Search Maps for Denominational Names

Our local free newspaper enlightened us on the existence of StateStats, a free online tool for creating search maps depicting the popularity of search terms by state. The search map tool basically counts how many people searched for a term in the past 30 days and then creates a heat map. Red indicating the most search activity and blue indicating the least search activity. We decided to play with the tool and toss in some of the more common terms used on CAS. You may find the resulting search maps as interesting as we did.

Map #1

Being in the deep South, affectionately (or not) known as the Bible Belt and home to many of the world's 16 million Southern Baptists, the first term used was "Baptist". The search map above was certainly not much of a surprise, except that the activity is clustered at one end of the Bible Belt and doesn't extend evenly throughout the Bible Belt. We were expecting Georgia and North Carolina to appear redder.

Map #2

Our next search map proved a bit more surprising. The second search map above depicts search activity for the term "evangelical." Once again we find the search activity is clustered together in a small group of contiguous states. The surprise was that instead of the cluster being located in the Bible Belt of the South, the cluster is located in the Northern Midwest. With a bit of poking about in Google, we discovered that the above area coincides with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). A Glenmary map of the Largest Participating Protestant Religious Groups is almost a perfect match. Mystery solved. Scooby snacks for everyone.

Map #3

One of the first things you likely noticed about the third search map above is that the nice, neat red cluster of the first two maps doesn't exist. There are red states all over the map. This is a search map for "Catholic". Of course, after the initial surprise, the map makes sense.

While New England (MA, NY, RI) is reknown for being heavily Catholic, those are the same states that are reknown for having the highest concentrations "liberal" Catholics who seem poorly catechized. MD was the site of the first Catholic colony and is home to the mother church of all Catholics in America. LA is the state divided into Catholic parishes instead of counties and recently elected Catholic as governor.

Nebraska as a bit of a surprise as when one says the word "Catholic" anything but "Nebraska" pops into mind. However, Nebraska is the home of the world famous Boys Town founded by Catholic priest Father Edward Flanagan. You may (or may not) recall the black and white movie with Spencer Tracy and a young Mickey Rooney.

I think we were expecting a red cluster from California to Texas as that region is heavily Hispanic Catholic. Perhaps they are searching on "Catolica?" (Or not)

Related Posts:
Evangelism Explosion Among Catholics (links to Glenmary maps of religious adherents)
2008 Evangelical Electoral MapChristian Apologetics Society Readership


Source: StateStats

Lutheran Church Planting

Southern Baptist Ed Stetzer points us to a recent annoncement by the The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod to plant 2,000 new Lutheran churches by 2017. A similar project was attempted by the LCMS in 1979. The 1979 goal was "to plant 1,800 congregations in 10 years, or about 180 a year. The actual number of churches started was less than 100 a year--70 to 80."

As LCMS market share does not exceed 3% in any state, the U.S. will not likely be going Lutheran any time soon. Hopefully the LCMS will target areas of the U.S. with large numbers of non-Christians and make new disciples versus just moving sheep.

Source: Church Planting

Apologetics - Perpetual Virginity of Mary

One of the reasons, there aren't daily updates to the CAS blog is that I devote considerable time responding to apologetic errors on other blogs. This morning, I discovered a well meaning Christian, who obviously spends much time dwelling in and on the Word, posting against the Christian doctrine of the Perpetual Virginity of Mary. Yes, I said Christian. The doctrine of the Perpetual Virginity of Mary is a universal Christian doctrine dating back to the earliest days of the Church. It is not uniquely Roman Catholic.

Our earnest brother (or sister) in Christ says "...we gather that Jesus had at least four brothers and some sisters from Mary, his mother! Mary was not a perpetual virgin." Our brother bases his arguement on Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3.

”Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?”
Matthew 13:55

“Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us?”
Mark 6:3

Of these passages, our brother says; "The context alone provides plain evidence that Christ had actual blood brothers and sisters. The Catholic Church, however, denies the context." Does the Catholic Church deny that context? Absolutely! Not just the Catholic Church at Rome, but all the Eastern Catholic Churches as well.

Does any other Christian Church deny the context? Why yes, thank you for asking. All of the Orthodox Churches also deny the context and hold the Christian doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary.

