Apologists Alert!

[zach_dunn]

Hello there! Someday I’d like to be a great apologist like all of you! Could you guys help me get started? Well, I kinda already got started, I got the Douay-Rheims Bible with Haydock Commentary. I heard it is a great study Bible, I started reading the Bible and commentary as I went along but after the commentary on the first verse of Genesis…I was lost. So if anyone can suggest Ideas for becoming a great apologist, that would be great.

 

[rpp]

Welcome to CAF!

Well, for one thing, get a Bible written in a style you can understand. While not perfect, the NAB is not bad. I have the bible you described, and I will say that the language style does take some getting used to.

The New Catholic Answer Bible (not to be confused with Catholic Answers, the sponsor of this forum) has excellent commentary and additional reading that is aimed at teaching people many different aspects of the Catholic faith. Get it here.

Now this series, which is produced by Catholic Answers, the sponsor of this forum, is very good. This is the Beginning Apologetics series by Jim Burnham and Father Frank Chacon. This is a series of short but easy to read books that cover specific topics. See it here. It is a good series. You do not have to get the entire series all at once.

Other, less expensive things include perusing the Catholic Answers library here on this web site. There are lots of great articles there and you can learn a great deal.

 

[rpp]

Oh, I would also strongly recommend this Bible Study.

A Quick Journey Through the Bible by Jeff Cavins. It is an abbreviated version of his awesome The Great Adventure: Bible Timeline, but much less expensive. You can get it here. I got the version on CD so I could play it in my car stereo or rip it to my iPod.

This is basically Bible history and it helps give you a historical foundation upon which all the teachings of the Church start to fit into a single homogeneous whole.

 

[zach_dunn]

Thank you so much! All that stuff looks really nice, but, buying anything isn’t really in the cards for me right now. I got this Bible for my seventeenth birthday this week. So, is there any good online articles that can help?

 

[jmcrae]

Make use of the New Advent library and also the library on this site (look up to the top of this page, and click on the links that you see there).

Read the writings of St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Justin the Martyr, St. Polycarp, and whatever else crosses your path while you’re reading those.

Your Bible probably has an index in the back that shows the various Sacraments of the Church, and other important traditions of the Church. Make good use of those (and any other study helps that you find there), as well.

Do get yourself a hard copy of the Catechism, and make good use of its index, and the footnotes, as well - everything in the footnotes can be found at New Advent; you may have to do some digging, and the notation system is easy enough to figure out - once you’ve hit the wrong thing a couple of times, you’ll know what each of the numbers are referring to.

 

[rpp]

Oh yes!!

Here at Catholic Answers, they have a great library of articles.
catholic.com/library.asp

Another web site, www.CatholicCulture.org has a huge library of articles. Check out this specific page on apologetics on their site.

www.askacatholic.com is a site of lay people dedicated to apologetics.

www.firstthings.com/ is an excellent resources and contains many timely articles. A great place to get good solid information on the Catholic Church.

Be very wary when looking at some “Catholic” sites. Some sites that claim to be Catholic actually have material that is not consistant, or is directly opposed to actual Catholic teachings. The Catholic Culture site fortunately reviews many web sites and publishes these reviews. Here is a link to the web site review home page.

 

[zach_dunn]

Thanks you guys!! I’ll get started on that right away!!

I have a question for every apologist on here, why’d you get into apologetics?

 

[rpp]

Thanks you guys!! I’ll get started on that right away!!

I have a question for every apologist on here, why’d you get into apologetics?

I’m a convert from atheism. (My conversion was sudden and miraculous.) My RCIA teacher was so bad, so poorly organized and so clearly dissented with many Church teachings I had to turn to other sources. I was gobbling up everything I could find. Then I discovered the whole apologetics thing and realized that was one of the best ways to learn about the faith.

 

[jmcrae]

Thanks you guys!! I’ll get started on that right away!!

I have a question for every apologist on here, why’d you get into apologetics?

Because the best way to learn something, and learn it well, is to attempt to teach it to someone else.

 

[zach_dunn]

Because the best way to learn something, and learn it well, is to attempt to teach it to someone else.

I agree…somewhat. I’ve tried but I ended up getting somewhat mocked I think. It’s not fun to try if you’re just going to get shot down in a not so gentle way.

