It's weird to say we need a plain Bible verse for all our religious beliefs, insisting we should reject philosophy and "human reasoning," but then say a person can come to know of God's existence by reason alone. We can't separate theology from philosophy. No one can.

Christians must realize that the arguments some people use to say Christmas is nothing but recycled paganism are the same kind of bogus arguments people use to say Christianity itself is nothing but recycled paganism.

Your "Christian" religion is not salvific if its focus is on matching daily headlines with Bible prophecies, or on novel doctrines that Christianity has not known until you or your church's founder came along.

If all a Christian needs is Jesus ("Jesus plus nothing"), then we don't need the Bible, or angels, or the Holy Ghost, or teachers, or anything else. Of course, the truth is that we need Jesus plus whatever gifts he gives us to facilitate our salvation. So when he says on the Cross, "Behold, your mother," I accept. Like John, I'll take her into my home.

This is fine, but it's infinitely better to be in the Book of Life.

CATHOLIC GUILT Sometimes I hear former Catholics justify their separation from the Church by complaining how they suffered from “Catholic guilt.” True scrupulosity is something the Church cautions against, and she tries to assist those who suffer from it. Struggling with imperfections requires patience and understanding. God’s not out to smack us when we don’t live every moment perfectly. He’s our loving Father who understands and leads us to perfection in time. But what about mortal sin? Let’s say a married woman feels guilty for using contraception and wants to clear her conscience. There are three ways she could go about removing her feelings of guilt: (1) Continue the sin until she's calloused to it, making her guilt-resistant. (2) Artificially squash the feelings by justifying it, choosing to believe contracepting is not so bad after all. (3) Repent, confess the sin, and accept God’s loving forgiveness. (This is the only true solution.) Guilty feelings are not our enemy. They can be our best friend if we let them bring us back to the freedom we have in Christ, who frees us not only from guilty feelings, but from guilt itself.

I was in the first grade when I tried to evangelize my teacher. She was unable to grasp the "truth" about Christmas, so in my wisdom I put together this tract for her.

Since our pope wants to hear from so many people from all walks of life so we can listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying, one would think he would also want to hear from faithful Catholics who believe what the Holy Spirit has already said. But he does not listen to, and speaks disparagingly of, such Catholics. Maybe the Holy Spirit has shown Francis that queers and feminists speak with the new voice of the Spirit, finally putting us on the right track after being midguided for so long. Or maybe not. Maybe this pope is currently not listening to the Holy Spirit. Not even Saint Peter, who walked and talked with Jesus, always listened to the Spirit. He acted contrary to the Spirit and had to be publicly confronted.

Whenever I hear someone say Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship, I know they are heavily influenced by their relationship with the Protestant religion.

Back in the late 1990s, we in the Tyler, TX, congregation of the Church of God International invited other congregations to come for a large Bible study weekend entitled "Led by the Bread." That was the name I suggested since it was during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. (Incidentally, I also came up with the name for their TV program, "Armor of God," once Garner Ted Armstrong was no longer associated with CGI.) Anyway, I was just remembering one of the presenters (a minister whom I will not name here) giving a study about the Bible itself. He read 2 Timothy 3:16: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." What I laughed at in disbelief, even at the time, was how the presenter expounded on the word "reproof." He said we have to prove all things, and after some time passes we need to go back and "prove them again." He thought that's what the word "reproof" meant -- to prove something again. If a person can make such a silly error like this, how much more likely is a person able to be misled about more complex theological issues. I'll take the constant Tradition of the Church any day over amateur, armchair Armstrongist theologians.

Here's a treat. I'm sharing some excellent talks I downloaded years ago about the Old Testament sabbaths and holy days -- Israel's liturgical calendar -- from a Christian (i.e., Catholic) perspective. I just re-listened to the one about the Feast of Tabernacles since I have friends who are observing it right now. It's so exciting to explore the richness of these feasts in the light of Jesus Christ, who fulfilled them beautifully. It's still the best "feast sermon" I've ever heard. If you've ever observed or wondered about the FOT (or others), listen to this!

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I could never see it before, due to my upbringing, but it's true: The Blessed Virgin Mary is central to the gospel. Not the Center, but central. She's the New Eve. The Ark of the New Covenant. King Jesus' Queen Mother. And she's our Mother -- the Mother of all Christians.

I'm a huge believer in gender diversity. For example, I believe every marriage needs one male and one female.