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List of Articles by John Shepard | North Forest North Forest |
List of Articles by John Shepard
Every article on my web site (201 total). Some links point to another list. Excludes site maps, table of contents, indexes, and lists of links which are here.
My favorite 
Most popular
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Comparisons with Protestantism Various site maps, table of contents, indexes, and lists of links |
Note: The purpose of these articles is not to make Protestantism look bad, but to illustrate that the Protestant Reformation did not restore the church back to the "true Christianity" of the primitive church. The Catholic Church considers the various Protestant denominations to be valid Christian communities which are imperfectly united with the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church -- the Catholic Church.
Christ's Church Failed? -- Protestants must accept the notion that the church "went bad" and that God used the Protestant Reformers to "fix" it.
Doctrinal Development -- I discuss the topic of doctrinal development from a Protestant perspective (but I highlight issues that are typically ignored by Protestants).
Inerrancy of Bible -- Discussion of the doctrine of Inerrancy in the context of the debate between Protestants and Catholics.
Martin Luther's Teachings -- Show the problems and inconsistencies of Martin Luther's teachings using quotes from his own writings.
Sola Scriptura -- Short summary of the topic.
Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone) -- To demonstrate that the Protestant doctrine of Sola Scriptura (scripture only) is unsound and unbiblical.
Sola Scriptura -- Overview of this doctrines and its problems.
Note: I am fully aware that many Protestant doctrines and teachings do not contradict the Bible. The purpose of these articles is to point out those biblical passages which do contradict the teachings of Protestantism.
Faith Alone -- Martin Luther, the first Protestant "Reformer," invented the doctrine of Sola Fide (faith alone). But there are a few obvious problems with this doctrine.
Faith vs. Works in Romans -- Martin Luther based the Protestant doctrine of Sola Fide (faith alone) on the book of Romans -- but he ignored many passages.
Calvinism -- Biblical passages which clearly contradict one or more of these five points of Calvinism.
Is Protestant Teaching Unbiblical? -- This article highlights the biblical passages which clearly contradict the doctrine, teaching, and faith of the Protestant denominations.
The "Word-Faith" Teaching -- The "Word-Faith" movement (also called "Health-Wealth") is very popular in America today. There are many "Word-Faith" churches and there is even a "Word-Faith" television network. For many who may know very little about Christianity their only exposure to the Bible and to Christianity is by "Word-Faith" teachers and preachers.
Biblical Support for the Catholic Church -- The Bible has many passages that perfectly match the teachings of Catholic Church.
Is the Church like Old Testament Israel? -- The Catholic Church has many similarities to the Old Testament nation of Israel.
Mary in the Bible -- This article references the many significant passages about Mary in the Bible relating to the particular Catholic Marian doctrines. When we look at what the words of the Bible say concerning Mary, we find that the essence of the Marian doctrines are contained in the Bible and these interpretations cannot be easily explained away.
Binding and Loosing -- Jesus made some remarkable statements to the Apostles and to Peter in particular which the Catholic Church uses as the basis for some important, foundational doctrines. These doctrines of the Catholic Church are based on the meaning of the phrase "binding and loosing" as understood by the Jews at the time Jesus spoke the words.
Catholicism in the Bible -- All Catholic doctrines and practices can be (1) derived from the Bible, and (2) supported from the Bible.
Ethics -- Ethics deals with making decisions that are "good" or "right." All decisions have an ethical component, but ethics doesn't necessarily dictate what our decisions should be -- rather, it helps us to understand the issues so we can make wise decisions. The study of ethics is necessary when faced with a difficult decision.
Moral Theology -- This article is an overview of a few points from the lengthy Papal Encyclical Veritatis Splendor (The Splendor of Truth) which was written by Pope John Paul II in 1993. This encyclical addresses the topic of the moral teaching of the Catholic Church.
Relativism -- It is intellectually fashionable to declare that there are no absolutes. And many who wish to deny absolute standards of morality also use as their main argument the question, "who decides what the moral standards are?" This article addresses these issues.
The Virtues -- To live a Holy Spirit-enlivened life of virtue.
Vices - a Biblical Perspective -- To explain what the Bible has to say about various vices.
Tolerance -- The issue of tolerance concerns having a society that allows for a variety of different viewpoints regarding morality and ethics. It is necessary in a society such as ours in the United States which values diversity in our culture. Tolerance sounds like the way to go. But when we consider the issue carefully we discover that there are two unintended side effects of the policy of tolerance.
