Attacked because of my Catholic Faith

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rytx said:
Please help me with info and understanding on defending the Catholic Church regarding the Scandal. Thank You for your time.
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I do not think this is something that can be defended. Some very bad things happened by people in positions of authority in the Catholic Church.

That has no bearing on what we believe. One God. Became man. Died, buried, rose again on the third day.
 
rytx said:
At first I was open minded and I have always felt it’s good to hear the Word. I was aware of the possible anti Catholic rhetoric but I think it would get like this.
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I applaud you for attending the bible study, participating, & contributing with your beliefs.

& your witness. Stay strong, keep the faith & don’t hit anybody.
 
my experience in attending a number of catholic bible studys is dont go to one that doesnt have a good teaching priest. Ive been involved with very nice womens catholic book sharing groups but a lot of them dont know that much about the deeper teachings of their faith even the leaders sometimes. but its a fun experience and still the best people to hang around.
 
rytx said:
They do it so why can’t I? What goes around comes around. Or is not the proper way to go about it. The lead instructor for the Bible Study comes off as an Elitist and because I’m Catholic I’m not on the same path.
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Be careful here. When you hear an anti catholic speech, that may not be the best time to defend the faith…especially if it just leads to a shouting match. Better to wait until they are discussing a specific SDA doctrine that you know the catholic apologetic answer and calmly state what the catholic interpretation is and why. If that leads to them being defensive…let them. You still planted the correct interpretation into their mind. Often, the best tactic is to let them feel they’ve won some points but getting the catholic perspective in there. Some questions may come your way later and from unexpected sources. Patience usually wins the long game even at the loss of an inning or two.

Always be respectful of their comments, even the offensive ones. It makes you look better and thus Catholicism look better.
 
VonDerTann said:
One thing SDA is infamous for? Saying they’re not SDA.
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Do they really? Like I said earlier, I’ve only known one personally and he told us he was SDA. He never explained much beyond that, however. We had four Pathologists in our lab. The SDA one, a Mormon, a Jew and a Methodist. These are all some really smart people and I would have loved a good conversation about their various beliefs…but, they took the probably smarter path of never discussing their faiths 😇.

Why would an SDA not claim it? Is it better to sneak up on people and convert them before they know what they’re converting to? 😂
 
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rytx said:
Recently I have been attending a Bible Study my good friend hosts.
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You have to realize that when you attend another church or a meeting sponsored by another church, that they have every right to teach their point of view. It is their religion and it is their church and it is their meeting place. If they allow you to give responses to their arguments and you are OK with doing that, then fine. But if you find their teachings offensive or if they do not want your feedback as they present their POV, then your best bet might be to find a Catholic study group. It is only common sense that you should not disrupt their meetings or if you find their teachings offensive, you should find another study group which aligns with your beliefs.
 
They usually say they are Christian or Bible believing. I know many do not like to say they’re SDA. In fact when they accosted me they didn’t say they were SDA and I didn’t recognize them entirely until they brought up Saturday as the holy day.
 
The things is, we do not worship the statues, it is God who we remember when seeing the statues is the one we worship. When you build a statue of a national hero, it is the person not the material we remember. The statue (for me) is a thing that makes us remember God, or the Blessed Mother or the saints.
 
Wow! Deceptive much! I really think that’s playing dirty pool.

I often get a couple of women, or a woman and teen coming to my door trying to sell those discount packages for local businesses or selling some raffle type package for a youth group to go to DC…it varies…and when I ask what organization they are with, they hem and haw about it being a church group. Then, like pulling teeth, I ask which church. Finally, I’ll find it’s the JWs. Once it was some church name I’d never heard of! Since they obviously don’t want to tell me, I just say no, thanks! Now I’m suspicious if they were SDAs? Telling me it something “Church of our Savior” sure doesn’t tell me much if I’ve never heard the name.

How could you ever trust a group that hides information? Do they think it saves time? Does it make me feel like they are an honest group? Nope.
 
AINg. You’re right however my friend and host of the Bible Study invited me. I eventually told him that I would no longer attend the Bible Study and he is pretty much begging me to continue to go. I knew my friend followed a different denomination and he knew I was Catholic. We are long time good friends and I thought there would be some dialogue. He never said there couldn’t be any dialogue. I eventually found out the instructor didn’t like certain questions. She also didn’t bother to explain and go into detail regarding her views. Believe me I learned my lesson and I won’t ever make that mistake again. Another friend that could be a possible convert for them won’t go back unless I go and he’s there next door neighbor. My friend has been motivated to recruit but so far they’re not doing a very good job.
 
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I am cutting & pasting from a SDA site:

“Many people, even in our own ranks, accuse Seventh-day Adventists of being dishonest, when we cover up our church sign when holding evangelistic meetings. Often we drape a makeshift sign over the name “Seventh-day Adventist” with the speaker’s name, or the theme of the meetings. Maybe we start the meetings in a neutral meeting hall and announce later, after a few meetings, that we are Seventh-day Adventists. Why be so secretive? I have heard people say, “I am not ashamed to be an Adventist so why do I need to hide it?””
“Satan also told many lies about God’s remnant church. Many think we are a cult, or legalistic, so while being careful not to lie, some evangelists like to reveal that they are Adventists, after being given time to show that the Adventist church is a Bible based, Christian, compassionate church. It has nothing to do with being ashamed or deceptive. It is the same principle Jesus used when telling the demons not to tell who He was.”

