Some Christian apologists on the internet often end up devolving into sophistries that, under deeper examination, are little more than word salads. Not surprisingly, this form of apologetics has become a kind of online spectator sport, and little else. The goal now seems to be to score points for one’s team at the expense of coherence.
Here’s why sola scriptura hasn’t worked. It has nothing to do with the shortcomings of the Bible. It has everything to do with the claustrophobic way “Bible-alone” Christians are forced to interpret the Bible. It’s all about selective proof-texting. It’s like settling for sound bites. Instead of allowing the Bible to lead them to an enlarged form of Christian belief, it collapses their imaginations and limits their thinking, finally confining them to a bland form of Christian experience.
Hey, I love my Evangelical friends and relatives. I am so glad they believe in Jesus. But I also feel sorry for them, because their cut-and-paste form of Christianity doesn’t allow them to delve deeply into the limitless mysteries of God. It does the opposite actually. It makes them think they’ve got the God-stuff all figured out, neatly packaged once and for all. And that is a real shame.
I look at it this way. I use Neocities because I don’t really want to be a part of the social media circus. I’m not trying to be a full-time influencer (I mean, I already have a life). I don’t need thousands of clicks or hits. I don’t need a million subscribers. I don’t need to have a “comment section”. I don’t need to be monetized. I just want a place to write (and revise) my thoughts for a few people who might be interested. It’s the act of writing (and thinking) that matters most to me.
Neocities has taught me that there are other people out there who must think and who must write. And I suppose that would be true for me even if nobody read my stuff. Even so, the stats indicate that I get some hits every day (if they’re not all bots and crawlers), and the number of hits seems to be growing (slowly). So maybe there are some folks who are curious about what I have to say. And, amazingly, I even have a few followers. So that’s good enough for me. I’m content with the Neocities paradigm. And I’m content with my little corner of the internet.
The thing about growing old and retiring is that you get to reflect upon your life (if you want to). As I look back upon my life when I am quiet and alone, I can remember successes and triumphs. I can also remember mistakes and failures. I can remember moments of insight and moments of stupidity. But looking at my life in hindsight, I can also see an unmistakable thread running through all of it. I can discern a persistent and ever-present Mercy that was granted to me, not because I was always righteous and correct, but because the Mercy was relentless and unearned.
Through it all I was claimed and embraced—always and everywhere. It was non-stop. I see it now. I recognize it for what it was. The source of that wondrous Mercy was divine. It flowed from the heart of Christ.
I realized something today. Yes, I am an old man. Yes, I’m a retired Catholic priest. Yes, I have the requisite degrees and all that. Yes, I have decades of experience as a pastor and a preacher. And yet I’m still learning about the mysterious ways of God and the riches of the Catholic Faith. It dawned on me today that I am truly thankful for that—an overflowing wellspring of gratitude, actually. For my part, I don’t want the discoveries to end—not until I take my last breath. In so many ways, I’m still just a beginner.
St John of the Cross and St Teresa of Avila, pray for us.
“The greatest insights come from looking at what’s NOT there.” —Konstantin Kisin
As a Catholic, I don’t mind being a gadfly to anti-Catholic Christians. It doesn’t bother me when they call me a pagan, or when they disparage the Sacraments, or when they disrespect Mary or the Pope, or when they try to use rapid-fire decontextualized biblical proof-texts to legitimize their doctrines. I mean, at the end of the day, they don’t have any real understanding of the profound things that I believe, because they have never tried to understand those things, or even to learn what they are.
I know that because I used to be one of them. But when I finally abandoned the fabricated doctrines of sola scriptura and sola fide, it was a true and blessed liberation for me. I began to rediscover the Christ of the Gospels, and I realized once again why he is so magnetic. So, no, I won’t go backwards. And I won’t settle for less. I will stick with the Lamborghini of all Christian churches. I will remain a Catholic Christian. No apologies will be forthcoming any time soon.
New essay: I’m Still a Catholic Because…
Revised essay: The Problem With Getting “Saved”
“It’s not going to be possible to ground any type of ‘right’, unless it comes from the divine. And that’s it. But if that’s the case and [inalienable rights] have to be grounded in God, then that must mean that we have to follow his laws too, right? So if we have rights which are grounded there, then you’re making the concession that God is real, right? He must be because you believe in these inalienable rights which are given to you. So how come we can throw the rest of it out? Why is that allowed?” —Andrew Wilson
Does social media still control your narrative?
“A Catholic is a person who has plucked up courage to face the incredible and inconceivable idea that something else may be wiser than he is.” —GK Chesterton