Jesus and the "Scapegoat"

From their earliest ages, Christians are taught that Jesus’ death on the cross brings about our salvation.  But around the time we get to middle school a question occurs to us:

“Why?  What does the crucifixion of the Son of God have to do with my forgiveness?  How does one cause the other?”

In the [past] I laid out the most common Catholic answer to that question.  Namely, Jesus made of Himself a sacrificial offering to God.  He gave His life, suffering, love for humanity, and love for God as an infinitely meritorious gift to atone for the sins of the world.

But that isn’t the ONLY answer to the question.  In fact, most non-Catholic Christians have been taught a very different theory, called “Penal Substitution”.  Many, being unaware of the Catholic understanding, will simply call it THE doctrine of the atonement.  (As if it’s the only one)

Today I want to describe the doctrine and examine one aspect of it – the scapegoat.

Baffling Question: Cross or Crucifix?

They say there is no such thing as a stupid question.

But sometimes a person will ask a question whose answer should be obvious to any reasonable person.  Or perhaps the question has a glaringly bad premise, which would have been realized with a moment of thought.  Whatever the case is… we’ve all had moments where we stare at a person and think:

“Did you really just ask that?”

Today I want to begin looking at baffling questions which Catholics often get from our non-Catholic Christian brethren which elicit that reaction.

Today we’ll do:

“Why do ya’ll keep Jesus on the cross?  Jesus isn’t on the cross anymore.”

My Two Recent Interviews

Hey there! 

I recently had two interview in close succession.  The first was with Catholic Radio Indy.  You can find that one here:  LINK

Can Christian Adoption Agencies Be Defended? - Part II

In a [previous post], I began looking at a defense for Christian adoption agencies which exclusively prefer Mother+Father homes.  These adoption agencies have found themselves under increasingly regular attacks over the past decade - the latest being in New York.

The first essay focused on the logic and implications of the debate.  Namely, if you say same-sex parenting is just as good as Mother+Father parenting, you're saying motherhood and fatherhood are indistinct, interchangeable, and (of themselves) unnecessary.  Plus, it means any belief in the uniqueness of motherhood and fatherhood is a form of superstition and bigotry.

Common sense rebels against that conclusion.  But some would have you believe it has been rigorously proven by modern social science.  That's what I want to begin considering today.

The Scandalous Lesson of Old Testament Kings

Back in the Lent of 2012, my Lenten devotion was to read the Old Testament for a half hour every day.  The Old Testament can be troubling in many ways, but I found a few lessons in there which gave me great comfort.  Lessons which I’ve been reflecting on recently.

Today I’d like to share one of them.

The Pennsylvania Report; By the Numbers

Back in mid-August (2018) the attorney general of Pennsylvania released their grand jury report on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.  The full text can be found [here].

It's been the subject of much discussion and reporting, and it seems like every Catholic blogger on the planet has an opinion about it.  What led to the abuse?  Who is to blame? What do we do about it?

I'm interested in those questions, of course.  They are critical to the safety of our kids and the well-being of the Church in America.  But I don't think I have anything useful to add to the matter.

So today I'll do what I'm good at... crunching data.  I've now gone through 800 pages of abuse reports - (a challenging task on multiple levels) - and kept some stats along the way.

Is there anything we can learn from the data itself?

Let's find out.

Three Thoughts on the Recent Catechism Change

Alrighty, I've been looking for some professional, expert commentary on the Pope's recent change to the Catechism and not finding much.  So... here goes.