Looking East: Why Not Orthodoxy?

I recently asked a good friend what topic he'd like to see me address.  He asked:

"Why aren't you Orthodox?"

It is a very fair question. There are many “Cradle Catholics” who have never asked themselves why they –as adults - are Catholic and not anything else.  Is it just because I was raised this way?

At the same time, many Christians raised in Evangelicalism begin a hard journey when they read the writings of the ancient Christian church and find a world which looks startlingly like Catholicism and Orthodoxy.  For those who feel conscience-bound to enter that world, the decision between Catholicism and Orthodoxy often becomes a crucial fork in the road.

So why am I not Orthodox?  There are several avenues I could travel down.  But today I'd like to examine the one core reason.

How should a Pro-Life Candidate Respond: Late-term abortion

The topic of abortion – particularly late-term abortion – came up at the final US Presidential debate.  When the question was posed to Hillary Clinton regarding her support for late-term abortion, she appealed to heartbreaking instances of children who won’t survive outside the womb.

Since then I’ve been thinking about how Candidate ACTS Apologist would have replied.  Can we come up with something which responds politically, ethically, and compassionately?  Let’s give it a shot:

Did Jesus Claim to be God in the Synoptics?

Probably the most famous argument in Christian apologetics is the so-called “Trilemma Argument”.  It notes how Jesus’ claim to divinity in the New Testament forces a limited number of choices upon us.

One common way around this argument is to assert that Jesus is not really presented as divine in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  It sounds something like this:

“All that stuff about Jesus claiming to be God comes from the Gospel of John, which was written long after the original Jesus story had become the subject of myth.  The other, earlier Gospels contain none of these portrayals of a divine messiah.  In those he is just a miracle-working prophet.”

So today I wanted to respond to this by going through five ways Jesus claimed to be God – or was presented as God - in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

Understanding the Eucharist - What is it?

Every now and then the discussion in my Bible Study will veer into the realm of Mormonism.  And when discussing Mormonism, it is easy to poke fun at its more eccentric beliefs.  However, I try to remind the kids that we – as Catholics – have a few doozies of our own.  Probably the hardest one of all is our doctrine on the Eucharist. 

We believe that during the Catholic worship service (the “Mass”), when the priest holds up the bread and wine (the “elements”) and says, “This is my body / this is my blood” … those elements become the body our Savior.  Yet despite this change, the Eucharist retains the same size, shape, weight, taste, and nutritional value it had before.  You could put it under a microscope and you’ll only ever see bread. 

What has changed is the so-called “substance” of those elements.  You might also call it the metaphysical core, the underlying reality, the true nature.  Regardless of how you phrase it, what you now see is only bread and wine by appearance.  But the answer to the question, “What is that?” has radically changed.  That is what the Catholic Church refers to as "transubstantiation".

This has been universally believed since the earliest days of Christianity, and folks have been struggling with it just as long.  How do we understand this bizarre teaching?

Today I want to look at one way of breaking it down and understanding it better.

Responding to the Accusation of Mary-Worship

Probably one of the most common questions one hears on Catholic radio goes something like this:

"One thing I don't understand about the Catholic religion is why ya'll worship Mary.  Doesn't God say you'll worship Him and Him alone?"

This is probably one of the most common accusations which Catholics have to deal with when talking to their non-Catholic friends and acquaintances.  Today I want to look at a couple strategies I use for navigating these exchanges.