Matt Fradd's Blog, page 52

Papal Infallibility: A Socratic Dialogue

These dialogues aren’t meant to cover every aspect of, or every objection to, each doctrine. There’s more that could be said, obviously.

They’re meant to be a fun and intellectually stimulating introduction to Catholic teachings that can sometimes be hard to understand.

Also, I’ve tried to make it a reasonably fair exchange between Martin (the Protestant) and Justin (the Catholic), but I haven’t tried that hard.

The goal here is to demonstrate the superiority of the Catholic position, something that couldn’t be done in the space I’ve done it in if I were to launch every Protestant objection to the doctrines discussed.

Cool? I don’t think Protestants are cotton-headed ninny muggins’s. Promise.

Enjoy, and please give me your feedback below

What is Papal Infallibility?

Martin: What do you mean by papal infallibility, Justin?

Justin: That whatever the pope says is correct. So, for example, if he says that it will rain next Thursday, it will rain next Thursday.

Martin: Tell me you’re joking.

Justin: I’m joking.

Martin: Thank goodness.

Justin: But this is, unfortunately, what many Protestants think is meant by the doctrine of papal infallibility, so let’s be clear on that from the outset. It doesn’t mean the pope is sinless, it doesn’t mean he’ll have the answer to every issue facing the Church.

Martin: So what does it mean?

Justin: it means that the pope has a special grace from Christ that protects him from leading the Church into error.

Martin: So no statement the Pope makes about Christian doctrine or morality will be false?

Justin: Not quite. You’re right that papal infallibility pertains to faith and morality, but it doesn’t mean he’s immune from believing, or even saying, something erroneous with respect to these things. Instead, it means that the pope will never officially lead the Church into heresy. For example, pope-emeritus Benedict XVI wrote a marvelous trilogy of books entitled Jesus of Nazareth. In it he makes it clear that he’s writing as a theologian, not as the vicar of Christ, and therefore, he says, people can, in good conscience, criticize his statements and even disagree with him.

Why Think it’s True?

Martin: Okay, I think I understand. So why should I think papal infallibility is true?

Justin: Because you say you’re a Bible believing Christian.

Martin: I’m listening. Let me open up my Bible.

Justin: Turn to Matthew 16:18. Jesus say to St. Peter, who Catholics believe to be the first pope, “you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.”

Martin: My translation says “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Justin: Right. It means the same thing. So if Christ promised that “the gates of hell” shall not prevail against the Church, it would make sense, would’t it, that the chief pastor of this Church would not steer it into Hell by teaching heresy.

Martin: Go on.

Justin: Christ promised that even if the faith of all the apostles should fail, Peter’s would not.

Martin: Woah, wait a minute, you’re getting all that from this verse?

Justin: Sorry, no. I’m referring to Luke 23:31-32 where Jesus says—here, let’s read it from your Bible . . . “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:  but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”

But Didn’t Paul Oppose Peter?

Martin: Okay, but none of this means that everything Peter taught would be protected from error. What about in Paul’s letter to the Galatians where we see Paul opposing Peter. Where is it here . . . Here. 2:11: “But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.”

Justin: Right, but this didn’t have to with what St. Peter taught—let alone taught officially—, it had to do with how he behaved. He feared those Christians who thought circumcision was necessary and so decided not to eat with the uncircumcised.

Martin: Well show me an instance where Peter teaches something officially that has to be true.

Justin: How about first and second Peter? These are official teachings without error, right?

Martin: Well that’s silly.

Justin: Why?

Martin: Because you’re comparing apples to oranges. If first and second Peter make him Pope because they are without error then that would make Paul Pope also since his letters are without error.

Justin: You’re putting words in my mouth. I never said St. Peter is Pope because he taught without error. You asked me to give you an example of some teaching from St. Peter that is free of error, and I gave you two epistles. Look, if it’s possible for God to prevent Peter from teaching error in those epistles, shouldn’t we agree that it’s possible he would prevent Peter and his successors from teaching error in the future?

