Introduction The Christian Church was against against abortion from the earliest days (see The Fathers on Abortion). It can be something of an embarrassment, then, for Christians to discover that the views of the Church’s greatest theologian, Thomas Aquinas, have been used to support abortion. The specific view in question has to do with Aquinas’s statement that God created the rational human … Continue reading »
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Conformation, Transformation, Legalism, Gnosticism, Justification, Sanctification, and Glorification
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will … Continue reading »
Dante’s Divine Comedy, Inferno: Cantos 10-11 – The Heretics and the Harrowing of Hell
Canto 10 Here we encounter burning tombs full of heretics – mostly Epicureans and others who deny immortality (one has over 1,000 shades in it!). One translation has these called “burning arks” – fascinating as the Church has been considered the saving Ark since ancient times. Missing out on the Ark of salvation they now … Continue reading »
The Desires of a Divided Soul
“I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. (Romans 7:15) “He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:8) “Purity of heart is to will one thing.” (Sören Kierkegaard) There is some controversy over whether St. Paul … Continue reading »
Dante’s Divine Comedy, Inferno: Canto 9 – Immortal Mortality
Canto 9 Once again we see that Reason, even as fine as Virgil, cannot accomplish all that one must in order to overcome evil. Dante’s fear heightened by Virgil’s, who assures him that he has been as low as Judecca – the lowest circle in the Inferno where we will eventually meet the three worst … Continue reading »
