Considering Catholicism

In this snapshot, Greg discusses why it's important to take death seriously in a culture that doesn't, and takes comfort in Catholicism which offers a coherent, comprehensive, and mature approach to death, dying, and remembering those who have gone before us. Support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz Visit the website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ ----more----Keywords: Catholic, Catholic Church, All Souls Day, Death, Dying, Memento Mori

For secular folks this is Halloween, for Catholics it's the eve of All Saints Day, but for Protestants it's Reformation Day, when Martin Luther nailed his complaints against the Catholic Church to a cathedral door in Germany. Today, Protestants celebrate what they imagine is a heroic and prophetic scene. But as Greg explains in this snapshot, it's nothing to celebrate. Please support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz

Greg and Ed discuss the concept of happiness and the responsibility to cultivate happiness in one's life. Pursuing immediate gratification does not lead to genuine happiness, but rather, pursuing goodness, truth, and beauty can bring lasting joy. They also touch on the negative impact of consuming negative media and the importance of surrounding oneself with positivity. We all have a duty to pursue a more positive and joyful outlook in life. Please support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz

Snapshots are a type of episode: around 10 minutes on a single topic. Today, Greg follows up on a recent episode about whether UFOs are aliens, angels, or something else. What should Christians, and Catholics in particular, believe? Greg reviews and recommends a new book on the topic: "Only Man Bears His Image" by Daniel O'Connor. Please support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz

Greg answers questions sent in by listeners (send your own to [email protected]!): How do I overcome my distrust of the Catholic Bible (the "deuterocanonical books)? Can salvation be lost? What if I commit a mortal sin and don't confess to a priest? Why was the Immaculate Conception necessary? Does Marian devotion sometimes cross the line into idolatry? Can I disagree with some Catholic doctrines and still be Catholic? Why do we need Purgatory? Why can't God just "beam me up?" Please support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz We are a small non-profit ministry dedicated to educating and equipping people to live, share, and defend the historic Catholic faith. We receive no support from any organizations and rely completely on the generosity of our listeners. Help us to keep going and expand this ministry.

Greg and Ed have an honest talk about what stewardship means. Because our life is a gift, God expects us to try and become the best possible versions of ourselves that we can be. Please support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz We are a small non-profit ministry dedicated to educating and equipping people to live, share, and defend the historic Catholic faith. We receive no support from any organizations and rely completely on the generosity of our listeners. Help us to keep going and expand this ministry. z5QmkmDrRU6tnPsvEw6N

Greg was traveling in the Rocky Mountains last week, and revisited a contemporary evangelical Protestant church that he attended sometimes before he converted to Catholicism. These are his reflections on the differences that he noticed seeing it again through Catholic eyes. Please support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz We are a small non-profit ministry dedicated to educating and equipping people to live, share, and defend the historic Catholic faith. We receive no support from any organizations and rely completely on the generosity of our listeners. Help us to keep going and expand this ministry. Contact Greg at [email protected].

Greg and Ed talk about Halloween. Can Christians participate? Are its origins really in the Catholic Church incorporating pagan Celtic rituals? And has the Church adopted pagan rituals throughout history, including Easter celebrations? Please support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz We are a small non-profit ministry dedicated to educating and equipping people to live, share, and defend the historic Catholic faith. We receive no support from any organizations and rely completely on the generosity of our listeners. Help us to keep going and expand this ministry.

What are angels? How are they different from us? What do they do? What are the types or categories? Do we have a guardian angel, and what does he do? Greg and Cory unpack the nature of these spiritual beings. Please support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz We are a small non-profit ministry dedicated to educating and equipping people to live, share, and defend the historic Catholic faith. We receive no support from any organizations and rely completely on the generosity of our listeners. Help us to keep going and expand this ministry.

UFOs are in the news again, as Congress holds hearings about what the government knows about them. How should Christians feel about this issue? What does the Catholic Church teach? And how do we make sense of it. Greg and Cory sat down to discuss it all. Please support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz We are a small non-profit ministry dedicated to educating and equipping people to live, share, and defend the historic Catholic faith. We receive no support from any organizations and rely completely on the generosity of our listeners. Help us to keep going and expand this ministry.

Greg and Ed discuss one of the most divisive issues between Catholics and evangelicals: infant vs. believer baptism. Please support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz We are a small non-profit ministry dedicated to educating and equipping people to live, share, and defend the historic Catholic faith. We receive no support from any organizations and rely completely on the generosity of our listeners. Help us to keep going and expand this ministry.

So you or your friends or family are looking for a new church. How do you pick one? Is it like standing in the cereal aisle at the grocery store, surveying the various colors, textures, shapes, and tastes, and finding one that suits you (or your "needs," whatever those are) best? Greg and Ed talk about the choices and how to navigate them. Please support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz We are a small non-profit ministry dedicated to educating and equipping people to live, share, and defend the historic Catholic faith. We receive no support from any organizations and rely completely on the generosity of our listeners. Help us to keep going and expand this ministry.

