Evangelical Youtube Rabbit Hole

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Hey all,

I hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy. I am praying for you all!

Earlier today I made the mistake of going down the Jack Chick type Evangelical Christian rabbit hole. There are many MANY videos making the following claims.

Catholics aren’t Christians because …
Catholics speak to the dead or worse
The Eucharist is cannibalism, or the cup of abomination from Revelation (so blasphemous I don’t even want to type it out), or idolatry
There is one mediator between God and Man and one priest and calling priests/the sacraments necessary contradicts that (there is no priesthood/dont confess to priests)
Purgatory is an example of earning our own salvation
The Pope has higher authority than scripture or God in the church
Tradition and Magisterium are abibilical
etc etc etc

This stuff really bothers me because I know a lot of the apologetics to answer these objections, but when an evangelical brother or sister uses powerful rhetoric and certain scripture verses it gets under my skin even if I have scripture and philosophy to address it. This is especially true with the worst accusations, “Catholics arent saved”, “Catholics arent Christians”, “The Pope is a/the antichrist”, “the church is apostate or a cult (even satanic some go so far)”, “etc”.

Im asking for anyones takes on this kind of opinion or stance and how we can find peace and faith in Christ and his church in the face of that accusation. Anyone’s strategies for staying confident in the face of it/ books about answering the Jack Chick type criticisms.
 
It sounds like to me that these people are using an appeal to emotion (pathos). They don’t have to make a good argument, they just have to make you feel like it is. (I am by no means an expert, but I do have limited training in speech and rhetoric).
 
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JosephJohn said:
Anyone’s strategies for staying confident in the face of it/ books about answering the Jack Chick type criticisms.
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Don’t give them any of your time. They don’t deserve it, especially if it causes you distress.

Remember:

Catholicism=1 Church.

Protestantism=32,000 denominations.

Jesus Christ said " That they all may be one". NOT, “that they may all be 32,000”.
 
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definitely fair points, I guess I just have a lot of trouble feeling genuine, secure and confident in my faith if I hear an objection and havent been able to answer it in a satisfying way. I am looking for books and resources that have the most common and vitriolic criticisms together with the most compelling/edifying Catholic answers. I think thats probably too good to be true or I wouldve heard of it already but if anyone has suggestions…

Also “dont give them the time of day is a good answer”

@catholic03 many protestants say they are unified with eachother on essentials and that the catholic church is the one thats excluding itself from the communion.

I think alot of what bugs me about this one is that their worship is basically only scripture and personal prayer to Jesus. Direct prayer to God is not always so fruitful for me and I get scrupulous or doubtful that saying I need something tangible to worship God contradicts Jesus’ words or can be idolotrous. I know those are untenable doubts but they rob me of my peace in the moment alot of the time.
 
JosephJohn said:
essentials
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That is nonsensical. Who decides what is “essential”? Lutherans say Baptism is, and THEY don’t even agree on whether or not it is absolutely essential or normative. (seriously, read the ELCA). Is abortion murder, like the ACNA says, or not, like the Episcopal church in the US says? Is baptism symbolic like the Baptists say, or actually does something, like the Anglicans, Lutheran, and gasp Catholics say? Should Holy Communion be done weekly, or once a quarter?
 
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. – Matthew 7:24-27
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The sand in that parable is the shifting sands of the mind.

Our thoughts and beliefs are always subject to change. For every argument someone can make, there is an equally convincing counterargument. Part of the reason there is so much schism and disagreement in matters of faith is that so many different sides have arguments that are equally compelling. If our faith depends entirely on the intellect, we become like the man who built his house upon sand. The winds and the floods will come (that is, the diverse circumstances of life, and ideas that blow about in the world), and the sands of our thoughts will shift. (As you are experiencing right now!) And then, if our faith is founded on nothing more than thought or belief, our spiritual house will collapse.

You may, through your searching on the Internet, find some argument, or some verse, that repudiates the particular claims being made by those people on youtube. But then what? Your spiritual house will still be vulnerable to collapse, based on beliefs, on the mind, on thought.
And which of you with taking thought can add to his [spiritual] stature one cubit? If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? – Luke 12:25-26
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We cannot approach God through mind alone.

God searches the emptiness in order to fill it. If we wish to be filled by God, we must first be empty.

If we pray to God thinking we already know the answer, or desiring to receive a particular answer, how can we be open to the answer that God wishes to give?
 
JosephJohn said:
This stuff really bothers me because I know a lot of the apologetics to answer these objections, but when an evangelical brother or sister uses powerful rhetoric and certain scripture verses it gets under my skin even if I have scripture and philosophy to address it. This is especially true with the worst accusations, “Catholics arent saved”, “Catholics arent Christians”, “The Pope is a/the antichrist”, “the church is apostate or a cult (even satanic some go so far)”, “etc”.
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Then why do you listen to that nonsense? Serious question.
 
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basically I worry too much about reason and youtube can be a toxic place for learning about the faith as often as its useful. I learned alot about Christianity from youtube in the first place so I sort of trained myself with a bad habit. I probably shouldnt talk too much about my personal faith life on this platform though. I am mostly trying to see what apologetics people have used that works against this sort of criticism.
 
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Thanks for the response, that helps. I guess the most fundamental difference between Catholic and Protestant Christianity is that in Catholicism salvation happens more collectively, through the world, and through the church. In the protestant ethos and theology God saves a person without that persons sacrifices, without a priest (besides himself), without water, bread, or wine, without a material church. In Catholicism, God certainly could save someone this way like St Dismus but chooses not to. It kind of all comes down the Eucharist (unsurprisingly). Maybe I should narrow my question to how to defend our belief on the Eucharist most effectively.
 
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Also, obviously this is a question that matters to me personally, but I should have phrased this question asking more about how we all give apologetics in the face of this sort of thing, not about my spiritual life personally. Might be too personal for this platform. Sorry about that, thanks for being patient 🙂
 
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