Integrating Psychology and Christianity -- The key question is whether or not psychology is based on a world view which opposes the essentials of the Christian faith. In this article I explore the issue of integrating psychology and Christianity.
To Spank or Not -- The issue of whether or not parents should spank their children is a very volatile issue and raises strong feelings on both sides of the issue. Modern psychology generally believes that spanking is a bad practice and is harmful to children. The conservative Christian coalition generally takes the view that the practice of spanking is biblically mandated and that any parent who really loves their children will spank them. There are many others who believe strongly one way or another for a very diverse set of reasons.
The Ramifications of Information Theory -- Arguments against evolution from the book The Scientific Alternative to Neo-Darwinian Evolutionary Theory by A.E. Wilder Smith.
Biblical Archaeology -- 11 articles. Archaeological evidence that the Bible is trustworthy.
Science and the Bible -- Various topics: The origin of life, evolution, souls, Adam and Eve, the Genesis Flood, the Firmament.
The Days of Creation -- Proponents of the young earth creation model insist that the word day in the first chapter of Genesis when interpreted literally refers to a time period of 24 hours. I will show that this understanding of the usage of the word day is not based on a literal interpretation at all, but is rather based on a figurative interpretation of the passage.
Introduction to the Creation-Science War -- 6 articles. An analysis of the old-earth, old-universe view ala Hugh Ross.
Rebekah's Deception -- What was really going on with Isaac as he blessed Jacob instead of Esau? Speculative home-grown theology. Please don't take it too seriously.
The Trinity -- A real-life example to help in understanding the Trinity.
Astrology and Horoscopes -- Astrology is popular in our modern society. Newspapers print your daily horoscope, and people ask what sign you are. But what does the Christian faith and the Bible teach about astrology?
Astrology and Horoscopes -- Part 2
Hell -- I have always been troubled with the view of hell that it is eternal torture by God on those who may not have been aware that He would punish them in this way. This article provides an alternate model which is based on the Bible.
How to Interpret the Bible -- Hermeneutics, Part 1
How to Interpret the Bible -- Hermeneutics, Part 2
How to Interpret the Bible -- Hermeneutics, Part 3
How to Interpret the Bible -- Hermeneutics, Part 4
How to Interpret the Bible -- Hermeneutics, Part 5
How to Interpret the Bible -- Hermeneutics, Part 6
How to Interpret the Bible -- Hermeneutics, Part 7
Homeschool -- the new Holy War -- The issue of homeschooling has become a battleground in the church today.
The Stages of God's Election -- What are the roles of God's election and foreknowledge in salvation? What role does man's will play?
Paul's Thorn in the Flesh -- Did Paul have an eye disease?
The House Church -- My observations about the house church movement.
Home Bible Community -- A model for a home church denomination created by me (of course).
The World Religions -- A brief summary of various world religions. Biased toward my perspective, of course.
A Short Testimony -- How I went from darkness to light.
The Way -- A short testimony of my spiritual journey and the conclusion that I reached.
The God of the Old Testament -- You often hear critics of Christianity saying that the God of the Old Testament is a different God than the God of the New Testament -- that this Old Testament God is mean-spirited and vindictive, but that the New Testament God is merciful and loving. In this article I explore various topics using Old Testament biblical passages.
Jo Anne's Cure -- A mind bender - can you solve it?
A Dialogue About the Nature of Reality -- Two college students discover the weird world of the human mind as they seek to understand the motives of their professor.
The Problem with God -- People have many ideas about God, His nature and His attributes. But if He exists, what is He like?
God -- Who is God and what is He like? Also, explores the question of evil.
The Light of the World -- Musings about the nature of God, and His plan and purpose for us. Evidence for the Bible.
It Must Be True -- What can we be sure of by observing the world around us?
Letter to a Skeptic -- Addressing a variety of issues including the problems with Agnosticism, the evidence for Christianity, God's sovereignty, and the problem of sin.
Letter to an Atheist -- I discuss the evidence against Atheism with links to quotes from leading scientists who agree that evolution is a troubled theory.
The Women at the Empty Tomb -- I recently read an article from an Atheist who was very perplexed by the events of Easter morning. He seemed to think it was impossible to reconcile the accounts in the four gospels into a single consistent story. After spending an evening looking into the matter I found that it's not so difficult after all.
God Exists -- A gentle analysis of the unexpected implications of the view that there is no God.
The Still, Small Voice -- Musings about Eastern Philosophical ideas, the nature of God, and free will.
