Letters
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Please follow this link
to see the Admonishments subsection.
Please scroll down for
the alphabetical hyperlinked titles of all letters
posted (there are eighteen so
far), along with individual summaries of the
contents of each
one. For hyperlinked titles alone, please go here.
·
Baptismal Confusion: Sheepishly
Shy or Gaunt as a Goat?
A very nice person in the United States’ south sent me a
letter, arranged to have a phone conversation, and… while it took in many
topics… revolved a lot around the Baptismal
Confusion book in the Books & Articles section and the ‘baptism
of desire’ vs. ‘water only’ controversy. At
all any good? Time will tell. In this relatively brief text, I address
two main things regarding the Sacrament of Baptism. One --- is anyone apart
from a true pope, in the Church, ever ‘never mistaken’ apart
from a pope’s exercise of the Charism of Infallibility? And, two, what is
the point of distinguishing between a teaching that is infallible from a teaching that is fallible? Again, at all any good?
This is why I put this letter, with the person’s anonymity respected,
online as quickly as possible. Whether or not it does that soul any good,
perhaps there is someone somewhere who can benefit. For the controversy is not
going away until people get there heads screwed on right, stop being fake
‘catholics’ or Catholic fundamentalists, and start using their
God-given intelligence correctly, with a pure heart. Want to fathom better?
It’s only a few pages.
Dear reader, do you insist on calling
yourself Catholic while acting like it doesn’t matter who you pray with
or where you go to worship? Think it’s okay to
be at a wedding when a Protestant minister officiates over the ceremony, leading
the guests in prayers or songs and reading his bible or preaching a little
sermon? Do you suppose it’s not important where you go to Mass, or to
what priest you turn? Like to imagine that it’s the sacraments that matter
--- God doesn’t care if the priest
who’s administering them or the parishioners receiving them are openly & obstinately heretical about some point of
Catholic dogma? After all, you’ve got to feed your soul… right?
Wrong! The Catholic Church has never allowed Her
members to mix religiously with those who deny Her dogmas notoriously &
pertinaciously, and regardless of their apparent ‘catholicity’
otherwise. Indeed, the Catholic Church has never permitted Her children to mingle religiously with anyone who publicly professes
a false creed. Catholics are to avoid these situations like the plague. We can
be nice to people, we can often engage in business with them, we can even socialize
to a certain extent where courtesy & custom demand it. But if they are not
Catholic, then we are forbidden
to take part in religious ceremonies with them or to pray in common at their
gatherings. Don’t want to think so? Then take a look at what the Roman
Catholic Church has said as recorded in this letter that I wrote to someone who
wanted to know what to say to a family that expected him to join in at a
function which was purportedly ‘catholic’. It’s just a few
pages, and it can save your soul from an everlasting fate in the Fires of Hell
below.
Someone briefly debated my wife on the
Internet a few months ago, claiming to be Catholic and that the Catholic Church
had never, ever, taught that only Catholics can go to Heaven. Where was
the proof, said he, that we were
right? Where is the hard evidence that the Catholic Church really does mean
what She says when She declares that there is ‘no
Salvation outside Her Sanctuary’? What pope or general council has laid
down the infallible law that you have to a member of the Catholic Church
to save your soul? Not having all of the documents memorized, my wife turned to
me for help. The letter at this link --- and sent to the fellow last May --- is
her answer. Want to call yourself Catholic, my dear reader? Yet don’t
want to believe that a person has to be Catholic, and profess the Catholic
Faith, in order to escape the threat of Hell? Then you had better knuckle down
and read what is posted here. It’s not long, and it’s what the
Church has said… infallibly.
·
Exhorting a Former Co-Worker
Early in my conversion to the Catholic
Faith, I became well-acquainted with a former co-worker. Naturally, the topic
of Catholicism arose between us and he showed polite interest --- and, I fancy,
a bit more than just polite interest --- in the subject. Nevertheless, and
although he admitted many of the things I said were true, he would not
seriously consider becoming a real Roman Catholic... leastwise, not openly in
my sight. Why? Was there some fatal flaw in my facts, my reasoning or in the
public testimony of the Catholic Church? Did he have ironclad evidence against
the Church, or solid logic for not entering Her membership? Or was it merely
prejudice, worldly desires & fear upon his part? This entry is actually two
letters sent recently just a year or so apart. Find out how it is often the
‘little things’ that keep people from converting, things which
really don’t matter from the eternal perspective, but which all too
frequently seem so very important & insurmountable to us here on earth. And
whether or not this is actually why he hasn’t yet penitently entered the
Roman Catholic Sanctuary, do you, my dear soul, read this rather brief posting
and take to heart the gentle but fateful warning that it contains!