Martin: I suppose it’s possible.

Justin: Okay. Well, may I suggest comparing and praying over two texts of scripture?

Martin: Sure.

Justin: Compare Isaiah 22:15-25 which is a prophecy of the papacy with Matthew 16:13-19. Next time we meet up we can discuss.

What Next?

I hope you found this helpful. What would you like Martin and Justin to discuss next?

My Philippines Trip: 2 Days. 11,000 People.

This Wednesday I will travel l8736.4 Miles to the Philippines to spend no more than two full days speaking to around 11,000 people. I’ll be speaking about living authentic manhood, rejecting porn, and settling for no less than the love that satisfies.

Here’s my schedule:

November 4 – 5

Travel.

Eat bad sushi at Tokyo airport because, hey, it’s Japan!

Travel.

November 6

8am, speaking to 350 seminarians at San Carlos Seminary, Guadalupe, Makati City.

1pm, speaking to 750 college men at St. Mary’s College Auditorium, Mo. Ignacia Avenue, Quezon City.

6pm, speaking to 300 educators at University of Asia and the Pacific, Pearl Dr., Ortigas Center. Pasig City.

November 7

830am, speaking to 3000 high school and college students at the Ynares Sports Arena, Shaw Blvd. Mandaluyong City

130pm, speaking to 3000 different high school and college students (same location).

700pm, speaking to 3000 different (seriously—different) high school and college students (same location).

November 8

Fly home exhausted.

Prayer Requests

I wonder if you’d be so kind as to offer prayers for me and my family while I’m away. Please also pray for Sarah Swafford who will be traveling with me. If you don’t mind leaving a comment to let me know you’ll be praying for us that would be most appreciated.

My Back and Forth With Cosmo Author

Last week Cosmopolitan magazine published an article called 8 Reasons

Watching Porn Doesn’t Make Him a Cheater (you didn’t really think I’d link you to it, did you?).

Today, I released a video response to it. Check it out:

If you’re interested in seeing the facts I referenced see the full article here.

I was happy to see that the author of the article watched the video and then responded to us on Twitter.

Here’s how our brief exchange went:

 

You can follow up on the conversation here, but please be respectful to Andre. It’s one thing to say an article is evil and stupid (which it is), but we should always treat people with love (I’m sure you know that, just saying).

Pornographers use the term “sex-positive” like a mantra (Here’s a recent video I did debunking that myth), but, as I told Andre, watching porn—masturbating to pixels—involves neither sex, nor is positive.

Her last response to me broke my heart.

By her own admission she does not believe that a man could decide that she is enough for him. What’s even more tragic is that she’s trying to turn this into a positive thing (those of you who’ve read Nietzsche will understand what I mean when I say this appears to be a clear case of “ressentiment”, in which one disparages what is good and strong because one feels unable to attain it due to weakness).

Andre, if you’re reading this post, the next few lines are for you:

You could do so much to empower women. You could challenge them to be good and strong and free. You don’t need to mock their desire for a porn-free, faithful relationship. You can rebel against Cosmo culture, choose to be awesome, a disruptor of the status quo. You could speak truth to women that would embolden them to be all they can be, to live lives to the full.

Will you?

Maybe you have nothing but scorn for these words. Maybe you’re more open minded than I think. I hope so.

Please think about these things.

 

There Isn’t Someone Out There For Everyone, and Yes, You Might Die Alone

People say stuff. Stuff they’ve read in Hallmark cards, heard in movies, or from some “spiritual” aunt. It’s the sort of stuff that’s become cliche and to which, they tell me, the proper social response is a head nod and a ‘mmmmm’ sound of agreement.

One of those cliche’s is, “There’s someone out there for everyone.” It comes in a variety of forms: “God has someone out there for you.” “Everyone has a soulmate who’s especially for them,” etc. etc.