What is Truth? -- Musings about truth and the spiritual journey of a truth seeker.
Charismatic -- Charismatic Protestant Fundamentalists have a particular way of practicing the Christian faith. In this article I examine this topic and point out some of the foundational assumptions which are not usually considered by Charismatics. Finally I contrast the devotional life of Catholics.
Justification -- In this article I compare and contrast the Protestant and Catholic doctrines concerning justification.
Protestant vs. Catholic Comparison -- The purpose of this article is to clear up misconceptions that Protestants and Catholics have regarding each others' views. My most popular article -- I have no idea why.
What the Catholic Church Really Teaches -- To clarify the teachings of the Catholic Church.
My Conversion -- To explain why I became a Catholic. I wrote this testimony for my Protestant friends so they would understand my conversion.
Development of Doctrine -- This article is an overview of the book, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, by John Henry Cardinal Newman, written in 1878. He discusses his Theory of Development of Doctrine.
What Catholics Believe -- The purpose of this article is to provide a detailed summary of the basics of the Catholic faith. This article almost exclusively makes reference to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
The Eucharist -- To discuss the Catholic doctrine of the Eucharist and to demonstrate that it was the belief of the very early church.
Catholic Life -- In this article I discuss what it is like to be a Catholic.
The Council of Trent -- Selected excerpts.
Vatican II -- Selected excerpts.
The Church Fathers -- The writings of the Early Church Fathers demonstrate that the true, holy, and universal (catholic) Church of the past is the same institution as the Catholic Church of today.
Early Church Fathers -- To show what the Early Church Fathers in the first generation after the apostles had to say that supports the claims of the Catholic Church.
Marian Doctrines -- References from Early Church Fathers
... from opposition by Protestants who are critical of the Catholic Church.
Anti-Catholic Misrepresentations -- To address the misrepresentations of the Catholic Church by Protestants who are critical of Catholicism.
Three Popes -- To explain why the "three Popes" objection to Catholicism is flawed and proves nothing.
Was Augustine Protestant? -- I sometimes hear Protestants who are critical of Catholicism claim that Augustine, the Church Father and Doctor of the Church, was really a Protestant (or a proto-Protestant) and not a Catholic. Quotes from Augustine's writings to demonstrate that he was not a Protestant at all, but a Catholic.
"Bad" Protestants -- The title of this article is borrowed from the phrase "Bad Popes." It is common for Protestants who are critical of Catholicism to list various types of bad behavior by Catholics to discredit the claims of the Catholic Churc.
Galileo Galilei -- To provide a defense of the Catholic Church's involvement in the case of Galileo Galilei.
Dialogs -- The purpose of this article is to assist Protestants with seeing the Catholic perspective by presenting unexpected dialogs.
Marian Doctrines -- This article discusses the various doctrines of the Catholic Church regarding Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Marian Doctrines -- To explain the Catholic doctrines regarding Mary, which are much misunderstood and misrepresented by many Protestants who are critical of Catholicism. To give evidence from the Bible and the Church Fathers demonstrating the validity of these doctrines.
The Orthodox Church -- The purpose of this article is to explain why I believe the Orthodox Church is not the one and only true church as she claims to be.
Response to a Friend -- My brief comments.
The Waldenses and Albigensians -- To describe a few common objections to the claims of the Catholic church by Protestants who are critical of Catholicism; in particular, the alleged abuses of the church toward the Waldenses and the Albigensians.
Historical Defense of Catholicism -- In this article I use quotes from three secular history books to demonstrate that the claims of the Catholic Church are true.
Church History -- In this article I provide a sociological and historical perspective of the development of the church to demonstrate why she became the way she was at various stages of her history.
Fuzzy Thinking -- Environmentalism. Al Gore's July 17, 2008 speech annoyed me. He neglected to describe the details of his grand plan. I provide some of the missing analysis.
These are links to articles which are not listed above.
Biblical Archaeology -- 11 articles. Archaeological evidence that the Bible is trustworthy.
The Bible -- 14 articles. This collection of articles contains my reflections on various Bible passages categorized by topic.
End Time Prophecy -- 74 articles. Many topics including the analysis of the writings of 31 early church fathers.
Jesus -- 1 article. The whole point of Christianity is to have an eternal relationship with Jesus, in this world and the next.
Introduction to the Creation-Science War -- 6 articles. An analysis of the old-earth, old-universe view ala Hugh Ross.
