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Rabbinic tradition describes the Torah as God’s daughter who speaks and complains to him: תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: הַקּוֹרֵא פָּסוּק שֶׁל שִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים וְעוֹשֶׂה אוֹתוֹ כְּמִין זֶמֶר, וְהַקּוֹרֵא פָּסוּק בְּבֵית מִשְׁתָּאוֹת בְּלֹא זְמַנּוֹ – מֵבִיא רָעָה לָעוֹלָם, מִפְּנֵי שֶׁהַתּוֹרָה חוֹגֶרֶת שַׂק וְעוֹמֶדֶת לִפְנֵי הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא וְאוֹמֶרֶת לְפָנָיו: רִבּוֹנוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם, עֲשָׂאוּנִי בָּנֶיךָ כְּכִנּוֹר שֶׁמְּנַגְּנִין בּוֹ לֵצִים. § The Sages taught: One who

In the following post HEBREWS 2:16 & LIMITED ATONEMENT, I showed that the author of Hebrews expressly teaches that Christ did not become an angelic being, but chose to become a flesh and blood human in order to save mankind from their fear of dying. This understanding is reflected in the following translation: “Since, then, ‘the children’ have a common physical nature as human beings, he also became a human being, so that by going through death as a man he might destroy him

In his letter to Serapion, the blessed St. Athanasius emphasized the point of the Trinity being the ancient teaching of the Catholic Church, which she has received from Christ and his holy Apostles: 28. But, beyond these sayings, let us look at the very tradition, teaching, and faith of the Catholic Church from the beginning, which the Lord gave, the Apostles preached, and the Fathers kept. Upon this the Church is founded, and he who should fall away from it would not be a

The Talmud contains an interesting story in respect to Exodus 19 and 20 when God descended upon Mount Sinai in order to allow the Israelites to hear his Voice audibly. According to the rabbis, the Israelites died after hearing the Divine Voice which caused the Voice to complain to God! Another matter, “his palate is sweet,” Rabbi Azarya and Rav Aḥa in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: When Israel heard: “I am [the Lord your God]” (Exodus 20:2) at Sinai, their souls departed from

The following is taken from Athanasius’ 39th festal letter written at 367 AD (https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2806039.htm). (For 367.) Of the particular books and their number, which are accepted by the Church. From the thirty-ninth Letter of Holy Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, on the Paschal festival; wherein he defines canonically what are the divine books which are accepted by the Church. …1. They have fabricated books which they call books of tables, in which they sh

COURTESY OF CATHOLIC APOLOGIST WILLIAM ALBRECHT Contrary to the assertions of certain Protestant apologists, Athanasius did quote from the deutero-canonical writings as inspired Scripture, often citing them along with the proto-canonical books without making any distinction between them. In this post I will share several examples from Athanasius’ writings to substantiate this fact. All emphasis will be mine. “[T]he sacred writers to whom the Son has revealed Him, have given u

In this post I will demonstrate that Athanasius did affirm that Jesus appeared in the Hebrew Bible as the Angel of God. At the same time, however, I will show that Athanasius did not hold to the view that the texts which were (and still are) commonly employed to prove that it was Christ who is being described as the Angel of the Lord. Rather, Athanasius took passages such as Exodus 3:1-6, 23:20-23, Joshua 4:13-15, Judges 6:11-24, 13:3-24, etc., to be references to created ang

In this post I will highlight some of the very Catholic/Orthodox beliefs held by the great theologian and Trinitarian apologist St. Athanasius, the man who opposed Arius at the Council of Nicaea. All emphasis will be mine. Apostolic Tradition 6. For not only in outward form did those wicked men dissemble, putting on as the Lord says sheep's clothing, and appearing like whited sepulchres; but they took those divine words in their mouth, while they inwardly cherished evil i

Luke’s Gospel records a genealogy, which seems to be that of Mary’s even though Joseph is listed by name: “When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Hesli, the son of Naggai, the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son o