I see no reason Biblically or otherwise to think this is true (maybe you do and you can enlighten me in the comment section). And given the spiritual and moral climate in which we live, I suspect many people—especially Catholic women—if they wish to remain faithful to Christ, will have to remain alone. Until death. . . . How you feeling?

Now, by alone I don’t mean without loved ones, I mean what people usually mean when they say, “I don’t want to die alone”—without a spouse.

I read an article about the marriage crisis in China, Where The Boys Are, that said that due to a cultural preference for boys (the girls are being killed in utero) there is now such a severe gender imbalance that unmarried men will soon outnumber unmarried women by an estimated 40 million. In other words, there are many men who may wish to marry but who probably won’t be able to (at least if they remain in China).

In the United States and other western countries, I think the opposite problem is happening. Due to the fact that many men have been emasculated and juvenilized by porn, there now exists a huge imbalance such that unmarried Catholic women who are willing and ready to marry have outnumber unmarried Catholic men who are neither willing nor ready by a huge proportion.

If you’re a single Catholic woman in your 20’s, 30’s, or 40’s, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

And Yet All Are Called to Love

St. John Paul the Great wrote in his encyclical letter, Redemptor Hominis, “Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it.”

Beautiful, yeah? But notice he didn’t say, “Man cannot live without a spouse.” or “Man cannot live without sexual intimacy.”

Some Advice . . . For What It’s Worth

If you’re a young adult woman terrified of dying alone, my encouragement to you would be threefold:

1. Remain faithful to Christ, even though you may be tempted to despair, or to lower your standards. Christ promised to bring you life, and life to the full (Jn 10:10). He did not say you’ll find this life when you find your “soulmate” . . . whatever that is.

There are many people who are living celibate lives who are living lives to the full. Beautiful, joyful people. I had the privilege recently of meeting the daughter of St. Gianna Molla. This is the daughter St. Gianna gave her life to save. You cannot meet Gianna (named after her mother) without realizing immediately that here is a woman in love with Jesus Christ. She radiates peace and joy even though she has never married.

2. Speak to any Catholic woman you know who is married and, if she’s honest, she’ll share with you the cross that marriage and motherhood can be. I don’t say this to minimize the cross of the single life, not at all, but marriage is freaking tough, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was discovered that married people experience the same degree of loneliness and frustration as single people. And I’m not talking about marriages that are on the rocks, I’m talking about faithful Catholic ones. I think any Catholic woman worth her salt would tell you, “it would better that you remain unmarried than that you marry a man incapacitated to love you.

3. Find yourself a good spiritual director. The Church needs you now! The Church needs your energy, your intellect, your feminine genius now. Discern with your spiritual director how you can best make use of your gifts to build up the body of Christ instead of falling into the trap of waiting until marriage before you begin to serve.

Now with all that said, let me back-pedal a little. I’m not saying you won’t end up happily married. There are many good Catholic men out there and certainly if it’s the Lord’s will, He will make a way. So this isn’t an article about why you should just give up all hope on ever being married and join the convent already! If it’s come across that way it’s to counteract the contrary view that’s said far too often (at least in my circles) without qualification.

One book I’d highly recommend is Jason Evert’s book, How to Find Your Soul Mate Without Losing Your Soul.

Here’s an awesome prayer that my sister just shared with me. If you want, pray it with me:

Everyone longs to give themselves completely to someone,

To have a deep soul relationship with another,

To be loved thoroughly and exclusively.

But to a Christian, God says, “No, not until you are satisfied,

Fulfilled and content with being loved by Me alone,

With giving yourself totally and unreservedly to Me.

With having an intensely personal and unique relationship with Me alone.

Discovering that only in Me is your satisfaction to be found,

Will you be capable of the perfect human relationship,

That I have planned for you.

You will never be united to another

Until you are united with Me.

Exclusive of anyone or anything else.

Exclusive of any other desires or longings.

