Theology

19 10, 2019

How Ascetical Theology Brought Christ to the World
How Ascetical Theology Brought Christ to the World

How Ascetical Theology Brought Christ to the World

By Father David Nix|2019-10-19T01:22:44+00:00October 19th, 2019|Theology|

I have been haunted for two and a half years by this "Fr. Z" blog post that shows how American Catholics fasted for lent in the 19th century: DIOCESE OF NEWARK. (1873) REGULATIONS FOR LENT: Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, will fall on the twenty-sixth day of February. 1. Every day during Lent except Sunday, is a day of fast on one meal, which should no be taken before mid-day, with the allowance of a moderate collation in the evening. 2. The precept of fasting implies also that of abstinence from the use of flesh meat, but by dispensation, the use of flesh meat is allowed in this [...]

10 10, 2019

Science and Religion Part 2: The Superstition of Those Who Reject Religion
Science and Religion Part 2: The Superstition of Those Who Reject Religion

Science and Religion Part 2: The Superstition of Those Who Reject Religion

By Father David Nix|2020-06-03T15:11:21+00:00October 10th, 2019|Theology|

In my last blog post, I explained how important it is for science to be concerned with the object (objective truth) more than the subject (subjective truth.) Strangely, many people in the West who reject Christianity now also reject science. They put on their cars and on their lawns a new secular creed called the "Sign of Justice." Let's examine their claims from a scientific (not religious) point of view: Sign of Justice: "Black Lives Matter." (See picture above) Assertion: Those who do not support "Black Lives Matter" are racists. Historical Reality: Black Lives Matter was created by George Soros to use blacks as pawns to cause civil unrest in the United [...]

28 09, 2019

Science and Religion Part 1: Epistemology
Science and Religion Part 1: Epistemology

Science and Religion Part 1: Epistemology

By Father David Nix|2019-09-28T08:01:20+00:00September 28th, 2019|Theology|

Epistemology is the study of how a knower can know things. It is a study of both the learner (the subject) and the learned topic (the object.) Epistemology is both subjective and objective. Science, on the other hand, is simply concerned with the learned topic, or the object, and hence we say that the goal of science is to be purely objective via data presented. Scientia is Latin for "knowledge." Science is the mind's conformity to reality, not to an agenda. This also presupposes that the mind, via the five senses, can actually grasp objective truth. Properly speaking, there is no room for a political agenda or even relativism in true [...]

22 09, 2019

What is the Primacy of Conscience?
What is the Primacy of Conscience?

What is the Primacy of Conscience?

By Father David Nix|2019-09-27T11:25:32+00:00September 22nd, 2019|Theology|

Jesus Christ can forgive, through His priests, the most serious mortal sins through baptism and confession. As most readers know, mortal sins (sins that lead to hell) are mortal if they are 1) grave material and 2) done with full-knowledge and 3) executed with full consent of the will. In a recent blog post, I reminded readers of 15 Mortal Sins that most Catholics don't know are grave matter. In today's article, I will try to unmask how Satan tricks amateur theologians on the other two criteria of mortal sin (full knowledge and full consent of the will.) For lack of more politically-correct terms, I have tried to identify the tricks [...]

14 09, 2019

The Cross vs. Emotional Fulfillment in Marriage
The Cross vs. Emotional Fulfillment in Marriage

The Cross vs. Emotional Fulfillment in Marriage

By Father David Nix|2019-09-16T00:18:27+00:00September 14th, 2019|Theology|

By Fr. David Nix and Leila Miller As I have said in many sermons and blog posts, Catholics that use contraception have the same divorce rate as the rest of the United States—roughly 50%. Catholics who refrain from contraception have a divorce rate that is only 3%, even when all studies are averaged. But what about those 3% of Catholics who get a divorce while avoiding contraception? Crisis Magazine did a study about 15 years ago to ask why young Catholics who avoid contraception were getting divorces. The answer was one: They did not expect to suffer much in marriage. This blog post is written by my friend and author, [...]

