Can you Defend your Faith

Can you defend your Catholic Faith?

Most of us Americans are aware of our short history. We understand the importance of the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and the Emancipation Proclamation, to name a few documents. We celebrate our freedom on July 4 every year. The Declaration of Independence is a monumental document written by Thomas Jefferson. Without memorizing it, we understand what its contents signify. However, there are factions today trying to undo, or re-write, these precious writings. The new woke community is trying to undermine what our Forefathers were trying to accomplish by separating themselves from British tyranny, and trying to re-interpret them to fit their agenda.

Likewise, many of us have been in situations where we have needed to defend our faith against members of different Non-Christian denominations. I have been in these situations many times. The first time came on a road rally when I was about 21 and starting to really dive into Catholicism. There were about six of us in this car and I was the only Catholic. During the couple hours in the car, questions were thrown at me and comments made, all friendly. I remember waking up the next morning ashamed at how poorly I represented my Church. Since that time, I have been doing my homework. I have had situations in the workplace as well. The conversations usually go something like this:

Non-Catholic: “The bible says this…”

Catholic: “The Church teaches this about that subject”

Non-Catholic: “Yes, but the bible clearly says this…”

It becomes a game of ping pong, with arguments just going back and forth. My approach is now to force my opponent /debater (I don’t use this word in a mean way) to answer questions.

Now, this ALL hinges on scriptural interpretation. Obviously, Jesus did NOT intend for everyone’s interpretation to be the correct one. He guaranteed freedom from error when He chose Peter as the head and told the Apostles that the gates of hell would not ever prevail over them. Remember, Matthew’s gospel relates how Jesus asked the Apostles who they though He was. It was Peter who answered correctly. Immediately afterwards, Jesus told Peter that is was the Holy Spirit Who allowed Peter to know this. This is a huge moment in the life of the Church because Jesus is telling them they are divinely guided.

 The fact that there are hundreds of different denominations shows us that Jesus did not intend for private interpretation.  It is the Catholic Church that has to defend herself constantly from “bible” Christians because they have NO concept of the history of Christianity. Subjects like Purgatory, the sacraments, and Mary are a sore spot.

 Before delving into my questions, I want to be clear about two topics: Mary and Authority. In my opinion, from studying converts and my personal debates, it is the Catholic Church’s teachings on Mary that keeps many people from becoming Catholic. They simply do not understand her role in all of this. That will be a topic of a future article.

I’ve read a number of conversion stories and watched many interviews with Marcus Grodi on his show The Journey Home, on EWTN. Grodi is himself a convert. He interviews converts or reverts to Catholicism. Many of the converts were hard core Evangelicals and/or ministers. It is by realizing the Catholic Church’s authority to teach what is does, that brings converts to our Church.

 So, some of my questions to my opponents/debaters are as follows:

 1)      From John’s gospel, If Jesus really meant that “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no life in you”, what should He have said that you would believe the Catholic teaching? This was virtually never debated until the Protestant Reformation. Now, the people walked away from Jesus because they did not understand what he was saying. If He meant it was only a symbol, he most certainly would have re-iterated that. A symbol of this sort does nothing for us. I posed this question to a Jehovah’s Witness and he said Jesus should have cut off his arm and fed it to the Apostles. He likened our teaching to cannibalism. Their denomination came into being in the 1870’s.

2)      If Jesus really meant that Mary is now our Spiritual Mother (he said this from the cross), what should he said that you would believe the Catholic teaching? While dying on the cross, he gave Mary to John (us) and gave John (us) to Mary. How do you think the woman in Revelation is who wears a crown? Mary has been honored by the Church for 2,000 years.

3)      If Jesus really meant that “Who’s sins you forgive they are forgiven”, what should he have said that you would believe the Catholic teaching? Remember, he gave this power to the Apostles. Catholics have been confessing their sins to a bishop or priest for 2,000 years.

  Even though the teaching of Papal infallibility did not formally become a doctrine of the Church in writing, in 1870, the Church has always been protected from doctrinal error.

 Debates do not have to be mean or nasty. They should be done in a caring way. St Peter’s letter tells us to be ready to defend our faith. I admire the love of scripture that our separated brethren have. More and more Catholics are joining bible study groups. The bible is a huge book and it is sometimes overwhelming, especially when delving into the Old Testament. The days of attacking each other are hopefully gone. We should all be able to discuss our faith in a civilized way.

I will leave you with this thought: The first book of the New Testament is Matthew’s gospel. The first thing discussed in his gospel is lineage.

God Bless,

Steven L Salter Sr.