Skip to main content
What is inerrancy? What do people mean when they say the word? Does it mean the Bible is an instruction manual? What can we say about a specific text’s application to our lives? Does submitting to the Bible as the only authority lead to an unreasonable doctrinal subjectivism? Do we all become our own popes? Is it good to have one authority (a pope)? Why do we trust the Scripture? Why should we? Is it possible to believe in a Great Tradition of Christian Orthodoxy while holding Scripture paramount? Is there healthy, responsible non-Catholicism out there, or should we all just submit to the Vicar of Christ, and repent for following the man who ‘trampled the Lord’s vineyard’? Am I scaring anyone yet? Am I scaring myself? Yes. Why do “restorationist” (or New Testament) churches scare me more than the Roman Catholic? Why do I feel as though I will never preach or teach anything good that hasn’t already been said? Am I OK with that? Absolutely. Why do I love authority, legitimately constituted? Why do I love creeds? Why do I love history? Why is the history of bold confessions for the sake of Christ also the history of vain, destructive division? Why do I feel like a member of every Christian communion on Earth, yet I’m part of only one? Am I happy in that place? Yes. Why? Why am I a mystic, and a passionate defender of orthodoxy at the same time? Why does the phrase ‘Bible-believing’ fill me with dread? Why does setting Scripture aside or explaining it away fill me with equal dread? Why didn’t anyone tell me that purity and peace were so hard to fight for? Why were some of the great theologians of the past two centuries socialists? Why doesn’t that make me mad? Why does that make me curious, yet dismissive at the same time? Is it OK to love President Bush, even knowing I’d do things differently? Is it possible to be a Christian and a Republican (or a libertarian) at the same time without confusing the two? Should I vote in the next election? On what basis should I vote? Why am I impressed with Barack Obama? Is it because he’s good-looking? Is it because he’s black? Is it because he’s a living, breathing episode of The Cosby Show? Is he for real? Do I love my country too much?
Why do I love the Eucharist? Why does it seem cooler to call it that? How do I worship Christ in the sacrament? What was Ulrich Zwingli thinking? Why am I feeling Lutheran right about now? Why is Psalm 45 even in the Bible? Have you read that before? Did it bother you?
Am I supposed to preach? How do I know? If I’m not a pastor, why do I think like one? Why do I feel like one? Why do I teach things without even trying, like it’s a part of me? Why am I happy when I do that? Is that a calling, or simple vanity? Why are my heroes preachers, or Brett Favre? Does Brett Favre love Jesus? Does he want to? Will he play again? Why does that make me sad if he doesn’t? Why did I write this? Was it a waste? No.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Thoughts On The Harrison Butker Commencement Speech

Update: I read the whole thing. I’m sorry, but what a weirdo. I thought you [Tom Darrow, of Denver, CO] made a trenchant case for why lockdowns are bad, and I definitely appreciated it. But a graduation speech is *not* the place for that. Secondly, this is an august event. It always is. I would never address the President of the United States in this manner. Never. Even the previous president, though he deserves it, if anyone does. Thirdly, the affirmations of Catholic identity should be more general. He has no authority to propound with specificity on all matters of great consequence. It has all the hallmarks of a culture war broadside, and again, a layman shouldn’t speak like this. The respect and reverence due the clergy is *always due,* even if they are weak, and outright wrong. We just don’t brush them aside like corrupt Mafia dons, to make a point. Fourthly, I don’t know where anyone gets the idea that the TLM is how God demands to be worshipped. The Church doesn’t teach that. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dear Alyse

 Today, you’re 35. Or at least you would be, in this place. You probably know this, but we’re OK. Not great, but OK. We know you wouldn’t want us moping around and weeping all the time. We try not to. Actually, I guess part of the problem is that you didn’t know how much we loved you. And that you didn’t know how to love yourself. I hope you have gotten to Love by now. Not a place, but fills everything in every way. I’m not Him, but he probably said, “Dear daughter/sister, you have been terribly hard on yourself. Rest now, and be at peace.” Anyway, teaching is going well, and I tell the kids all about you. They all say you are pretty. I usually can keep the boys from saying something gross for a few seconds. Mom and I are going to the game tonight. And like 6 more times, before I go back to South Carolina. I have seen Nicky twice, but I myself haven’t seen your younger kids. Bob took pictures of the day we said goodbye, and we did a family picture at the Abbey. I literally almost a...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Friend I Once Had, And The Dogmatic Principle

 I once had a friend, a dear friend, who helped me with personal care needs in college. Reformed Presbyterian to the core. When I was a Reformed Presbyterian, I visited their church many times. We were close. I still consider his siblings my friends. (And siblings in the Lord.) Nevertheless, when I began to consider the claims of the Catholic Church to be the Church Christ founded, he took me out to breakfast. He implied--but never quite stated--that we would not be brothers, if I sought full communion with the Catholic Church. That came true; a couple years later, I called him on his birthday, as I'd done every year for close to ten of them. He didn't recognize my number, and it was the most strained, awkward phone call I have ever had. We haven't spoken since. We were close enough that I attended the rehearsal dinner for his wedding. His wife's uncle is a Catholic priest. I remember reading a blog post of theirs, that early in their relationship, she told him of the p...
Post a Comment
Read more