Recommended Reading

Candy is trying a website, rather than a blog. Her focus is on Biblical womanhood, and thus far, the articles have reflected that. On the sidebar, she has a recommended reading list. Most are clearly in the Biblical womanhood subject matter, but others (Don Quixote? Beans?) are a little less tied to the theme.

Books to educate you about the truths of Catholicism are recommended, so I thought I would point you to our previous articles on these books. I note that three of the four are illustrated by Jack Chick. Truly, having illustrations is the mark of a great history book.

50 Years In the Church of Rome
Smokescreens
Did the Catholic Church Give Us the Bible?
Babylon Religion (I substituted our article on Hislop's Two Babylons, because the author borrows heavily from it for his book.)

She's back

Good thing Candy doesn't keep Lent- because she would NEVER last 40 days!!


Any hoo... I meant to post this last night -I continue to post the links to the Catholic Carnival because I think it is important that people who don't know any Catholics get a chance to READ what other real Catholics write and think about. It is so NOT at all what Candy has been saying about us for years.  Plus there is a lot of good information in every Catholic Carnival about fellowship, worship, living a Christian life, motherhood, current events and much more.  So please feel free to take advante of those links as we post them.

Sanctus Christopher: Speak Friend and Enter ...

Sanctus Christopher: Speak Friend and Enter ...







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Is Candy really gone?

There is nothing there from the link to her blog, although it doesn't give the usual Blogger disclaimer that "This blog does not exist," so I remain a little skeptical, but hopeful.

I did find this on the CIAL comment section:

Dearest brothers and sisters in Christ...

Remember a few months ago, when I said that God was moving my family and I on to the next stage in His plan for us? And, do you remember that I said we have been working on an important project? It has all come to fruition.

We are homesteading!!! :-) I will not mention the state or country we now reside in. Our new house is four bedroom, and has two full bathrooms. It was quite the move to get out here, but we did it. Now you know why I had to cut my internet time down to just the blog and some research time. I also relied heavily on Blogger's auto-blog function, via their "scheduled blogging" feature.

We now have land for growing some food, and hope to be "breaking ground" any day now. We are living our dream, and praising the Lord for it each day.

This also means that it's time for the Keeping The Home blog to come to an end. Farewell to my friends.

Click here to learn more about Christian Homesteading.

God bless you, and goodbye.

My first thought, if this is true, is "good!" How many times can we defend the same doctrines over and over again when the woman wouldn't even attempt to engage us, or listen to a thing we said. Also frankly, I was getting tired of the same old stuff over there served up regularly.

So I guess for now we will keep an eye on it and see if perhaps either the regular blogger notice shows up, OR if it comes back. We'll see.

Not A Child of God

I found this most recent post by Candy to be profoundly sad. It is true that not everyone will "be saved" but what a horrible way of looking at humanity. Especially when you consider that Candy has said that very few people will be saved. Therefore, most of humanity would not be children of God.

While this isn't my best area of theology (so please, correct any errors), I feel the Catholic Church has a much more positive view of humanity.

First, all of mankind is special, because man is created in the image of God, and because God became Incarnate, or enfleshed:

355 "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them."²¹⁸ Man occupies a unique place in creation: (I) he is "in the image of God"; (II) in his own nature he unites the spiritual and material worlds; (III) he is created "male and female"; (IV) God established him in his friendship.

I. "IN THE IMAGE OF GOD"

356 Of all visible creatures only man is "able to know and love his creator".²¹⁹ He is "the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake",²²⁰ and he alone is called to share, by knowledge and love, in God's own life. It was for this end that he was created, and this is the fundamental reason for his dignity:

What made you establish man in so great a dignity? Certainly the incalculable love by which you have looked on your creature in yourself! You are taken with love for her; for by love indeed you created her, by love you have given her a being capable of tasting your eternal Good.²²¹

357 Being in the image of God the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone. He is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons. And he is called by grace to a covenant with his Creator, to offer him a response of faith and love that no other creature can give in his stead.

