Contact-Czar

Patrick Vandapool of Denver, Colorado

Feel free to email me or leave a public comment below.

19 Responses to Contact-Czar

Barbara Johnson says:

June 7, 2011 at 1:38 pm

Patrick,
I just sent a friend request on facebook. You will see on my profile that I am a doctoral student at Regent University (a la’ Pat Robertson). Please don’t let that discourage you!!

Actually, during my exegetical studies, I reverted back to my Catholic faith (I had been away for 25 years, in evangelical, ‘bible churches’ for far too long!). I seriously don’t understand how any of my professors – one who is also an expert on St. Francis – could be anything other than Catholic. The very things they are teaching us about Jesus in relationship to his society point directly to Catholicism. One professor said specifically, “Jesus did not come to start a new religion – he came to fulfill the covenant to the Jews.” If so, where did all these fundamentalist ‘religionists’ come from?

Anyway, I am excited to be back Home. I spend lots of time reading serious stuff so your blog is just what I need to add a little levity to my life!

On a serious note, one of new favorite books is “Salvation Is from the Jews” by Schuemaker (sp?). I don’t have it in front of me so I am not 100% certain on the last name.

Barbara Johnson
Pat says:

June 7, 2011 at 5:19 pm

Thanks, Barbara. I’m happy you enjoy this crazy blog. I understand… I attended Fundy University too. I added an amazon link for the book you recommended.
Rachel Gohlman says:

September 17, 2011 at 5:51 pm

Hello, My name is Rachel Gohlman and I would like one of those “Anti-Catholicism is a tradition of men” bumper stickers. I am not getting trough to your email for some reason. Please respond to this message and I’ll keep checking to see if any response is here. I really don’t know how to do all this computer stuff.,

Thank you and God bless.
Patrick says:

September 17, 2011 at 6:05 pm

Rachel,
I just checked and it seems to be working. Try it again, thanks.
Patrick says:

September 17, 2011 at 6:45 pm

Rachel,
I got your address. Don’t know why it isn’t working for you–I received several today through the site. Oh well, your sticker is on the way. Thanks.
Pat
Jeff says:

September 17, 2011 at 8:19 pm

Hi Patrick, just a little confused by the numbers, perhaps you could clarify:

The Greek word for “works” is “ergon” (?????). In the New Testament, it is used a total of 31 times.
==============================
I looked it up in the nt and I actually found 161 verses using the word so I am not getting where you get this number.

==============================
If the word ????? is used in a negative sense, it is translated as “work” 10 times and as “deed” 7 times.

More revealing is…

If the word ????? is used in a positive sense, it is translated as “work” 0 (zero) times and and as “deed” 17 times.
==============================
The total above comes to 34 and not 31. So from 161 verses how are you getting 31 which actually ends up being 34?

Thanks for the clarification.
Patrick says:

September 17, 2011 at 9:21 pm

Jeff,

I completely understand why you needed to ask that question–Because I didn’t explain myself very well. Ergon is used 169 (161) times but not in this context. I’m using the NIV because NIV Christians seem to be the most common type of Protestant that I encounter.

What I did is go through each time and found that the the word is used AS EITHER work or deed AND used in a CONTEXT of “work” or “deed”, and not used in some neutral way. That cut the list down to 31 times (which I need to explain on the post). I should have spelled that out better. For example, if ergon translated as “activity” and means nothing to the topic of “work” or “deed” then I omitted it. Another example is that one cannot “work” a miracle and have it relate to the topic of works or deeds.

As for the 31 or 34… There are “four” categories that don’t need to add up to 31: positive, negative, work, deed. This is all off the cuff–I want to look for my notes and be able to itemize every verse and show how/why I included or omitted them. I added a note at the end of the post, but you’ve motivated me to make a spreadsheet clearly showing each usage–I hope to get to that sooner than later.

Also, if you come back, I may move these comments to the post instead of having them here on the contact page.

Thanks for the motivation to clarify the post–something I do want to do!
Pat
Andy says:

October 22, 2011 at 10:00 am

Patrick, I love your blog posts. You’ve got a great sense of sarcastic humor, are spot on with addressing the absurdity that makes up Fundamentalism, and a wealth of information.

