Postscripts From The Catholic Spitfire Grill

Recently in National Review Online, Raymond Ibrahim described the work of Father Botros. He is a bearded, bespectacled cleric who sports a large wooden cross, and his specialty is examining “little-known but embarrassing aspects of Islamic law and tradition,” Ibrahim writes. Because he speaks and reads classical Arabic, Botros can “report to the average Muslim on the discrepancies” and what Ibrahim calls “the affronts to moral common sense found” within Islamic teachings. Satellite TV and the Internet mean Butros can question Islam’s teachings in Arabic—the language of 200 million Muslims—without fear of reprisal.

Drawing on the Socratic method, Botros will ask such questions as: “Are women inferior to men in Islam?” “Did Mohammed [really] say that adulterous female monkeys should be stoned?” And, “Does sharia really teach that women must breastfeed strange men?”

Botros cites chapter and verse, so to speak, of Islamic sources, and then politely invites Islamic scholars to respond. “More often than not,” Ibrahim writes, “the response is deafening silence.” Even worse, religious experts have at times been forced to agree with Botros—“which has led to some amusing (and embarrassing) moments on live Arabic TV.”

Naturally, this drives the sheiks crazy—which is probably why there is a rumored $5 million price on his head.

The second part of Chuck Colson’s series, Drawn to the Light, has some fascinating insights as to why Muslims convert:

To find the answer, he created a detailed questionnaire. Over a 16-year period, some 750 Muslims from 30 countries filled it out—and the results are eye-opening. The number one reason Muslim converts listed for their decision to follow Christ was the lifestyle of the Christians among them.

As Woodberry, Russell Shubin, and G. Marks write in Christianity Today, Muslim converts noted that “there was no gap between the moral profession and the practice of Christians” they knew. An Egyptian convert contrasted the love shown by Christians “with the unloving treatment of Muslim students and faculty he encountered at a university in Medina.” Other converts were impressed that “Christians treat women as equals” and enjoy loving marriages. And poor Muslims observed that “the expatriate Christian workers they knew had adopted, contrary to their expectations, a simple lifestyle.” They wore locally made clothes and abstained from pork and alcohol, so as not to offend Muslim neighbors.

Second, converts identified “the power of God in answered prayers and healing.” For instance, in North Africa, a Muslim family asked Christian neighbors to pray for a sick daughter; and then the girl recovered. Some converts “noted deliverance from demonic power as another reason they were attracted to Jesus.”

Converts also mentioned unhappiness with Islam itself, especially the Koran’s emphasis on God’s punishment and the uncertainty of salvation. By contrast, Woodberry notes, the biblical teaching that God loved us so much that “He sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” is deeply attractive to Muslims.

Converts are also attracted to “the love expressed through the life and teachings of Christ.” Ironically, Muslims first learn about Christ through the Koran, but then read the Gospels to find out more about Him.

Finally—and this is the key—“When Christ’s love transforms committed Christians into a loving community, many Muslims [identified] a desire to join such a fellowship.”

Emphases mine. Preach the gospel always folks….and if necessary, use words.

Imagine lending to someone who will use your money to raise his family from poverty. Imagine being able to make a difference like that in someone’s life. In due time, the loan is repaid and you can either take your money back or invest it in changing someone else’s life. Quite a different approach to charity if you ask me. Please, stop by their website and take a look. For as little as $25 you can help to change a life.



Psalm 15 LORD, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy mountain? Whoever…lends no money at interest…Whoever acts like this shall never be shaken. 

I will be a better Catholic, not if I can refute every shade of Protestantism, but if I can affirm the truth in it and still go further. So, too, with the Muslims, the Hindus, the Buddhists, etc. This does not mean syncretism, indifferentism, the vapid and careless friendliness that accepts everything by thinking of nothing. There is much that one cannot “affirm” and “accept,” but first one must say “yes” where one really can. If I affirm myself as a Catholic merely by denying all that is Muslim, Jewish, Protestant, Hindu, Buddhist, etc. in the end I will find that there is not much left for me to affirm as a Catholic: and certainly no breath of the Spirit with which to affirm it.

Thank you kindly Opinionated Catholic!

Does your KJV Bible have the uncorrupted KJV text?

Even if your KJV does prove to be a corrupted edition, it’s still WAY better than other Bible versions out there, so keep reading it. The corrupted KJV Bibles are still pretty good. A quick (and very abbreviated) test to check your KJV text is as follows:

1. Is the ’s’ in the word “Spirit” capitalized in Genesis 1:2 and Matthew 4:1?

2. Does it correctly say “Saviour” in Luke 2:11, or the incorrect “Savior?” Anyone can be a Savior, but there is only one SAVIOUR, and that is Christ Jesus.