Did any of the Reformers deny the context and hold the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary? Yes, all of them did.

Luther wrote on the Virginity of Mary: "It is an article of faith that Mary is Mother of the Lord and still a virgin.(Weimer's The Works of Luther, English translation by Pelikan, Concordia, St. Louis, v. 11, pp. 319-320; v. 6. p. 510.)

John Calvin wrote of Mary's perpetual virginity: "Helvidius displayed excessive ignorance in concluding that Mary must have had many sons, because Christ's 'brothers' are sometimes mentioned." {Harmony of Matthew, Mark & Luke, sec. 39 (Geneva, 1562), vol. 2 / From Calvin's Commentaries, tr. William Pringle, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1949, p.215; on Matthew 13:55}

Ulrich Zwingli wrote of Mary's perpetual virginity: "I firmly believe that Mary, according to the words of the gospel as a pure Virgin brought forth for us the Son of God and in childbirth and after childbirth forever remained a pure, intact Virgin." (Zwingli Opera, Corpus Reformatorum, Berlin, 1905, v. 1, p. 424.)

John Wesley wrote of Mary's perpetual virginity: "The Blessed Virgin Mary, who, as well after as when she brought him forth, continued a pure and unspotted virgin." (Wesley, Letter to a Roman Catholic, 1749)

Why do most of the world's Christians still continue to hold and teach the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary? Because denial of the doctrine pulls the rug out from beneath the doctrine of the divinity of Christ. Islamic apologists, atheists, and cultists see the denial of Mary's perpetual virginity as the gateway to disproving the divinity of Christ. They argue, if Mary had seven children and these six are human, then the seventh is human as well. Therefore, Christianity is a sham as it is built on a lie. God is one and there is no Trinity. Allah Ahkbar!

The denial of the perpetual virginity of Mary was a heresy made popular by Helvidius during the early Christian Church. My favorite reply to Helvidius was made by the one man who surely knew the true context of Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3. Jerome. Yes, the very same Jerome who translated the Bible from Greek and knew the meaning of adelphos. Jerome's Against Helvidius is the classic apologetic for the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary. Its a shame that more Christians have not read it. Our brother doesn't even mention Jerome in his apologetic for the heresy.

However, Jerome was not alone and apologies were written by: Athanasius (Alexandria, 293-373); Epiphanius (Palestine, 315?-403);Augustine (Numidia, now Algeria, 354-430); and Cyril (Alexandria, 376-444).

So how do we as modern day Christians follow Jerome, the early Church fathers, and the Reformers in responding to those mis-informed brothers and sisters (adelphos) that have rediscovered the error of Helvidius and now embrace a dangerous heresy? Bible believing Christians, knowing the inerrency of scripture, should respond with charity and kindness by focusing on these main points:

First it is important to note that the Bible does not say that these "brothers and sisters" of Jesus were children of Mary. Only Jesus is said to be the son of Mary.

Second, the word for brother (or sister), adelphos (adelpha) in Greek, denotes a brother or sister, or near kinsman. Our brother in Christ stated "In the Greek text, the word “brother” is adelphos, which literally means “from the womb,” indicating these are Christ’s brothers from His mother." But how is adelphos actually used in scripture?

In the Bible, the word adelphos is used for:
(1) male children of the same parents (Mt 1:2);
(2) male descendants of the same parents (Acts 7:23);
(3) male children of the same mother (Gal 1:19);
(4) people of the same nationality (Acts 3:17);
(5) any man, a neighbor (Lk 10:29);
(6) persons united by a common interest (Mt 5:47);
(7) persons united by a common calling (Rev 22:9);
(8) mankind (Mt 25:40);
(9) the disciples (Mt 23:8); and
(10) believers (Mt 23:8).
(From Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Thomas Nelson, Publisher.)

Third, a strong proof text against the Helvidian Heresy is John 19:26-27.

When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.
John 19:26-27

Jesus, the perfect Jewish son and fulfiller of the Law of Moses, would not have violated Jewish law by giving his mother over to the care of John if Mary had any other children. Our brother may have overlooked John 19:26-27 or not connected the passage with Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3 since they are all in different books.

