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Kandi2003
Guest
My question was answered so I’m just gonna label this as SOLVED
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Reuben_J
Guest
It is about having a bit of knowledge. Do not participate if you do not know. However, take note of their accusation/points, and look them up, in the library or online. Internet can be very amazing - most informations are just your finger tips away.
God bless you.
God bless you.
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Believe_85
Guest
I wouldn’t try to engage in debate with my parents about religion. If you want to strengthen your faith so you have personal resolve when approached by assaults on Catholicism like you describe, catholic.com and churchpop.com are great resources. Pray for your family members and avoid conflict. The devil is the source of division in families.
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SuscipeMeDomine
Guest
I would mostly just ignore his comments. There’s no point in defending your faith because they’ll always come up with another argument to show you’re wrong. How about simply saying, “Oh, isn’t that interesting” and letting it go?
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hymin
Guest
Follow the leadership of the Lord. Ask by prayer, seek by study, knock by weeping and/or sighs in your room (cf. Mt 7:7; St. Augustine Ep. 21, n. 4). Present your joy outside your room, and be positive.
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Timeflies2me
Guest
I would research about the history of catholicism, lots to learn. Also reading a bible with commentary is real helpful. Also good to know is we shouldnt go looking for debates and such ourselves, we defend the church, we will always be persecuted for our faith. May we raise our sword and shield till then, questions and answers and lots of studying.
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ratio1
Guest
Just remember that apologetics is meant to defend your faith. So if you’re not under attack then you don’t need to defend.
Dealing with your parents is difficult. But respecting your parents is important. I think your father will be more convinced at Catholicism if he can see th fruits of it ie your behaviour etc rather than an intellectual defence.
“By this all shall know that you are my disciple”
Dealing with your parents is difficult. But respecting your parents is important. I think your father will be more convinced at Catholicism if he can see th fruits of it ie your behaviour etc rather than an intellectual defence.
“By this all shall know that you are my disciple”
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ratio1
Guest
Here is how st Josemaria advised a Jewish girl who wanted to convert. While your situation is not the same. We can all take inspiration from this.
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tweedlealice
Guest
Blessings
We are the light of the world, let our light shine before men. Let your Dad and friends see you comfortable in Jesus. Being a walking example of God’s Love is the best conversion tool.
The Catholic Church is the oldest organized religion. St. Peter is the first Pope. The Bible wasn’t compiled until Emperor Constantine, in the 3rd century. The believers had scrolls of the TORAH and HEBREW BIBLE. The gospels were being created after Jesus died. 40AD? Paul was evangelizing and writing his letters or Epistles. They were copied and passed around to the churches. The Biblical parts were passed around and shared. We Catholics use TRADITIONS from the first century to help form the church. Word of mouth and the individual papers were passed around(as stated) & Traditions helped w worship format. The Bible came together after 50 yrs AD.
Our Bible &the Ptotestant Bibles are the same x for the Catholic Bible has more books. We included some scrolls from Hebrew texts that Jesus read in the Temple. Constantine, in the third century called a council to compile the Bible.
Our Robes come from our Jewish culture from the Rabbis. Gold to touch the Blessed sacrament comes from the Tabernacle in the Wilderness pattern. The walls of the Holy of HOLIES were inlaid gold. That is the symbol of God. The baseboards were inlaid w silver which could touch the earth. Jesus came down and touched the earth.
For whenever you take the bread and the … For as often as you shall eat this bread,
and drink the chalice, you shall shew the death of the Lord, until he come …
DO THIS IN REMEBRANCE OF ME!
Three centuries of persecutions, torture and death. Constantine made Chtistisnity an acknowledged religion.
Mary Is RESPECTED NOT WORSHIPPED.
If I have a problem, I may ask you to pray for me. Mary and our families who died before us are alive in Spirit bodies in heaven. We can ask them to pray to God, the Father for my need. In the name of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Mystical body of Christ is the church alive on earth and in heaven.
