Dwight Longenecker's Blog, page 100

Red for the Blood of the Martyrs

My latest article for Aleteia notices the disturbing co-incidence that the day after 20 new cardinals were created 21 new martyrs gave their lives on a Libyan beach. There was a chilling synchronicity in the religious news this last week. On Saturday, standing with twenty new cardinals, Pope Francis made twenty-one. The next day the [Read More...]

ISIS Wolves Devour Christians

The AP reports here that ISIS terrorists have swept through Christian villages in Northern Syria kidnapping nearly 100 Christians. The latest assault began before dawn on Monday, when the militants swept through the villages nestled along the banks of Khabur River near the town of Tal Tamr in Hassakeh province. The area is predominantly inhabited [Read More...]

Paradise and Paranoia

This week’s article at Imaginative Conservative looks at our need for happiness and what happens when we are disappointed. The problem is that the paradise is never achieved. There is always disappointment and a fly in the ointment. The search for pleasure ends in addiction instead of satisfaction, and the search for utopia ends in [Read More...]

Pipteazle on Porn for Gals

In this excerpt from The Gargoyle Code Slubgrip’s colleague Pipteazle instructs Dogwart on how women are tempted by a different type of porn than men. It seems appropriate during the disgusting hype over Fifty Shades of Grey. Ms. Pipteazle Archsecretary Female Division Lilith Hall, Seventh Circle Dogwart, Slubgrip has ‘asked’ me to write to you about the temptation of [Read More...]

Why Sado Masochism Is Going to Be Huge

I held back from writing about Fifty Shades of Grey because I hadn’t read the book or seen the movie and don’ t want to. I didn’t want to give yet more publicity for something which decent people should hardly be aware of. This is the stuff of dark dungeons of desire, and not M&S [Read More...]

How Generosity Gives Back

My father used to tithe 15% of his income. Really. That was before taxes…and he had five children and a retail clothing store that was struggling to stay afloat. Once when I was in eighth grade we had to do a pie chart of our family’s finances for an economics class. I can remember making [Read More...]

The Joy of Being Wrong

Here is my article for National Catholic Register for Ash Wednesday. It celebrates being wrong, “for whenever men are right they are not young” Ash Wednesday is the day when we wear our error on our brow. The ashes declare to the world, “I’m wrong. It was me.” With the ashes, we put our hands [Read More...]

Two Pictures Tell a Horrible Story…

Take a moment to consider these two photographs, and figure out how they are connected. A comfortable Oxford intellectual continually spouts anti-religious hate speech with impunity. Indeed, he is lauded as a leading intellectual and a darling of the chattering classes. Some people even read his books, and his books, and his constant stream of [Read More...]

What is the Unforgivable Sin?

Some time ago I had a bust up with a colleague. He walked into my office and insulted me straight up. It was real ugly. He accused me of stuff of which I was innocent. So I asked him to sit down. Although I was furious I said, “You have just insulted me very badly. [Read More...]

Ten Things Every Catholic Should Know About St Peter

If you are involved in a discussion with an Evangelical Christian you can bet they will have John 3:16 memorized. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that whoever believes in his will not perish but have everlasting life.” Sometimes Catholics are embarrassed that Evangelicals have that verse memorized, [Read More...]