De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

I found a great blog last night by Billy Kangas which addresses one of the thoroughly absorbing mysteries of faith I have read and wrestled with over the years. In this post, he explains how he found his way from a confessional Lutheran Protestant to a devoted and practicing Catholic. The question which led him on this journey was one which is often asked in my experience, and one I know I have thought long and hard about . It is a question which is at the heart of many of the strongest objections to the Christian faith I have encountered, and it is one of the most divisive issues in the inter-Christian dialog today. For Kanga, it started like this: one day, he came into his church and there was a giant banner hanging over the pulpit that read, “Why did Jesus die?” Now it is easy to trot out what someone else has taught you about this, but it is in really engaging with the question I think we really start to grow. Essential to the process is a layering of knowl...

Earlier this week I posted some thoughts on the subject of how Jesus saves us . This prompted a commenter to ask the pertinent question of why the 'saving' had to happen through the death of God's Son. I posted an answer in the comment section, but, as it was quite long, I thought it might be worth re-posting it here. As a result of our sins we have distorted God into either a cruel tyrant or a permissive, non-demanding force of love or simply into the non-existent sanction of an oppressive morality--to mention just a few of the many possibilities. In rescuing us, God responded to our needs. He took into consideration our distortions of His divine reality, our suspicions, mistrust, and aggressiveness towards the Divine. In the state of sinfulness we needed more than just moral exhortation and a divine offer of grace to convert us. God's grace had to provide us with convincing and tangible evidence for the reality of His infinite compassion and of His hol...