Praying to Saints is the same thingWe don’t pray for the Saints to heal us. We pray to the Saints to continue our prayer before God’s throne of Grace.
Jesus wasn’t born on Dec. 25th. We don’t know the actual date. It’s sort of late Sept or somewhere in Oct. it wasn’t 0AD. It was 3BC.
Anyway, google Lots of stuff and go to those
Sites mentioned above.
In Christ’s love
Tweedlealice
We are the light of the world, let our light shine before men. Let your Dad and friends see you comfortable in Jesus. Being a walking example of God’s Love is the best conversion tool.
The Catholic Church is the oldest organized religion. St. Peter is the first Pope. The Bible wasn’t compiled until Emperor Constantine, in the 3rd century. The believers had scrolls of the TORAH and HEBREW BIBLE. The gospels were being created after Jesus died. 40AD? Paul was evangelizing and writing his letters or Epistles. They were copied and passed around to the churches. The Biblical parts were passed around and shared. We Catholics use TRADITIONS from the first century to help form the church. Word of mouth and the individual papers were passed around(as stated) & Traditions helped w worship format. The Bible came together after 50 yrs AD.
Our Bible &the Ptotestant Bibles are the same x for the Catholic Bible has more books. We included some scrolls from Hebrew texts that Jesus read in the Temple. Constantine, in the third century called a council to compile the Bible.
Our Robes come from our Jewish culture from the Rabbis. Gold to touch the Blessed sacrament comes from the Tabernacle in the Wilderness pattern. The walls of the Holy of HOLIES were inlaid gold. That is the symbol of God. The baseboards were inlaid w silver which could touch the earth. Jesus came down and touched the earth.
For whenever you take the bread and the … For as often as you shall eat this bread,
and drink the chalice, you shall shew the death of the Lord, until he come …
DO THIS IN REMEBRANCE OF ME!
Three centuries of persecutions, torture and death. Constantine made Chtistisnity an acknowledged religion.
Mary Is RESPECTED NOT WORSHIPPED.
If I have a problem, I may ask you to pray for me. Mary and our families who died before us are alive in Spirit bodies in heaven. We can ask them to pray to God, the Father for my need. In the name of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Mystical body of Christ is the church alive on earth and in heaven.
Praying to Saints is the same thingWe don’t pray for the Saints to heal us. We pray to the Saints to continue our prayer before God’s throne of Grace.
Jesus wasn’t born on Dec. 25th. We don’t know the actual date. It’s sort of late Sept or somewhere in Oct. it wasn’t 0AD. It was 3BC.
Anyway, google Lots of stuff and go to those
Sites mentioned above.
In Christ’s love
Tweedlealice
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CRM_Brother
Guest
Hello Kandi2003,
The myth that the Catholic Church does not allow its followers to read the Bible was started by the Protestant reformers as an attack on their stance that there is a single objective truth contained within the Bible which is not relative to individual interpretation. The Church has a history of translating the Bible into local languages so that it can be more easily understood. The first of which was the Vulgate in the late 4th century AD by St. Jerome. It was translated so it could be more readily understood by the faithful in the Western Roman Empire. Over the centuries, many more translations were made to evangelize new peoples. The problem that was encountered in the Middle Ages was that Bibles were hand coppied and worth more than their weight in gold. They were closely guarded. Their use was restricted in order to preserve them for use for future generations. This did not mean that the faithful were not welcome to listen to them being read in Mass and during prayers. Because of the rarity of books, literacy was almost non-existant among the common man. When Gutenburg created the moveable type printing press, there was a boom in literacy and Bibles became much more available. People were coming up with their own theories about God from reading passages here and there and not viewing the Bible as a cohesive whole proclaiming an objective truth. The Church said that it was perfectly fine to read the Bible, but to understand it, you must always read it within the context of the Truth which has been passed on through the Church, having studied and meditated upon the Bible for over 1400 years at this point.