Once in awhile someone has something
nice to say to you. Which is nice. It leavens the
monotony of unstinting criticism, and --- for someone such as myself, who is a terrible sinner --- it is a solace to the
soul in the midst of earthly life’s many other miseries. The letter which
drew this response is such a case. The person was very kind, and appreciated
very much what The Epistemologic Works has to offer. In response to this
kindness, I told the person a little bit about myself. In response to a
pertinent & intelligent suggestion of how to make The Epistemologic Works a
better website, I revealed why I designed it as I did, with hardly any pictures
to be seen. And, in case this person hadn’t investigated the website far
enough yet to know about the position of sedevacantism that I take (meaning,
for those who don’t know, that I think the Throne of St. Peter is empty
right now and that the men everyone thinks are popes cannot really be popes), I
went into a short treatise about how the bishopric of Rome being empty explains
a great many problems that we face today, religiously speaking, particularly if
you’re Catholic. Curious about me, dear reader?
Wonder why the website has almost no pictures? Can’t understand how
someone would call himself Catholic but not accept as popes the men everyone insists
are popes lately? The last topic alone is excellent reason to peruse this brief
letter. Read on to find the answers to these questions!
The same person who wrote the letter to
which I responded in the link above, wrote me again. Polite & friendly as
always, she was nevertheless disturbed that I do not consider Benedict XVI ---
the present reigning antipope in a series of recent antipapacies
--- to be a real pope. Taking a low
key approach, she strove to convince me that Benedict XVI is a ‘uniting
pope’, someone who is gathering everybody under his ‘papal umbrella’…
including so-called ‘traditionalists’. The catch is, replied I, someone who’s not truly Catholic can’t
be the man you have described. He may gather lots of people together, but into what is he gathering them? The Catholic Church? Not if he’s a notorious heretic!
And so I proceeded to demonstrate for her the rational necessity of
sedevacantism to explain the crisis of apostasy from the Catholic Faith in
which the world finds itself today, and exactly how we may know that Benedict
XVI & other recent leaders of the post-Vatican II outfit are not what self-styled ‘catholics’ claim them to
be, Successors to St. Peter. Have huge doubts about this claim, my dear reader?
Or love to mock those who adhere to the sedevacantist
thesis? Then this letter is for you. If you haven’t read the previous
letter I sent to this person, then read it now (the link is right above this
one). After that, peruse this letter. The two together go a long way toward
showing that sedevacantism must be the explanation for the times we live
in, and that both the Catholic Church and submission to a legitimate pope are absolutely
necessary for the Hope of Salvation!
·
The Myth of Overpopulation & the Wickedness of
Birth Control
The threat of an ‘overpopulated’
earth and the necessity of ‘birth control’ are pretty routine nowadays. The so-called ‘Pill’ was
unleashed upon the world in 1960, and the demand for ‘zero population
growth’ sallied forth in 1968 at the hands of a famous professor, Paul Erlich. For the most part, the generation that came of age
during that time bought into them hook, line & sinker. I know, because
although I was only a very small child during the 1960s, their influence
filtered into my mind as I grew up and I was committed to them wholeheartedly
by the time I was in my twenties, attending university. The world, I thought,
can’t handle any more. We human beings are a plague on the face of the
planet. Or, so I believed. Then I started looking at it rationally. And became
Catholic. And, well… oops …these ever-so-popular notions lost their
stranglehold on my mind. They can for you, too. Find the prospect stunning or
absurd? Then read on, my dear soul. It’s a brief little thing, a mere
dainty for the reasoning, truth-seeking mind. Yet utterly crucial for beginning to think straight about the existence
of human beings and our ability to procreate!