I’m also astounded that there is someone else that’s come to similar conclusions about the separated brethren being Docetists. I had been doing research on 1 Corinthians 10 and 11, preparing for commentary for Adult Education, and just kept pushing until it hit me that Protestants all engage in some weird variant of Docetism with regards to the Holy Eucharist (some more than others). To make sure I hadn’t snapped and gone off the deep end in my anti-Fundie zeal, I google searched, and lo and behold, I found your awesome blog! To be honest, I hadn’t even really considered scriptural or ecclesial docetism until I read your post on the “Icky Docetistic Residue” post, but it makes sense.

Having read some of your other stuff, especially on nut Fundies who post anti-Catholic drivel on the Blaze.com, I can certainly tell you, you’ve got them pegged for the kooks that they are. (My Blaze handle is ChristianLayman by the way). I’m not sure who’s worse: the heretics or the heathens! The argumentation and thought processes of New Atheists seem to be similar to those of Fundies, but it’s slighlty inverted for the only saving grace that Fundamentalists have is that they have just enough sense to know that there’s a God!

Anyways, great site! I look forward to your next post!

In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
Patrick says:

October 22, 2011 at 1:28 pm

Andy,
Thanks. I don’t have “zeal against” Fundamentalists, but I do have zeal for being reasonable. Therefore, it only appears that I am anti-Fundamentalist/Protestant.

Called to Communion (I believe) had an article on ecclesial docetism about a year ago if you’re still interested in that topic. I can’t even handle the Beck website anymore–the commenters are mostly illiterate and astoundingly stupid.

Thanks again!
James Rogers says:

December 20, 2011 at 12:19 pm

Patrick -
I just stubbled across your blog today. Thus far I am enjoying the content and I am looking forward to reading more. Keep up the good work and please send me one of those bumper stickers. There are lots of “Good Ol’ Boy” Fundamentalists here in Arkansas and every once in a while I like to shake them up a bit.

Thank you!
Pax vobiscum!
Patrick says:

December 20, 2011 at 12:21 pm

James,
Thanks. I’d love to send you a sticker, but you’ll need to zap me your address. I was actually “one of them good ol’ boys” for a little while–I went to Harding University for year.
jim says:

December 21, 2011 at 11:37 am

Patrick: I stumbled upon your blog via the National Catholic Register. How refreshing it is to have a kindred spirit! Sometimes I feel alone in my complete and total acceptance of the infallible teachings of Holy Mother Church. I am a convert (1993) from the Methodist heresy and I am on total fire for Christ and His True Church. Finding your blog was an absolute blessing and I thank God for you and all the others out there who aren’t afraid to stand up and shout the Truth to cafeteria “Catholics” and protestants alike. You are serving the Lord and His Bride in this blogging vocation of yours. Keep it up and I will keep you in my prayers!
Patrick says:

December 21, 2011 at 12:26 pm

Jim,
I needed that today, thanks! Glad you’re home.
Buster says:

January 3, 2012 at 11:56 am

Thought this might be interesting:

http://englishrussia.com/2011/11/18/declassified-bunker-of-the-ussr/
Patrick says:

January 3, 2012 at 12:44 pm

Buster,
That’s a fascinating site!
Carlos Carrasco says:

January 28, 2012 at 12:30 pm

I love your blog as well as A of A’s and will check out more of your comrades. I will be converting to Catholicism by Easter and, perhaps because of the zealotry that comes with conversion, I can’t get enough of the Church. Chesterton said the Church was bigger on the inside than She was on the outside. I would add more beautiful too, as my view from the doorway readily shows. Blogs such as yours have become staples in my spiritual feasting. They are part of the dessert tray. Deliciously delightful. Encyclicals and tomes like The Summa are the meat & taters!

I too have a blog,of sorts. It is dedicated to the serialization of my novel, THE OMEGA CRUSADE.
Check it out at your convenience at: theomegacrusade.blogspot.com Hopefully it will one day be ranked among your comrades. Until then, I will figure out how to create a ‘comrade-like’ list of bloggers to promote on my site.

Vaya con Dios!
Patrick Vandapool says:

January 28, 2012 at 1:36 pm

Welcome home, Carlos! Thanks for enjoying this site. Your blog idea, being around a novel, is… novel! It’s a neat idea and I’ll take a look at it.
Carlos Carrasco says:

February 7, 2012 at 12:06 pm

Mucho Thanks for the shout out on your site! The novel will be serialized for free but eventually it will also be available for sale through Kindle & Amazon for those who would like to own it. It’s not just a novel, it’s also an experiment in publishing.

Keep The Faith!

God bless you.
Patrick Vandapool says:

February 7, 2012 at 12:42 pm

Best of luck to you, Carlos!