Dwight Longenecker's Blog, page 242

Healing the Father Wound

What was your relationship with your father like? I’ll bet it wasn’t perfect. That’s because your father was human and wasn’t perfect, but there is a deeper reason. It has to do with the way you’re wired. You were designed to need the perfect–I mean absolutely perfect–unconditional and complete love of a Father. In other [...]

Why Bother With Church?

When I was a high school chaplain I had a conversation with some nice parents who attended a Protestant church of some sort. They were distressed because their tenth grade son had announced that he no longer wanted to go to church. When they asked him why he said, “I love Jesus in my heart. [...]

The Catholic Tide Continues to Turn

David Hartline’s first book, The Catholic Tide is Turning chronicled much of the good news about the Catholic Church in the United States. This sequel continues the author’s campaign to tell the full story of the American Catholic Church. He begins by reporting on the triumphant visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the US and rattles [...]

Ed Blanch — Internet Atheist

Guest blogger Ed Blanch comments regularly on various religious websites and he blogs at There’s No Sky Fairy where he regularly receives 273 visits a month. Ed is taking a break from his studies at North Jersey College of Technology. Domiciled in his mom’s basement, Ed is busy developing an exciting new video game concept. Here’s the latest from [...]

The Result of Relativism

Someone in the combox observed that absolute moral standards demand an autocratic authority structure to enforce them, and this leads to the repression of individual freedoms. “All morality is relative”, so the argument goes, “therefore individuals must be free to make whatever moral choices they think are best.” The problem with this, of course, is that [...]

Caitlin O’Rourke on Little Girls

Guest blogger Caitlin O’Rourke is a member of St Bridget’s, Church, High Dudgeon, New Jersey. Caitlin is ten years old. See what you probably didn’t know is that my middle name is Agnes but I don’t tell anybody because I don’t like it very much because Granny had a friend she used to take me [...]

Meeting Agnes

Here is a post from the archives for St Agnes’ Day. Agnes–you know who you are!

Proof of Heaven?

Can the existence of heaven be proved? Dr Eben Alexander thinks so. His book Proof of Heaven is an extraordinary story about a most extraordinary experience. Dr Alexander is a neurosurgeon, so he knows how the brain works. He explains that most doctors dismiss NDEs (Near Death Experiences) as the final flickerings of a dying [...]

The Constant Conversion of St Paul

Here is my latest article for National Catholic Register–for the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul this week.

Reality and Religion

I have just finished the fascinating Proof of Heaven by Dr Eben Alexander. This is the story of the NDE (Near Death Experience) of a brain surgeon. When he came back from the other side he explains (as do most who have an NDE)  how much more real the other world is than this one. He [...]