#6: Ummm… I’m actually a native Californian and have lived here for all but 9 of my (almost) 32 years. Prop 13 in 1978 cut property taxes which in turn largely killed the state budget. Add in the governorships of Pete Wilson (middle and high school for me) and Arnold Schwarzenegger who cut education and you’ve got the current state of the school system. The passage of the bill requiring schools to promote a more nuanced (read: mentioning that not all gays were degenerates — I’ve read the curriculum and that’s all it is) has nothing to do with it. It’s not like Gay History Month has been established. It just means that Harvey Milk might actually be mentioned in California history classes.

Obama’s official position has long been that marriage is between a man and a woman. In October 2010, he clarified to say that position was evolving:

I have been to this point unwilling to sign on to same-sex marriage primarily because of my understandings of the traditional definitions of marriage. But I also think you’re right that attitudes evolve, including mine.

Few believed, on either side of the spectrum, that his reluctance to simply come out for “gay marriage” was anything other than a political calculation.

I agree on Biden, he is the new Dan Quayle.

On the “occupier” t-shirts, it is not that they are liberal per se, but that they represent the extreme intolerance of ruthless dictators who killed many millions.

2: VP Biden is almost as good as Dan Quayle for gaffs and such. Even NPR pokes fun at him.

4: Thanks for the reminder that I need to replace my Arabic “We Will Not Be Silent” shirt. *surfs over to a website of liberal slogan shirts.

Any organization composed of fallen, imperfect people will suffer problems. The Church always had, and always will, until the end of its mission when Christ comes again. The difference between the true Church and all other human organizations is that it was founded by Jesus Himself and is protected by the Holy Spirit. It is, in fact, inseparable from Him as the Body of Christ. We are the branches and he is the vine. Fallen though we are, we strive for holiness so that we too may one day partake in the full divinity of God. We are a hopeful, work in progress.

We want to share the Good News with non-Christians. We also pray often for Christian unity, that our separated Christian brothers and sisters may know the fullness of truth and the faith. Jesus intended 1 Church and there is but 1 Church (albeit with many splintered Christian communities knowing different subsets and burdened by error).

I can see how faithful (Bible reading, church attending) Protestants could be offended by pushing a book like this on them. Devin is very respectful and gentle, but when the heart is not open the book (or even the topic) could be misinterpreted as an “attack”.

Aside from that specific demographic, many other Protestants might be surprisingly open to a book like this. I read a lot of convert stories and there is often some change in their life that made an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to enter. That open heart with excellent apologetics books like this can do miracles. I particularly note how many people say that they had no intention of ever becoming Catholic. It would be at the bottom of their list of possibilities. Yet, here they are and are often “on fire” with the full Christian faith. I walked this path myself.

It is hard to escape to the pride that springs up once one has followers and is known as a Reformer. I wish he had become St. Martin Luther too instead of the leader of the schism. The fact that he reorganized the order of the books of the Bible and even wanted to reduce the legitimacy of some of the books should have been a red flag to believers, and in fact it is rarely given voice at all by Protestant preachers and believers.

Many Protestant Believers are living holy lives under its auspices, I think just not troubling with the logical insights in the quotes above.

Part of me wants to post a share of this on Facebook but another part wonders if it would be uncharitable to shove this in the face of the kids on my basketball team that, with the exception of my daughter, are Protestants. It would certainly anger some.

I am practicing my faith as part of a Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic Parish now, as some of the same weaknesses that led other Roman Catholics in my area to Mega-Protestant churches led me to the my new Parish. I could never leave the truth of the Catholic Church, nor the Eucharist, nor the intercession of my Mother Mary! I don’t know how others do. I love the Catholic Church, that Jesus founded on the rock of Peter. My own Parish has two priests that are consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. They are both humble, and scholarly, and devoted to a faithful prayer life inclusive of reading scripture and the writings of Church fathers, saints, and Popes. Their preaching is courageous and long before the bishops united they were very clear about our voting conscience during previous elections. Their homilies are rich in the teaching of the Holy Spirit through Scripture, Sacrament, and the writings of the saints. If we had more like those two in the Roman Rite Catholic Churches near me, I would not have been led to the Parish I am in now.