As to Mary, she is honored above all women, just as the Bible says that she is to be. The angel Gabriel announced to her, “Hail favored one! The Lord is with you.” (Lk 1:28) and again Elizabeth, upon seeing Mary and John the Baptist leaps in her womb, says, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” (Lk 1: 42) We honor Mary as the closest human who has ever come in encountering Christ: his mother. She was given to us as our own Mother by Christ on the cross, “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.” (Jn 19: 26-27)
I will be praying that the Holy Spirit opens your lips and you are able to speak the words which our Lord wishes your father and his friends need to hear. Be strong and have hope!
God bless,
Br. Ben, CRM
The myth that the Catholic Church does not allow its followers to read the Bible was started by the Protestant reformers as an attack on their stance that there is a single objective truth contained within the Bible which is not relative to individual interpretation. The Church has a history of translating the Bible into local languages so that it can be more easily understood. The first of which was the Vulgate in the late 4th century AD by St. Jerome. It was translated so it could be more readily understood by the faithful in the Western Roman Empire. Over the centuries, many more translations were made to evangelize new peoples. The problem that was encountered in the Middle Ages was that Bibles were hand coppied and worth more than their weight in gold. They were closely guarded. Their use was restricted in order to preserve them for use for future generations. This did not mean that the faithful were not welcome to listen to them being read in Mass and during prayers. Because of the rarity of books, literacy was almost non-existant among the common man. When Gutenburg created the moveable type printing press, there was a boom in literacy and Bibles became much more available. People were coming up with their own theories about God from reading passages here and there and not viewing the Bible as a cohesive whole proclaiming an objective truth. The Church said that it was perfectly fine to read the Bible, but to understand it, you must always read it within the context of the Truth which has been passed on through the Church, having studied and meditated upon the Bible for over 1400 years at this point.
As to Mary, she is honored above all women, just as the Bible says that she is to be. The angel Gabriel announced to her, “Hail favored one! The Lord is with you.” (Lk 1:28) and again Elizabeth, upon seeing Mary and John the Baptist leaps in her womb, says, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” (Lk 1: 42) We honor Mary as the closest human who has ever come in encountering Christ: his mother. She was given to us as our own Mother by Christ on the cross, “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.” (Jn 19: 26-27)
I will be praying that the Holy Spirit opens your lips and you are able to speak the words which our Lord wishes your father and his friends need to hear. Be strong and have hope!
God bless,
Br. Ben, CRM
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PaulfromIowa
Guest
You are online, you can read the Bible, the Catechism, the Catholic Answers website. You do not want to argue with your father at age 15.
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twoboys
Guest
I don’t think the church discourages you reading the bible. Many parishes have bible study classes and groups. Catholics not only praises the Blessed Virgin Mary but many other Saints as well. However, Catholics only worship the Trinity God, and ask Mary the Mother of God and many other Saints for intercession.
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bsy
Guest
Hello Kandi2003
Did your Dad also say that the Catholic Church chained up Bibles? At that time, Bibles were rare and expensive…it’s like IPHONES chained up in stores. It might get stolen.
In fact, because of so much disagreement among them, they have divided themselves up to over 30,000 denominations (and non-denominational) with NO ONE POPE to intercede for them.
REGARDING our Blessed Mother. The Scripture teaches us, “Honor thy Father and thy Mother.” and “From henceforth, all nations shall call me Blessed.- Virgin Mary” All Christians should honor the mother of our Lord, and our mother…and call her Blessed.
And because it is a commandment to honor thy father, just let him be…pray for him that one day, he’ll embrace the truth.
The above posted are for your own knowledge and peace of mind.
Did your Dad also say that the Catholic Church chained up Bibles? At that time, Bibles were rare and expensive…it’s like IPHONES chained up in stores. It might get stolen.
If indeed they read the Bible and interpret as it was meant to be, then how come, they don’t agree with each other’s interpretation? Some Protestants would say “faith alone;” while others, would say, “Faith without works is false” Some Protestants would say, “Once Saved Always Saved;” while others would defend against it. Some subscribe to Pre-tribulation rapture, while others, Post-trib.