I want you to stop planning, to stop wishing, and allow Me to give you

The most thrilling plan existing . . . one you cannot imagine.

I want you to have the best. Please allow Me to bring it to you.

You just keep watching Me, expecting the greatest things.

Keep experiencing the satisfaction that I am.

Keep listening and learning the things that I tell you.

Just wait, that’s all. Don’t be anxious, don’t worry

Don’t look around at things others have gotten

Or that I have given them

Don’t look around at the things you think you want,

Just keep looking off and away up to Me,

Or you’ll miss what I want to show you.

And then, when you’re ready, I’ll surprise you with a love

Far more wonderful than you could dream of.

You see, until you are ready, and until the one I have for you is ready,

I am working even at this moment

To have both of you ready at the same time.

Until you are both satisfied exclusively with Me

And the life I prepared for you,

You won’t be able to experience the love that exemplified your relationship with Me.

And this is perfect love.

And dear one, I want you to have this most wonderful love,

I want you to see in the flesh a picture of your relationship with Me.

And to enjoy materially and concretely the everlasting union of beauty, perfection and love that I offer you with Myself.

Know that I love you utterly. I AM God.

Believe it and be satisfied

PLEASE, especially if you’re a single woman, share your thoughts below.

oh, and BTW, IHateMattFradd.com is open if anyone wants to start a blog.

15 Surprising Things Atheists are Saying about Pope Francis

Well, Pope Francis is on his way to the USA and people are talking! Including the media—which has it’s downsides.

Sr. Helena Burns posted this funny meme today:

 

Whatever you might think of the Pope Francis, it’s hard to deny the fact that people are listening to him; if not his words, certainly his example.

I heard someone say, when Pope Francis embraced that man covered with tumors, the world changed! Beautiful.

Among those being moved by Pope Francis are atheists.

15 Comments From Atheists

I’ve spent the past hour hunting down comments from atheists posted on secular news sites. Here are fifteen, though if I kept looking I’m confident I could have found 1000

1. I’m an athiest and do not believe, but I love this new Pope, Pope’s are put on a pedestal and seem untouchable, this Pope, from the get go, has been a people person. You can almost feel the love radiating from him. So from one human to another, he shows such compassion and humility. Love him. – Sarah, England, UK.

2. I’m an atheist, but i believe he is a great example of how religious folks ought to be – Cort R

3. As an atheist (not speaking for all of them), I’m a huge fan of this pope. I think people need to find their own reason to be good to others. For some, it is god (whichever flavor he/she/it may be). Others find that they want to be good for other reasons. I’m just glad that the big C found a leader willing to try his best to not just preach to his crowd, but try to show them how.

4. On the other hand, some people use god as their excuse to be a d*ck. So I’m not sure if this is an example of the pope acting like a good god, but rather he is a good person and his faith only amplifies the goodness of his own character. – Wesley_Song

5. Left the church many years ago. Don’t believe in god mainly due to the Catholics and southern baptists is was raised around. This pope embodies the teachings of the church I actually liked. He’s pro something. He takes careof the less fortunate. Wonder what our nation wld be like if all the Catholics and baptists followed his lead and voted for people who cared about the poor?? Go ahead pope. Show the way – Cellstrom.

6. I don’t even believe in God. But, this guy, as a human being, just rocks. – Ironhand43

7. He’s setting a new standard for future popes to follow. I’m an agnostic, but this guy has truly awed me with his actions. So unlike other popes in my lifetime (even JP2, who seemed okay to me). – Rob_Cypher

8. I was raised Catholic but am now an atheist, but I’m growing to respect this man more and more. He’s actually following Christ’s teachings… imagine that! – Alex D

[In response to Alex D was this comment,] Me too! I am returning to the church because of this fine priest! – tau4444

9. A good person is good regardless of religion. I do believe this pope has actually publicly recognized this fact and for that (as an atheist) I applaud him. He seems a very good man. My respect for him grows by the day. – Marc T

