AMC » The Prisoner.

I just heard they are re-making The Prisoner British TV series, and Jim Cavaziel is playing Number Six!

The original show fascinated me.

Is the Catholic Church Semi-Pelagian? – Called to Communion.

Whoever does these is brilliantly hilarious.

Preface: This post is not delving into these high-sounding words in the title because, quite frankly, I don’t know that much about them and don’t want to.

A humorous video to kick off the discussion (via Mark Shea):

The word the Calvinist says while doing the karate motions is “monergism“, the belief that God saves people without any cooperation on their part.  This teaching is believed by many (most?) Presbyterian Communities and those who generally put “Reformed” in their name.  Christ died for some rather than for all; if you are one of the elect, then nothing you can do or not do can cause you to lose your salvation; if you are not one of the elect, nothing you can do or not do can cause you to be saved (sorry).

Ah, I get it, a Star Trek Borg joke

However, there are also many Protestant Communities that believe in “Arminianism“, which holds that grace is resistible; that Christ died for all not just for some, salvation is conditional upon the person persevering in belief.

Catholics believe in something closer to “synergism“, that man cooperates with God’s grace, though some parts of Calvinism and Arminianism are compatible with Catholic teaching, I understand (Google Jimmy Akin and Tulip and read the first article on a “tiptoe through Tulip”).

My Point

But like I said in the beginning, I am only listing these three points on the spectrum to make the point that the Bible is not clear on which of these is true (or which blend of them is true).

Faithful, intelligent people have believed in each of them (Aquinas, Charles Wesley, and Calvin to name three).

Further, depending upon which of the above teachings you accept, upon reading the Bible you can interpret any of the relevant passages to support your belief and contradict the others.  I am not saying that all of the interpretations are equally valid but rather that a faithful and intelligent person (see above list) after thought and prayer could choose to believe in any one of the three teachings.

Even if I were an Arminian, I wouldn't wear this shirt

I’ve read the Bible.  I read the verses on predestination, on election, on free will, on falling away, on being condemned or saved for not serving our brothers and sisters (e.g. Matthew 25), on putting your faith into action or its dead, on being justified by grace through faith and not by the works of the law, on not being justified by faith alone, etc. etc.

And the way that I decided what to believe on this subject was not by studying the Bible and deriving the truth of it from exegesis, comparative analysis, and Holy Spirit bosom-burning, but rather as an Evangelical Protestant I accepted my Baptist church’s (Arminian) beliefs on the subject, and they seemed reasonable, but then once I came to believe that the Catholic Church was true and accepted her authority, I believed in the Catholic teachings on them.

If the Bible were perspicuous and if Tradition were not needed, then you would not have the state we are in today where millions of faithful and intelligent Christians adhere to these very different doctrines.

But we are in that state, which is strong evidence against the doctrine that the Scriptures are perspicuous.  It also casts grave doubt on the doctrine of sola Scriptura, that the Bible alone is the sole infallible rule of faith and the claim of its formal sufficiency.  Finally, it demonstrates all the more the need for an infallible interpretive authority, which could only come from God.  Without that (the Magisterium), we are left with faithful and intelligent–but all too fallible–human beings interpreting the Bible and inevitably coming to false conclusions about what God teaches through it.

I love the Catholic Church, for the big reasons and the small ones, and today I am reminded of one of the latter as it is St. Augustine’s feastday.  By itself it is perhaps nothing to remark upon beyond Augustine himself, the great convert and Doctor, but coupled together with the fact that his mother, St. Monica, had her feastday yesterday on the Church’s calendar is touching and beautiful.

The faithful mother whose prayers for her lost son were answered by God in spades is the model of all mothers with children who have strayed from their Father and His Son.  And because of her prayers, one of the greatest sinners became one of the greatest saints.

I love this picture of Sts. Monica and Augustine

Back on my little healthcare soapbox: The grassroots activist in me awakens when I hear that ABC has refused to air this commercial sponsored by the League of American Voters. ABC refused to air it on the grounds that it violates their policy of refusing partisan commercials. Funny how they give the red carpet to anything President Obama wants said but refuse his opposition.

Blessedly, we still have the freedom of the press through our blogosphere bandwith. Let’s hold on to that as long as possible.

The Rejected Commercial

From a Fundamentalist Protestant group:

THE CHURCH FATHERS: A DOOR TO ROME | Roman Catholicism | Way of Life Literature.

Moral of the story: Don’t read the Church Fathers unless you want to be tempted to convert to Catholicism.

Update: My comment that asked the blog post author what his basis was for claiming that the first Pope was St. Leo the Great in 440 AD was never answered and then it seems he deleted it entirely.

Hat tip to Mark Shea.

…discover women.

I watched this lovely little video tonight, courtesy of A Friend of Gianna.

Final Profession of Vows, Nashville Dominicans, July 24, 2009 from patrick murphy-racey on Vimeo.

Amidst my feelings of wonder, because those dear sisters are so BEAUTIFUL, I was thanking God for the gift of woman, for femininity and loveliness and grace.

And, then the thought struck me.

Little Edmund kicking with all his might in my womb will one day discover women. Perhaps his discovering will be a gradual one. He might move from “I love Mama, who is soft and smells good” to “I am fascinated by Cindy Loo” to “God has created something truly marvelous in Woman.”

I have such joy when I think about the women he will know and love. His mother. His sisters. The Blessed Mother. His bride, perhaps, or the Bride who is the Church. Certainly, I feel flutterings of anxiety when I think about sirens who might tempt him from purity and confuse his heart. Yet, I know that with a father like Devin, Edmund will know what it is to honor and protect women and will be able to truly appreciate the special gift that God the Father gives to humanity in women.

I pray for Edmund’s vocation even now, for his protection and holiness and that he will be a warrior in the hand of Christ. And, I pray for his future bride, whether she be one woman or the Church, that she be ready for him. Because, let me tell you, he sure can kick, and, if this is any indication of things to come, he is going to be one who lives fiercely.

Kennedy the Catholic – Rev. Robert A. Sirico – The Corner on National Review Online.

May God have mercy on his soul.

If I become Lutheran, Anglican or Catholic, it will be because I watched this too many times. | internetmonk.com.

Techno Christianity!