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Did a Roman Catholic priest perform 'invalid' baptisms for years?

You may have seen in the news lately, a Roman Catholic priest in Arizona, USA, has apparently performed “invalid” baptism for years, well over a decade, even. Due to this, now thousands of people are stressing about whether their baptism counted or if they need to be re-baptised due to the error by Rev. Andres Arango! This has caused concern over the other sacraments these people have partaken in since their baptism, such as the Eucharist, and whether they should have even been allowed it. The Diocese of Phoenix is trying to identify people baptised by Arango so that they can track them down for re-baptism (and possibly, re-confirmation and whatever other r...

Rob Bell's “Love Wins” (Review)

...uth" that has somehow got lost, changed, misrepresented and mixed up in Medieval tradition and imagery over the last few centuries. Anyone who is aware of the controversy that was/is surrounding this book and who heard that that Rob Bell "doesn't believe in hell" can rest assured that this isn't the case. To quote the book, Bell writes: "There is a hell now, and there is a hell later, and Jesus teaches us to take both seriously." (pg. 79) It's not only that he believes in hell "later" (i.e. after death), but also that because of our freedom of will in this life we can, and do, create hell on earth through our actions and sins. Likewise, we can also crea...

William Lane Craig Rejects The Nicene Creed. Is He Right To?

...If you’ve been on Christian social media this week, you’ve probably seen it: William Lane Craig — one of the most respected Protestant apologists of our time— flatly denying a core line of the Nicene Creed. In his own words, he does not believe or confess that the Son is eternally begotten from the Father in his divine nature. Human nature, yes. But divine? Nope. For a lot of readers, that’s a jarring sentence. Isn’t “eternally begotten of the Father” literally in the Creed we recite? How can someone who has spent decades defending the resurrection and the existence of God turn around and reject something so central? I want to walk through...

Lent: Day 8 - Ignatius to the Romans

...es, there has be nothing quite like this so far. In all of Ignatius's letters so far, he has mentioned that he is bound as a prisoner for Christ, on his way to face beasts and that in doing so he will “attain to God” and truly become a disciple of Jesus through martyrdom. But this time it's different. He actually pleads with the Roman church not to do anything that will prevent his death! From the way he writes, it sounds like the church in Rome had great influence and could have probably changed his sentence to have Ignatius set free. But he writes to them saying that he is “afraid” of their love, “lest it should do me an injury” because it was ea...

The Deity of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew - Part 2

...atthew emphasises the point at both beginning and end that Jesus is “with us”. First, in 1:23 he combines this with calling Jesus God. Second, he records Jesus as claiming his perpetual presence with his people wherever they are. To understand the importance of Matthew’s choice of this theme an overview of this subject in the Old Testament is needed. In the book of Genesis man is created (and woman from his side), then they are placed in the garden of Eden where they enjoy the presence of God who walked with them, until they act disobediently to him after which he came to them and it is written; (Genesis 3:8): “Now they heard the sound of the Lord God...

7 things the Lord hates (spoiler: questioning doctrine isn't one of them)

...too. Dan has since issued an apology on his blog, and expanded on his thoughts in ways which the twitter character limitations wouldn't allow him to previously. But as much of a hot-button topic as gay rights within the Church is, it is not what I want to talk about now. No, what got me was the way in which the Christians reacted to this news about JoC and the tweets, and how all the bloggers etc. exploded with articles with some hints of condemnation. Jars of Clay at Toronto, Canada. Photo: Ian Muttoo Though I do agree that twitter probably wasn't the best place to voice such questions and thoughts, which I do think were genuine and not merely pr...