10. As an atheist, let me say that I wish more people in general, religious or otherwise, followed this man’s example. The world would be a better place for it. – Thank4Watching

11. As an atheist, I’m impressed, I feel jaded about a lot of religions these days . . . [but] it looks like this pope is making an effort to do some good in the world rather then take advantage of it. – Theoricus

12. I’m an Atheist, and even I have respect for this guy. If he can get Christians to actually act like christians, maybe I won’t have such an issue with “organized” religion. – John S

13. As an atheist, I’m officially changing my opinion of him from ‘admired’ to ‘loved’. This is precisely the “walking the walk” the world needs, especially from its religious population. – Michael Kirby

14. As an atheist this pope does many great things, I still disagree with the church as a whole but as a person this pope gets it. He is a great role model as a person not a living deity. – Vendictavis

15. I don’t believe in gods and myths, but this man is truly a man of his word and someone everyone could look upon as a role model. I just wish that more holier than thou types could be like this man, if so the world would be a better place.Walks what he talks. – Joe Bigg

The Best Argument For Christianity

I think Sheldon Vanauken was spot-on when he wrote:

“The best argument for Christianity is Christians: their joy, their certainty, their completeness. But the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians–when they are sombre and joyless, when they are self-righteous and smug in complacent consecration, when they are narrow and repressive, then Christianity dies a thousand deaths.

5 Reasons to Consider Going to Therapy

The following article was written by my sister, Emma.

When my best friend first suggested I go to therapy, I felt scared and like she thought there was a big thing wrong with me. I quickly excused her suggestion and tried to do something that normal people do, like watch TV or poach eggs.

I recently moved countries and decided to go, because deep down I felt as if I knew there was something not quite right, not that I was bad or wrong, but that, I wasn’t responding to life in the way that the Lord desired me to.

Here’s 5 reasons I think everyone should consider going to therapy.

1. It Works

Therapy has taught me to be more self aware, understanding and empathetic. It’s as if I’m able to have mercy on people more. What it all boils down to is this:

People react negatively because they are not receiving the love they need. 

Therapy is all about exploring the areas where you haven’t received the love you needed and trying not to act out of those wounded memories in life today. 

Everyone is hurting because everyone was made for the love of God and often I look in the wrong areas to receive that love.

2. God can work through your therapist.

My first therapy session had me feeling like she was a robot. I had thoughts like 

“Why doesn’t she respond to my sadness the way my spiritual director does?”

“Why doesn’t she tell me it’s going to be ok! or try to comfort me?”

I realized then that therapy was different than any other direction I had received before, it was a completely new approach to Emma Fradd’s mind. I remember crying in the car after my first session, totally confused because she had me considering things I had never considered before because I was too afraid. 

Not all sessions are like this, some times I just sit and don’t know what to say, It takes time.

I was cautious at first because I thought no healing could happen unless Jesus Christ was present and because she wasn’t an explicit Catholic Therapist I had my doubts. But Jesus is present. I pray before and after every session. Rarely she says things I don’t agree with, but I let her know. I was blessed to have a good fit with her right off the bat, it takes other people a couple of tries to find the right person to be their therapist. 

3. Therapy isn’t prying, it’s learning.

A common view on therapy that I held was 

“Do I really need it?, I haven’t had that bad of a life, people go through much worse, I’m already a deep thinker, I don’t think it would be healthy to pry into my emotions too much, can’t I just get over it?”

Looking back on past Emma, all I have to say is 

“how about you get over the fact that you need to get over it”

Or course therapy can be intense, I go into some of the most hurtful memories I have, but how beautiful that I get to come out the other side feeling at peace and understanding why I acted in ways I acted.

Things don’t get intense unless you make it intense and intense isn’t always a bad thing. I’ve heard stories of therapist’s prying and making assumptions. Sometimes I feel as if my therapist is making assumptions. For example one week she went on holiday and the next week when she came back she asked me how I felt while she was gone, I responded “fine” and I must have broke eye contact to look at the floor. 