·
Regarding the Bible, Infallibility & the Church
Recently a relative & I exchanged
short letters concerning the pith of what separates us. Or, to be more precise,
I pointed out to him what really divides us against each other, religiously
speaking: infallibility. Not that
I claim infallibility for myself, personally, or that he & another relative, being
enemies of the Church of Rome, don’t claim infallibility for themselves ---
they most certainly do act like they’re
infallible about their spiritual beliefs & what the Bible says, even if
they didn’t realize it before or aren’t willing to admit it now. No,
I only openly claim that the Church to which I
belong, being Roman Catholic and none other, is infallible. Whereas these relatives
of mine tacitly
claim (do so without actually saying so) that they themselves are infallible when it comes to interpreting the
Bible in the things that truly matter to get right. Infallibility
either way… but in complete opposition to one another. Ergo, we
cannot both be right; we cannot both participate in the fruits of
infallibility. So who is to be believed? Which side really is infallible, if either? Read this posting of two brief
letters to find out. Every heretic (i.e., rebel who imagines he follows Christ
while refusing to follow Christ’s Church) needs to understand it, and
every infidel (viz., part of the rest of the world who supposes himself to be
fine just as he is, without Christ & His Church) can only benefit from
comprehending it.
·
Regarding Myself & Conversion to the Catholic Church (for my
Maternal Family)
For over a decade my extended family on
the maternal side has been aware of my conversion to the Catholic Church.
Nevertheless --- and including certain closer relations, who would visit routinely at first
& then began attacking Catholicism with regularity every few months until a
final showdown in 2007 (which you may learn about in my book, The Dogma of Baptism Upheld & the Lie of
‘Faith Alone’ Cast Down) --- not a one of them ever bothered to
ask even a single question about why I did so. And this despite
the fact that they disdain the Catholic Faith & had taught me to do the
same since earliest childhood! You’d think they’d be at least a
little bit curious to know my reasons for leaving their ‘born again
christianity’ in opposition not only to their own bias, but in contradiction
to the prejudices of the rest of the world, too. Occasionally through my wife
(who took longer to convert than I and hence for awhile was viewed by them as
someone they could ‘talk some sense to’) or through these closer relations (who in savaging the Catholic Faith via emails to me would make such disparaging
remarks as follows) I would glean that they thought of my conversion as just
one of my latest ‘phases’ or ‘weird ideas’ (I’d
always been the ‘oddball’ in the clan). Yet, of course, the facts
proved them wrong. That is to say, the evidence of history, scripture &
reason itself upheld me. And, after eleven years, my own behavior was beyond
reproach. To wit, a decade is more than enough time for me to have
‘come to my senses’ or ‘go on to the next phase’ if passing
fancy & foolish dream was all that it amounted to… I thus issued a
very simple challenge: take my conversion seriously. Excuses are no longer
viable, nor were they ever. Investigate ‘The Epistemologic Works’
website, see for yourself how there is more than enough justification to save
one’s soul by becoming a real Roman Catholic!
·
Regarding Preaching & the Catholic Faith
Over the past few years my wife tried to
talk to a close relative about the Catholic Faith. And, of course, being a real
Catholic, she mentioned the necessity of converting to the Catholic Church in
order to have any hope of saving one’s soul. At first this person
responded pleasantly. He even spoke to a religious leader about the subject.
Unfortunately, this leader being an Evangelic Protestant heretic, the leader
assured him that the only thing he needed to do was say ‘a sinner’s
prayer’ in order to go to Heaven. Armed with this false assurance, the
relative then tried to convince my wife she needn’t worry, that he was
fine. After a long & busy silence, my wife sent the relative another email,
politely requesting that they talk by phone again concerning the Religion of
Rome. This time he was stand-offish, almost testy. ‘Don’t preach at
me’ was pretty much his line. How to respond? Her feelings were too
deeply involved, so I stepped in and composed a response with her approval of
the text as accurately representing her thoughts & convictions in the
matter. We couldn’t very well excoriate the poor fellow since
communication about the subject had been limited & he had never claimed to
be Catholic or anything like that; on the other hand, if we didn’t squish
this ‘anti-conversion’ stance of his (a prejudice very popular
nowadays amongst people) and reveal it to be irrational, then how could we
expect the door of his mind to be open to anything else in the future regarding
Catholicism? We therefore took the middle road: firm & admonishing, but
leaving the door wide open for further communication should he back off from
his illogical view. Which is why I say to you, my dear reader, to take a good
look at this letter. It isn’t very long, and bears close examination.