 

[jmcrae]

I agree…somewhat. I’ve tried but I ended up getting somewhat mocked I think. [/qutoe]

Well, that’s why you want to study, isn’t it? So that you will know what you are talking about, and be able to back it up with solid evidence.

It’s not fun to try if you’re just going to get shot down in a not so gentle way.

 

[rpp]

zach dunn;4350428:

I agree…somewhat. I’ve tried but I ended up getting somewhat mocked I think. [/qutoe]

Well, that’s why you want to study, isn’t it? So that you will know what you are talking about, and be able to back it up with solid evidence.

Over time, you do

develop a fairly thick skin, and it doesn’t bother you as much. Just today, someone accused me of being a “hard-core Catholic” and it took me a while to realize that it was supposed to have been meant as an insult. :shrug:Awesome! I want to be “insulted” just like that!

 

[zach_dunn]

haha, I was just thinking that I am known to have somewhat of a thin skin covering me, it’s a curse I must live with. What really bothers me is trying to “teach” kids at school the truth. These kids really don’t know anything about their faith and I just get common or absurd beliefs thrown in my face.

 

[rpp]

haha, I was just thinking that I am known to have somewhat of a thin skin covering me, it’s a curse I must live with. What really bothers me is trying to “teach” kids at school the truth that really don’t know anything about their faith and just getting common beliefs thrown in my face.

Oftentimes it is better to live your faith. St Francis Assisi said that we are to preach at all times, and sometimes we use words.

Remember, the goal is not to convert someone right away. Rather the real purpose is to plant seeds. The ideas and seeds that you plant in your classmates may not sprout for years. And you may never know the positive influence your patient but diligent dedication to living your faith had on those around you until you gt to Heaven.

 

[zach_dunn]

I really hope I’ve had as much an influence as all of you have had on me!

I have taught somewhat, at least my one friend now knows that Catholics use the Bible, Catholicism is Christian, and Lutheranism was started by Martin Luther and not Martin Luther King Jr.

 

[Cactus]

A site with tons of free stuff to learn about and share the faith is:
biblechristiansociety.com/

 

[Todd_Easton]

If you have time, I would suggest that you start listening to the archived radio programs of Catholic Answers Live.

 

[Pax]

Apologetics takes a lot of time and dedication. Patiently go forward in prayer and humility. God’s grace will strengthen you as you move forward in this endeavor.

The rewards are not simply in what you will give to others. When you study the faith and scripture in prayer, the Lord will draw you closer to him. Let the fire of God’s love be enkindled within you so as to give greater glory to the Lord.

I will pray for your efforts.

 

[Michael_Francis]

Hello there! Someday I’d like to be a great apologist like all of you! Could you guys help me get started? Well, I kinda already got started, I got the Douay-Rheims Bible with Haydock Commentary. I heard it is a great study Bible, I started reading the Bible and commentary as I went along but after the commentary on the first verse of Genesis…I was lost. So if anyone can suggest Ideas for becoming a great apologist, that would be great.

BECOMING AN APOLOGIST: Advice from the CA staff

 

[graceandglory]

Thanks you guys!! I’ll get started on that right away!!

I have a question for every apologist on here, why’d you get into apologetics?

HI Zach! I’m not really an apologist. I just pretend to be when I’m posting at CAF.

When I was 21 in a “Catholic” university I heard about apologetics for the first time.

It seemed that all the Catholic kids were either drunk or sleeping with bf/gf, and the priests were either outspokenly gay or agnostic, so I started hanging around the protestant college fellowship. Those folks loved Jesus. That is where I learned about apologetics, but from a protestant viewpoint. I’m sure I asked the college leader the same question you are asking here. “How can I be an apologist?”

During my time at that “Catholic” university, I left the Catholic faith for a good Bible teaching Church where we loved God and did our best to follow His commands.

For nearly 20 years I studied apologetics. When you do that as a protestant for so long, it is inevitable that there will start being a lot of dead ends. Where the solid Bible teaching doesn’t match up with real life in any sola scriptural church.

That is when I started my conversion back to the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.

You are in a great place, young Zach. You are so blessed to know about Catholic answers. It is so important to know what we believe and why we believe it. I’m irritated that the only time I was spending thousands on a “Catholic” education, my theology professor/priest wasn’t even convinced of the truth of Catholicism.


Am I spelling apologetics correctly? It keeps coming up as a misspelled word. How funny for an apologetics website!