Church References -- 45 articles (only 9 of these are not duplicates). These articles contain quotations from high-quality sources and are organized by topic and source (Bible, Church Fathers, Church Councils, etc.).
Jericho -- What really happened when the Israelites massacred everyone in Jericho? Can God command us to commit mortal sin? In defending the truthfulness of the Bible, Christians often justify the genocide of Jericho
The Jews and the Messiah -- What did the Jews before the time of Jesus think of the Messiah? Why did they not notice that Jesus was the Messiah?
Catholic Changes -- Critics of Catholicism say that the church has changed her views over time but the church says she cannot change that which was handed down to her from Jesus and the apostles.
Catholic Problems -- Critics of Catholicism point out problems with the church. We cannot sweep these under the rug.
Astrology -- There were at least six popes who had astrologers. The Catholic Church condemned astrology before and after this. Catholic defenders sometimes claim that these were really astronomers, but no -- they really were astrologers.
The Church Went Bad? -- The church went bad and had to be fixed by the Protestant Reformation? Really? When?
Galileo -- Who was wrong in the Galileo incident?
Catholic Abuses -- Anti-Semitism, Banning Books, Slavery and Imperialism, Torture.
Catholicism in the Bible -- All Catholic doctrines and practices can be (1) derived from the Bible, and (2) supported from the Bible.
Church Reform -- 8 articles plus the text of many documents with my comments.
How to know what is true -- My method.
I Believe -- Whether doctrines can be determined from scripture and the writings of the Early Church Fathers without the need to refer to an infallible teaching authority.
Doctrines of Church Fathers -- What the Early Church Fathers wrote about various topics.
How to Select a Church -- The criteria I consider important.
Essential Doctrines -- A teaching must satisfy the following conditions to be an essential, core Christian truth.
Non-essential Doctrines -- Various Christian denominations and faith communities have different opinions and beliefs about many doctrines and practices.
Heretical Doctrines -- I list only a few.
Church Reflections -- 5 articles. These articles are my commentaries of New Testament books.
Acts -- Commentary.
Romans -- Commentary.
Hebrews -- Commentary.
Revelation -- Commentary.
The New Testament is Catholic -- The many references in the New Testament books between Acts and Jude which contradict Protestant doctrine and practice, but which support Catholic teaching.
Songs -- My Music
Site Maps and Index Pages -- Organized links of my whole site.
Catholic Articles --Table of Contents to some articles about the Catholic Church
Doctrines -- Articles about doctrinal differences between Protestantism and Catholicism.
The Catholic Church -- Links to many articles.
The Catholic Church -- These articles address the topic of Catholicism versus Protestantism.
Protestantism vs. Catholicism -- A variety of topics of misinformation that Protestants have regarding Catholicism.
Catholic Doctrine -- Currently only links to one article on the Development of Doctrine.
Catholic Foundations -- Articles about the Catholic Church.
Journey -- Articles for non-Christians.
Christian Musings -- Speculative home-grown theology. Please don't take it too seriously.
Christian Topics -- Articles about various topics.
Church Councils -- The Council of Trent and Vatican II.
Church History -- Two articles.
Early Church Fathers -- Various citations.
End Time Prophecy -- Many articles including the analysis of the writings of 31 early church fathers.
False Gospel -- Links to articles about Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormonism.
Links for Jehovah's Witnesses -- There is not much here at the moment.
Links for Mormons -- A few external links.
The House Church -- Table of Contents of an article.
Moral Theology and Ethics -- Various articles.
Pope Writings -- Writings by popes.
Protestant / Catholic Comparisons -- Various articles.
Protestant Heresies -- The word/faith, health/wealth teaching.
The Word-Faith Teaching -- External links.
World Religions -- Various articles.
Science and Creationism -- Index to my various articles with scientific topics.
Hugh Ross -- Info about him and links to order his books.
Social and Cultural Topics -- Various articles.
Summaries -- These articles are short summaries of various topics.
Audio of me, of course.
Audio MP3 Files -- Links to all the stuff I recorded excluding music and my PodCast.
My PodCast -- I talk about religious / spiritual / Christian / Catholic topics.
The Term 'Anti-Catholic' -- The use and meaning of this term.
Be an Activist for Moral Truth -- An easy guide to getting involved.
References -- Links to Catechism of the Catholic Church and Catholic Encyclopedia
About me -- In case you are interested.
John Shepard
© Copyright 2008
email: js16@northforest.org
http://www.northforest.org/ArticleList.html
Revised: Dec 25 2008