People today love to accuse real Catholics of being ‘narrow-minded’
or ‘intolerant’, when in fact --- and as you will see from this
email --- it is the other way around… they
are the ones being extremely intolerant & narrow-minded against the
Faith of Roman Catholicism!
·
Regarding Religious Association with Heretics, Marital Relations, Geocentrism, & Etc.
A gentleman wrote me in the last few
months saying that he’d looked at The Epistemologic Works and thought I
believed correctly about several things concerning the Catholic Faith. However,
there were some things he couldn’t find mentioned. He thus asked me a
series of eighteen questions. The email I sent back to him eventually is the
text of this letter. It delves into the reign of Pius XII, canonizations &
infallibility, getting the sacraments from a heretical priest, attending the
services of a false religion, the message of Our Lady of La Salette,
so-called ‘Natural Family Planning’ (NFP) & the ‘Rhythm
Method’, what is permissible and what is not permissible in intimate
marital relations (and why), the fate of unbaptized babies and whether or not
they suffer the punishment of fire, Jews & the guilt of deicide, the
Blessed Virgin Mary as Co-Redemptress, the creation of the world in six days, Adam’s
origin from the dust of the earth and Eve’s origin from the rib of Adam, and
Copernicanism (or Heliocentrism,
or Acentricism) vs. Geocentrism
(or Geocentricity, or Tychonian Geocentrism). A lot of stuff, but it’s not too long,
just a few pages, and well worth reading to find out what positions I take on
these things… not to mention that many of the topics are of a vital
dogmatic or moral nature!
·
Regarding ‘Scripture Alone’, ‘Faith Alone’
& the So-Called ‘Crimes’ of the Catholic Church
For a month someone sent me anonymous
emails meant to support the heresy of ‘faith alone’ and crucify the
Catholic Religion for so-called ‘crimes’ against purported
‘christians’, Jews & others who opposed the Roman Church. The
first two emails were merely a listing of passages from the Bible that mention
the importance of ‘faith’ without also mentioning the need for
‘works’ & ‘obedience’. The last email was a
tallying of many ‘atrocities’ purportedly committed by Roman
Catholics against the adherents of opposing religions. In either case, the
arguments are easily rebutted. It was simply a matter of finding time to write
a refutation, which also involved adding two new questions & answers to the
already very long entry, Roman Catholic
Church, in the Q&A section of the website. It was, in fact, a recent
lengthy addition to the end of this entry concerning the so-called
‘crimes’ of the Catholic Church that led to the anonymous
author’s third email attack. Apparently, the defense I had made there of
Catholics in general and Catholicism in specific against such charges incensed
the person. It was then this person’s bounden duty to ‘shame’
me with a tally of alleged atrocities. Impossible to answer?
Not really. The person clearly had either not read carefully & understood
fully what I said in the addition already posted, or else purposely ignored
what I said, regardless. Whichever, the letter repels these attacks without
difficulty, along the way skewering the lie of ‘scripture alone’,
annihilating the heresy of ‘faith alone’, and decimating the idea
that the Catholic Church is somehow ‘guilty’ of murdering &
abusing tons of people, or ever officially condoned mindless riots &
rampages against non-Catholics as something ‘good’ &
‘acceptable’.
