Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World Can You Ordain Yourself on a Desert Island? (And More Weird Questions)
9 snips
Aug 22, 2025 
Cy Kellett, host of Catholic Answers Live, joins for a lively exploration of the wildest listener questions. They tackle whether someone could ordain themselves on a deserted island and the implications for sacraments in such a scenario. The duo dives into the quirky concept of aerial toll booths in the afterlife and debates the rationality of Balaam's donkey. They also ponder deep theological questions about free will, divine incarnation in fictional worlds, and even canine intelligence, blending humor with thoughtful insights.
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Aerial Toll Houses As A Purgatorial Image
- Aerial toll houses are an Eastern Christian image for postmortem purification akin to purgatory, confronting souls with sins during their ascent to God.
- The imagery likely drew on Egyptian gate-and-monster afterlife traditions and differs from Western fire imagery rooted in Pauline texts.
Spock Mind‑Meld Thought Experiment Illustrates Culpability
- Jimmy compares sci-fi transport/mind-meld mishaps to real cases of brain injury and altered responsibility to illustrate moral culpability.
- He concludes that involuntary mental alteration preserves prior moral state, but new deliberate acts could still be sinful.
Do Not Self-Ordain In Emergencies
- You cannot self-ordain; only validly ordained ministers can confect sacraments that require priestly orders.
- Anyone can validly baptize and witness marriages in emergencies, so prioritize these sacraments if stranded.
Could a layperson on a desert island take on the role of a priest? It's time for more listener weird questions with Jimmy Akin and Cy Kellett of Catholic Answers Live, including topics like aerial toll booths in the afterlife, whether Balaam's donkey had a rational soul, whether God could have become incarnate as multiple races in Middle Earth, and more.