She followed my eyes with her head and said “were your really?” and I said, “yep, totally fine, I don’t feel like i’m relying on you too heavily or anything.” and that was that. Sometimes I suppose it can seem they are looking in the wrong areas, but you guide the session, you do the talking. They are there almost as a soundboard to ask you about your feelings and explain certain concepts to you, they never give their opinion about anything.

4.  It’s humbling.

And you and I need to be humbled. it’s a hard first step to make an appointment, even if you don’t feel as if it’s working, it’s hard to keep going. But I pray for the grace to have patience. Of course I want to be fixed and healed right now! but who knows how long it can take? as my Spiritual Director Pati (who is awesome) says. 

“you need to be ok with not being ok”

5.  We all have patterns of behaviour that are bad.

Here’s some of mine. I’m passive aggressive, I like to subtly control people, I can be manipulative in my speech and feel entitled to respect especially by those who are closest to me, part of my gift-giving love language is because i’m afraid people won’t like me if i don’t, I have a hard time saying no to doing things for people if I think they will like me more because of it, I’m afraid every human on earth doesn’t really like me, i’m judgemental without knowing it, I have patterns of rejection in my past…

GOSH.

I sound quite depressing don’t I?

Well the truth is that this self-knowledge is actually an incredible virtue and I can train myself to not act out of these negative patterns. It takes time, and I will fail. But Therapy is teaching me to say what I mean when i’m sad or mad, not to just act it out, to have mercy on those who can’t love me the way I want them to or feel I need, It’s teaching me to say no and to be ok with that, to not control and to let others think differently from me and be ok with that, It’s teaching me that I was made for God and only God will fufill me. 

We all want love and we are all broken, and we all want love form the people who are broken. 

Therapy is literally teaching me to deal better with every situation in life that I’ll ever have, and I think everyone could benefit from it.

Restored: A New Book For Wives

My wife and I just released a new book for wives and partners of those who use porn. Restored: True Stories of Love and Lust After Porn. Learn more here.

Why I No Longer Work for Covenant Eyes . . . but Still Promote the Heck Out of Them

Several months back I decided to part ways with Covenant Eyes in order to dedicate my time solely to The Porn Effect (a website for teens and young adults) and Integrity Restored (a site for families and clergy).

I’m happy with the move since I feel the work cut out for us in the Church in the battle against porn isn’t likely to go away any time soon (though it’d be nice if we could work ourselves out of a job!), and the two websites/apostolates I now run on a full-time basis I think will be a huge asset to many people.

Covenant Eyes is Awesome

All of that said, so long as Covenant Eyes remains the best accountability and filtering software on the web (and currently they are, by a long shot!), I’ll continue to promote it to everyone who accesses the internet (like you . . . unless someone printed this out and sent it to you via carrier pigeons).

Furthermore, and no one’s paying me to say this, promise :), the men and women at Covenant Eyes are some of the best people I’ve ever met. Faithful, intelligent (their main blog writer, Luke Gilkerson, knows more about porn and it’s effects than any sane man should!), and determined not to let money get in the way (which is why they have a policy that if someone can’t afford CE they’ll put you on their hardship program and let you have it for FREE!).

When I flew up there a few years ago for my initial interview, I was told by someone that the founder and executive, Ron Dehass, had been “praying and fasting a lot about this decision.” That was my experience the whole time I worked there. They’re good, moral people who are determined to help people remain porn free. These guys want to impact culture, and they’ve got the determination and professionalism to do that. So let’s keep their work in prayer.

The 1 Reason People Give For No Signing Up

Okay. I want to end this blog by blowing apart the number one reason people give me for not signing up to Covenant Eyes—that it’s not a 100% guarantee that you won’t see porn and that your accountability partner will get alerted if and when you do see it. Besides, they say, “if I really wanted to, I could probably get around it.”

