Safe Haven

I hope you've seen the movie. Our protagonist, "Neo," realizes that he's living in what his friend and rescuer calls "a dream world." He leads the humans in triumph against the machines who had enslaved the entire human race. He's a Christ-figure, most definitely. And purposefully. I'd recommend it if you have kids only if you can get an edited version; the language is very strong, and there is violence throughout. In any case, Protestantism's "prison for your mind" is the principle of Sola Scriptura. Therein lies the thing that destroys any chance of humble reception of the truths of supernatural revelation, because the individual is the arbiter of "what Scripture says." People have spent the entirety of the 500 years or so building elaborate schemes since then to hide the fact that there's no principled difference between "me and my Bible" and a "historic Protestant." In each case, the person dete...

It's time to stop playing nice with those people who constantly carp about "isolationists" and attempt to silence anyone who urges the slightest thoughtful reflection upon the monumental decision to unleash the most powerful military force the world has ever known. Let's call them what they are: warmongers. I used to be the sort of person who bristled at the slightest criticism of America. I used to think that every peace protestor was a communist. And then, the evidence mounted. The unintended consequences of each successive intervention seemed to snowball. The president acquired unparalleled power. The parties and their devotees took turns condemning and supporting different wars, and political advantage seemed the only criterion. Other than 9/11, when was the last time the United States was actually attacked? It's called the Department of Defense. Does it really defend anything? Does it defend us? Or is that what we tell ourselves because the truth about the ...

So vote in it. Also, there's this . Let me be honest: I loved this. Yes, OK, fornication is bad. And where is God? But it's still ridiculously enjoyable. This just in: Guys are stupid. It's black and white with me. If we're talking sexual intimacy, she is my wife. End of story. That just isn't "my values" talking; that is my heart talking. It says, "No one knows me better than you, and no one ever will (except God)." I wish we would stop hurting ourselves and each other this way. Don't lie with your body. That's what you do when you have sex with someone who is not your spouse. There is only so long you can live in a world of lies before it comes crashing down. I felt for Jessica, because I knew she would want more. Duh. God made us that way. Guys want to give everything, too, but somehow, we can compartmentalize the emotional and the physical...for a while. A guy who acts out sexually or is hypersexual is deeply wounded. He wants ...

Everything. You know that, right? Our pardon, our righteousness, yes, but not only this. His love. For us. Always. Everywhere. [Warning: I'm going to use graphic, visceral, language to make a point.] Atheists. Queers. Perverts. Communists. Bernie Madoff. Barack Obama. Dahmer. That guy you don't like. He died for them. And each of us will have to answer for the distance between His love and our love in return. But there is no love of God somehow outside of Christ. It just won't happen. You could be horribly mistaken concerning the truth about God, but if you love God, you are loving Christ. It isn't hard, but people try to make it hard. Papa Francis has been talking this way from the get-go, and it makes people nervous. I like it. If it doesn't make you jumpy, you don't understand the extravagance of God's love. If you need to read about it in detail, do it. Some of us are Uncle Larry, whose joyous heart beats with a desire for theological precision. And s...

5. This Newman dude is like a punch in the face. He'd make little Johnny Edwards cry. The sermon should have been called, "Schismatics in the Hands of an Angry Cardinal." 4. OK, Pirates. This is the part where you start losing. No matter; we're gonna have the division title, the home field, and a World Series ring. All with a bunch of rookies. 3. A blogger with no internet is like a boxer with no arms. 2. Please beat Mayweather, Canelo. Please? I'm really tired of hearing how great he is, considering he is just a big-mouthed ducker of the good fights and fighters. 1. I think I hate divorce as much as God does, if that were possible. No, I will not be happy for you when you "move on" to "find happiness" or some such lunacy. I'll pray that you find mercy and pardon.

An argument, if I may: 1. God is Love, according to the teaching of 1 John 4:8. 2.  St. Augustine, a Doctor of the Church, said: "Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee." 3. As such, the completion of man's existence, his Answer, is communion with God. 4. Therefore, Love is the Answer. Sing it out, kids!

Prominent black Reformed author, faculty member of a well-known northeastern evangelical university. If I'm speaking frankly, you're almost always right, but I want to argue with you, because you're not winsome . This guy , I'd hear him out, because he didn't start out by making me feel personally responsible for every historic sin, ever. I actually like you. I really do. Because I am a cripple, and you were The Black Guy. You and your people have had it way worse, but yeah, we both understand condescension. But please don't complain about how you've been unfairly "savaged" for saying the same things. Because I love you, and you're right, but like I said, you don't do yourself any favors. Then again, neither do I.

It could just be that I am a dullard, but it seems that the main challenge in life is to notice the difference between what I want, and what is best. I hate these kinds of tests! Because I want things all the time. I want money, love of various kinds, respect, and on and on. You don't really choose your friends; they choose you. Or God does. In case anyone cares, I find the whole lot of you fantastically easy to love in general. That probably means I'm doing it wrong. I've got this good friend. We get along so well, it's stupid, as my sister-in-law likes to say. And trust me, the admiration is entirely mutual. He's seriously the Coolest Guy Ever. But we almost never get to hang out. If we had our way, we'd be next-door neighbors or brothers. Something. A great man once said that intense friendships often have to wait for Heaven, because friendship on this side is based on service. Like we have been saying. Sometimes, I haven't even liked a few of my fr...

5 Thoughts For Today 5. If you miss Mass, get your butt to the Box, pronto. How stupid will you sound on Judgment Day when asked by the Lord, "Why did you neglect Me?" You say, "I wanted to watch the game"? I'm right there with you; I was guilty of this once, while still a Protestant. I confessed it later, though we recognized no such command to always go to church, under pain of eternal death. 4. Sometimes, a sin is a shortcut to something good. Maybe we have to pray for the fortitude to wait for that good thing, while acknowledging the good of wanting it. 3. Moment of grace: "Hmmm, I never thought of it that way." 2. Sorry, teens. I gave all my dough to the Little Sisters of the Poor. 1. Purgatory is like Heaven's waiting room. If it was on fire. All the time.

Passion   I see in my mind the Cross, the altar of Love. Let me stay there, please.

Remember Smile, for it is truth: even if we sorrow now, Jesus reigns always.

1. Good exists as a real concept, not as an arbitrary moral construction. 2. Accordingly, evil is the privation of a good that should be present, such as justice or temperance. 3. It is evident that there is a hierarchy of things, which participate in the good to a greater or lesser degree according to each thing's correspondence to the good, or its purpose. 4. The top of the hierarchy denotes the Supreme Good, which does not derive its being from another by participation, but exists as being in itself. 5. This uncreated good is called God.