Many modern Christians in their zeal to disprove Catholicism are embracing dangerous heresies that our early Church fathers fought hard to extinguish. Christians must be careful to learn the history of Christianity and what doctrines have always been held by Christians. There are numerous collections of non-canonical writings by the earliest Christians available to us. I often use the Christian Classics Ethereal library collection. If you have not discovered this treasure of ante-Nicene Bible commentaries and "Sunday school" lessons, I encourage you to visit and read.

Source: Was Mary A Perpetual Virgin?

Protestants Joining Catholics in Confession Comeback

Who knew that the ancient Christian practice of confession was making a comeback in a big way? While running a routine bookmarked Google Blogsearch, I discovered this short post, which led to this larger post by a Lutheran pastor, which led to this WSJ article. That's how blogs should work. One should be led from a statement of fact, to a source, and then to other sources.

What originally, caught my attention was the fact that earlier this past summer, 2.5 million Lutherans decided to revive the ancient Christian practice of confession. It seems that, for the last 100 years, no one in this particular denomination of Lutherans had been practicing confession to a priest. In the cited Lutheran example, the pastor wears vestments, stands near the altar, and penitents kneel and confess their sins.

Confess therefore your sins one to another: and pray one for another, that you may be saved. For the continual prayer of a just man availeth much.
James 5:15

Now, while the Lutheran revival of confession may be mind blowing to me and some of you good folks, what really toasted my grey matter was the Wall Street Journal article that the good Father Eckardt cited at the bottom of his post. The revival of confession wasn't limited to the 2.5 million Lutherans. Oh, no. God seems to have initiated a confessional renaissance of the entire Christian church. Even evangelicals are practicing confession! Who knew?

Some evangelicals don't need any prompting. Joshua Wilshusen, 29, a respiratory care student from Lomita, Calif., started meeting two other Christian men for a weekly group confession two years ago. They gather at a park or coffee shop to ask questions such as "Have you coveted this week?" "Have you been sexually pure?" "Have you just lied to me?" Confessing helps him resist temptations. "There've been times when a sin has hurt me all week, when I've lusted after a woman or lost my temper at work, and then I confess it and the peace is restored."

Confession is one of the oldest Christian practices and historical documentation of the practice dates back to about 70AD where it is mentioned in the Didache:

"Confess your sins in church, and do not go up to your prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of life. . . . On the Lord’s Day gather together, break bread, and give thanks, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure"
Didache 4:14, 14:1

Around the same time, we find the ancient Christian practice of confessing confirmed in the Acts of the Apostles:

Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices.
Acts 19:18

The early fathers of the Christian church were not silent regarding confession. Origen in his homilies on Leviticus states:

"[A final method of forgiveness], albeit hard and laborious [is] the remission of sins through penance, when the sinner . . . does not shrink from declaring his sin to a priest of the Lord and from seeking medicine, after the manner of him who say, ‘I said, "To the Lord I will accuse myself of my iniquity"
Origen, Homilies on Leviticus 2:4

I am particularly fond of this quote by Basil the Great from around 288AD:

It is necessary to confess our sins to those to whom the dispensation of God’s mysteries is entrusted. Those doing penance of old are found to have done it before the saints. It is written in the Gospel that they confessed their sins to John the Baptist [Matt. 3:6], but in Acts [19:18] they confessed to the apostles"
Basil the Great, Rules Briefly Treated

About a decade later John Chrysostom would write:

"Priests have received a power which God has given neither to angels nor to archangels. It was said to them: ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose, shall be loosed.’ Temporal rulers have indeed the power of binding; but they can only bind the body. Priests, in contrast, can bind with a bond which pertains to the soul itself and transcends the very heavens. Did [God] not give them all the powers of heaven? ‘Whose sins you shall forgive,’ he says, ‘they are forgiven them; whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.’ What greater power is there than this? The Father has given all judgment to the Son. And now I see the Son placing all this power in the hands of men [Matt. 10:40; John 20:21–23]. They are raised to this dignity as if they were already gathered up to heaven"
John Chrysostom, The Priesthood 3:5

Remember...

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness"
1 John 1:9

However, if I am to confess my sins to another, I want it to be to another who has this authority from Jesus:

Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."
John 20:21-23

Source: WSJ - Confession Makes a Comeback