Catholic Answers for Protestant Questions

[peace2u2]

Hello all!

 I KNOW these have probably been asked to death...but I was having a bit of trouble finding answers that were really what I was looking for while looking at the site(If I DID miss them, however, please point me to them)

 I have a Protestant friend who asks a great deal of questions(Not that that's a bad thing in the slightest) But I was only received at the last Easter Vigil. While I went through RCIA, there are still some parts I can't explain well. I understand and believe them, but fail when it comes to words.

So, I’d like to ask the following questions:

 What is a good way of defining Real Presence? I understand the concept, but when I attempt to explain I make it sound symbolic or cannibalistic.

 Why does the Greek Orthodox Bible have 4 more books than the Roman Catholic Bible?

 Where can I obtain valid historic texts that show when the "Extra books" were taken out?

 What is Sacred Tradition, and how does it add to Scripture?

 What is a good analogy for Purgatory?

 How was Mary Holy?

I (Think) I know some of these already, but I’d HATE to give misinformation. Thank you all so much in advance.

Here are hopefully a few good ways of explaning the Real Presence of Jesus in The Eucharist:

First, the bread and wine remain just that before, during and after consecration and even if you put the host and drop of wine under a microscope and performed a scientific test on them, the test would still say bread and wine.

But what changes is the “essence” or the “substance” of the bread and wine. When the Catholic Priest, thru the power Jesus Christ has given him by his validated ordination into Christ’s Priestly Ministry, the bread and wine are now the whole Christ, the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus without changing the appearance of the bread or wine, hence Transubstantiation.

Second, His Real Presence is in the bread and wine because He said so. Jesus says, “This is my Body” and “This is my Blood”. Is not His Word good enough to believe. Why believe some things and not all of what He says is Truth? Read John Chapter 6. Unfortunately, this was a hard teaching for some and Jesus lost followers that day and still today people have a hard time with this teaching.

Also, we have to remember that Jesus can do anything. Jesus can appear under any form and in any form that He wants to. He really is that powerful. If your friend can believe in Jesus’ Resurrection than why is His Real Presence in The Eucharist such a diffiult thing to grasp?

I believe that this is a matter of faith. There is no other way. Faith is a gift from God and perhaps your friend could go to The Catholic Church and pray before Jesus in the Tabernacle or if you could find a Benediction or Adoration service and pray for God to open his mind and heart to all that God would like to reveal to him specifically the Real Presence of Jesus in The Eucharist.

You might even want to remind your friend that Jesus left us visible signs of Himself in The Sacraments of the Catholic Church as a sign of His love and care for us. Visible signs to help us to continue to believe in Him. These Sacraments are outward signs that give inward grace or holiness to our souls and Jesus instituted all of the 7 Sacraments.

The following link might be helpful to your friend as well. Good luck and Peace

therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/lanciano.html

 

[boeck249]

remember we receive the body and blood of the risen lord not the slain lord. the glorified body of Christ not the mortal body.

 

[zz912]

^in response to “why is Mary holy”

But Jesus was the only sinless human (who is also fully God and man), wasn’t he? Can someone please explain why Mary is holy? Where in the bible does it say that?

God’s messenger, the angel Gabriel says to Mary, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with thee.” Note the next verse. Mary is troubled by what he said, and wonders what sort of greeting this is. Why? Well because first, the acclamation of “Hail” is used reserved to royalty, as a greeting to them when they return home. Next he calls her “full of grace”. God’s messenger calls her FULL of God’s saving grace. And the original word used indicates a situation that is continuously in effect from past to present. She was ALREADY full of grace before the angel appeared.

Now if you want to dig deeper, begin to read the Bible more, specifically regarding the Ark of the Old Covenant. The ark held the Ten Commandments (God’s Word), manna from the desert (Bread from Heaven), and Aaron’s staff (the High Priestly authority). You will see that all three are foreshadows to Jesus, who is God’s Word, the Bread of Heaven, and the High Priest. Mary was the Ark of the New Covenant. Look to how holy the Ark of the Old Covenant was, and how it was reverred and honored by God’s chosen people in the Old Covenant/Testament. We are to honor and respect His perfect Ark in the New Covenant/Testament.

Also…If the church was intended to be the authority on earth then why did God allow the protestants to form?

The same reason that all heretical beliefs have formed. Pride and free will. God allows us to decide to follow our will, or His. Read up a bit on the how many heresies there were in the early Church and how tough it was for the Church to finally win out over them. It took centuries of arguing, debating and opposition to finally overcome the Arian heresy alone.

While the bible was pulled together (as pablope says) for the purpose of being used as literagy the individual books were written BEFORE the Catholic or orthodox church’s formed (Old testiment: before Jesus even came New testiment:when it was still the early church) so shouldn’t they be the higher authority?

Well did God say that? I remember Jesus saying that He would build His Church upon Peter, and I remember Jesus saying that “he who hears you, hears Me”. And the Bible says that the Church is the pillar and foundation of the truth, not the Bible.

The Catholic Church was born at Pentecost in AD33, before any books of the NT were written. The NT is a product of the Catholic Church.

The bible is from God while the church is man’s institution blessed by God.

That’s not what God said. Jesus said HE would build His Church upon St. Peter. That is NOT a manmade institution.

Your salvation has to do with your personal relationship with God and not what church you belong to;

Where does the Bible say this? The Bible actually says that we are all called to be part of His family, part of His Body. That we are to be incorporated into Him. And attacking His Body (the Church) is attacking Him (as He told St. Paul.) Our salvation and relationship with God is personal AND communal.

And Jesus built ONE Church. I’d say it was pretty important if you were part of His Church or not.

fellowship with other beleivers was meant to strengthen your faith not be the defining factor which would be the case if the church held the ultimate authority from God (which would mean that the whole meaning behind the curtain in the temple being torn when Jesus died is neglegent because we still cannot go DIRECTLY to God, we would have to go through the Church just like the Jews went through their preists).

The Catholic Church is His Body. When you come to the Church, you are coming directly to Christ. In fact He gave as His supreme gift the Holy Eucharist, His actual Body and Blood, that we could partake of it and become part of His Body, literally. He gave this gift to His Church.

God uses the church to do his will but the ultimate authority on Earth exists through the Holy Spirit, that lives within us, which allows us to discern and has given us the bible (and allowed those who chose the books in the bible to discern which were the ones God wanted in the bible).

Did Jesus promise that the Holy Spirit would guide each Christian INDIVIDUALLY to the truth, or did He promise that the Holy Spirit would guide the Church to all truth?

In short- I dont see how the church can have a higher authority than the bible.

The Church has to have AT LEAST the same authority as the Bible. Because the Bible doesn’t tell us what books belong in the Bible. The Catholic Church does. And you cannot confer a higher authority than what you hold. The Church proclaims that the 73 books of the Bible are God’s word, and are inerrant. The Church cannot make this proclamation if it did not have infallible authority to proclaim it.