Helping James Swan Do Research Part II: The Denial

James Swan has now responded to my previous post on baptism and exorcism. For a guy who has posted, or allowed his buddies to post, over 200 posts on Catholicism in the past few years, refuting its teachings on an average of four to five posts a month, you would think that he would understand the faith he is willfully rejecting on his public blog. Those are just the ones listed under Catholicism. There are numerous other remarks about the beliefs of Catholics littered throughout his posts. Now he claims that I am misrepresenting him in an unfair manner. He wrote,

Contrary to your latest blog article, I have never claimed to be an expert on Romanism. Search my blog if you will, you'll never find this. Also note, and you'll have to take my word for this, I have more Catholic websites saved in my favorites folder than Protestant. I tend to buy Catholic books as well- to the suspicion of many in my church.

I wrote this to point out, I'm not an expert, but I do my best to be a learner. Sure I have books that are written against Roman Catholicism, but I have more that are in favor of Roman Catholcism. I can't be accused of not seeking to find out what the other side is saying.

So Matthew, if you'd like to continue presenting a false picture of me that I claim to be an expert on Romanism, you will greatly diminsh the view I have of you.

Well let's take a stroll through with ghost of James Swan's past, shall we? Let's see what someone who is now claiming not to be an expert on Catholicism had to say about Catholicism in the past, and let the reader decide if my assessment is true. I didn't post every link to the posts, but you can just cut and paste them in the search engine of his blog and find them quite easily.

"I would argue that Rome, as it expresses herself in the decrees of Trent, does not teach the Gospel. This does not mean individual Roman Catholics are not Christians- I assume many are, this despite the official teachings of Rome."

"I am convinced the Roman Catholic Church denies the gospel, so I would never promote this author’s work in a church bookstore."

"I do not believe that the Roman Catholic Church preaches the Gospel, thus by extension, I do not agree with those who devote their lives to defending her."

"Right before the seminar, my wife leaned over to me and asked, “Are these people here our brothers and sisters in Christ?” I whispered back, “No…and maybe.” I said this because my opinion is that Rome denies the heart of the Gospel and so therefore does not officially teach the “Gospel.”

Would someone who does not even understand the basic Baptismal Rite of the Catholic Church be able to make such claims with any credibility? Would such a person who claims to know so much about the Council of Trent not know that the Council of Trent's teachings explain the exorcism before baptism in great detail? How can Swan tell us he is rejecting the Catholic faith based on Trent, and yet not even understand that the Rite of Baptism is preceded by an exorcism?

The infant is brought to the door of the church by the sponsors, where it is met by the priest. After the godparents have asked faith from the church of God in the child's name, the priest breathes upon its face and exorcises the evil spirit.

The Exorcism

The exorcism comes next in order. It consists of words of sacred and religious import and of prayers, and is used to expel the devil, to weaken and crush his power.

The Salt

To the exorcism are added other ceremonies, each of which, being mystical, has its own clear signification.

(Catechism of Trent)

Not only does Swan miss this, but he also misses it in the new Catechism.

1237 Since Baptism signifies liberation from sin and from its instigator the devil, one or more exorcisms are pronounced over the candidate.

James Swan quotes the Encyclopedia of the Catholic Church ad nauseum on his blog attempting to refute Catholics and their beliefs with it, yet it never occurred to him to read the section on Baptism to see what it is that he is vehemently rejecting. Let's quote from the favorite source of Swan.

The infant is brought to the door of the church by the sponsors, where it is met by the priest. After the godparents have asked faith from the Church of God in the child's name, the priest breathes upon its face and exorcises the evil spirit.

Swan, with his multitude of posts attempting to lead others to reject the Catholic Church, has to live up to the consequences of his actions. James Swan is telling people not to accept the Catholic faith. He is rejecting the Catholic faith as well as telling people that he understands the Council of Trent. He tells his readers that he rejects the Catholic Church based on the Council of Trent. Remember his quotes like, "In another words, even after Trent made its decree on Justification, Catholics were confused as to how to interpret it! He is so knowledgeable on Trent's doctrine, yet he does not even know about Trent's teaching on baptism. He quotes the Catholic Encyclopedia over and over again giving his readers the impression that he knows the Catholic faith, to which he devotes an incredible amount of time to, yet he doesn't read the Catholic Encyclopedia to even learn about the elementary teaching on baptism. Now he is upset that I am calling him on his self-proclaimed knowledge on the subject. Cry me a river.

I will leave you with this final quote by Mr. Swan to give you an idea on how highly Swan views his writings on Catholicism. All of these posts. It took him four hours to classify all of them for his readers, and yet he still does not understand the Catholic Baptismal Rite and teaching on baptism. This is an amazing feat indeed, being that this was like three years ago!

I was amazed by how many entries I’ve done on Roman Catholicism in this past year. I never think that I’ve written that much on anything except Martin Luther, but this link proves that I’ve done much more. Go ahead, give it a look. The page took about 4 hours to put together.

James Swan Sunday, November 26, 2006

PS. You can add another one to the list. He just posted another one on Predestination and Mary. We all have to wonder when he will learn his lesson. Oh well.