Praying and Running

During my college career, I learned among other things, that if I took it upon myself to teach the subject I was studying, I would reach a deeper level of understanding of that subject. The teaching could involve other real people or just other people in my head. It really didn't matter, I just needed to approach it from the angle of the expert. For those of you that know me, you know to some degree or another that I have had a "conversion" back to Catholicism. Born a Catholic, the "conversion" back was necessary because I lacked a fundamental understanding of the religion. In order to grow in my knowledge of the faith I have taken to explaining and defending Christianity and Catholicism. To some degree this has been just in my head and to some degree in various public outlets. Today, I was looking for arguments supporting atheism in order that I might rebut them. My only experience with atheism to date is the argument "you can't prove God exists,...

I've been reflecting on the book of Judges lately. One recurring theme from this book is that in those times there was no king and every man did what he thought best. This seems to lead directly to the other theme which was that man kept falling into depravity and causing a divide between Israel and God. I love looking at the Old Testament through the lens of Christ and the Church. I see this as a clear foreshadowing of the Papacy and the moral authority of the Magisterium of the Church. The connotation being that we need one clear leader to guide us in matters of faith and morals and not every person running around deciding what they think is best. I wonder if any of my Catholic friends have made this connection as well and I wonder how my protestant friends interpret this.

What can stories about a bunch of people a long time ago mean to my life? I have heard this and similar sentiments too often about the Scriptures. God wants to reveal things about himself to you through the Bible. I will tell you from my own experience, once I really got into it I could start to see how the stories applied to me. I first noticed this when I had been reading the books of history. The day that it first struck me I was smack dab in the middle of 1 Samuel. A recurring theme throughout the Old Testament is that people who put their faith and trust in God are able to accomplish things that are otherwise impossible. Whether it is a woman well passed child baring age that was barren her whole life becoming pregnant, a foreigner who is in prison being elevated to the administrator of an entire country, or a few men defeating an entire battalion of a superior enemy. These are just a few examples; the Old Testament is full of stories which fit this theme. The following is how...