Monthly Archives: July 2023

Apparitions, Church Fathers, Epistemology, Infallibility, Papal Infallibility, Sola Ecclesia, Tradition

One Billion Denominations

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“Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?” — Job 38:2

A typical accusation made of Protestants by Roman Catholics is that they are so divided. There are ostensibly at least 35,000 Protestant denominations, but only One Holy Roman Catholic Apostolic Church. Such a stark comparison is often sufficient for a wavering Protestant to capitulate in despair. Since his conversion to Roman Catholicism, the subject of our previous series, Mr. Joshua T. Charles, has shouted from the rooftops that the unified Roman religion with its Tradition and teaching Magisterium has finally set him free from the divisions and errors of Protestantism. Protestants constantly disagreed about everything, and at some point, he just could not stand it any more. Here is a small sampling of his Twitter criticism just from last month:

“I was protestant until I was 31. As such, the furthest I could get was different interpretations of the Bible. No one could say ‘thus saith the Lord’ as to which one was right. Good, educated people differed on every issue under the sun.” (June 4, 2023)

“I’m very, very, very glad I am no longer a protestant. Among all the interpretations, where is the true one? On so many issues that have been long settled in the Catholic Church, protestants continue to divide & fall into more errors, with no one capable of resolving the debate.” (June 10, 2023)

“[That’s] Why I am Catholic today. Interminable, unresolvable debates where the best any of us had was our best guess was unacceptable. I wanted to follow Jesus.” (June 13, 2023)

From this small sampling, which is indeed representative of Mr. Charles’ chronic indignation, we might suppose that the solution he had stumbled upon in Rome was a single authoritative source of clear teachings that removed all doubt, dispute and debate in the interpretation of the Bible, Tradition, the Magisterium. At last, no more error, guesswork, difference and revision, no more heresy, schism, contradiction and division! Nothing but smooth sailing! Continue reading One Billion Denominations →

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Church Fathers, Church History, Epistemology, Sola Ecclesia, Tradition

“Tens of Thousands of Pages,” Part 7

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“…of making many books there is no end…” — Ecclesiastes 12:12

We conclude this week with our response to Mr. Joshua T. Charles’ claim that he had found “profoundly [Roman] Catholic doctrine” in Ignatius of Antioch’s seven letters from 107 AD. Joshua claimed to have found “point by point” the tenets of Roman Catholicism in Ignatius’ letters to the churches at Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Rome, Philadelphia, Smyrna, and to bishop Polycarp. We have now covered all ten — the sacrifice of the Eucharist and the Real Presence of Christ in Part 2, the New Testament priesthood, Episcopal Succession and Episcopal Authority in Part 3, Roman Primacy in Part 4, Baptismal Regeneration and Losing Salvation in Part 5 and Heresy, Schism and “Big ‘C’ Catholicism” in Part 6. Mr. Charles never ceases to comment on the divisions and denominations that occur under the umbrella of Protestantism. He claims that he finally found stable relief for his tossed and wearied soul when he discovered the pacific seas and verdant pastures of an undivided Roman religion — free of all the contradictory interpretations, confusion, disagreements and lack of apostolic roots.

In our series thus far we have responded to the “ten points” of Roman Catholicism that he thought he had found in Ignatius, and today we shall briefly summarize our responses to them. But as we move forward, we shall also consider Mr. Charles’ utter lack of self-awareness in his triumphalistic analysis of a peaceful, undivided, unified Roman epistemology vis-a-vis the divisive, schismatic and hopelessly indefinite Protestant epistemology he abandoned. What he has done is abandon the Rock upon which Christ built His church, in order to embrace an epistemology of sand. In his perusal of “tens of thousands of pages” of the Early Church Fathers, he has not found ancient Roman Catholicism in their writings. Rather he has merely engaged in Roman Catholicism’s longstanding practice of shadow puppetry, casting medieval shadows upon an ancient patristic backdrop, obscuring rather than illuminating their original works. In truth, neither the early church, nor modern Rome, is any more free of divisions than what is observed within the “Protestant” tent. The difference is not between unity and division, but rather what the respective parties are divided about. Continue reading “Tens of Thousands of Pages,” Part 7 →

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