About a blogger…

Jimmy asked me to give you a few details about myself before jumping into blogging, so here goes:

  • I’m a convert to the faith from Seventh-Day Adventism.  You can read my conversion story here and here (the second item is a sidebar to the original story).
  • I’ve worked for Catholic Answers since 2000; I started as a staff apologist in 2003.  When the Catholic Answers Forums went live in May 2004, the apologetics staff began answering questions-and-answers on the site.  You can check them out here.
  • I don’t yet know what I’ll blog about, but my interests are eclectic so my blog bits probably will be too.

You’ll probably learn more about me and my interests as we go along.  In the meantime, thanks to Jimmy for his invitation to participate.  Stay tuned….

19 thoughts on “About a blogger…”

  5. Welcome Michelle. Jimmy has set very high standards on blogging, and we expect no less from you.
    (By standards, I am refering to frequency and word count,of course 😉

  6. Michelle,
    Hi there! I am looking forward to reading your posts. Don’t be intimidated just because Jimmy is, like, the best blogger ever! I have not yet read your conversion story, but look forward to that as well. It is amazing and wonderful to me to see the many different ways in which God reaches down in grace and brings people closer to Himself.
    Pax Christi-

  7. Michelle,
    You didn’t by chance go to UC San Diego, graduating around 1994, did you? It seems to me I knew a Michelle Arnold while I was there.

  11. Recently I received a Catholic news flyer in the mail, in which Michelle Arnold answered someones question regarding forgiving others who do not repent first for their sins. Michelles answer was very startling to say the least, and for which her reponse was… we are not obligated to forgive others who do not ask for forgiveness (paraphrasing here).
    Her teaching on this matter is extremely in conflict with what Christ Himself taught us to do. Christ taught us through His example and words. Christ forgave all those who were crucifying Him on the cross, despite the fact that the perpetrators were not asking for forgiveness while torturing Christ on the Cross. In fact, Christ said “forgive them Father, for they know not what they do”. Christ also instituted the Lord’s Prayer for us to pray, and in it, it clearly states that we must forgive others who tresspass against us, and does not state to wait for their repentence first!
    Anotherwords, we are instructed by God Himself to forgive others, even if the person who has sinned against us has not repented. We must also pray for their soul to come to repentence to God. Once we as good disciples of the Lord forgive others, and should they not repent, it is placed in Gods hands to work in the heart and mind of the one who has sinned. Only God can prompt and lead that person into repentence, should that persons free will desire it.
    By forgiving our tresspassers, we are obedient unto God’s instruction of us, and in return, we enjoy peace of mind (and forgiveness for ourselves)in doing so. This is the fundamental reason why I am at odds with the churches interpretation on the scripture that states “whatever you bind on earth is bound, etc..” Yes, I believe the church has misinterpreted Christ’s teachings here, because Christ said, we must forgive others! What Christ was referring to about binding and loosing… was in regards to the rules of the church to be followed… secular rules in order to prevent chaos in the church. He was not referring to spiritual fundamental matters about sin and confession, for Christ made Himself very clear about such in His teachings elsewhere!
    It just is not logical that Christ would tell Peter and others that you can hold back forgiveness for anyone/anything! If they do, Christ was clear in His teachings, that those who do not forgive, would also not be forgiven their tresspasses (including priests who have sinned!).
    Furthermore, although we are to confess our sins “to one another” as scriptures teach, only God can peer into the heartful intent of mankind, and know if an apology is sincere or not. A human (even a Godly priest) cannot! This is why we can confess our sins to anyone willing to listen… including priests, but not only priests! We especially must confess to those we offended! God will do the rest.
    I had to also laugh outloud one day, when I heard someone on Catholic radio tell the listeners that phone confessions are wrong, because the priest could not make a blessing over them of absolution when forgiving them! How so? For God Himself is not limited by space and time, and therefore, phone lines do not prevent the redemtive work of God! On the other hand, phone confessions are not the best, because of confidentiality matters, but if all parties are in agreement to such risk… then so be it!
    If you think I am Catholic bashing, YOU ARE DEAD WRONG! For I am a cradle Catholic ‘revert’, who is attacked everyday for my Catholic faith beliefs, and I do agree with the churh on all of them, except this one issue, for their teachings are contrary to what Christ taught on this matter! Other then that, I defend the faith staunchy, but should you or anyone else in the church label me a heretic for it, then so be it! For I will stand in the wilderness then, alone in Christ, for He is my high priest! Stone me if you will, but I will stand alone then in the persecution! for I answer to God, not mankind! Christ also loved the Temple, but stood alone when He condemned them for some of their false interpretations in teachings, and mostly because of their hardened hearts towards others!
    If the church begins straying from Christ’s teachings, then I have no choice but to resign from the church, and live the faith out in the wilderness, as Christ and His disciples did!
    I am also not attempting here to insult Ms. Arnold. I realize she is new to the faith teachings in the church, and is for the most part doing a very nice job. I do worry however, that until individuals follow all that Christ taught first, their apologist efforts are only in vain, and poor teachings hurt the church and divide it more than it is already. Worse though, is a non Catholic reading such words, and drawing up the conclusion that the Catholic church is confused!
    Yes, the Bible in the church is not the sole authority of teaching, and even scriptures point out that the pillar of truth is the church!, but we cannot just ignore Christ’s straightforward commands scripturally written either! jWhen the church pulls away from Christ’s teachings, it cannot be considered Christ’s church any longer. Even God’s Jewish chosen children, who represented the truth of God in the beginning, became less, when they turned against Christ (not all, but many Jews).
    There is also only one other matter I struggle with in church teachings, and that is how one can claim to be against abortion, yet a proponent of death by means of war, and or the death penalty!?
    Again, Jesus gave PERFECT example of not even defending ourselves with the sword, when He told Peter to put down his sword, after Peter sliced off the ear of the soldier in the garden! Jesus said, those who live by the sword will also die by the sword! So even in self defense, ALL KILLING IS WRONG, ACCORDING TO CHRIST! Is this a very difficult concept to fathom and adhere too? You bet it is, but those were the words of Christ. We are to be as meek lambs, and yes, lambs, like Christ, get persecuted and slaughtered often! But this is not our world, for our kingdom is on high! If we as a nation were all meek, and never fought in self defense, we surely would be taking over quickly by other countries, but Christ still was very stern on stating we are not to physically fight back! What we can and must do, is pray to God on high for our protection.
    The Catholic church is not the only one that teaches war/death in defense to be ok, all non Catholic churches teach the same, but they all fall short of what Christ taught. THIS IS ANOTHER REASON WHY CHRIST STATED… THE PATH TO HIS KINGDOM IS VERY NARROW! … ALMOST NOBODY FOLLOWS CHRIST’S TEACHINGS 100!
    It is also my prayer, that the Catholic church stop using the Eucharist as a weapon against others! Christ served the last supper to Judas too, even knowing that Judas would betray Christ! If anyone honestly takes communion while mocking God in his mind, then God will indeed deal with that individual harshly, just as He did Judas, and Judas hung himself too! and damned his own eternal soul forever.
    For the most part, it is difficult for me to think anyone who loves God, would take communion callously. Jesus also taught that when one does not receive communion, they have no life in them, so who is the church to withold anyone (even sincere God loving Protestants) from receiving the life of Christ in them!!!??? Their love for God, has nothing to do with the church instition and adopting the exact same dogma of beliefs, as long as the fundamental one is not denied by them, and that is THEIR LOVE AND BELIEF IN CHRIST JESUS, AND WHAT HE SAID ABOUT COMMUNION!
    The Catholic church is the first and true church, but only remains so, when they stick to the teachings of Christ. If they pull away again, then I will too. Their dogma is for the most part very correct, but without the Holy Ghost re-entering the church, the dogma remains mere and empty words.
    The church does need a revival of the Holy Ghost!
    Sorry many of you do not like to hear that, but it is true!
    Laugh at me, scold me, kick me out, but I won’t stop preaching this! With the Holy Ghost, as was evident in the first century of the church, the church will once again be the pillar of truth! Without it, you are nothing but a bunch of dead mens bones preaching into the wind, despite all your intellectual arguments!
    GOOD DAY, AND GOD BLESS!
    Thank you for reading.