358 God created everything for man,²²² but man in turn was created to serve and love God and to offer all creation back to him:

What is it that is about to be created, that enjoys such honor? It is man that great and wonderful living creature, more precious in the eyes of God than all other creatures! For him the heavens and the earth, the sea and all the rest of creation exist. God attached so much importance to his salvation that he did not spare his own Son for the sake of man. Nor does he ever cease to work, trying every possible means, until he has raised man up to himself and made him sit at his right hand.²²³

359 "In reality it is only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of man truly becomes clear."²²⁴

St. Paul tells us that the human race takes its origin from two men: Adam and Christ. . . The first man, Adam, he says, became a living soul, the last Adam a life-giving spirit. The first Adam was made by the last Adam, from whom he also received his soul, to give him life. . . The second Adam stamped his image on the first Adam when he created him. That is why he took on himself the role and the name of the first Adam, in order that he might not lose what he had made in his own image. The first Adam, the last Adam: the first had a beginning, the last knows no end. The last Adam is indeed the first; as he himself says: "I am the first and the last."²²⁵

II. "BODY AND SOUL BUT TRULY ONE"

362 The human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once corporeal and spiritual. The biblical account expresses this reality in symbolic language when it affirms that "then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."²²⁹ Man, whole and entire, is therefore willed by God.

363 In Sacred Scripture the term "soul" often refers to human life or the entire human person.²³⁰ But "soul" also refers to the innermost aspect of man, that which is of greatest value in him,²³¹ that by which he is most especially in God's image: "soul" signifies the spiritual principle in man.

364 The human body shares in the dignity of "the image of God": it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple of the Spirit:²³²

Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. Through his very bodily condition he sums up in himself the elements of the material world. Through him they are thus brought to their highest perfection and can raise their voice in praise freely given to the Creator. For this reason man may not despise his bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and to hold it in honor since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day. ²³³

God desires us all to be saved, because of His great love for us. While Candy has described heaven as a place where she will wear special crowns, and enjoy the treasures she has stored up there, Catholics view heaven as being in the presence of God, and perpetually adoring Him there:

Those who die in God's grace and friendship and are perfectly purified live for ever with Christ. They are like God for ever, for they "see him as he is," face to face:⁵⁹⁸

By virtue of our apostolic authority, we define the following: According to the general disposition of God, the souls of all the saints . . . and other faithful who died after receiving Christ's holy Baptism (provided they were not in need of purification when they died, . . . or, if they then did need or will need some purification, when they have been purified after death, . . .) already before they take up their bodies again and before the general judgment - and this since the Ascension of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ into heaven - have been, are and will be in heaven, in the heavenly Kingdom and celestial paradise with Christ, joined to the company of the holy angels. Since the Passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, these souls have seen and do see the divine essence with an intuitive vision, and even face to face, without the mediation of any creature.⁵⁹⁹

1024 This perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity - this communion of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed - is called "heaven." Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness.

1025 To live in heaven is "to be with Christ." The elect live "in Christ,"⁶⁰⁰ but they retain, or rather find, their true identity, their own name.⁶⁰¹

For life is to be with Christ; where Christ is, there is life, there is the kingdom.⁶⁰²

1026 By his death and Resurrection, Jesus Christ has "opened" heaven to us. The life of the blessed consists in the full and perfect possession of the fruits of the redemption accomplished by Christ. He makes partners in his heavenly glorification those who have believed in him and remained faithful to his will. Heaven is the blessed community of all who are perfectly incorporated into Christ.

