#11858 Ask Me Anything - Jim Blackburn

Questions Covered:  00:52 – The recent ruling regarding Medjugorje  05:09 – Why isn’t the Bible written in such a way that there isn’t wiggle room on moral topics?   13:07 – Can you explain the difference of the Greek and Aramaic word for “my Church” in Matthew 16:18?   19:42 – How can I respond to the Pope’s comment that all religions lead to God?  23:49 – How can I effectively Catechize my daughters without over complicating the faith?  30:26 – How late can you be to a Sunday Mass for it to be considered valid attendance?   33:55 – Do we get to meet our Guardian Angels in heaven?   35:42 – Why does a marriage need to be consummate in the Catholic church?  40:13 – How do we reconcile our free will with God’s omniscience?  43:14 – If Jesus and Mary’s bodies are in heaven, would other symbiotic organisms be with them?  49:40 – Can divorced Catholics be allowed to receive Holy Communion?  …

Questions Covered:  05:11 – Is it possible to do a group Reconciliation or is the individual way the best practice?  13:36 – Was the early Eucharist psychedelic?   18:25 – How can we verify the claims of the Papacy without falling on a dogmatic assertion?  29:03 – The Catholic Church killed William Tyndale for translating the Bible into English because they didn’t want anyone to have it.   31:39 – What is the difference between social and classical Trinitarianism?   34:03 – What can laity do for wayward souls?   45:58 – Can girls be altar servers?  49:41 – Can Saul pursuing David be viewed as a prefiguration to Saul, in the New Testament, persecuting Christians?   51:20 – Do you think action figures can be considered the modern-day idols referenced in Revelations 9:20?   …

Questions Covered: 02:37 – If God doesn’t hold people accountable for their ignorance, why should we evangelize?  08:19 – My husband had his first marriage annulled before marrying me. His father has told me that I’m “Carrying his [my husband’s] cross [first marriage].” Is he right?  17:25 – What is the message of Our Lady of La Salette?  20:24 – What is the standing of the gospel of the birth of Mary in the Catholic Church? Can it be read devotionally?  23:46 – Is grace better defined as “an empowering of our free will to do that which we think is good” rather than “obliging us to do good?”  32:00 – How is the next pope going to be chosen?  41:33 – Would my wife and I occupy the same place in heaven since we were so close in this life?  48:23 – How do you reconcile Jesus’ commands to love our enemies and turn the other cheek with him saying he came not to bring peace but division?  52:30 – What’s the difference Roman and Palmerian Catholics?  …

Questions Covered: 03:17 – Did the council of Jamnia exist? And if so, what came out of it?  07:45 – A Protestant told me we break the sabbath commandment in Exodus because we worship on Sunday instead of Saturday. How do I respond to that?  28:36 – Since Padre Pio’s stigmata allegedly disappeared as he died, could someone use that to argue that the saints’ intercessory abilities are diminished after they die?  34:47 – If someone commits a mortal sin, repents, but hasn’t gone to confession yet, what is the current state of their soul?  44:38 – What did Jesus mean by “Let the dead bury their dead”?  51:57 – Why are relics of the saints allowed to be distributed? …

Questions Covered: 06:15 – Do animals go to heaven? 22:00 – What are the rules on mixed marriages in Catholicism? 31:41 – Why is it wrong for parishioners to wear hats in Church even for medical reasons? 28:45 – What’s the Church’s response to the excessive self-flagellation especially in Latin America? 36:40 – How do we justify Mary being the Queen of all Christians? 41:55 – are there any spiritual ramifications to seeking medical attention from a Shriners hospital? 44:27 – Christ heals a man with mud he made with spit. And he had to do it twice for the person to be fully healed. Why was that detail included? 47:43 – My Baptist parents want me to be on birth control. Do I disobey them or go against the Church? 49:22 – Why aren’t the other 4 archangels in our canon anymore? Why aren’t they named? …

Questions Covered: 04:32 – What does the Church say about married who are on the way to converting and should they abstain from relations? 15:23 – My protestant friend believes that sexual relations make 2 people one flesh and equal spiritual ties. What is the Church’s role in annulment and divorces? 22:15 – I’m a convert. How do I address the lady on Rev 12 and my protestant friend who claim she is Israel? 31:48 – Does the Church teach we can be perfectly sinless on this side of heaven? 37:44 – How do we reconcile God being all good if he created the devil knowing he would end up evil or Adam and Eve falling? 45:08 – How does the Church know which saints have bodies in Revelation? …

Questions Covered: 05:48 – How does one rightly critique Marian devotion? 24:41 – Does the account of the Ethiopian eunuch disprove apostolic succession? 33:31 – Does Mary need a savior? 40:31 – How am I supposed to properly understand the title of Queen of Heaven in light of Jer. 7:17-18? 47:12 – Has anyone ever looked into what heaven is and the details? …