  12. Concerned, if you will look in the Gospels when Peter asked Jesus about forgiving others, you will see that Jesus told him he must forgive his brother every time if his brother repents. (Sorry, I don’t have a Bible with me, so I can’t tell you the exact chapters and verses). Our Lord never said that we must forgive someone who does not repent. Even God does not force forgiveness on those who refuse to repent. He allows them freely to choose to go to Hell.

  13. Concerned-
    How many so-called Catholics have I heard say “I accept all the teachings of the Church… except THIS one!”.
    Sorry, it does not work that way. You either accept the authority of the Church, or you don’t.
    You don’t.

  14. I, too, was shocked to read Michelle’s answer that we are not required to forgive someone who has not repented. That is *not* true. We are required to forgive everyone. When you say the Lord’s Prayer, you don’t say, “as we forgive those who have repented of trespassing against us.” According to the Scriptures, we are to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us.
    As far as the forgiveness of God is concerned, God forgives anyone who repents, yes. But, in the parable of the Prodigal Son, it is the Father’s love that is in fact more “prodigal.” The Father forgave the son even *before* the son asked forgiveness. The Father was waiting for the son to come back home. The Father ran out to meet the son before the son even said he was sorry.
    God’s forgiveness is like that. He forgives us always, but it’s up to us to return to Him, as well. If we don’t return to Him, our relationship with Him is still dead. “This son of mine was dead and has come to life again” and “your brother was dead and has come to life again” (Luke 15:24, 32) And if our relationship is dead, we consign ourselves to hell. God doesn’t send us there, we send ourselves there. No one commits a mortal sin by accident. No one is in hell accidentally. God isn’t a punishing, vengeful dictator. God is love, the Scriptures say, and love desires love in return. God wants a love relationship with us; He is not a rapist and He will never force us to be in a relationship with us.

  15. In Matthew 6:15, Jesus says that “if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
    Here it appears that our heavenly Father’s forgiveness is conditional–not unconditional.

  17. Fr. Stephanos wrote:
    In Matthew 6:15, Jesus says that “if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
    Here it appears that our heavenly Father’s forgiveness is conditional–not unconditional.”
    Our Father is not refusing to forgive us. We are still sinning if we refuse to forgive others. Remember, the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and the *second* is like it–to love your neighbor as yourself. By refusing to forgive, we are refusing to love the neighbor with the same love that God offers us. That’s called sin.
    In any event, we can always find Scripture verses to agree with any point of view. So, what does the Catechism of the Catholic Church say? See 2842-2845 which begins with the part of the Lord’s prayer where we say “as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Paragraph 2844 says, “Christian prayer extends to the *forgiveness of enemies,* (emphasis in the original).

  18. “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and IF HE REPENTS, forgive him; and if he sins against you seven times, and says, ‘I repent’, you must forgive him.” (Luke 17, 3-4) I don’t seem to recall any Scripture wherein our Lord tells us we MUST forgive someone who does NOT repent.

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