The Christian Vanguard

A while ago, I had a conversation with a guy. We both commented on a mutual friends Facebook post, and this friend was from the ICOC. I initiated conversation with him because his profile picture looked like something you would see an Orthodox person put up, and people from the ICOC tend to be isolated from that kind of stuff, so I was intrigued. The man's name is Joey Harris, and I have his permission to make this public. I have cleaned up some of the grammar and spelling errors, but the substance is faithful to the original. I've decided to put this up for a few reasons. One, it's probably the best attempt by a member of the ICOC to stop me from being Catholic. Or at least, it's the more informed attempt. Two, there's a certain intellectual humility in the conversation, which I think other members of the ICOC should follow. I've talked to many of my friends from this group, and they simply don't know how to approach me about this, and I briefly give a...

I've documented on this blog why I think the Protestant domination in pop apologetics unjustly snuffs out Catholic contributions. I want to talk about a particular kind of explicit disallowance (is that a word?) to continue making my case.  There have been times when, as a student, I've looked for opportunities to get involved in apologetics leadership. I did what I could in my previous Protestant denomination, teaching a class, unpopular as it was with the pastors. But, bloom where you're planted, right?  Recently, I've looked into three opportunities and all explicitly deny Catholics opportunities. First, I looked into Ratio Christi. According to their Statement of Belief, "Student leaders must hold to the historic Christian faith as approved by the staff directors." Fair enough. I'd assume this would mean things like the Apostles Creed, the Nicean Creed, etc., and while that's the case, they go a bit further and in defining what they bel...

I have this libertarian friend. Well, he was a friend. He's cut off contact with me recently. Readers of this blog know I am opposed to libertarianism. I had an exchange with this friend I want to talk about. He put up a video made by these two guys. They were driving and they pulled up to a check point. The police offer, in a polite and upbeat manner, asked them some standard questions. They remained silent. The police officer, not letting the rudeness get to him just keep asking questions, and politely. After silence from the two young men, they asked if they were free to go. The officer, probably a bit confused, called over a superior. After a few moments, they were on their way with no hostility or ominous  attitude. However, there was hostility and a kind of on edge attitude on part of the kids. So, seeing the discrepancy in attitudes, I asked my smart friend, and he is very smart, why didn't they say anything to the police officer? His response was, Because they did...

Roger Scruton has this illustration about beauty which I think I may have a version of for a few years. Scruton says that a woman tells you she's wants that  peach from the peach bowl. So you hand her a random peach, and she refuses it. No, she tells you. If her desire was to eat it then sure, any peach would have sufficed. But she does not desire the peach to eat, but for its beauty. She does not wish to observe it and when she gets all the relevant data she tosses it to the side as any other peach. She just wants it.  That is the only peach that will satisfy. To not recognize that is not grasp the power and effects of beauty. I think I was taught the same lesson many years ago.  I was in a car with a mentor of mine. I was still in high school, and dating this girl. My mentor, he tells me, "Adrian, if you don't think you have the most beautiful girl in the world, it's not going to work out." I thought he was being impossible. Of course I could never thin...

I recently had a discussion with some Mormons, which got me really excited. So I looked for an old transcript of a video I had, and decided to put it up. It's dated December 25th, 2010.

What does it mean to objectify women? Ever since that ridiculous video of a gorgeous woman walking down the streets of New York, this has been a more pressing question, in my mind at least. The tone delivered with the phrase, "objectification of women" is usually negative, with a prescription to not do so usually following. So, what is this thing I'm not supposed to do?

Some people will often say, "Hate the sin, not the sinner." But why? Why can't I hate the sinner as well?