In fact, because of so much disagreement among them, they have divided themselves up to over 30,000 denominations (and non-denominational) with NO ONE POPE to intercede for them.
REGARDING our Blessed Mother. The Scripture teaches us, “Honor thy Father and thy Mother.” and “From henceforth, all nations shall call me Blessed.- Virgin Mary” All Christians should honor the mother of our Lord, and our mother…and call her Blessed.
And because it is a commandment to honor thy father, just let him be…pray for him that one day, he’ll embrace the truth.
The above posted are for your own knowledge and peace of mind.
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FrancisPio
Guest
I’m sorry your father isn’t practicing. My advice is to win the argument without arguing. Instead, go to mass each Sunday. Invite him. If he says no, say Ok, and the next time you go if he’s around, invite him again. If he says he doesn’t believe in the Catholic Church, tell him you will pray for him.
For your own piece of mind:
The idea that Catholics wouldn’t allow people to read the Bible is a very silly and uneducated idea started by Protestants. Here are some facts:
For your own piece of mind:
The idea that Catholics wouldn’t allow people to read the Bible is a very silly and uneducated idea started by Protestants. Here are some facts:
- The Bibles and books in general were ridiculously expensive before the 1500s.
- Paper wasn’t invented before 1500. People used a material called Parchment. What is Parchment? As Hamlet answers in Act 5 Scene 1, parchment is the skin of cattle and sheep. They could get a good 25 sheets of paper per cow. When people ran out of paper they literally had to go hunting. Imagine how expensive this process would be.
- I suppose most importantly, for more than a thousand years before the printing press the Bible was written in painstaking detail by Catholic monks. How long would it take to write the entire bible flawlessly without any mistakes? They estimate about 8 months. Imagine how much it would cost to feed a man while he writes a Bible for 8 months.
- Before the printing press, before paper was invented there was a universal language, Latin. It was used by all people for reading. This wasn’t started by Catholics, each era had a writing language and a speaking language. The old testament where Jesus was born in Bethlehem read from a Greek Old Testament, NOT a Hebrew old testament.
- this is because Bibles were SO expensive, and rare, no one wanted the interpretation to be ruined.
- Now for the last point. When the printing press WAS invented. Why didn’t Catholics instantaneously make their own Bible?
- For good reason. Who would it be written for? The English. Yet in England in the 1500s being Catholic was a punishable offense by death for priests and the loss of all money for laity. Not exactly a good location to place Catholic Bibles. But there were many Catholics in England who kept the fight. One was Shakespeare. Too bad he didn’t interpret the Bible
but he was busy with his plays.
In closing, if a Bible costed about 9k before 1500 Then it makes good sense that not everyone had a Bible in their home. That Bibles instead were heard by the masses in mass or otherwise, like a piano played for the crowds This idea of a Bible in every home is a silly notion before 1500. Hope this helps you, but I don’t believe these facts will influence your father who is so staunchly against Catholics. To read more I suggest. “How we got the Bible, a tribute to the Catholic Church”. A great book on this topic.
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jcrichton
Guest
Hi, Kandi!
First of all, you don’t need to wait till you are an adult to give yourself to Jesus in the Catholic Faith.
Unless your father has threatened you with physical or material harm if you openly follow the Faith, you can communicate your desire to become Catholic and ask for his support in your quest for Unity with Christ in the Catholic Church.
So you see, there’s more to it than their claim.
Then, as time progressed, there was the issue of “interpretation.” Now, as then, the Catholic Church Teaches that we are not to interpret Scriptures outside of the Catholic Teaching–that is, a person is not to come up with “interpretation of Scriptures” according to his/her design where this interpretation will go against what has been Revealed and Taught.
So in that fashion, they are also right–yet, consider what happened after Luther decided that he was the authority to follow… we now have over 30,000 denominations (which includes those who claim to being non-denominational); all claiming to have been inspired by the Holy Spirit and all differing in their view/teaching/understanding of God’s Revelation.
The Church has had it right all along, the more liberties that people take the further they get from the Truth (Jesus).
