Archive for August 2010

I Believe in the Rapture-and it Happens Very Often

Aug 31st, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

Becoming Reformed after a six year sojourn in the evangelical world of Calvary Chapel, I was pleased to give up speculations about the end of the world via the notion of an imminent Rapture. There was a lack of historical support for thinking this way, and there was also a pleasing emphasis on Scripture as […]



J.R.R. Tolkien’s Sacramental World, Part Three: Language

Aug 30th, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

This is the third in a three part series. Part One may be read here. [1] In this post, I want to make a few remarks about how language, particularly in its stylistic or aesthetic aspect, relates to reality. I will do this by way of briefly indicating how Middle Earth is rooted in language […]



Episode 14 – A Presuppositional Apologist Becomes Catholic

Aug 25th, 2010 | By | Category: Podcast

Tom Riello interviews Marc Ayers on the topic of his conversion to the Catholic Church. Marc was a ‘disciple’ of Dr. Greg Bahnsen. Hear him tell how his presuppositional apologetic method helped him see the need for a divinely instituted authority, namely the Catholic Church. [podcast]https://www.calledtocommunion.com/media/Called%20to%20Communion%20-%20Episode%2014%20-%20Marc%20Ayers%20Interview.mp3[/podcast] To download the mp3, click here.



Bank Accounts and Justification

Aug 18th, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

Recently a friend reminded me of a common Protestant analogy regarding salvation and merit. The analogy is that sinners have a ‘bank account’ wherewith to ‘pay’ for their eternal salvation. The problem is that man cannot possibly have enough in this account to pay the ‘amount due.’ Faith in Christ is equivalent to having a […]



δικαιόω: a morphological, lexical and historical analysis

Aug 16th, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

The impetus for this brief post is Bryan’s recent response to Rose in the thread on St. Augustine on Law and Grace. Rose asks about the contention she has heard from Protestants that St. Augustine did not understand the meaning of δικαιόω (dikaiow), which means, according to the Protestants, to count righteous rather than to […]



The Last Road

Aug 15th, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

This is not exactly a story, though it is partly autobiographical and partly allegorical, or perhaps just highly allusive. Mostly it is a farrago, which I must have written after reading something by Belloc. The whole thing is called “The Last Road.”



Another new Contributor – Stephen Wilkins

Aug 12th, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

Allow me to introduce Stephen Wilkins, our third new contributor in the month of August. Stephen is a long time regular in the combox of Called to Communion. You may have seen him comment as “Wilkins.”  Stephen, a convert from the PCA, will be helping us fill an editing role and will also be writing […]



I love the Orthodox too much to be Orthodox (or How I learned to stop worrying and love the atomic bomb of Holy Orders)

Aug 10th, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

In a previous blog post, I wrote about the joys and similarities which bind together the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. As tragic as our lack of full communion with one another is, there is a bond which unites us even now while our sacramental reunion is mostly a hope for the future. This bond is […]



The Heroes of the New Covenant

Aug 9th, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

Recently Juan Callejas wrote about the relics of St. John Bosco (Don Bosco) being brought on a tour of Guatemala. Juan described his own perplexity at the eagerness and excitement of Catholics upon the arrival of the saint’s relics.1 These relics will be brought on a tour of the US and Canada this Fall; see […]



The Denominational Marketplace

Aug 6th, 2010 | By | Category: Blog Posts

Just a few months before I was certain I needed to enter the Catholic Church, I wrote the following post on a blog I had been using to write out my thoughts about discerning the Church. I re-post it here, with some edits that seem appropriate now that I am Catholic, to reach Called to […]