Calling all interested Catholic Apologists

[NilNisiTeDomine]

Hey all and God bless!

I must first thank and praise Almighty God for His awesome wisdom and Providence in designing reality thus. How awesome is He?

Anyway, I and a friend of mine are working on a huge project, in accord with a decree of Pope Gregory XVI, to demonstrate by reason alone all that can be demonstrated as true within the Catholic faith, and then from revelation, of course, demonstrating that all of God’s Revelation (Scripture, Tradition) points to the Roman Catholic Church as being the one true Church of Christ.

Something of a “Catholic Think Tank” was what I was looking for, and I would like to invite anyone and everyone who is interested, has some time on their hands, and has some knowledge or expertise (or would like to have some, or whatever) in this area.

And just as a personal side-note, this is very important to me. For the longest time recently, I had been really really deeply doubting all that I believed to be true, God’s existence, the knowability of reality, deep phiosophical truths, Christ’s divinity, et cetera, and such a project as this would really help not only me but also an agnostic friend of mine.

And I feel compelled to “test all things, hold fast to what is good,” (1 Thess. 5:21).

Please post if you are interested, and I will give further details from there.

Thank you in advance for whatever help you may be able to give and God bless you for the same!

In Christ,
Louis

 

[NilNisiTeDomine]

Well, I feel really…uh…should I have not asked the question I did? Sorry if I did something wrong. Yeah.

God bless!

In Christ,
Louis

 

[j_arden]

Louis,

I don’t think you did anything wrong but to say what you’re proposing is a “huge” task is a “huge” understatement. It is akin to setting out to take a picture of every house in the world to make a book about residential architecture. I’m not trying to discourage you at all, but I’ve found that starting small and working up gets more results than starting big and feeling overwhelmed. How about setting out the three faith issue you have the most pressing questions about and starting there? After that, take on three more. Repeat as needed!

• JP

PS. Also, which decree are you talking about?

 

[edwinG]

NilNisiTeDomine:

Hey all and God bless!

I must first thank and praise Almighty God for His awesome wisdom and Providence in designing reality thus. How awesome is He?

Anyway, I and a friend of mine are working on a huge project, in accord with a decree of Pope Gregory XVI, to demonstrate by reason alone all that can be demonstrated as true within the Catholic faith, and then from revelation, of course, demonstrating that all of God’s Revelation (Scripture, Tradition) points to the Roman Catholic Church as being the one true Church of Christ.

Something of a “Catholic Think Tank” was what I was looking for, and I would like to invite anyone and everyone who is interested, has some time on their hands, and has some knowledge or expertise (or would like to have some, or whatever) in this area.

And just as a personal side-note, this is very important to me. For the longest time recently, I had been really really deeply doubting all that I believed to be true, God’s existence, the knowability of reality, deep phiosophical truths, Christ’s divinity, et cetera, and such a project as this would really help not only me but also an agnostic friend of mine.

And I feel compelled to “test all things, hold fast to what is good,” (1 Thess. 5:21).

Please post if you are interested, and I will give further details from there.

Thank you in advance for whatever help you may be able to give and God bless you for the same!

In Christ,
Louis

Hi Louis,
I love your quote, 1Thess. 5:21
Your desire to follow this really sounds like the Holy Spirit working in you. What a blessing. Just keep praying for His help in your life and you will feel his prescence in your life and your faith will grow for each experience builds, one on top of another. Learn to trust in Him, believe Jesus Christ about Him, for He the Holy Spirit is your comfort and all things in Christ.
Christ be with youhttp://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon7.gif
walk in love
edwinG

 

[kepha1]

And just as a personal side-note, this is very important to me. For the longest time recently, I had been really really deeply doubting all that I believed to be true, God’s existence, the knowability of reality, deep phiosophical truths, Christ’s divinity, et cetera, and such a project as this would really help not only me but also an agnostic friend of mine.

Faith is a gift from God. Some people have a barrel full, some have a thimble full, but both are full nonetheless. Sometimes the intellectual approach works, or the philosophical approach, and some come to accept the teachings of the Church by the study of history, theology, the scriptures, Church Fathers, encyclicals, a death in the family or just a plain simple hunger for God.

Catholic faith appeals to reason, and is not afraid of the strictest scientific scrutiny. Catholic doctrines are true to human experience.

Most people who claim to be agnostic don’t know what agnostic means. It means they believe in God, but not any religion. What they are really saying is, I don’t believe in my understanding of your religion. If you question what an agnostic does not believe in, chances are you do not believe in such a god either, so you have to go with what they don’t believe in. They usually say things like, “Why does God allow do much suffering?” Or, “I don’t believe a loving God would create a hell”, and a list of similar distortions. To complicate matters, enter 450 years of revisionism and propaganda, compounded by a lifetime of prejudice. Even worse, having had parents that were Catholic by default, expecting schools to do their job instead of teaching the faith by example.

If you are going to pick apart documents from one pope from another time, keep in mind that it is wrong to take any encyclical or document out of its historical context, and out of context from the previous councils. You would end up ready for a Ph.D. should you complete your project and do it correctly. There are much easier ways to accomplish your real goals.

I’ll send you some files when I get home.

kepha1