–I translate that as exactly what I described above: They don’t tell you who they are, at first; they say they are “Bible based,” etc. I call it highly, highly deceptive. I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks that: The fact that a SDA site makes the admission that many even in their own ranks believe them to be deceptive shows you what you’re dealing with. The can spin it however they want - but it’s deceit.
 
VDT. Appreciate the info. I’m going to give my friend the benefit of the doubt on this one. At first I understood they were SDA. Then he was told they were not SDA and were Church of GOD ******, Seventh Day was left out. I did some research and found out on my own their particular denomination is Church of GOD (Seventh Day) ******. Like I said I don’t think my friend even knows the exact name of the Church. I think they’re doing things in good faith. They’re Great people but they’ve been fed some foolish nonsense regarding the Catholic Church. The lead instructor claims she has read the entire Bible and knows it well. She definitely speaks with much confidence. I don’t know if I should just blow this off or make an attempt to inform them regarding the questionable history of their denomination. The good that has come out of this for me is that they actually have strengthened my Catholic Faith. It back fired on them.
 
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rytx said:
don’t know if I just blow this off or make an attempt to inform them regarding the questionable history of their denomination.
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–Blow them off. Your efforts to inform them will IMHO likely backfire on you. You will not convince them.

These folks - like JWs; Mormons; whoever - have “higher authorities” they can call in “as needed.” You will NOT want to get into debates with them, in part since many of these folks are professionally trained apologists; slick presenters, etc, - and worst, they will simply lie.

Worse, the underlings will, with a smile, present these (false) authorities as “someone who can answer your questions better than we can,” etc., as if these “authorities” are friendly. They are not. They are there to convert you and, if you’re really sharp, to prevent their own underlings (your friends?) from being swayed BY YOU. These folks protect their own like they guard the PIN numbers to their own bank accounts. You will end up doubting your own faith.

In fact, if you think about it, the material I posted shows that even many SDAs themselves believe their own tactics are deceitful - yet they engage in them, over and over.

Look, sadly there are just too many anti-Catholic haters out there, particularly on the internet, and debating them is like nailing jello to a wall: You just can’t; you will be frustrated; they will eventually either i) slither away or ii) through their own tactics, slick presentations, etc., make you question your faith (which is in fact just what they want).

By far the best thing you can do is find groups of like-minded CATHOLICS who share your faith and whom you can grow in community with. But the SDAs? I’m sorry, you’re wasting your time with them. You’re ahead now; I’d quit with them while that’s still the case.

PS/EDIT: The higher you go in dealing with the SDAs, the more strident anti-Catholicism you will encounter. Your friends may be sincere. Those higher than them will not be. Real anti-Catholicism is very, very scary.
 
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A friend of mine once told me ‘they’re always trying to knock down Number One.’ I’m going to warn them because they are great people and friends, then I’ll drop it. Thanks…
 
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Interestingly enough, LOTS of people want to take out the top dog - which is Catholicism!

No sect of Christianity has the rich intellectual tradition and the fullness of faith as does Roman Catholicism (IMHO, the only faith that can really come close to matching the intellectualism of Catholicism is Judaism but that’s another thing entirely).

Good discussion! Getting late here so forgive me if I sign off.
 
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VonDerTann said:
PS/EDIT: The higher you go in dealing with the SDAs, the more strident anti-Catholicism you will encounter. Your friends may be sincere. Those higher than them will not be. Real anti-Catholicism is very, very scary.
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Sounds like you have experienced this kind of thing first hand. This is eye-opening for me. Thanks for sharing. I am sorry that happened to you and other Catholics. I never knew it was this bad, to be honest, but admittedly I am not Catholic so I have not lived the same experiences you have.

My limited exposure to SDA folks was someone trying to convince me a long time ago that I was worshiping on the wrong day of the week. I remember thinking it was odd for him to focus and fixate on that, as I have always believed that God wanted us to worship Him in spirit and in truth no matter what day we worship, and since Sunday was when my faith tradition met, that’s when I would attend, too. It was an “open and shut case” for me.
 
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Unfortunately I have to some extent, but others with far more authority than me have seen a lot worse. Karl Keating (who I think founded this site) wrote a great book, Catholicism and Fundamentalism, which (while obviously aimed to refute fundamentalists) details a lot of anti-Catholic apologia out there. I owned like 3 copies; kept lending them out; and kept never getting them returned to me.

I also recall hearing a really good talk by Scott Hahn (that I picked up on one of those $3 CDs you occasionally find in the back of church!) about how, IIRC as he was really thinking hard about converting, he got a severe “talking to” by a regional higher-up from his protestant church about how bad Catholicism was - but he caught the guy lying to him and called him out and the guy had no answer.
 
You’re Right. They can’t sell their Denomination so they have to Bad Mouth our Church in attempts to poach for followers. That’s a Pathetic recruiting pitch.
 
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