Catholic apologists wanted - help :)

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PaulF2

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Hi guys,

I’m a Catholic apologist (amateur) having a go at it on a certain forum with the hardest of the hard-core fundamentalists: “the Pope is the antichrist” and all of that incredible nonsense.

I am the only Catholic there (putting it mildly) and have spent every free moment of my last two evenings at it.

I don’t want to give up the battle but would appreciate some assistance from anyone with the time.

Here are the two threads:

(Edited to remove links)

The forum doesn’t really restrict registration but there is a delay of about a day or so usually (for me & my wife anyway).

Thanks in advance and God bless!
 
As soon as I find time I’ll try to help. I often find myself in the same situation, and I’m invovled in discussion with serveral such people via email currently.
 
Here’s how to win the battle: Use Scripture. Just Scripture. Use the English, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew translations. If you can get a Catholic who knows Aramaic, that would be better, because Jesus and His Apostles spoke Aramaic. (Aramaic isn’t a dead language, btw)
 
PaulF2 said:
Hi guys,

I’m a Catholic apologist (amateur) having a go at it on a certain forum with the hardest of the hard-core fundamentalists: “the Pope is the antichrist” and all of that incredible nonsense.
Click to expand...

They have a point - up to a point. But then some who hold that view wreck their case by using weird arguments. If the Pope or Popes is or are the AC or ACs, the only way to argue the case is to stick to the Bible.​

I am the only Catholic there (putting it mildly) and have spent every free moment of my last two evenings at it.

I don’t want to give up the battle but would appreciate some assistance from anyone with the time.

Here are the two threads:

(Edited to remove links)

The forum doesn’t really restrict registration but there is a delay of about a day or so usually (for me & my wife anyway).

Thanks in advance and God bless!
Click to expand...

Some of those remarks in the second of those threads are fair enough. Any credible Catholic reply will have to account for the problems in the Catholic position. Such as the lack, in the ancient sources, of anything that looks like (say) papal infallibility. Recalling the fact of development in the Church may help - for the objections seem to take for granted that the Church of the NT will or should always look like the NT Church: which is not necessarily so.​

I hang around quite a few boards already… :cool:
 
I believe that it’s good for the Catholic person to do apologetics. However, it’s important to remember that not all apologists are theologians. Neither are the apologists on the other side of the argument.

When you come across a point that can only be refuted with theology, if you don’t know theology or its methodology, there is not shame in saying that you do not know the answer. However, you can always add that you will find it and bring it back to the forum. Then go find a theological writing that answers the question.

I say this, with all due respect, because I have heard of Catholics that have given information and responses to people of other faiths that is not Catholic teaching. An example that comes to mind is someone who said that priests are married to the Church. NOT TRUE in any way shape or form. Such a concept is contrary to the theology of the priesthood. But the apologist tried to use this as an explanation to a Protestant who attacked celibacy on the grounds that man was created to be fruitful and multiply. The proper answer would have been to say that in the life of faith there are both revealed truths and reason. Both have their place in the Christian search for meaning in God.

Go out there and convert the world, but be careful. God bless anyone who takes on this ministry. You are in my prayers.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
You’re doing great, Paul! They think you’re a professional - a Vatican plant! What a compliment! Scripture Catholic is an indispensable website for any Catholic debating Bible-only Christians (just in case you don’t know about it), just look for the topic that you’re discussing, and you will have all the relevant passages you can think of. But keep this in mind:

“Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.” (Acts 19:8-9)

“He put a stop, it means, to their evil-speaking: he did not wish to kindle their envy, nor to bring them into more contention. Hence let us also learn not to put ourselves in the way of evil-speaking men, but to depart from them: he did not speak evil, when himself evil spoken of.” - St. John Chrysostom
 
PaulF2 said:
Hi guys,

I’m a Catholic apologist (amateur) having a go at it on a certain forum with the hardest of the hard-core fundamentalists: “the Pope is the antichrist” and all of that incredible nonsense.

I am the only Catholic there (putting it mildly) and have spent every free moment of my last two evenings at it.

I don’t want to give up the battle but would appreciate some assistance from anyone with the time.

Here are the two threads:

(Edited to remove links)

The forum doesn’t really restrict registration but there is a delay of about a day or so usually (for me & my wife anyway).

Thanks in advance and God bless!
Click to expand...
Paul,
Your post has been edited because it included a suggestion for other forum readers/members to visit another website for the purposes of apologetic debate.

We suggest that you will be better equipped to deal with the arguments against the Catholic faith if you post here at CAF the arguments that you face elsewhere (without naming names of course) and ask for help as to how to respond.

Also you may find helpful information by searching the Ask an Apologist forum for the topic you need and by looking over the articles in the Catholic Answers Library and using the search feature there.