Maran atha!
Angel
First of all, you don’t need to wait till you are an adult to give yourself to Jesus in the Catholic Faith.
Unless your father has threatened you with physical or material harm if you openly follow the Faith, you can communicate your desire to become Catholic and ask for his support in your quest for Unity with Christ in the Catholic Church.
They are fully right! There were times when people were mostly illiterate (even monarchs) and reproducing books (specially those as lengthy and as elaborate as the Bible) was quite costly as everything was done by hand with meticulous details… so yeah, the Catholic Church did not allow the copies of the Bible that existed to be placed in the hands of everyone who wanted one.
So you see, there’s more to it than their claim.
Then, as time progressed, there was the issue of “interpretation.” Now, as then, the Catholic Church Teaches that we are not to interpret Scriptures outside of the Catholic Teaching–that is, a person is not to come up with “interpretation of Scriptures” according to his/her design where this interpretation will go against what has been Revealed and Taught.
So in that fashion, they are also right–yet, consider what happened after Luther decided that he was the authority to follow… we now have over 30,000 denominations (which includes those who claim to being non-denominational); all claiming to have been inspired by the Holy Spirit and all differing in their view/teaching/understanding of God’s Revelation.
The Church has had it right all along, the more liberties that people take the further they get from the Truth (Jesus).
Yes we do. But we do not believe that she is divine. We hold her in great esteem because she is the Mother of God… now look at what happened when the Word became Incarnate:
These verses in St. Luke 1 speak to: 1) how the Virgin was viewed by the first person that acknowledged her as the Mother of God, and 2) the Holy Spirit prophesied, through the Virgin, that all generations will call her Blessed… only the Catholic Church has always held to all Revelation of Sacred Scriptures, including those relating to Christ’s mom.
Maran atha!
Angel
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Chris-Hawkins
Guest
First of all congratulations on deciding to become a Catholic. Like everyone else here has said, I wouldn’t get involved on the arguments because that’s exactly what they want. Just quietly believe and read up on everything. When you are old enough and have more knowledge then you can defend the faith. Trust me though. The Devil will try to attack you and distract you from faith anyway he can and getting the people you love to criticise you is one way he will do that. Just keep your faith and start to go to mass when you can
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JimR-OCDS
Guest
Being a Christian isn’t about learning how to use the best words to win arguments, but rather, to grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ.
As long as you are Christ Centered, the Holy Spirit will teach you what to say when it’s needed.
For too many Catholics, their faith is focused on fighting in order to justify the side they’re on.
Jim
As long as you are Christ Centered, the Holy Spirit will teach you what to say when it’s needed.
For too many Catholics, their faith is focused on fighting in order to justify the side they’re on.
Jim
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jcrichton
Guest
…actually, for Catholics it is a fight brought by non-Catholics–even when a Catholic explains that he/she is an avid reader of Sacred Scriptures non-Catholics ignore this and basically determine that “Catholics” must be “taught” the right way to Salvation.
…so yeah, it becomes a struggle; those who are not versed in Scriptures or who are quite docile are seen as easy marks; those who are in the fringes are lured out of the Faith with easy-as-cake salvation theories of the once-saved persuasions.
Maran atha!
Angel
…so yeah, it becomes a struggle; those who are not versed in Scriptures or who are quite docile are seen as easy marks; those who are in the fringes are lured out of the Faith with easy-as-cake salvation theories of the once-saved persuasions.
Maran atha!
Angel
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Reuben_J
Guest
I agree, Jim, but perhaps that is a stage of our Christian maturity where we just want to win argument. When our relationship with God reach a level where we desire only holiness, then winning an argument for its sake would take a lesser importance.
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Kei
Guest
Well, how does he know what the right way to interpret the Bible is? What if Joe Bob disagrees?
He’s simply wrong, factually speaking. Maybe bring him to a bookstore some day and show him the Catholic Bibles being sold.
He’s simply wrong, factually speaking. Maybe bring him to a bookstore some day and show him the Catholic Bibles being sold.
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