What must I believe or What must I do

On November 13, 2023November 20, 2023 By Lee (@disciple96)In Bible studyLeave a comment

+JMJ+ I’ve been watching videos, hearing people give explanations of Christianity—by both those who claim Christianity, or at least to be sympathetic to it, and those not—and it’s obvious that all they know is some form of Protestantism. I’ve heard some say that Christianity is all about what a person is supposed to believe but that other religions are more concerned with what a person is supposed to do. Now this just gets Christianity all wrong. Jesus says over and over what we are to do in order to have salvation. [This is part two of what is now an ongoing series. See part one.]

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Anotha cuppa and a few words, our first cuppa of 2023

On January 9, 2023January 30, 2023 By Lee (@disciple96)In Books, Catechism In a Year, Catechism of the Catholic Church, Catholic Podcasts, Gospel, Catechesis, Catechis, Pope Benedict XVILeave a comment

+JMJ+ Oh, my goodness, where to start? First, I need a fresh cuppa. Ah, now, let me get situated here and I’ll tell you what happened. I was searching for info on the Magi (there’s a pun to be made there but I’m not making it) and then Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died, may he rest in peace. So I wanted to write something about him and decided to post some quotes and began another search.

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He left us many works

On January 2, 2023January 3, 2023 By Lee (@disciple96)In Pope Benedict XVILeave a comment

+JMJ+ I was hoping we had more time with him but he was looking more frail in every photo and video. Now Pope Benedict is gone but he left us so many of his words, enough to last many years of reading and studying, even a lifetime. While I think of a worthy post or posts to do in his honor, let me now just list a few of his works you might want to look into, including a new one I discovered tonight.

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Help, I’ve fallen behind and I can’t catch up!

On March 21, 2022 By Lee (@disciple96)In Bible studyLeave a comment

+JMJ+ Once again I’m tried to do too many things during Lent and ended up doing them all badly or not at all. Began listening to the Bible In A Year podcast and reading along and writing up and sharing notes, and then promptly fell behind, got behinder, then had a crazy week, my router died (or my modem and my router so now I have brand new ones). I tried to catch up by letting the notes slide but I ended up not getting any of it done at all. Argh. Seriously, I was doing well enough to get my two weekly blog posts done. I knew I shouldn’t add much to that.

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Winners of the Lent Giveaway 2022

On February 26, 2022February 26, 2022 By Lee (@disciple96)In Giveaways, Great Adventure BIble, Introduction to the Spiritual Life, Spiritual LifeLeave a comment

+JMJ+ Thanks to everybody who responded to the Flash Giveaway celebrating my three anniversaries.* I assigned numbers to the entries in the order received, then used the Google Random Number Generator to select two numbers. And here they are, the winners of the Lent Giveaway 2022.

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Lent Giveaway 2022

On February 24, 2022February 26, 2022 By Lee (@disciple96)In Giveaways, Great Adventure BIble, Introduction to the Spiritual Life, Spiritual LifeLeave a comment

The Lent Giveaway 2022 is now closed. See the winners.

+JMJ+ Join me as I celebrate the 26^th anniversary of my reception into the Catholic Church, my 13th year as a Catholic blogger, and my 3rd year owning this site, with a Flash Giveaway. Drawing will be this Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022. I’m hoping that way the winners might receive their books by Ash Wednesday, or close to it.

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Exploring Genesis, Preparing for Lent

On February 21, 2022 By Lee (@disciple96)In Bible study, Spiritual LifeLeave a comment

+JMJ+ Inspired by the Bible In A Year podcast, and memories of past Bible studies, I was exploring to see what I could find about something about a certain serpent. The serpent in Genesis is not called a snake, no matter how many times non-Christians try to mock it in that way. It’s more like a monster or dragon like Leviathan. We’ve already covered the serpent’s appearance to Eve and it will come up again later in Job. (See the links at the end of this post.)

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I’m off on a Great Adventure

On February 15, 2022February 17, 2022 By Lee (@disciple96)In A Father Who Keeps His Promises, Bible study, Books, Great AdventureLeave a comment

+JMJ+ I’ve been listening to Fr. Mike Schmitz’s Bible In A Year podcast. I wish I’d realized that he was uinsg the Great Adventure Bible, the one Jeff Cavins came up with. What a cool Bible study tool his Bible Timeline is. I took a course of that at a parish back in 2010 (that long ago?) and thoroughly enjoyed it. I still have the workbook, dug it out this weekend. Got my Great Adventure Bible a few days ago, too. Not for doing the podcast, at the time I ordered it I had no idea he was using it. I almost didn’t even listen to the podcast because I wanted to use the Bible Timeline method. Little did I know!

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3 Ways to Study the Bible as a Catholic Today

On February 7, 2022February 25, 2022 By Lee (@disciple96)In A Father Who Keeps His Promises, Bible study, BooksLeave a comment

+JMJ+ When I began studying the Bible as a Catholic in 1996, I found a lot of tapes (yes, tapes) of Scott Hahn and a few others, but there was nowhere near the wealth of resources then that are available to us now. In the past few years Catholic studies have really taken off. But with all of these resources around us it can be confusing to know where to start. Listed below are three ways you can get started studying the Bible as a Catholic, right now, today.

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A Spiritual Quest in 2022

On December 27, 2021January 6, 2022 By Lee (@disciple96)In Dr. Brant Pitre, Giveaways, Spiritual LifeLeave a comment

Note: There be a special announcement in this here post.

+JMJ+ My New Year’s resolution is to get it together. Physically and spiritually. I’ve had it with the way I am. I want to get some things done and I’m tired of messing around and getting nowhere. So for 2022 I’m going to learn to do this Catholic thing right and I’m inviting you to learn along with me.

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Abide in the Vine

On April 29, 2021May 3, 2021 By Lee (@disciple96)In Bible study, Dr. Brant Pitre, Mass ReadingsLeave a comment

+JMJ+ I was watching a video (linked below) by Dr. Brant Pitre about the parable of the vine and branches in John 15, how we have to abide in the vine if we are to have any life in us, if we are to bear fruit, and if God is to work in us the way He wants to. Those who do not remain in the vine are cut off, and then wither and die since they have cut themselves off from the source of life, and they are cast into the fire and burned. It’s a familiar parable, I’ve heard it countless times. You probably have, too. But this time I noticed something different and I want to share with you.

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Book of the Month, April 2021 – Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls – Part 3

On April 26, 2021April 27, 2021 By Lee (@disciple96)In Bible study, Dr. John BergsmaLeave a comment

+JMJ+ Welcome to our Catholic Book of the Month series for April 2021, featuring Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls, by Dr. John Bergsma. This week we’ve got two videos by Dr. Bergsma, one with a PDF handout, and a bonus video of a short talk by Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ, filmed on location at Qumran.

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