and Samuel Aquila of Fargo, N.D. are “[a]mong the bishops who have written columns, commentaries or pastoral letters including comments about excessive government control of health care” according to the article.
Vanessa Barnes of the Houston Examiner has an interesting article about 10 Episcopal nuns converting to become Catholic nuns this past Thursday, Sept. 3. The sisters cited “orthodoxy and unity” as the reasons for their conversion, and the report explains that these nuns “became the latest in a long line of defectors leaving the Episcopal denomination divided over the approval of women’s ordination and the ordination of a gay bishop.”
I devour books. Not literally of course. But I love to read.
Recently on my birthday, I was given gift cards and cash earmarked specifically for books. And like a shark on a feeding frenzy, I couldn’t control myself when I went shopping. Now, I have a rather intimidating stack of nearly a dozen books. And not just small books either. Some are in the 400-700 page range:
Dialogue Concerning Heresies by Thomas More
Ignatius Catholic Study Bible (1John-Revelation) by Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch
101 Questions and Answers on Deacons by William Ditewig
The Spirit and Forms of Protestantism by Louis Bouyer
Because God is Real by Peter Kreeft
Not by Scripture Alone by Robert Sungenis
Prove It! – Church by Amy Welborn
The Fathers by Pope Benedict XVI
Charity in Truth by Pope Benedict XVI
The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton
A History of Apologetics by Avery Cardinal Dulles
This is like being given a giant dish of your favorite dessert and told that you can eat it all yourself. If you consume it too fast, you might get sick and never want to eat it again. But if you pace yourself, it will be oh so fulfilling.
So it looks like Pope Benedict XVI is one busy bee. The daily blog from the National Catholic Register has a nice article about “One Busy Holy Father.” Check it out!
What it comes to is that we ought not just to have the name of Christians, but to be so in reality… — Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Magnesians, 4
