Back after an extended absence

Many of you have no doubt noticed nothing new on the blog for over a week. Last Wednesday I received a call from my brother informing me that my mother had passed away earlier that morning. I made arrangements to leave the following day so that I could be with my family and attend the funeral. I posted a notice in the HR of the discussion forum asking for their prayers, and I want to thank them for all the support they offered.

While at home I took advantage of several opportunities to talk to the members of my earthly family about the work of Christ and the Scriptures. As many of you know, my family is Roman Catholic. One such opportunity afforded to me was when the priest came to the house to make arrangements for the funeral. I was able to engage him in an extended conversation about the sufficiency of Scripture and Rome's claims to authority; about Rome's confusion on whether Jews and Muslims are already included in salvation, or are to be evangelized; and about a number of other issues. Both my dad and my sister were present, and I am thankful for that opportunity because they could see that the priest was not able to answer my questions. Afterwards, I had a "follow up" opportunity to speak in more depth on the issues with my sister.

I have much to do to get caught up now that I am back, including responding to a couple of blogs from the Counter Reformation group--though, I have to say, my heart is just not in it right now. I will post as I find time.