There are many more things you could check, but if your Bible fails the above two, then you already know you have a corrupted edition. However, I’ve noticed that many KJV texts are fine, except for in Matthew 4:1. For example - that is how the Dake is. I just take my trusty pen, and capitalized the ’s’ in the word “Spirit” in Matthew 4:1, if that is the only corruption found.

All I can say is WHEW!! The Douay-Rheims is a GREAT BIBLE. It passes the Luke 2 test even though it flunked the capitalized ‘Spirit’ in Genesis and Matthew but I have it on good authority that all I have to do is whip out my pencil and capitalize them myself.

Yes I know she was talking about starting with the KJV to begin with but still….

The author, Heidi Hess Saxton, is also a convert to Catholicism. Like me, she struggled with the idea of asking Mary to pray for us and names herself as possibly the most stubborn and contrary of all her adopted children. I beg to differ. That would be me. In fact, she starts her book of meditations with a a story that had me rolling because I could so relate. I hope she doesn’t mind telling me at least some of it here. I promise I am leaving out an hysterical punchline and you MUST buy the book in order to hear the end. Heidi was lonely and wanted someone to sit with in church. A Catholic friend of Heidi’s had suggested telling Mary about her loneliness and desire to have a friend to sit with in church an idea that didn’t sit well with Heidi at all…..

That Sunday my eyes fell on the medal as I drove into the church parking lot. Almost gingerly I picked it up. It was still cold with winter chill. Closing my eyes, I said, God, I don’t know if I should be doing this. If this isn’t something I should be doing, don’t let anything happen today that I could take as a sign that this is OK.” I pasued, then took a breath and spouted out, “Mary-if-you-can-hear-me-I’d-like-someone-to-sit-with-inchurch-today-Amen.”

I entered the church, went to my usual pew, piled my coat and purse beside me (on the aisle, so no one could slip in while I wasn’t looking), got down on the kneeler, and began to pray.

When the Pastor told us to turn and greet people, I looked up to find a woman about my age standing next to me. “Hi! Can I sit with you? I just moved here a month ago and don’t know anyone yet.” Dumbfounded, I moved my coat and let her slide in.

It’s a fluke, I told myself.

The next week I repeated the same routine, asking God to keep me from error, sending up a quick reminder to Mary that I wanted someone to sit with, then going into the church and barricading  myself in the pew. When I looked up that time, an older woman was standing there. “Can I sit with you dear?”

The third week I knew what was going to happen. “I mean it God. I’m going to keep doing this if You keep sending me pew mates……”

Because God has a raucous sense of humor, I will tell you that a punch line follows. But the big punchline is what happens when a reader of the first edition of this book prays much the same as Heidi did. You GOTTA read that.

Highly recommended reading. I also highly recommend Heidi’s blogs: Behold Your Mother and Streams of Mercy which just “happened” to have an entry today that I think will nicely round out this review.

Finally, a gentle warning. Jesus warned that unless we become like little children, we cannot see the Kingdom of God. It took God many years and quite a number of strippings and humblings before I was willing to say,

I don’t have the answers, Lord. Only questions. You are God, and I am not … You are pure mystery, and my mind is blinded by prejudice, ignorance, and error. Help me. Guide me each step of the way, and take these blinders from my eyes and help me to truly see.”

This is a dangerous prayer, but a necessary one. It’s not enough to read the Bible … one must interpret it correctly as well. We do this not in isolation, but in union with Christians going all the way back to the first apostles. We must not “proof text” isolated Scriptures to harden our hearts and minds, but invite the Holy Spirit to open us to ALL the truth God wants us to understand. Almost inevitably, He does this through the treasury of wisdom that is available to us through the teaching authority of the Church (the Magisterium) and the saints.

And buy the book would ‘ya?….make it worth Heidi’s time to send me another one.

Ever heard the Scott Hahn story about how he was lecturing at some church that had a tableaux of the apparition of Fatima on the lawn? Our Lady, the children, sheep, the works. He or his companion said, ‘Wow, is this a great Church or what? Not only can we worship statues, we have statues that worship statues!”

Then he [Sal] added and I will include it here just in case anyone thinks Mr. Hahn was serious. (He wasn’t because Catholics don’t worship statues but we DO poke fun at ourselves based on what other people say about us….)

(This is a joke. This is only a joke. Please do not allow your hair to catch fire.)