Showing posts with label Trent Horn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trent Horn. Show all posts

Saturday, August 18, 2018

"I'm moving!" To a new blog...

Please remember that I am now at LeilaMiller.net and I am blogging there (slowly at first; hope to pick it up soon!)
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Howdy, friends!! Long time no see!

You all deserve an update, as this blog has been dormant since March of this year. Blogging became much more difficult than simply putting out Facebook posts, because I tend to be more of a perfectionist here. I feel I need to have fully developed thesis, perfect grammar, etc. Facebook moves more quickly, and thoughts can be shorter. It was a great relief, lots of fun, and the comments/conversations/connections were immediate and edifying.

But because the social media overlords are bringing the hammer down on social conservatives and censoring speech, I am finally kicking into gear a new website--and a blog attached to it--that I started long ago but have not introduced till now. The reasons I started it in the first place are super boring, but it was time to make a switch from the Bubble.

This new platform will be helpful, since I am in my second round of "Facebook jail" in the past week. I have a pretty good idea of who the folks were who had me "arrested," so pray for those unhappy souls. Seems that speaking the truths of the Church teaching on sexual morality can get one nailed for "hate speech" (and it's happened to me before, in 2012).

Ha!! I've got the best friends! They have my back... lol. 


[I learned just before posting this that they even had sweet Margo Basso--longtime friend of the Bubble--"jailed" as well!]

What I said in the two instances this week was factual, apropos to the current crimes and sins infesting our hierarchy, and contained a link to JosephSciambra.com (his blog a must read for anyone who wants to know how the "lavender mafia" has gotten such a foothold in Holy Mother Church and what its effects are).

Interestingly, what I wrote about homosexual acts was mild, mild, mild compared to what the saints have said about those sins. If St. Thomas Aquinas or St. Catherine of Siena or St. John Chrysostom (among many others) had a Facebook account, their words on the subject would get them banned for life--and likely arrested for "hate speech" in several American states and Canada!

We live in weird and yet exciting times, don't you agree?

Anyway, since Facebook has been my main platform for so long, and since I have been told that my next infraction will get me locked out of my own pages for seven days, with the following infraction getting me locked out of my Facebook pages forever, I am thinking ahead.

First, as I mentioned above, I am debuting a new website: LeilaMiller.net is the location, and there is a section of the site that is my new blogging space. My first post was on August 14, after my first (2018) Facebook incarceration.

Second, since I believe it's inevitable that I will be kicked out of Facebook completely, I have opened an account on the social networking platform, MeWe. Be sure to look for me if you sign up! More and more people are going that route, because they won't have to fear having their accounts censored or wiped out completely for being conservative.

Meanwhile, the Bubble will remain right here as an archive, and anyone will be able to access its articles at any time. Please continue to make use of it that way! But as for new writing, that's moving to the new blog, where you will also be able to keep track of my book projects, both completed and in progress. Currently, I have a book publishing through Catholic Answers next month, Made This Way: How to Prepare Kids to Face Today's Tough Moral Issues, co-written with the wonderful Trent Horn.




I am so happy to say that some great Catholics have already endorsed it (Matt and Cameron Fradd, Jason Evert, Dr. Robert P. George, Dr. Kevin Vost, Leila Lawler, Leah Darrow and more), and I am humbled beyond words to say that His Eminence, Robert Cardinal Sarah has endorsed it as well (as he did with Primal Loss: The Now-Adult Children of Divorce Speak). And yes, I freaked out just a little bit about that, again! He is a good and holy man, the kind we so desperately need more of in the College of Cardinals.



In more book news: 1) a follow-up to Primal Loss is in the works (focusing on stories of hope--marriages that have survived despite the odds, 2) a second expanded version of Raising Chaste Catholic Men has been published by Holy Heroes (make sure you don't accidentally get the older edition), and 3) another new book is begun and has found a publisher, but it is still under wraps, so I'm not saying a word about it right now. I'm extremely excited about it, though (I believe it is desperately needed), and I'll let you know more when I can! Ahhh! I thank you so much for your support, because my Bubble readers are the reason I started writing books. You guys are the best!!

Oh, and, expect minimal commenting at the new site, at least at first, because I am not allowing anonymous comments, and it's hard to get a new blog up and running (there is a place you can subscribe to it, to receive posts in your email). I don't expect it ever to reach the level of incredible commenting that happened here in the Bubble, because I'm not going to be as consistent a blogger, by a long shot! And the fun of the Bubble can't be recaptured or duplicated. But we all have to move on to new seasons...