1027 This mystery of blessed communion with God and all who are in Christ is beyond all understanding and description. Scripture speaks of it in images: life, light, peace, wedding feast, wine of the kingdom, the Father's house, the heavenly Jerusalem, paradise: "no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him."⁶⁰³

1028 Because of his transcendence, God cannot be seen as he is, unless he himself opens up his mystery to man's immediate contemplation and gives him the capacity for it. The Church calls this contemplation of God in his heavenly glory "the beatific vision":

How great will your glory and happiness be, to be allowed to see God, to be honored with sharing the joy of salvation and eternal light with Christ your Lord and God, . . . to delight in the joy of immortality in the Kingdom of heaven with the righteous and God's friends.⁶⁰⁴

1029 In the glory of heaven the blessed continue joyfully to fulfill God's will in relation to other men and to all creation. Already they reign with Christ; with him "they shall reign for ever and ever."⁶⁰⁵

I think that God also loves those who will go to hell. They are condemned because of a willful rejection of God, and would not be happy being in His presence in Heaven. Therefore, hell is a place of separation from God.

1035 The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, "eternal fire."⁶¹⁷ The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.

1036 The affirmations of Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Church on the subject of hell are a call to the responsibility incumbent upon man to make use of his freedom in view of his eternal destiny. They are at the same time an urgent call to conversion: "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few."⁶¹⁸

Since we know neither the day nor the hour, we should follow the advice of the Lord and watch constantly so that, when the single course of our earthly life is completed, we may merit to enter with him into the marriage feast and be numbered among the blessed, and not, like the wicked and slothful servants, be ordered to depart into the eternal fire, into the outer darkness where "men will weep and gnash their teeth."⁶¹⁹

1037 God predestines no one to go to hell;⁶²⁰ for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end. In the Eucharistic liturgy and in the daily prayers of her faithful, the Church implores the mercy of God, who does not want "any to perish, but all to come to repentance":⁶²¹

Want to see how whacked out those Catholics are? Look at those Methodists?

In today's rant Candy lets us know that she didn't know anything much about Christianity until the age of 17, which means that while she was courting, marrying, modeling, moving, having children and becoming a computer whiz - she learned everything there was about the bible and church history - sorta

In today's screed she tells the reader she is not a Calvinist, and then she delves into her belief in predestination! I'm not an expert on either, but it sounds to me that her view has much in common with the Calvinist view. Feel free to opine on that!

And as I was reading the post I thought maybe the Catholics had dodged a bullet - but nope - she managed to jump from predestination and Calvinism to this:


God knows man's heart, and that man craves power. To be able to speak for God, is too much power for man to handle. Therefore, He gaves us His Written Word, to keep man, and his tendency to change things over time, in check. The Roman Catholic Church, which ignored much of the Bible from their church's beginning, became even more and more corrupt through the years, because of their not adhering to the Word of God. When churches stray from the Bible, then they start introducing false doctrine. Some churches, such as the Roman Catholic Church, claim that their teachings of man and traditions, hold equal validity to the Word of God. Yet, you'll find that where their traditions differ from the Bible, they choose to follow their traditions as the correct course. This is why such churches as the Methodist church now allow gay clergy, even though the Bible is crystal clear that that is not supposed to be. Traditions, or peer pressure, is taking presidence over the Word of God in many churches of various denominations.


Clearly somehow Candy never learned that the Methodists were never part of the Catholic Church. They were started in 1739 by John Wesley and came out of the Church of England. The Church of England of course broke with the Catholic Church when Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife and take a different queen! The Pope, adhering to you know, what the bible says, forbid the divorce and that was the beginning of the break up.

What Candy never gets back around to acknowledging is that the Catholic Church's true stand on homosexuality, which is very similar to her stand.

I found her post, and that paragraph in particular to be historically and theologically inaccurate and lacking focus. It is also misleading and rife with errors.

It's simply, more of the same.

Indulgences

I wrote an article on indulgences previously, due to requests. I see that Ten Reasons has a good indulgences post up right now. Rich discusses errors in a newspaper article. A good reminder that just because it is in the newspaper, doesn't mean that it is theologically correct.

Time after time . . .

A Pre-emptive post

Since it appears "someone" is impersonating other posters on Candy's com boxes (See below fraudulent posts by both someone claiming to be Catholicmom and Clare) I thought it should be prudent to say that you won't see me commenting in Candy's com boxes anytime in the near future. I have her e-mail address to contact her directly or I can just post here. So if "Elena" makes a comment with links either her or to mydomesticchurch.com, I assure you , it wasn't me! (and probably wasn't Kelly either!)


