Episodes

This was the 13th episode of Considering Catholicism, back in 2022. Since then, the challenges to a biblical and Catholic understanding of the human person and the resurrection have grown more dramatic. In 2024, the United States Government declared March 31, Easter, to be "Transgender Visibility Day." Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

In Genesis chapter 11, the story widens to encompass the peoples, tribes, nations, and languages that make up human history. And we begin to understand that God's plan of salvation will involve one small tribe, one chosen nation, through which he will bless the whole world. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

A 19-year old listener named "Kate" has been investigating and considering Catholicism. But she is facing harsh resistance and rejection from her Protestant friends and family who argue that Catholicism is a false Christianity and she is falling for an unbiblical religion. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

A 19-year old listener named "Kate" has been investigating and considering Catholicism. But as she discusses and debates with her Protestant friends and family, she still wrestles with an important question: how do we know that the Catholic Church is the original Church that Jesus established, instead of a distortion what Jesus intended? Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

Almost everyone has heard of Noah's Ark, usually in Sunday School or children's bibles. But it's a very adult story that looks back to the Fall, establishes covenants with all mankind, and points forward to our salvation in Christ and his Church, the "new ark" of Peter. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

A young listener named Caiden wrote in to ask about the medieval Catholic religious military orders (like the Knights Templar) that fought in the Crusades. In the previous episode (#197), Greg and Cory discussed the medieval Catholic society that produced these orders, and in this episode, they get to specifics. Here’s our previous episodes on the Crusades: The Crusades (#157). Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email...

A listener asked about the medieval military religious orders; Catholic warrior monks like the Knights Templar that fought in the Crusades. To answer the question, Greg and Cory begin by exploring the Catholic society that produced them. Here’s our previous episodes on the Crusades: The Crusades (#157). Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

In Genesis 4, we see Adam and Eve, exiled from Eden. They begin their family, the human family, by having two boys, Cain and Abel. And the first death in human history isn't from old age or being stepped on by a Wooly Mammoth, it is a murder. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

Our culture says that it values equality and democracy, but is really obsessed with functionality and power structures. Catholicism, on the other hand, presumes a sacred ordering of things. Why? Greg and Ed discuss hierarchy and ask whether we need more of it. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

A listener wrote in to share her journey from Wicca to full-blown Satanism, under the patronage of demons, to Catholicism, to entering the Church through the RCIA process. She also mentions that Ed and Greg's conversations on this show were helpful to her along the way. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

In Genesis 3, we learn how mankind fell from grace when Adam and Eve, tempted by the serpent, disobeyed God and ate fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil... and how they took the world down with them. But while the Fall brought death and decay, God responded with the promise and prophecy of a day when all will be made right again. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.c...

Before 1517, Christians imagined the universe as "enchanted," full of mystery, wonder, and awe. But the Protestant Reformation reduced Christianity to Bible study, the spiritual transaction of "accepting Jesus," and grateful obedience to God's law. The mysteries of the faith were intellectualized, spiritualized, and sanitized. Greg and Ed the Protestant discuss how Catholicism preserves the "mystical" quality of biblical Christianity and the faith as it was practiced for 1500 years. Support thi...

Why is Catholicism more "mystical" in character and practice than Protestantism or Evangelicalism? And why does the Catholic Church refer to the sacraments as "mysteries of the faith?" A protestant evangelical listener named Doug asked why his evangelical friends speak of "accepting Jesus" as a mystical transformation but act as if after that, nothing "mystical" ever happens in the church or life of the Christian. Greg and Ed the Protestant discuss the biblical roots of the mystical nature of th...

Genesis chapter 2 tells the story of the creation of Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, and Adam’s work. And we’ll see why mankind’s two genders, male and female, are an essential part of the image of God in man. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

We begin a study of the Book of Genesis with the creation of the cosmos and what the Bible and the Catholic Church tell us about how God brought it about. Greg unpacks the first chapter of Genesis, the six days of God's creative work, and the seventh day of rest. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

Why is Mary sometimes called the "Star of the Sea?" And why are statues of her sometimes even more prominent than statues of Jesus in Catholic Churches? A listener recently visited a beautiful, historic Catholic church in Duluth, Minnesota, but was puzzled by one of its architectural features, so he emailed Greg to ask. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

Most people today don't think that the Bible makes much sense. Even Christians who respect it as God's Word struggle to explain it. In this episode, Greg unpacks the big story that the Bible tells: it's bookends, it's plot, and it's central point. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

Ed the Protestant returns to ask Greg about the differences between Protestant pastors and Catholic priests. In Part 2, they explore what a Catholic priest is, and how priests differ from Protestant ministers or pastors. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

Ed the Protestant returns to ask Greg about the differences between Protestant pastors and Catholic priests. In Part 1, they explore how much contemporary evangelical Protestantism revolves around the personality of the pastor rather than doctrine and sacraments. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

How does someone officially enter the Catholic Church, so they become eligible for the Eucharist and other sacraments? Former guest Angie Griffith (episodes #164-165) rejoins us to share her experience of joining the Catholic Church through the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) program, which is something like the Church's "new members class." [Note: it's being rebranded by the Church as OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation for Adults).] If you're interested in Angie's podcast or th...

Last year, Ed the Protestant asked Greg why Catholics make such a big deal out of Lent. In this re-released episode, Greg explains the liturgical season of "Quadragesima," Latin for "40 Days," which in Old English English came to be known as "Lent." Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

In the last of a series of episodes about marriage, guest Carla Niziolek explains the process by which the Catholic Church considers declaring that a valid sacrament of matrimony never occurred, leaving the parties free to remarry. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

In the third of a series of episodes about marriage, guest Carla Niziolek explains the various grounds the Catholic Church considers to declare that a valid sacrament of matrimony never occurred, leaving the parties free to remarry. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

In the second of a series of episodes about marriage, Greg and Cory take on some common myths about Catholic sacrament of holy matrimony. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com