Questions Covered: 01:12 – Did fetal microchimerism have a part to play in Mary’s assumption? 06:10 – There is a practice where people fast during lent from one thing (food, vice.) Some people say that when you pray Sunday evening prayer 1 on Saturday, it is now Sunday where you feast and you don’t have to fast from your Lenten fast anymore. Is this a sound practice or should one only stop their Lenten fast on Sunday? 09:55 – Is it true that the ends never justify the means? It seems that this belief would prohibit things like war. A popular moral question is; If the nazis asked you where a Jewish family is hiding, isn’t it best to lie? How else can you respond? I haven’t heard you speak on this and I’m interested in your perspective 13:22 – Why do priests not get to marry? Doesn’t this lead some into sexual sin anyways when they harm children in the worst cases? God gave us a holy marriage between men and women for this purpose. Why? 19:14 – If the West believes in original sin, and the Eastern Orthodox believe in ancestral sin, where does that put Eastern Catholics? I spoke with one Eastern Catholic priest who said they affirm ancestral sin, but I thought in order to be Catholic you had to believe in original sin? 21:08 – Both are good, but is it better to know history or philosophy? Concerning Catholicism or life in general (your opinion). 23:15 – I have a question concerning canon 285.2 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law. It states: “Clerics are to avoid those things which, although not unbecoming, are nevertheless foreign to the clerical state.” Is the law thinking of any special area here? Could you give an example of something that is totally fine to do for a layperson but not for a priest? 31:09 – Do you like tooled leather? 32:12 – Can you explain Vicarious Satisfaction as taught by Aquinas vs. Penal Substitutionary Atonement and is Penal Substitution the foundation for salvation by Faith Alone? 36:52 – Kinda a silly question, but when Moses, Elijah, and other old testament characters “saw God,” did they see Jesus before He was sent from heaven and born unto the world through the Blessed Virgin Mary? Or did they actually see “God the Father?” 40:41 – You have previously critiqued the philosophical version of the Kalam argument because you believe God is capable of actualizing a universe with an infinite past.  Let’s take that for granted. It seems to me that an atheist cannot make such an appeal to support the possibility of an infinitely old universe. Therefore, could someone use the philosophical version of the Kalam as a sort of “internal critique” of the atheist worldview. One can say, “What you describe is impossible without divine omnipotence making it happen.” 44:39 – To what extent is the Catholic dogma of the Assumption of Mary a potential stumbling block to reunion with Eastern Orthodox churches?  I have heard that they believe something similar, called the Dormition of Mary, but I don’t know if the belief is uniform among all Eastern Orthodox churches, or if it’s exactly the same as the Assumption. 47:59 – Why did God not give us a mortal sin (or Grace) detector so we can know with certitude what we did was deadly or venial or simply a vice? 51:00 – What if a person had no faith all its life, just refused to believe and then gets dementia or alzheimers is there still hope for them to get to heaven 52:32 – Can you please contrast the passage from Luke 1:28 where the Angel Gabriel addresses Mary with the greeting “Hail, full of grace,” with the passage from Acts 6:8 (also authored by Luke) where Stephen is described as “full of grace.” …

Questions Covered: 02:59 – What are the implications of praying to a saint that may or may not have ever existed? Couldn’t this be dangerous/dubious in some way? I’m referring to saints that were probably local myths/legends. I take it you know some examples better than me since I’m a new Catholic.  06:23 – Are there other Marian beliefs beyond her Assumption and immaculate conception which the church could realistically issue as doctrines in the near future? Maybe even dogmas?  12:53 – Can Catholics play D&D? 14:27 – Will there be different happiness levels in heaven? For example if ones family didn’t make would they be less happy then if someone’s family did make it? 16:37 – What is “hyper papalism?” 18:09 – Does the Church currently teach that coeducation (especially of adolescents) is evil and are people dissenters for preferring it? 21:47 – The “lost” years of Jesus. Please. 28:49 – While Jesus was incarnate, how was he the creator of his contemporaries? (I’m cath., just looking to understand better). 31:21 – What does Mary’s assumption mean in context of resurrection? Why are some biblical figures resurrected and others are assumed to heaven (like the prophet Elijah), and what can we expect? I know that’s more than one question, but I also know you’ll come up with a succinct answer 33:53 – The topic of bulimia, anorexia, if eating disorders are sinful or not, are they signs of demonic oppression? How can one overcome them with the means of which the Church provides? Daily Mass isn’t possible unfortunately 36:37 – In Matthew 12, 1-8 Jesus is referring to a story from 1 Sam 21, 2-7. My question is, why is He talking about David and his companions (verse 3) eating the bread, when David was alone there talking with Achimelek? The young men David is talking about are not there with him, so they did not eat the bread with David. It seems that Jesus is wrong about the story He is referring to. I’d appreciate an answer to this, thanks for your work Jimmy 41:52 – How do I respond to a seventh day Adventist asking, If the soul survives beyond death, then why do you need Mary to be bodily assumed? I don’t know if I should approach this the same way I would approach this with any protestant or if I should deal with soul sleep and then use the same argument. Thank you God bless. 50:50 – I’ve been thinking about patron saints and would like to identify some for those suffering with schizophrenia and/or bipolar disorder. St. Dymphna is a good start, but are there any others? 52:14 – Doctrinal development in general… This is a core issue with my family members not accepting the Church. They will admit the Marian dogmas may be true, and don’t in principle reject them. They just can’t see why we should be compelled to accept them as “De Fide”. …

Questions Covered: 03:31 – How would you respond to Dr. James Madden’s objections to near death experiences? 12:15 – If I get to heaven, is Andrew the name he will call me by or will he have another name for me? 16:11 – How many pipes does Jimmy have? 17:25 – I’m a revert. How would I feel in heaven if a loved one wasn’t there? 20:42 – Do some textual variants within the New Testament be due to variants from different manuscripts? 23:41 – When will you go on a speaking tour and will you come to Mississippi? 28:54 – How do I respond to someone who says the keys in Mt 16 cannot be the singular key of authority mentioned in Rev 3 and Is 22? 33:55 – Do we have free will in heaven? 41:29 – Does the Church have a definitive teaching on what the sensory experience of purgatory will be like? 48:55 – I was baptized in a non-denominational church and am in OCIA. Where would I be salvation-wise right now if I were to die since I haven’t received any confession? 53:20 – Were all the 95 Theses of Martin Luther wrong? …