·
Regarding ‘The Epistemologic Works’ Website, Truth,
Hell & the Catholic Faith
Having looked at this website, someone
closely related to me sent me an email. While not an ‘instant
conversion’ (a thing rarely heard of since people totally unfamiliar with
the Catholic Faith must normally have a lot of time to overcome extensive
ignorance of, and any wicked notions & passions that they may bear toward,
the teachings, practices & history of the Catholic Church), the tenor of
the letter was remarkably humble. Making several suggestions, asking a few
queries and wishing to know my thoughts, I wrote this document in response. One
of the person’s biggest concerns was that the writings on the website are
just too difficult to understand for anyone not already knowledgeable with
Catholicism. A very respectfully-voiced & humbly-opined sentiment with which
I can agree! The problem is, to whom do I write first? The man without any
background in the matter, or the man who is at least a little acquainted with
the topic already? I’ve taken the latter option for now, knowing how
unlikely it is (humanly speaking) that most people will even glance at the
things I’ve written regardless of what I do. Why not, then, focus on the
very few who are inclined to look carefully? Not that I want to ignore the
rest. As I also point out, simpler writings are on the way. But it’s
going to take some time until they’re ready. A link in the navigation bar
at the left called ‘Straight & Simple’
is beginning to perform just such a task at this very moment. Meanwhile,
take a peek at this email. A name and other information have been deleted to
protect the person’s privacy, as well as the date of composition added
and a handful of typos corrected to read more smoothly. Apart from this, the
letter is exactly as I wrote it originally.
·
Regarding the Great Apostasy & Not Putting the Mass Before the
Faith
A couple of months ago someone anonymous
sent me an email asking what parish I attended. Not having a parish to attend
since there are no real Catholic priests & no real Catholic laymen within
our local area, I had to briefly tell this person the sad, and even shocking,
reality. Thus far I have never heard back from him. Which isn’t
surprising, because, aside from most people nowadays wanting nothing to do with
God’s One True Religion of Roman Catholicism, those who call themselves
‘catholic’ are not truly so, poisoning their beliefs with teachings
that are in direct & explicit contradiction to what the Church has always
taught or has always meant by what She has constantly professed. Thus, the
times are utterly confusing and few, if any, have the tenacity or the courage
to buck the tide. The simple truth is this, though, dear reader: you cannot
be Catholic and espouse anything that is
contrary to the perpetually unchanging dogmas of the Catholic Church. Nor
can you be truly Catholic and religiously worship --- or religiously associate
in any way at all --- with those who are not truly Catholic, not even those who
call themselves ‘catholic’ and may appear to be impressively
‘traditional’ or ‘conservative’. Ergo, you cannot
knowingly & rightly attend their Masses or receive their Sacraments or pray
in union with them, etc., etc., without denying the Catholic Faith publicly and
breaking the first three of God’s Ten Commandments. But read this
relatively short letter and its long introductory note to find out more. I hope
to very soon post something substantial in the section of the website entitled
The Great Apostasy, explaining our situation today in adequate detail. Until
then, this will do to acquaint the good-willed man with the necessary facts.
A lot of people who consider themselves
Catholic think that ‘Co-Redemptress’ is a forbidden title for the
Blessed Virgin Mary. They claim to base themselves on the infallible teaching
of the Magisterium, too. Are they correct? The short answer is very simple ---
no! Their ‘proof texts’ are insufficient, the Magisterium having never
addressed the issue specifically; their logic is deficient, not thinking
straight about the number of souls necessarily involved with Jesus in
His Body, the Catholic Church, to effect His Redemption in the visible world
here below both before, during & after His Crucifixion; and either their
knowledge is lacking or their attitude is arrogant about those Catholics who
have used this term for five hundred years now without censure or
suppression, including the Holy See itself by the turn of the 20th century.
Don’t want to think so, my dear reader? Then examine this post very carefully. The hard evidence &
solid reasoning are there for anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear…
not to mention a mind to understand. Use that mind by looking humbly at the
side of things which upholds Mary as Co-Redemptress, She Who crushes the Serpent’s
Head like no other that God has created!
