Building things, reading Scripture slowly, and thinking out loud about whatever the world is arguing over today.
Joined November 2024
- Tweets225
- Following15
- Followers551
- Likes1.2K
Pinned Tweet
That's why so many converts say the hardest part was unlearning what they'd been told about the Church. They argue against a version of Catholicism that doesn’t exist
A long day can make you think everything depends on you. Prayer is how you put that down before you sleep.
9
Around the year 110, Bishop Ignatius of Antioch was being taken to Rome to die. On the way he wrote that wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. He was describing the Church he already knew, not starting a new one.
21
Today the Church remembers Pope Leo the Great. He went to meet Attila without an army and asked him to spare Italy. Attila turned back.
20
Long winded Protestant moral grandstanding instead of “okay get married now and sin no more”
"You two are living together. Tell me more about that," I said in my office.
"We already know it's not Biblical," the bride-to-be said.
"Okay. Say more."
"What do you mean? I'm saying we know cohabitation isn't Biblical."
"Yeah that's what's confusing me. When you asked to meet, you told me you wanted a pastor who shares your Biblical values to do your wedding, but now you're telling me you knowing don't live according to Biblical values? Tell me about how you decided to cohabitate."
"Well, we know what the Bible says about marriage and sex, but my lease was up and if I moved in with my parents it'd be a 45 minute drive and if I got my own place again, it'd be a waste of thousands of dollars."
"Ah. So time and money are your gods."
"No they aren't, we're Christians."
"Maybe. But it seems like you're not - a god is what tells you how to live. You chose to listen to time and money on sex and cohabitation instead of Jesus. Which is your god?"
"Does this mean you won't do our wedding?"
"I didn't say that. But, you did say you wanted a pastor. That's why we're here. I'm a pastor, not a hireling wedding officiant. Do you want a pastor or a vender for your wedding?"
"A pastor."
"Okay, great. Then here's my concern for you: you've developed a habit of hardening your hearts against the authority of Scripture and the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Today, if you hear his voice, don't harden your hearts as they did in the rebellion. You said your Christians, I'll take your word for it right now, but you need to repent and move out until your wedding night. Jesus will certainly forgive if you repent and he'll cleanse you from all unrighteousness."
"Okay. So, if we don't do this then you won't do our wedding?"
"You're missing the point here. You're not even close to worried enough about what God thinks or says. My job as a pastor is to help you care about what God says, not get you to care about what I say.”
“Okay.”
“Do you have anything to say?” I said to the Groom-To-Be.
“No.”
“That’s a bummer. You’re not going to lead this family if you have nothing to say.”
“Okay.”
“Alright. Well, you have a lot to think about. If you want a pastor, I’d be happy to be a part of your wedding. If you want a vendor, let me know. More important than your wedding is your relationship with Jesus. Is He your God or not? Think and pray together.”
*an email three days later*
“We’ve decided to go a different direction.”
—
Some thoughts:
1. My heart breaks for those who make time and money their god. This idolatry is oppressive.
2. I’d for sure officiate the wedding of two non-Christians. As long as they’re okay with me telling the truth about what marriage is and who and what it’s for, I’m in. This is a 10/10 evangelism opportunity straight out of Eph 5:32.
3. But, two professing Christians who are sinning highhandedly? No. “For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside.” 1 Co 5:12–13).
1
83
“Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.
I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’
And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.””
Luke 18:9-14 NKJV
Catholics are deeply, deeply evil people. I will not mask my disgust. A foul heresy born of Satan. May God humble these freaks.
75
Layman’s Prose retweeted
Come on, Michael — If Jesus wanted us to believe his body was food and his blood was drink, he would have said so expressly.
And by the way, if he did say that, people would have thought he was crazy. Many of his disciples would have left him.
Try reading your Bible, bro.
The Protestant argument against Catholicism reads quite similar to what led to the fall.
“Did God really say…?”
Yes, bread and wine is His flesh and blood, Peter is the rock, etc
1
51
God doesn't drag anyone to hell. He spends a whole lifetime asking. Hell is what's left when someone keeps saying no, and He finally respects the answer.
1
57
Layman’s Prose retweeted
This is very true. The religion that anti-Catholics think they’re arguing against here it’s not actually the religion Catholics practice.
Layman’s Prose retweeted
If God gives me many years I will spend them all telling the world the great things he’s done for me and how their own journey can begin with an earnest confession of faith in Jesus as Lord.
When the first Christians disagreed, they didn't start new churches. They met in Jerusalem and settled it together (Acts 15).
2
52
If saying what you believe makes you angry, it's worth asking why.
Sometimes it's not the truth we're defending, it’s our pride.
1
2
58
The credit card discourse is really just the midwit meme
“Credit card bad because they prey on those bad with finances!”
“Credit card good because free money with little impulse control”
“Credit card bad because it extracts value from the ecosystem to a 3rd party who is not interested in the success of said ecosystem”
Apparently I assumed incorrectly that people reading my post understood how credit card rewards work.
The average reader seems to think that rewards are funded by interest, and card bonuses are their moral reward for not carrying a balance and paying interest.
In their imagination, they are getting something for nothing, and would prefer this arrangement continue giving them free money at the expense of other, less deserving people.
This is not the case. Some facts that suggest this is not how things work:
- interest rates are actually lower on rewards cards, and this disparity is greatest for high-FICO customers. It is not the case that rewards are an inducement to lure customers into higher interest products.
- most rewards are captured by customers who don't revolve balances, while only about a quarter go to the customers actually paying interest. Why would sophisticated banks calibrate their reward programs to waste most of the marketing spend on worthless customers?
In reality, the cash flow is that every time you use your card, you're prepaying ~2-3% in fees, from which you later receive ~1-2% worth of rewards.
Before you paid the bank any interest, you already represented an incredibly high-margin sale. It is not a fluke that their system rewards your participation. They will happily play this game all day with you.
So it's highly unlikely that you're some exception getting out more than you put in. Even if you're one of the net subsidy recipients, as typically told, you'd still benefit from abolishing the game.
And the thing is, this parallel economy of selling you marked up airfare is totally optional to the maintenance of an electronic payments system.
That rewards are sustained more through fees, than through interest, can be seen in countries that regulate fees. When the EU capped fees at 0.3% in 2015, rewards programs largely disappeared, suggesting it was the fees that made them possible, and not interest income.
I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
AI can answer almost any question you ask it. It just can't tell you which questions are worth asking.