There’s two parts to this argument so let’s deal with them one at a time.

1. Not a 100% Guarantee

This is a lame argument, not because it’s not true (while CE software is getting better all the time, it’s possible that you might stumble across something pornographic or semi-pornographic and your accountability partner not find out), but because we’d never use that line of reasoning in other similar cases such as the following:

You wouldn’t say that about a home security system, or putting basic locks on the doors—”Unless you can guarantee me that in buying these locks I will NEVER get robbed, I’ll just have to settle for my doors never being locked.”

Or when it comes to your kids, “unless you can guarantee me this bike helmet will protect them from every and all head-injuries, I’m not getting one, they’ll have to ride without one.

Stupid.

In both examples you do you and your family a massive disservice by choosing not to protect your home or your kids heads. CE may not be 100% foolproof, but you’re in a much better spot with it than without it.

2. I Could Get Around it if I Tried

This, I’m sure, is also true, but 1. Covenant Eyes never promised to be your Net Nanny (sorry . . . couldn’t resist. NN also has awesome filtering by the way), it promised to keep you accountable if that’s something you wanted. So while it might be true (I’ve never tried) that you could see some stuff without the filter blocking you, or your accountability partner getting an alert, the fact is you probably won’t see anything hardcore, and that is, eventually, what most people who watch porn want to see.

In other words, you may be able to skirt around the edges for a while before your accountability partner get’s flagged, but eventually if you cross over the line into hardcore stuff, they’ll almost certainly find out.

So there you go. Go get Covenant Eyes and protect yourself and your family.

4 Ways The Church Contributed to the Protestant “Reformation”

Martin Luther before The Diet (assembly) Of Worms

The Church, being not a museum of saints but a hospital for sinners, is always in need of reform. This was true in the apostolic age, it is true in our own, and it was true in the age of the infamous (or famous; depending whose side you’re on) Martin Luther.

But it’s my contention (as I mentioned in an earlier post) that what was brought about in the 16th century by Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and company was not a reform, but a revolt.

Why? Because ‘reform’ means to make changes in order to make something better. And while this may have been the intention of the revolters, it most certainly wasn’t the outcome, which splintered christendom into a myriad of competing sects.

With that as my caveat, here are four ways the Church contributed* to the Protestant “reformation”.

1. Immorality and Political Power

By the 16th century, many churchmen seemed to have forgotten their spiritual duties. The cardinals, even in Rome were living openly immoral lives while the Popes focued their energies on gaining and extending their political power.

2. Nepotism and Simony

Churchmen at all levels practiced nepotism (favoring friends and family by giving them bishoprics, etc.) and simony (the buying and selling of ecclesiastical privileges). For example, in order to ensure that he would be Pope, Julius II engaged in bribery. His election only took a few hours and the only votes he didn’t receive were his own and that of  his main opponent, Georges d’Amboise.

3. Mocked by Humanist Scholars

The Church was in such a bad state that even humanist scholars, particularly in Germany, openly mocked the Church for her immorality and ignorance.

4. Abuse of Indulgences

While Pope Leo X (reigned from 1513 – 1521) should have urged churchmen to repent and to begin living moral lives, he did not. What he did do was make a deal with Albert of Brandenburg, (archbishop of Magneburg in Germany) who was requesting that the Holy Father also make him archbishop of Mainz (another city in Germany).

The Pope said he would allow it if Albert paid an enormous amount of money to the Roman curia. To help Albert, the Pope allowed him to take one half of the funds raised in the indulgences for St. Peter’s basilica and use it to pay the debt.

Now, Instead of telling people to repent of their sins and go to confession, the preachers who were sent throughout Europe focused mainly (if not exclusively) on how much people needed to pay. These preachers spoke as if the simple giving of money could buy them an indulgence or for family members still in Germany.