2 09, 2019

Real Men of the Church Take Ownership
Real Men of the Church Take Ownership

Real Men of the Church Take Ownership

By Father David Nix|2019-09-03T02:31:02+00:00September 2nd, 2019|Theology|

Real men take ownership. Cowards blame each other. In the below video, Navy Seal Jocko Willink describes a fire-fight in Iraq that went bad into a situation of deadly friendly-fire. At minute 8, Willink asks: "Who’s fault was this?” One Seal stood up and explained the deadly situation, adding: “…And it was my fault.” But then the next Navy Seal stands up and says: “It was my fault…” The next Navy Seal stands up and says: “No, it was my fault, because…” Again, watch time stamp 8:00 to 9:00: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljqra3BcqWM Contrast this to the below video from the 1960s where a young Irish priest asks an older Irish priest why [...]

31 08, 2019

3 Apologetics Points
3 Apologetics Points

3 Apologetics Points

By Father David Nix|2019-08-31T14:37:33+00:00August 31st, 2019|Theology|

There are many good books for Catholics to purchase to defend the Catholic Faith while talking to non-Catholics on topics such as the Resurrection of Jesus Christ or the Eucharist or the Immaculate Virgin Mary or even all Scriptural topics including Purgatory. But three debilitating moves for Catholics to use on Protestants while debating on-the-fly are as follows: 1) Disprove Sola Scriptura by reading Scripture Alone? 21 Reasons to Reject Sola Scriptura by Joel Peters. It can be found online or in $2 pamphlets from Amazon. It will take less than an hour to read, and it is undeniably the best little booklet to disprove the erroneous Protestant notion that Divine Revelation is found exclusively in [...]

24 08, 2019

Does God Change His Mind Through Church History?
Does God Change His Mind Through Church History?

Does God Change His Mind Through Church History?

By Father David Nix|2019-08-24T18:29:20+00:00August 24th, 2019|Theology|

Two other titles I threw around for this blog post were, Was the early Church more traditional or charismatic? and Was the Early Catholic Church as Dogmatic as the Medieval Catholic Church? This is a long blog post, but if you follow it carefully to the end, I believe you'll be happy that you did. In the above picture, every domino represents a different century in Church history. I used to believe that liturgy and dogma in Catholic Church history followed an erratic pattern like the above picture of dominos, where every century differed from the next century. Where it is true that the politics of Church history have followed a [...]

17 08, 2019

Why the Restoration of the Catholic Church Must Be Marian
Why the Restoration of the Catholic Church Must Be Marian

Why the Restoration of the Catholic Church Must Be Marian

By Father David Nix|2019-08-17T15:48:23+00:00August 17th, 2019|Theology|

Part I: A Night on the AmbulanceN.B. You can skip Part I if you do not want my real-life account of EMS from 20 years ago that got me thinking about the mystical body of Christ’s “anatomy.” The theology of this blog post is found exclusively in Part II: An Analogy In the Mystical Body. But Part I here does describe an epic fail in my life... While pre-med at Boston College, I worked as an EMT at night. Upon graduation, I returned back to Denver and went to paramedic school while discerning if I should continue in medicine or if I was in fact called to the Holy Priesthood. [...]

10 08, 2019

Can We Evangelize While the Church is Bleeding?

By guest|2019-08-10T04:30:25+00:00August 10th, 2019|Theology|

By Marc Zarlengo Evangelization is not something that was pounded into me as a nominal, half-hearted (uncatechized) Catholic growing up in the 80s and 90s. In fact, I never thought about it. But as someone who has since reconverted to the faith and now attends both the Novus Ordo and traditional Latin Mass (TLM), I am confident that faithful Catholics of all stripes are facing one major common difficulty: How do we evangelize in this current environment of discord and bleeding? It’s a real problem, and we need to deal with it. Our job according the Great Commission is to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them [...]