The early universal witness of the Church is that Mary herself was a physical descendant of David, and it is for this reason that Jesus is also David's physical offspring: Chapter 43. He concludes that the law had an end in Christ, who was born of the Virgin Justin: As, then, circumcision began with Abraham, and the Sabbath and sacrifices and offerings and feasts with Moses, and it has been proved they were enjoined on account of the hardness of your people's heart, so it

I cite from the particular sections of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the Church’s authority to absolve believers from any sin committed. All bold italic emphasis will be mine. VI. The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation 1440 Sin is before all else an offense against God, a rupture of communion with him. At the same time it damages communion with the Church. For this reason conversion entails both God’s forgiveness and reconciliation with the Church, which are ex

Was it Removed? The Roman Catholic Church has been falsely accused of removing the “second commandment,” which prohibits the fashioning of images or idols of creatures wrongly viewed and worshiped as divine beings. It is stated that the Catholic Church removed this command in order to hide the fact that it is steeped in idolatry due to all of the images found within it, and the veneration which the Church encourages its adherents to render to them. In this post I will cite fr

I post a section from the Catechism of the Catholicism concerning its teaching in respect to the revelation of Christ the Word and the Holy Spirit during the Old Testament period. All emphasis will be mine. Article 9 “I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH” CHAPTER THREE I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT III. God’s Spirit and Word in the Time of the Promises 702 From the beginning until “the fullness of time,”60 The joint mission of the Father’s Word and Spirit remains hidden, but

I cite what the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches in respect to salvation of national Israel and the rise of the antichrist. All emphasis will be mine. CHAPTER TWO I BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST, THE ONLY SON OF GOD Article 7 “FROM THENCE HE WILL COME AGAlN TO JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD” I. He Will Come Again in Glory Christ already reigns through the Church. . . 668 “Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”548 Christ’s Asce

I share here the entire sanction on Grace and Justification taken from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. All emphasis will be mine. Article 2 GRACE AND JUSTIFICATION I. Justification 1987 The grace of the Holy Spirit has the power to justify us, that is, to cleanse us from our sins and to communicate to us “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ” and through Baptism:34 But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. For we kno

In this post, I will quote from various Jewish sources where the Messiah is given the names YHWH our Righteousness (Jer. 23:5-6) and Elijah (Mal. 4:5). All emphasis will be mine. Behold the days are coming, says the Lord, when I shall raise up for David an Anointed One of righteousness,c 3 and he shall reign as king and prosper, and he shall perform true justice and righteousness on the land. In his days those of the house of Judah shall be redeemed, and Israel shall dwell

The Hebrew Bible prophesies the coming of a human Ruler called the Branch, a King who would be a physical descendant of David. What makes this specific Potentate rather amazing is that his name shall be Jehovah our Righteousness! “Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safe

According to rabbinic tradition one of the Messiah’s titles is “Branch” (tsemach), which is derived from texts such as Jeremiah 23:5-6, Zechariah 3:8 and 6:12-13. What makes this rather interesting is that according to the prophecy of Jeremiah, the Messiah possesses God’s very own unique name: “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ declares Yahweh, ‘When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and prosper And do justice and righteousness in the land.

The following excerpt is taken from The Catechism of the Council of Trent, pp. 41-43. It shows that the official Catholic position on the Genesis account of creation is that it is actual sacred history, and not mythology. All emphasis will be mine. Not Three Almighties But One Almighty When, however, in this Article we call the Father almighty, let no one be led into the error of thinking that this attribute is so ascribed to Him as not to belong also to the Son and the Holy

The following is taken from this post, “Luther’s Treatment of the Disputed Books of the New Testament”. I include it here in its entirety since it exposes Martin Luther’s disdain of James and a few other NT writings simply because he felt they did not agree (and could not be harmonized) with HIS interpretation of Paul’s teaching on justification. The readers will see the arrogance of Luther in assigning to himself the right to criticize the NT canon and to determine which boo