Fominican friar Joann Tetzel had a rhyme he would use to manipulate people into giving money: “When copper coin in coffer rings, The soul from purgatory springs.”

Don’t Brush Under the Rug

These truths aren’t something we as Catholics should attempt to explain away or brush under the rug. Rather, we should acknowledge them honestly, recognizing that none of this invalidates the claims of the Catholic Church—anymore than the sins of Judas (an apostle chosen by Christ!) invalidate the truth of apostolic authority.

Finally, it’s interesting to note that, even during the darkest days of the Catholic Church, the deposit of faith handed down through the apostles was never changed. Popes may have been (and sometimes were) fornicators, gluttens, and thieves, but none the Church’s official teaching on these things was never altered.

May God continue to protect his Church.

__________

* which is not at all the same thing as saying it was responsible for is.

My research for these five points was taken from the following Catholic Textbook:

Rollin A. Lasseter and Christopher Zehnder (eds), Light to the Nations: The History of Christian Civilization (Ventura, California: Catholic Textbook Project, 2014),

Why God’s Not Dead Isn’t Worth Watching (or Watching again)

God’s Not Dead “flatters Christian viewers with the triumphalist message that we are the heroes, that our enemies are bankrupt and miserable, that we will be rewarded and they punished. It tells its target audience exactly what they would most like to hear, rather than challenging them with what they need to hear. It’s not just bad art, it’s bad morally as well. God’s not dead, but movies like this don’t help His cause.”

That’s how Steven Greydanus, Catholic movie reviewer at Decent Films, summed up his critique of the movie (read his entire review here), and I couldn’t agree more. This example is perhaps more illustrious of Christian attitudes towards atheists than we’d like to admit.

In response to these attitudes, Randal Rauser has written a new book you need to get. I have it, and I found it to be a bold, refreshing call to Christians to rethink their attitudes about atheists. The book is entitled, appropriately, Is The Atheist my Neighbor?

Here’s a recent brief exchange we had about the film:

Matt: I thought your assessment of the recent film God’s Not Dead was excellent! Could you share with us  why this was, how should I put it, not a stellar contribution to American cinematography?

Randal: Just over twenty years ago conservative film critic Michael Medved published the bestseller Hollywood Vs. America in which he chronicled, among other things, the lamentable way that Christians and other people of faith are often portrayed in film.

Medved certainly had a point. The negative portrayals of Christians in Hollywood far outweigh the positive. I can’t begin to count the number of times I’ve seen depictions of such tired tropes as the sexual prude, the gossipy pastor’s wife, the emotionally abusive pastor or religious leader, and so on.

Given this fact, you’d think that Christians would be very sensitive about invoking their own stereotypes when making their own films. But on the contrary, God’s not Dead is full of stereotypes of other groups, and the most egregious of all is the portrayal of the atheist philosophy professor, “Dr. Radisson”.

In the film, on the very first class of the semester, Dr. Radisson forces the entire class to write out “God is dead” on a piece of paper. And then he immediately begins to attack the single student who refuses. Now I’ll be the first person to agree that university can sometimes be a hostile place for those of Christian faith. But this scenario is absurd. It’s a caricature which plays off the worst fears of the conservative Christian community. And it gets worse from there.

As the movie proceeds Dr. Radisson shows himself to be an emotional bully. At one point he snarls: “There is a God and I’m him!” And as for that one Christian student who bravely refused to write “God is dead”, he proceeds to humiliate Dr. Radisson by persuading the entire class that God does exist. As the movie unfolds, Dr. Radisson is shown to be an angry, petty, emotionally stunted man who gets shown up by a first year undergraduate. To say the least, this is an uncharitable stereotype of the atheist community.

If Christians feel picked on by Hollywood, the proper response is not to make movies that pursue “an eye for an eye” cinematic justice by merely swapping caricatures! On the contrary, Christians should seek to respond by producing films that provide a sympathetic and generous portrait of their ideologica opponents.