See you at LeilaMiller.net, and on MeWe--and also on my Facebook page, for as long as the "progressive, inclusive, open-minded" Facebook totalitarians allow it!  ;)











Sunday, August 7, 2016

I've been waiting for decades for these two books to be written!



No joke -- I've wanted the knowledge that is in these books for so long, nicely consolidated for me and easily available on my bookshelf, and here they suddenly come on the heels of one another, written by my friends, Stacy Trasancos and Trent Horn, who are also friends of the Bubble!

You all are going to love this.

In my opinion, the toughest and most common questions (sometimes accusations) that we Catholics have to answer are questions of 1) reconciling faith and science, and 2) questions about the "hard sayings" of the Bible, including the "mean God" of the Old Testament and all the "inconsistencies and contradictions".

Dr. Stacy Trasancos' book, Particles of Faith: A Catholic Guide to Navigating Science tackles the question of faith and science. Written for for the average layman who may or may not have a background in science (I do not!), Stacy takes us first through her fascinating personal story, including her movement away from the Protestantism of her childhood and into a kind of religious indifference as she moved through her doctoral studies and career as a research chemist. Not without suffering, Stacy ultimately found her way to Catholicism and now occupies space on both sides of the science vs. faith debates, which makes her voice invaluable to all of us today.




The epiphany of how she personally reconciled faith and science is not what I expected, and I could never do it justice here. Expressed so intimately and beautifully, her perspective shuts down the erroneous idea that faith and science must constantly be fighting, and she describes this mystery in a way that only a brilliant scientist and a servant of God can. 

Some of the questions she breaks down and explains:

Can a Christian accept evolution? Does quantum mechanics explain free will? Does the Big Bang prove God? Are Creationism and Intelligent Design correct? When does human life begin? 

There are passages that describe the basics of the atomic world and points of chemistry that I found fascinating but didn't fully absorb (my brain really does not work spatially and scientifically), and that's okay. Skim or skip the technical explanations if you must, and you won't miss a beat. 

Aside from her personal journey ("A Story About the Chasm"), the most compelling part of the book for me was her explanation of the origins of man, specifically, how to reconcile what we know through scientific discovery with our belief in Adam and Eve, our first parents. I feel like I finally have a language for discussing the subject, and much more deeply and thoroughly than I had before.

If you have ever been confused or tongue-tied about how science and faith fit together, read Particles of Faith (available for pre-order now). If you are like me, you'll read it straight through and then keep coming back to it when you need it. I am so grateful to have it. 



I am also incredibly grateful for Trent Horn's Hard Sayings: A Catholic Approach to Answering Bible Difficulties. Trent is a writer, speaker, and radio host for Catholic Answers, and I'm not the only one who believes that he is the best Catholic apologist of our day. The man has a gift, people! 




Trent's book covers just about every biblical "hard saying" and misunderstanding you can imagine (and have likely been confronted with) and explains each one with incredible clarity. You will feel blissfully knowledgeable when you walk away from each chapter.

And it's all there:

Is the Old Testament just Bronze Age ignorance? What of legendary biblical creatures, mythical patriarchs, and bungled history? Aren't there 1001 internal contradictions in the Bible? Gospels that can't agree, conflicting advice, and contradictory names and numbers?

And what about all the evil? Isn't the Bible just evil? What of the bad role models, misogyny, bizarre laws, and cruel punishments? Doesn't the Bible (thus God) endorse slavery and genocide? And so much more, including the Catholic view of Scripture and whether or not the Bible has been corrupted.

Hard Sayings is that reference book that you'll return to time and again, sometimes for your own edification and knowledge, and sometimes when a particular question or accusation has been thrown your way.


We are so blessed to have these great minds using their gifts and talents to help the rest of us better understand and defend our Catholic Faith.

Thank you, Stacy and Trent!



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On a personal note, I apologize for the dearth of blog posts lately! Believe it or not, I have just today (finally!!) finished writing my book, Raising Chaste Catholic Men, and after I attend to the details of the publishing part of it, it should be ready by (please God) the end of this month. Meantime, I will be taking one of my sons off to his freshman year of college soon, at which point exactly half my children will have flown the coop. Sob! 

Thanks for bearing with me, thanks for any prayers you can spare, and I will be back in the saddle just as soon as I can!