In an effort to illuminate and explain the Catholic faith, CA makes every effort to provide our participants with a pleasant and informative place on the internet where Catholics and non-Catholics may gather.

It is our hope that respectful dialogue and discussion will lead to better faith understandings. And so in charity, we ask that our forums not be used for encouraging mass visits to other websites. In the past these kinds of efforts, although perhaps well intentioned, leave participants at other websites with negative impressions.

Your cooperation in helping promote these aims of faith exposition, hope for fruitful discussion and charity in implementation are sincerely appreciated.

Very sincerely,
 
Michael_Francis said:
Paul,
Your post has been edited because it included a suggestion for other forum readers/members to visit another website for the purposes of apologetic debate.
Click to expand...

**That having been noted - how is a member to discern **​

  • invitations to engage in "swarming"
from
  • **permissible requests for help on other boards **
Or are such requests always impermissible ? :confused:
 
Well I looked at the site… it’s disturbing to say the least. I don’t think these are really the ‘Sola Scriptura Bible Believing Whore of Babylon Protestant’ type… from what I can see they are using something called the ‘Bible Code’ to predict the end of the world… and all of this some how ties in to the Maya code. Apparently Obama’s meeting with the Pope has something to do with the start of the Tribulation…
 
GeorgeSword said:
Well I looked at the site… it’s disturbing to say the least. I don’t think these are really the ‘Sola Scriptura Bible Believing Whore of Babylon Protestant’ type… from what I can see they are using something called the ‘Bible Code’ to predict the end of the world… and all of this some how ties in to the Maya code. Apparently Obama’s meeting with the Pope has something to do with the start of the Tribulation…
Click to expand...
The “Bible Code” was proved to be a hoax many years ago (of course that doesnt stop the History Channel from rerunning docs on the subject).
I glanced at the website briefly. It’s pretty crazy. One cannot argue with fanatics. It’s fruitless.
 
40.png
Gottle_of_Geer:

**That having been noted - how is a member to discern **​

  • invitations to engage in "swarming"
from
  • **permissible requests for help on other boards **
Or are such requests always impermissible ? :confused:From the Banned Topics.
  1. Encouraging “swarming” of other forums to engage in debate of anti-Catholic postings there.
Further, the Forum Rules specifically say.
**ENFORCEMENT
3. **Judgments by the Moderators can be discussed with the Moderators via private messaging but not on the board itself. Decisions of the Moderators may be appealed to the Super Moderators.
Very sincerely,
 
A quick update, I actually made some effort to bring the Truth to them, but they shunned me. Didn’t hear a word our said, and one of them even claimed to be an ex-Catholic, though I honestly doubt this because everything they said about the Church seemed to be false…
A few highlights:

I was told to ‘shut up’ multiple times, and upon telling them that that wasn’t very Christian they tried to perform a virtual exorcism on me.

According to them the Jesuits rule the Church.

FEMA has prepared death camps for all Christs, where they will be murdered in Mayan ceremonies on Catholic altars…

And one compliment… they told me they thought I was a priest 😉

Well, though I don’t think I made much progress, I can only pray I sowed some seeds, and that God will provide rain for these poor, lost souls.
 
keep trying as long as you can.

i was deeply involved with another site which was 99.999999999% non-catholic for many years. And i must admit that i was unprepared for the venom that was spued towards the catholic church.

I finally just had to leave because i was in tears most of the time and it became clear it was interferring with me and God. But i tired real hard for a long time.

The good news is, once in a while, you score a point. You win someone over. You change a mind. Soften a heart. What you do is give them a PERSON rather than an ORGANIZATION called the catholic church.

To encourage you I will tell you briefly of a sucess.
One fellow was quite upset with this notion that people who , through no fault of their own (he was specific about the american indian) never heard of Jesus or lived before the time of Christ. I gave him just what the catholic church teaches about such people and the exact places to go to the catachsim and read about , in short, the natural law of the heart and the yearning towards “God”, (in however it is invisioned). The catachism is very clear about “through no fault of their own” and how salvation can be had . The mysterious Way of Chrsit that is unknowable to us.

That man is going to become a catholic. Because someone had him actually read the catachism. AAnd the love of God that it shows the world.
 
They refuse to hear anything like that… any real Catholic teaching they just say are lies and ignore it. I don’t know about the forum you remained on but honestly some of the comments I have recieved are… disturbing. I’ve been threatened, persecuted, insulted and told to ‘stay away from our children’… that is right. They seriously threatened to ‘shake me’, presumably to shake the demons out…
 
Yep, nasty nasty stuff.

So much for “love one another as I have loved you” sayth Jesus the Christ.

When it starts disturbing the deepness of your soul, leave.
 
If anybody wants the URL of this site please PM me.

Brave and knowledgeable Catholic souls are definitely needed there.
 
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