The Christian Vanguard

 Todays gospel reading at Mass was John 21. The dialogue between Peter and Jesus is something to take note of in Papal discussions because of what Jesus tells Peter to do. The NIV, a common Protestant translation, and even many Catholic translations, lose some of nuance from the Greek which sheds light on Papal claims.  Looking specifically at v16, many translations translate the word "poimaino" as "tend" even though it literally says "shepherd". Blue letter Bible has this. And the same word is used in Matthew 2:6, in which the shepherd rules over the people of Israel. This is a strong claim, and not just one that means Peter is going to be a mere pastor. Peter is literally ruling. 

 An argument that I found convincing in accepting the Papacy is the connection between Matthew 16:19 and Isaiah 22:22. I wont rehash the argument here, but it was pointed out to me that the way the Septuagint, or the Greek version of the Old Testament, called the LXX, translates Is 22:22 is notably different from the Hebrew. There are times this happens, and the New Testament is aware of this and continues to cite the LXX anyway.  The NIV translates the Hebrew version of Is 22:22 as follows, "I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open." Pretty straightforward. You can clearly hear the parallels Jesus is making in Matthew 16:19.  However, the LXX translates Is 22:22 as follows, "And I will give him the glory of David; and he shall rule, and there shall be none to speak against him."  Before we touch on the significance of the difference, lets explain what's going on. "The key t...

 Hey, it's been a while. Graduated school, and stopped some of my reading and writing. But I have few thoughts. Hopefully I can get this back up and running again. If not, whatever, a place to jot down some thoughts.  Suppose that the Catholic doctrine of the Papacy were false. Would it follow that Catholicism is false? Or would it follow that Catholicism isn't the place to be? On one hand, it would seem that the Papacy is one of the core or essential doctrines of the Catholic church, and yeah, to have that be false would seem to falsify the entire institution. But that may be too fast of a move. If it were false, then that would put Catholicism in the same boat as Protestantism. How do I mean? I mean that since Protestant churches do no claim to be infallible, then possibly some part of their doctrine is wrong. And most Protestants would agree that there is SOMETHING about their doctrine that is incorrect, even if they cannot currently identify exactly what that is. It would ...

We talked about the Papacy and Church authority in class. Three videos.

I was having an exchange with a Protestant friend of mine on Facebook on whether Peter is the rock Jesus says He will build His church upon. I took the time to copy some choice quotations from the book Jesus, Peter, and the Keys    which I have been meaning to keep on file somewhere because they're useful, but I finally managed it, and I am copying them here for future reference.  William Hendriksen, Th.D from Princeton, a Reformed Protestant Professor of New Testament Literature at Calvin Seminary writes, “The meaning is, ‘You are Peter, that is Rock, and upon this rock, that is, on you, Peter, I will build my church.’ Our Lord, speaking Aramaic, probably said, ‘And I say to you, you are Kepha,’ and on this kepha I will build my church.’ Jesus, then, is promising Peter that he is going to build his church on him! I accept this view.” - New Testament Commentary: Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew, pg 647 Even some Lutherans, the original Protestants, h...

While this has been, so far, a negative review, I do want to say, to start off a critical look at chapter three, that I’m quite glad Ferguson recognizes, “Any leader in any group who says he is not tempted [to enjoy the limelight and praise] is either out of touch with his own heart or dishonest.” The famous Lord Acton dictum is, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” So I am quite happy with the way this has started.