****************
I didn't think I'd ever find myself saying this, but I think your HMB Lite is a BRILLIANT idea. In fact, I plan to make one of my own.
CatholicMom | Homepage | 02.11.09 - 2:15 pm | #

Gravatar As you know, I did not write the above comment. I would appreciate your removal of the comment. But then again, I have come to the conclusion that you do seem to lack integrity so I am doubtful of any action to this request.
CatholicMom | 02.11.09 - 2:33 pm | #

Gravatar Candy, I am so sorry for the confusion yesterday. It won't happen again.
Clare | Homepage | 02.11.09 - 2:35 pm | #

Gravatar Catholic mom, I didn't know that you didn't write that comment. For not having writing it, you sure kept these two comments close together. The first "CatholicMom" posted her comment at 2:15, and then your comment was the very next one, posting at 2:33pm.

Just what kind of game are you playing here? Can't you just stop hating? Who knows? You may actually like me.
Candy | Homepage | 02.11.09 - 2:43 pm | #

Being Catholic doesn't condemn us!

The wise words of Candy Brauer in her com boxes:

BTW, CatholicMom - being Catholic never sent anyone to hell. Not being saved it what sends people to hell, whether they are Wiccans, Catholics, or "Christians."

Of course we've been telling her that for many, many months, but I'm glad to see the message may have actually been received.

There's more interesting stuff in the com boxes too about the eternal fate of Catholicmom's grandmother, and for some reason, Clare's nipples?

Candy you once told me that my nipples wouldnt fall off if I drank the kombucha three times a day, but now they have and I cant breast feed my baby!!!

Do you still believe what you said?
Clare | Homepage | 02.09.09 - 7:58 pm | #


Gravatar Candy
So if Catholic Moms grandmother had faith in Jesus, was baptised and her life bore the fruit of her faith in terms of good works, but she was a catholic, was she ( in your opinion) saved?
Clare | Homepage | 02.09.09 - 8:12 pm | #

Gravatar Do you want to see the e-mail (s) of support that I received from other Meez's that August 19, 2008 Meez gathering? I still have them.
CatholicMom | 02.09.09 - 8:16 pm | #

Gravatar Clare, I haven't the foggiest, and I don't understand what all this obsession over some stranger's grandma is about. If you want to know if someone is saved or not, read the Bible, and see if they matched up with what GOD says.

Don't ask me if someone is saved, look it up for yourself.
Candy | Homepage | 02.09.09 - 8:17 pm | #

Gravatar CatholicMom, we've been over this MANY times in the past several months.

You chose to misconstrew what I said, and have used it to slander me for several months. I've tried and tried and tried to clear it up with, but you will have none of it.

End of discussion. This happened several months ago. It's time to forget about it and move on.

Consider this lame discussion closed. :-?
Candy | Homepage | 02.09.09 - 8:18 pm | #

Of course Clare did not write any such thing and you can read about that here.

Of course Candy has changed my comments in the past before also. For a young woman she has a remarkably short memory too. You can read about that encounter here.


The folks at CIAL weigh in on this too.







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When they do something right, we say so!

A year or so ago I gave the Homeschool Blog Awards folks a lot of grief for linking to Candy's anti-Catholic crap on their front page.

So I'm going to give them some kudos today for inviting Darcy, a Catholic Homeschool Blogger to be one of their regular contributors.

And there's a bonus! If you have a blog and would like a makeover, head on over th the HSBA site and say hi to Darcy. Leave a comment and maybe win a prize!

One Newbie Revealed! Blog Makeover Give-Away. | The HSBA Post







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Prayers for Kelly!

In case you were wondering where my co-blogger hostess is -she is one of those millions of folks without electricity! She was able to shoot out an e-mail to me this morning.

Can you imagine, having little kids including a newborn and no electricity? So Prayers for Kelly and her family, particularly as tomorrow is Candlemas, would be very appreciated.