This is a very short supplement to the letter now just following
this one, in alphabetical title order, to the same thoughtful & kind
gentleman for whom I wrote that email or ‘letter’. Why one more
thing? Because, with courtesy & clemency, he was still insisting Pope
Benedict XV (XV, not XVI ---
we’re talking the early 20th century here!) acted
‘infallibly’ in promulgating the 1917 Code of Canon Law (also known as the ‘Pio-Benedictine
Code’) and this thus also made the 1917 Code ‘infallible’
too. Believable? Actually not. Read the very short letter to understand why. In
summation, however, Pope Pius IX via the Vatican Council of 1869-70 gave us a
quartet, harmoniously, of four infallible criteria, which, as an
adequately intelligent & real Roman Catholic, we can know for sure when a pope is acting &
speaking infallibly, and when any Petrine successor (pope) is not acting & speaking
infallibly. And guess what? These criteria reveal Pope Benedict XV to have not been invoking his Charism of
Infallibility when issuing Latin Rite Canon Law --- the aforementioned 1917
Code --- and, were that not enough, Pio-Benedictine Code (1917 Code of Canon Law) fails
to meet each & every single one of those infallible criteria given
to us as true Catholics at the Vatican Council. Scandalizing? No, indubitably
not. Canon law is for governing & discipline, NOT for defining
dogma or for infallibly teaching members of the Catholic Church, of
whatever rite. Popes can change or update canon law for various parts (rites)
in the world from time to time. And real Catholics may, intelligently &
respectfully, find a bad
canon law, and, with moral certainty knowing it’s bad or foolish,
intelligently & respectfully refuse to obey it. Get it? Real Roman
Catholics are called to rational
obedience, NOT blind
obedience. It’s simple moral theology for millennia.
Just a month ago we posted a relatively short article called
Unity of Worship in the Books &
Articles section of The Epistemologic Works. Then, as luck --- or fate --- would
have it, a thus far very kind gentleman in the United States wrote a somewhat
lengthy email to someone very, very close to me in my family, saying the 1917
Code of Canon Law ‘justifies’ real Catholics in asking automatically
excommunicated priests (read: valid
priests, men who really do have the Sacrament of Holy Orders, but who are
‘illicit’, i.e., illegal, since they aren’t
really Catholic since they DON’T profess the Roman Catholic Religion Whole,
Entire & Undefiled and their lack of a real Catholicity is notorious
& pertinacious, i.e., undeniably open & factual for anyone to
see publicly in the external forum) for the Sacraments. At all
believable? Yes and no. Yes, the 1917 Code truly does say this --- that
Catholics can ask for the Sacraments from automatically excommunicated priests
when in ‘desperate need’. Yet, no, this is an innovation
of modern times. No body of canon law in the second millennium has been an act
of papal infallibility, ergo, a body of canon law is NOT ever guaranteed to be
‘never wrong’. Ergo, there could be BAD LAWS mixed in with
perfectly fine laws in a body of canon law. This could result from a bad pope
doing this on purpose, or a careless pope doing this foolishly, or an
overwhelmed or unknowledgeable pope depending upon experts to craft the body of
canon law properly. In any case, are real Catholics ever
‘justified’ in knowingly obeying a wicked law or
command? NEVER. We are to practice a perfectly rational obedience, NOT
an imperfectly (and foolish!) blind
obedience. God does actually punish us or test us, depriving Catholics of
clergy and most of the Sacraments, we, resultantly, then having to learn how to
endure spiritual famine and save our souls despite lacking what we should
normally --- and do normally --- have. Hate acknowledging this necessary truth,
my dear & precious soul? Then summon up humility & please read it.
·
What Makes Some People So Self-Righteous About the Metric System?
Ever wonder why some people are so
passionate about the metric system? It’s practically a crusade for them,
like a religious faith. What’s the big deal, anyway? Is it really only
because it’s so very ‘efficient’? (And rather boringly so,
one might add.) Or could the fact that its supporters constantly refer to
American isolation from the rest of a ‘metricized’
world be the real reason that they get so up in arms over the subject?
Just what in the world is the burr in their saddle that bores so painfully into
their metaphorical hind regions? Why must
the entire earth agree with them or else suffer their intellectual scorn?
Whatever happened to the rainbow of ‘diversity’ as opposed to a
slavish ‘conformity’? Are not nations allowed to do as they wish
when it comes to measuring within their own borders? And if metric one day rules
the globe without exception, banishing all other forms of measurement to
oblivion… well, what’s next? A universal language
that outlaws the use of any other language everywhere on the earth?
After all --- that would be more ‘efficient’, wouldn’t it?
Take a look here, my dear readers, at this very brief entry to find out what
makes metric zealots so intolerant!
+ + +
Admonishments
Please click here
to see the Admonishments subsection.
+
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Pilate’s
query met:
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