A Protestant Counter to the Biblical Case for Purgatory
When it comes to biblical evidence for Purgatory, Catholics know to turn to 1 Corinthians 3:11-15. There, Paul writes, For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver,...
Mary, Mother of Whom?
Christians who believe that Mary is the mother of God often employ a three-step argument that runs as follows: P1: Mary is the mother of Jesus. P2: Jesus is God. C: Therefore, Mary is the mother of God. It’s as simple as that, right? Some Protestants say, “Not quite!”...
An Acorn for Atheists
We all know from experience that an acorn develops into an oak tree. It’s as if the mature oak shapes or molds the acorn’s growing activity, influencing the acorn to act in one way rather than some other way—say, developing into a banana tree. And the fact that an...
God Gives Grace However He Pleases
Some Protestants argue against the Catholic belief that grace is given through the sacraments, saying that this takes away from God being the giver of such grace, thereby usurping the glory and sovereignty of God. If it’s the sacraments that give grace, so they argue,...
How Can the Saints Hear a Million Prayers?
The Catholic practice of invoking the intercession of the saints assumes that the souls in heaven can know our interior thoughts. But for some Protestants, this is a problem, because it attributes to the saints a power that the Bible says belongs to God alone. In 2...
Did Mary Break the Rules of Heaven?
If there’s one thing Catholics and Protestants can agree on, it’s that whatever we believe can’t contradict Scripture. But some Protestants think the Catholic belief in Mary’s bodily assumption into heaven contradicts John 3:13. There, Jesus says, “No one has ascended...
Why Not Just Go Straight to Jesus
When talking about the Catholic practice of asking the saints to pray for us, a question arises from both Catholics and Protestants: “Why seek the help of saints when we can go straight to Jesus?” Protestants often pose this question as an objection. For Catholics,...
Spiritual Birth, Physical Things
In a previous article, I defended rebirth by water baptism in John 3:3-5 against several challenges. But there are a couple of more I think are worth considering. I’ll address each in turn. For example, some Christians deny the “water” because it doesn’t fit with the...
What “Baptized in the Holy Ghost” Means
“Are you baptized in the Holy Ghost?” This is a question you’ll often hear if you hang around Charismatic Christians—whether Protestant or Catholic. What they usually mean is, “Have you experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit in a powerful way?” Often they think a...
The Two-Pronged Protestant Dilemma
In a previous article, I argued that sola scriptura blocks a Protestant from having infallible knowledge of several books in the Bible, including some from the New Testament, like Hebrews, Mark, and James. The reason I gave was that neither Jesus nor the apostles, the...