Can I get apologetics help on how to respond?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Sounds like she hardly understood the Faith she rejected. Also, lies are not from God. God would not tell two people to believe in two different faiths that have beliefs in direct contradiction to each other.
 

Can I get apologetics help on how to respond?​

Sure.

Objection: They pray to Mary

Scripture says that God’s will should be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And God wills that the Angels praise Mary:
Luke 1:26-28
King James Version (KJV)
26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
Click to expand...
Let’s break this down:

ANGEL GABRIEL
  1. an angel is a messenger of God. That is what the word, angel, means.
  2. this angel, Gabriel, is one of the four angels that stands before the throne of God.
WAS SENT FROM GOD
  1. God sent this angel to Mary.
  2. Since this angel is a messenger of God’s, God sent Him to deliver a message.
  3. Therefore, the angel was not speaking on his own, but was communicating God’s message to Mary.
  4. If we skip down to verse 28, we see that this was a message of praise (i.e. blessed art thou).
  5. Therefore God praised Mary through His Angel.
That is great praise indeed. Do you know of any man whose praise is worth more than God’s? In other words, what do you value more highly, the praise of man or the praise of God?

But, there’s more. God sent the Angel to do His Will. What is His Will. Obviously, God sent the Angel to deliver a message of praise. Therefore it is God’s will that the Angels praise Mary.

And there’s yet more. Because the Holy Spirit inspired a holy woman to exclaim, ""Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! "

still in:
Luke 1:41-45
King James Version (KJV)
41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: 42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
Click to expand...
Should we break this down?
  1. The Holy Spirit is God the Third Person of the Holy Trinity.
  2. Therefore, God inspired Elisabeth to praise Mary.
  3. This praise is inscribed in the Word of God for all generations.
  4. Since Elisabeth is a member of the human race, then it is safe to conclude that God wills that men praise Mary.
  5. And we find, again, that God praised Mary through His Saint. Saint Elisabeth praised Mary when she was inspired by the Holy Spirit to do so. That means that it is the Holy Spirit’s praise which she passed on. That is why Scripture is called the Word of God. Because it is inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Need we say more?
 
Objection: They pray to the Saints.
  1. Frequently, the objection is stated as “they pray to dead saints”.
I’ll answer that one first.

Matthew 22:32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

Therefore, there are not dead saints. All saints are alive in Christ.

John 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead , yet shall he live :

Therefore, we can communicate with them, through prayer.

The other objection I’ve encountered is that they consider prayer to be synonymous with worship. But prayer is not necessarily worship.

For a Catholic, to pray is to communicate with God or the Saints, our faith, our love, and our wants. So, we can say that prayer is communication.

Catholics and Protestants agree that prayer is an act of faith in God. An act of worship. But, for some strange reason, Protestants tend to give a word one meaning and deny the fact that most words have multiple meanings. Therefore they deny the fact that prayer has another very important definition. And it is still seen in books which are written in the ancient language. One of those is the King James Bible:

Luke 14:18And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.

Notice that in this verse, the word “pray” is used in the sense of petition, beseeching or begging. Notice also, that the prayer was addressed to another person. And this is the older sense of the word which the Church still recognizes.
 
I think I’m getting a sola scriptura vibe from the screenshotted message. And as we know, that’s never taught by Jesus in the Bible. 😉
 
Last edited:
Objection: Catholics believe they earn heaven.

Nope. We believe that God judges our faith by our works and that He determines whether we are worthy of heaven. In other words, that He decides whether we merit heaven.

Scripture says:

Matthew 10:38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

Notice how the righteous work of carrying our cross one of the litmus tests which God uses to determine whether we are worthy of being saved.

Luke 20:35 But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage:

Notice that only those whom God accounts as worthy, will enter heaven.

Romans 2:6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds: 7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: 8 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, 9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;

Notice that God will only grant eternal life to those who do good works.

Objection: Catholic confess to a priest.

This is commanded in Scripture.

2 Corinthians 5:19To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

Do you recognize the Confessional there? The Sacrament of Reconciliation. A priest representing Jesus Christ prays for you.

Hebrews 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

How about now? You are ordered to submit to a priest, because he takes account of your soul? Where does that happen? In the Confessional.
 
We can provide good answers to each of the objections she raised, and it may very well help to send them to her. But maybe one of the best things you could say is simply that the things that she sees as constraints, such as confession or going to Mass on Sunday, we see as gifts, and maybe she could see them that way too. You can explain why they are gifts to you. The intercession of the saints for us is a gift as well. You can say that just as she might ask her friends and family that she sees as being close to God to pray for her, we can ask those who we know are in Heaven and even closer to God to pray for us as well. You can also mention that Catholicism is not to believe we can earn our way to Heaven, as we cannot, but to believe that we can choose to either cooperate or not cooperate with grace. And it is by grace that we are saved. God bless you!
 
This person did not know or understand her faith well. You can try to break down her objections. I would tell her that the things she sees as “constraints” are amazing gifts from God.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top