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The RCC justifies its doctrine of Purgatory by reference to a constellation of passages (one of which does not show up in the reduced canon IIRC) and their implications. Debates over annihilationism and ECT and so on rage based on prooftexted translations. So what if the solution to those...

So, the Catholic afterlife has an extra dimension compared to Protestant/similar denominations, namely Purgatory. Based on my reading of Dante's Purgatorio, I came up with an idea for how Mary might be described as a "Co-Redemptrix" in such a way as does not imply equality with Christ or even a...

There are many passages in the New Testament that, depending on the translation, clearly state that Christ is God. For example, there is the one that goes "Christ, Who is God over all," which however has been translated in such a way (addition of a period or a different order to the wording)...

At various times while I have been looking for work, or holding down a job, I have felt off-and-on frustrated with some of the superficial aspects of the process. For example, the notion of having wrinkle-free clothes, well-trimmed facial hair, and wearing a tie. Usually these things have no...

Daughters of Jerusalem, go out and look upon King Solomon In the crown with which his mother has crowned him on the day of his marriage, on the day of the joy of his heart. (Song of Songs 3:10-11) The "marriage" of Christ and the Church is believed to be represented in the Song of Songs...

Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD; how much more the hearts of the children of man! (Proverbs 15:11) Sheol is naked before Him, and Abaddon has no covering. (Job 26:6) His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek it is Apollyon. (Revelation 9:11) Its rider was named Death, and Hades...

OK, so albeit most, maybe even all, theories of Daniel/Revelation are pretty wild, but I think we need to think very creatively to even hope to figure out a relevant futurist gloss of the texts. So let's explore options we wouldn't usually think to explore, perhaps. They might seem weird or...

So I'm super-sure the Antichrist/sea-Beast/w/e will pose as a Christian, even a very devout one. Maybe behind closed doors he'll do things that most Christians (e.g. Catholics, Orthodox, Reformed---I think those are the three most populous denominations?) would find unseemly, but in public all...

Now, as far as I can tell, this is praying for evil to be done to one's enemies. But it seems as if Jesus Christ clearly told us to pray for good to be done to our enemies. Am I missing something important? (I assume I'm missing a convoluted harmonization of Mosaic Law with Christian freedom or...

If Jews don't worship someone who already fulfilled so many of the Messianic prophecies, why in the world would they worship the Dragon, the sea-Beast, and the image of the sea-Beast? This reasoning also rules out Islam as the religion of the Antichrist (or whatever we want to call him). Ditto...

So there's debate over whether the Mark corresponds to "616" or "666." Now technically, my idea can be fit to either possibility. So, the idea is, first, that the Antichrist will not be Jewish per se---there are too many different kinds of Judaism for that to be true as such, I think---but will...

I'm basing my counterargument on Cornelius Van Til's presentation. Moreover, in this OP, I will be going off one form of his presentation. So, in a few short steps... 1. Every belief system must have a final point of reference. 2. There are only two prima facie possible final points of...

[This is an argument against unitarianism.] So, let's suppose that we Christians have but one God and one Lord (1 Corinthians 8:6). Now, is God the one Lord or not? He is called "the Lord" quite often. If He is not the one Lord, and if Jesus is not God, then Jesus is more truly called "Lord"...

This doctrine implies the opposite of what it is used for. Its purpose is to have it so that we are not saved by our own works. However, it would have things this way on the grounds that the works of Christ are made out to be ours. That is, God makes it out that His Son's works are our works...

Some ideas/concepts/notions, like "red," just are what they are. There is no way that red-in-itself might've been blue, or a sound, or so on. It's just red. But we have souls, which might be thought of like complete ideas about our living natures. Now, let's suppose that the individual concepts...

In a different thread, I argued that if God is a se, He is not absolutely simple, because then His aseity would depend on His simplicity, which is self-contradictory. Accordingly, I argued that there are, for lack of a better way of putting it, 5 facts that together constitute "the divine...

Now, maybe no one can actually "want" that. But let's suppose they could, and they offered a reason such as, "Because I am a sinner," or, "I believe it would be unfair for me to go to Heaven when people I care about are in Hell," or whatever? If they acknowledge they are sinners but do not ask...

So, my point of departure is the question, how much to read literally and how much allegorically (if those are, roughly, the two options)? Taking it all literally seems absurd, but taking it all allegorically makes it too vague or abstract to be special. And I'm looking for a way to read it that...

So, years ago, I saw an argument on this site that went, "The wages of sin are death; death/destruction is not continuing existence, either in torment or not; therefore, the wages of sin are not eternal conscious torment." Now, it struck me a while later that Apollyon the Destroyer in the Book...

OK, I came up with a description of the relations of the Trinity that seems to have each being identical to God without being identical to each other, and there's not an apparent contradiction in all of it, either. However, I also came up with a quasi-mysterianist level of analysis to add on to...