I often use this website in my argument with non-believers and other such people online, they have some GREAT philosophical arguments and refutations for even the toughest moral questions regarding Atheism, homosexuality, abortion, etc.
carm.org/
And one could ask, who says THOSE people aren’t non-believers in their own way as well? Afterall, they are Anti Catholics. That puts them in the non-believers camp of their own sort. And as they are aggressive anti-Catholic, that puts their souls in huge jeopardy.
You may not have considered this, but when people see you as a Catholic using antiCatholics web sites and not Catholic web sites, to make your points, what are they in extension going to think about you?
N:
The problem is, they are Christian, not Catholic.
Others have already addressed this point. I would just add the following information
The Church has been Catholic from the 1st century. The English word Catholic is a transliteration of the Greek katholikos which is a compound word from kata, which means according to, and holos, which means whole.
catholic.com/tracts/what-catholic-means
To make the point
It was in Antioch where the disciples were first called Christian
Acts 11:26 .
So one THEN can ask, where does kata holos appear in scripture and particularly kata holos ekklesia ?
2 chapters earlier in Acts
Acts 9:31 the church throughout all
ἐκκλησία,
καθ’,
ὅλης ,
τῆς ,Judea and Galilee and Sama’ria…" = Kataholos Church.
THAT’s why Ignatius, ordained by apostles, direct disciple of St John, made bishop of Antioch from ~60 a.d. to ~107 a.d writes in his letters
"Christian" and “Catholic Church” . NOT as either/or but both together.
- St Ignatius, uses Christian (ch 2) and Catholic Church (ch 8) together. In his day, one who is Christian IS Catholic, in the Catholic Church. Epistle to the Smyrnæans . And schismatics from the Catholic Church won’t be going to heaven Epistle to the Philadelphians (ch 3)
Did you catch that point? the Catholic Church is there from the beginning, it’s the Church Jesus established, taught by the apostles, and schismatics and heretics from the Catholic Church won’t be going to heaven if they die in that sin. THAT information
- is NOT new information.
- is NOT Ignatius’s personal opinion.
- It comes straight from the apostles.
300 years later, when the canon of the NT is declared, we see that teaching clearly taught in scripture
Paul condemned division / dissention from the Church
Romans 16:17-20 ,
Galatians 5:19-21 the same Greek word for division used in each scripture is the same word.
διχοστασίας* dichostasia** = division / dissension / factions /sedition *
N:
aside from the good content, they also have some not-so-good content, as in, articles condemning “Roman Catholicism” and articles condoning the use of birth control and masturbation. They also seem to rely too heavily on biblical text to support their arguments.
iow their content is not reliable. And If they had even a modicum of correct understanding of scripture they’d be Catholic
Best answer!