Ed the Protestant had breakfast with three of his friends, and they couldn't understand his attraction to Catholicism. From their perspective, it seems full of mystical rituals instead of being straightforward, simple, and rational. Ed tells Greg about his conversation, and they talk about how to respond to this charge that Catholicism seems...spooky. Please support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz We are a small non-profit ministry dedicated to educating and equipping people to live, share, and defend the historic Catholic faith. We receive no support from any organizations and rely completely on the generosity of our listeners. Help us to keep going and expand this ministry.

What must someone believe as infallible "dogma" in order to be "in the Catholic faith?" How does that differ from doctrines, teachings, and recommended beliefs? There are important but subtle differences that carry different levels of authority. This is the second half of Greg and Cory's conversation about knowledge, belief, and faith (see the episode, "What is Faith?" for the first part). Please support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz We are a small non-profit ministry dedicated to educating and equipping people to live, share, and defend the historic Catholic faith. We receive no support from any organizations and rely completely on your generosity. Help us to keep going and expand this ministry.

An invitation to take a free online course with Greg Smith about Catholic church history (and some other updates about the podcast). Sign up for the class at LANEcatholic.org The conversation with Cory about knowledge, belief, and faith will resume in the next episode on the regular schedule. Please support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz We are a small non-profit ministry dedicated to educating and equipping people to live, share, and defend the historic Catholic faith. We receive no support from any organizations and rely completely on your generosity. Help us to keep going and expand this ministry.

Christianity makes truth claims, like that Jesus rose from the dead. But what if we aren’t sure? Greg and Cory discuss the difference between certain knowledge, confident belief, and the mystery of saving faith.

Greg and Ed continue their conversation in the woods about the Bible, this time asking whether it is really the "Word of God?" Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

Greg and Ed sit in the forest and continue their conversation about the Bible--its sources, how it was compiled, the difference between the Catholic bible (a.k.a. "the Bible") and Protestant bibles--by asking who wrote the New Testament and how it was put together. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

Protestants have been told that Catholic Bibles are wrong and weird and that medieval popes snuck suspicious extra books into the Catholic Bible! Which is tampering with God's Word, right?! Ed asks Greg about this while they sit in the forest, and Greg explains that the correct question is not why Catholic Bibles have extra books but why Protestants took books out that had been there for 1,500 years. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

Why is modern life so unsatisfying? Why are so many of us discontent? Greg and Cory reflect on how Catholicism offers a boring yet fundamentally satisfying antidote to heal our frantic postmodern souls. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: [email protected]

Supposedly, during the dark ages, the Catholic Church threw the brave scientist Galileo Galilei into a dungeon for discovering that the earth revolved around the sun because the Church wanted to keep the people in intellectual darkness. Greg and Cory explain that this is a myth, and probably everything you think you know about it is wrong. Support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz We are a very small non-profit ministry dedicated to educating and equipping people to live, share, and defend the historic Catholic faith. We receive no support from any organizations, and rely completely on your generosity. Help us to keep going and expand this ministry.

Many assert that Christianity, and Catholicism in particular, is opposed to science. Greg and Cory explain why that's not strictly true, but that some people misuse the word "Science" to describe something that is, by definition, opposed to all the world's religions. Support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz We are a very small non-profit ministry dedicated to educating and equipping people to live, share, and defend the historic Catholic faith. We receive no support from any organizations, and rely completely on your generosity. Help us to keep going and expand this ministry.

Greg and Cory wade into a thorny subject: Catholic vs. Protestant views of the creation of the world and mankind, evolution and whether the early chapters of Genesis are to be understood literally. As they illustrate, nothing about this topic is simple. Support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz We are a very small non-profit ministry dedicated to educating and equipping people to live, share, and defend the historic Catholic faith. We receive no support from any organizations, and rely completely on your generosity. Help us to keep going and expand this ministry.

As a Christian, how should you organize your life, set your priorities, spend your time? Greg and Ed talk about how in the evangelical Protestant world the highest priority was/is "mission," while Catholicism stresses that life is lived according to "vocation." Support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz We are a very small non-profit ministry dedicated to educating and equipping people to live, share, and defend the historic Catholic faith. We receive no support from any organizations, and rely completely on your generosity. Help us to keep going and expand this ministry.

After a few weeks of summer break in episodes, Greg and Ed the Protestant gather again in the secret compound on the Summer Solstice to talk about different answers to the question, "Why should I go to church on Sunday?" Support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz We are a very small non-profit ministry dedicated to educating and equipping people to live, share, and defend the historic Catholic faith. We receive no support from any organizations, and rely completely on your generosity. Help us to keep going and expand this ministry.

On a cold April day, Greg and Ed the Protestant sit in the piney woods and talk about the Catholic Church's authority, and what it means to "bind and loose." Support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz We are a very small non-profit ministry dedicated to educating and equipping people to live, share, and defend the historic Catholic faith. We receive no support from any organizations, and rely completely on your generosity. Help us to keep going and expand this ministry.

Part 2 of a conversation between Greg and Cory (who develops family and parish community ministries) about the challenges of developing "community" and relationships in a typical Catholic parish. Support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz We are a very small non-profit ministry dedicated to educating and equipping people to live, share, and defend the historic Catholic faith. We receive no support from any organizations, and rely completely on your generosity. Help us to keep going and expand this ministry.

