Apologetics

21 11, 2024

“The Spirit of Truth Will Teach You All Truth.”—Jn 16:12
“The Spirit of Truth Will Teach You All Truth.”—Jn 16:12

“The Spirit of Truth Will Teach You All Truth.”—Jn 16:12

By Father David Nix|2024-11-20T23:33:11+00:00November 21st, 2024|Theology|

I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will teach you all truth. For He shall not speak of Himself, but what things soever He shall hear, He shall speak. And the things that are to come, He shall shew you.—St. John 16:12-13. When I had a conversion in the late 1990s, I entered very deeply into Catholic apologetics in how to explain the Bible to Protestants. I was traveling around the world back then, too. One example is I had an American-Calvinist friend I met at the University of Paris. We debated [...]

18 01, 2022

A Challenge to My Protestant Friends
A Challenge to My Protestant Friends

A Challenge to My Protestant Friends

By Father David Nix|2022-01-18T02:33:01+00:00January 18th, 2022|Theology|

p/c Michele Falzone, Colosseum at Sunrise I know that most evangelical "non-dommers" do not like the term "Protestant" anymore, but even National Geographic will place Christians who confess the Trinity into one of three categories: Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant. So, for the sake of brevity (and accuracy) I'm going to conglomerate under the title Protestant all of these: {emergent-Church folks, Mega-Church folks, Baptists, Pentecostals, Lutherans, evangelicals, Methodists, etc., etc.} With more and more Protestants following me on Twitter (especially evangelicals) and more and more Catholics attacking me on Twitter (especially liberal ones) I really don't like to write blog posts against Protestants anymore, considering I now have more in common with [...]

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 [...]

27 05, 2019

Glad Trad 7: The Conversion of Oakes and Julie Spalding
Glad Trad 7: The Conversion of Oakes and Julie Spalding

Glad Trad 7: The Conversion of Oakes and Julie Spalding

By Father David Nix|2019-05-27T03:07:16+00:00May 27th, 2019|Podcasts, Sermons, Talks|

Mahound's Paradise tells me in the Loop of Chicago's famous "Russian Tea Time" of his conversion to Catholicism. This conversion includes St. John Cantius in Restoring the Sacred. [Correction: The Charlie Hebdo shooting actually occured on On 7 January 2015.]

17 04, 2018

Why is the Protestant Bible Missing Several Books?
Why is the Protestant Bible Missing Several Books?

Why is the Protestant Bible Missing Several Books?

By guest|2018-04-17T01:20:44+00:00April 17th, 2018|Theology|

This is by Joel Peters. It is taken from Twenty One Reasons to Reject Sola Scriptura. One historical fact which proves extremely convenient for the Protestant is the fact that the canon of the Bible – the authoritative list of exactly which books are part of inspired Scripture – was not settled and fixed until the end of the 4th century. Until that time, there was much disagreement over which Biblical writings were considered inspired and Apostolic in origin. The Biblical canon varied from place to place: Some lists contained books that were later defined as non-canonical, while other lists failed to include books which were later defined as canonical. For [...]

28 06, 2016

On Eternal Rome
On Eternal Rome

On Eternal Rome

By Father David Nix|2018-05-22T16:40:11+00:00June 28th, 2016|Theology|

This is an edited re-post of a little-known blog I wrote when I was last in Rome. I originally called it "Peter and Paul" but two other titles that fit are: "Why Eternal Rome will Triumph over Temporary Rome" or "Why the hierarchical Church was no different from the charismatic Church." Most of us Americans picture the early Christians of Rome being physically underground but spiritually free. Then, everything changed in 313 when Constantine’s edict of Milan reversed the course of history, allowing Christians to be physically “above-ground” but spiritually oppressed by the Emperor and Pope who inadvertently became strange bedfellows. The idea of the pre-edict-of-Milan Christians being “more free” [...]

8 12, 2015

Immaculate Conception Homily

By Father David Nix|2019-04-10T16:13:44+00:00December 8th, 2015|Podcasts, Sermons, Talks|

A lot is covered in this homily, but it all has to do with Jesus and Mary and you.

24 11, 2015

St. John of the Cross and The Buddha

By Father David Nix|2015-11-24T23:00:26+00:00November 24th, 2015|Theology|

The above picture is a remake of the spiritual life as drawn and described by the greatest ascetical theologian of the past millennium, St. John of the Cross. St. John of the Cross was a 16th century Carmelite whose feast day we celebrate today in the TLM (a couple weeks out in the new calendar.) If you look at that picture (which is hard to see but phenomenal if you can expand it) you will see that the man or woman who sets out to seek God is called to a narrow path that not only despises any earthly attachments that prevent union with God, but also despises any self-centered [...]

5 11, 2015

Colbert vs. Mother Teresa

By Father David Nix|2015-11-06T10:06:27+00:00November 5th, 2015|Theology|

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5weP79J7bM In this short video, Stephen Colbert (comedian-turned-theologian) says “Faith ultimately can’t be argued; faith has to be felt." Let's cut through his poor philosophy and consider reality: 1) Feelings are often no different from biochemical pleasures. God uses feelings in all stages of prayer, but it is not central to the substance of the soul where the Blessed Trinity resides. If faith must be "felt" as Colbert said, then where does that leave Mother Teresa who couldn't feel anything for 60 years of prayer? But false-positives abound, too: If I drink an enormous Chemex hipster coffee and feel like a saint who could take on the world, did I just "feel" an increase in [...]

28 04, 2015

Jesus and Religion Part III

By Father David Nix|2015-07-10T13:29:34+00:00April 28th, 2015|Theology|

For a few weeks, I’m living in the Muslim quarter of Kolkata. I wear my Roman collar around here, and what's peculiar is that I rarely get snarky looks from the swarms of Muslims and Hindus packed into this city. Actually, I was shocked at how much respect the Muslims gave me on Qatar Airlines even as I wore my cassock. On the other hand, a certain generation of Catholics in the United States treat me very differently when they see the cassock. That generation of Americans always stops me with a unconvincing rictus to tell me some combo of the following: 1. I’m glad that what you’re doing “works for [...]