Part 1 of a conversation between Greg and Cory (who develops family and parish community ministries) about the challenges of developing "community" and relationships in a typical Catholic parish. Support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz We are a very small non-profit ministry dedicated to educating and equipping people to live, share, and defend the historic Catholic faith. We receive no support from any organizations, and rely completely on your generosity. Help us to keep going and expand this ministry.

Greg and Ed the Protestant conclude their exploration of the Seven Deadly Sins by discussing Lust and Chastity.

Greg and Ed the Protestant explore what glutton isn't, what it is, and the antidote of temperance.

Greg and Ed the Protestant continue their exploration of the Seven Deadly Sins by tackling Sloth, which is far more subtle and dangerous than mere laziness. It is the "noontime demon."

Greg and Ed the Protestant discuss greed, how deceptive it can be, and what generosity means.

Greg and Ed the Protestant continue their exploration of the Seven Deadly Sins, this time discussing wrath, how it differs from anger, how it takes control of a life, and how the corresponding virtue of meekness does not mean weakness.

Greg and Ed the Protestant continue their discussion of the Seven Deadly Sins. In this episode, they look at envy, how it differs from jealousy, and how it is second only to pride as a rejection of God.

Greg and Ed the Protestant explore the first of the seven deadly sins, pride. It comes first because it is the capital sin, the source from which the other six flow. Then they discuss the antidote that Catholicism prescribes: humility.

Greg and Ed the Protestant begin a series of episodes exploring the classic Catholic list of the Seven Deadly Sins. In this introduction, they discuss what "deadly sins" are, why they are called that, where the list came from, and how they operate in our lives.

Our Easter week reflections continue in an unusual direction: Greg and Cory discuss the classic novel "Frankenstein" and what it has to teach us about life vs. artificial life, God vs. playing God, as well as unexpected consequences and moral responsibility.

One of the monumental works of Catholic poetry is St. Francis of Assisi's "Canticle of the Creatures" (the "Brother Sun, Sister Moon" poem). Greg and Cory reflect on what this poem really means in light of the Resurrection.

Greg just got back from a pilgrimage to Israel, the Holy Land, and describes what insights into the Gospel can be gained from seeing Jerusalem firsthand. This podcast is a nonprofit ministry. Please consider supporting its production: DONATE

Greg just got back from a pilgrimage to Israel, the Holy Land, and describes what insights into the Gospel can be gained from seeing the Sea of Galilee firsthand. This podcast is a nonprofit ministry. Please consider supporting its production: DONATE

Ed asks Greg about appearances of the Virgin Mary, which seem pretty sketchy to Protestants. Greg explains Catholic doctrine, belief, and practice around "Marian Apparitions." This podcast is a nonprofit ministry. Please consider supporting its production: DONATE

Greg is leaving for a pilgrimage to the Holy Land (Israel). Ed asks why Catholics go on pilgrimages, while Protestants go on "Bible trips" and "mission trips." This podcast is a nonprofit ministry. Please consider supporting its production: DONATE

Greg and Ed explore the profoundly Catholic vision of the classic 1963 film "The Sound of Music." This podcast is a nonprofit ministry. Please consider supporting its production: DONATE

In the final installment of their conversation about faith, belief, and doctrine, Greg and Cory tackle the H-Word: heresy. What is it? Is it mean or unfair to call someone a heretic? When do our beliefs cross some line and become heretical? This podcast is a nonprofit ministry. Please consider supporting its production: DONATE

Step by step, our cultural influencers keep moving the boundary markers of the faith. They say they aren’t changing Christianity, just enlarging or adapting it to the modern world. But at what point does it simply become a different religion from the historic Christian faith? The second of three episodes in which Greg and Cory ask what role truth plays in modern faith. This podcast is a nonprofit ministry. Please consider supporting its production: DONATE

Step by step, our cultural influencers keep moving the boundary markers of the faith. They say they aren’t changing Christianity, just enlarging or adapting it to the modern world. But at what point does it simply become a different religion from the historic Christian faith? The second of three episodes in which Greg and Cory ask what role truth plays in modern faith. This podcast is a nonprofit ministry. Please consider supporting its production: DONATE

Does it even matter what we believe anymore? In 21st century Christianity, isn’t what we do more important than what we believe? Is your “conscience” and spiritual intuition the supreme authority? The first of three episodes in which Greg and Cory ask what role truth plays in modern faith.

Ed the Protestant looks at a lot of Catholic religious paintings and statues and ask, "Why are they kind of weird? The composition, the colors, the subject matter seems so out of step with modern aesthetic tastes." Greg responds. This podcast is a nonprofit ministry. Please consider supporting its production: DONATE

Ed the Protestant asks, "What is Lent, where does it come from (not in the Bible), and why do Catholics practice it?" This podcast is a nonprofit ministry. Please consider supporting its production: DONATE

What is Hell? Why would God send anyone there? Didn't the Catholic Church just make it up to scare people into obeying? Greg and Ed continue their discussion of the "Last Things." This podcast is a nonprofit ministry. Please consider supporting its production: DONATE