Listening to radio preachers

[Jguerra]

There are times when I pray the chaplet or the rosary before drifting off to sleep on weekends (weekdays, I pray the rosary on my commute to work and the chaplet on one of my work breaks). Most nights, I’ll listen to EWTN on shortwave as a bedtime devotion. Nothing like hearing solid Catholic teaching to close the day.

But for entertainment purposes, I’ll tune in to the protestant preachers on a distant AM station. I smile and shake my head as these dedicated men parse out scriptures and thump out the basis for their various beliefs.

It never ceases to amaze me how they will differ on interpreting some verses, often contradicting one another from program to program. The entertaining part is when they get wrought up with emotion when they make their pleas for repentance and conversion or when they dig up Boettner’s tired old misconceptions to lash out against the Barque of Peter.

To me, these preachers sound like they are spinning their wheels in the spiritual sand and I find myself praying for their life journey to point in a different direction–to the Roman Catholic Church.

My question to anyone else viewing: do you listen at all to this programming?

God bless.

 

[Mamamull]

I sometimes tune into Angel Channel to see what is happening.

I loved it when two men, very respectable looking with PhD’s to boot, who were trying to decipher the prophecy of the Book of Daniel. They were speaking of 40 years of living in the desert and could think of no other event that would cause desert conditions except a nuclear attack.

I was wondering if they had ever read the book of Exodus and God’'s chosen people wandering in the desert for 40 yrs? Oh yeah, this book is only prophecy and not about real history. Silly me.

Mea culpa!

I was raised a Baptist and I can’t help but see how much they seemed to work to contrive the doctrines they have. They think Catholics are lost and I just want to shake my head knowing that their biases are so strong as to never understand our faith.

 

[Fidelis]

I do, for a couple of reasons:

1. As an active amatuer apologist, it is helpful for me to hear erroneous teaching and anti-Catholic misinformation straight from the source. That way I can’t be accused of relying on distorted second hand information or not knowing what Protestants really believe.
   For example, the week before the Feast of Corpus Christi, a local Evangelical preacher *just happened * to do a series on 1 Corinthians 11. Of course he managed to fit in every anti-Catholic canard about the Eucharist that he could fit in a half and hour. Nothing new or original, mind you, just the same old baloney that’s been refuted a million times. Just like the Catholic books on apologetics say.
2. Occasionally it’s possible to be edified or gain some insight from non-Catholic teachers, especially on how they conduct their Bible studies (I’m talking about the model or format, not so much the substance). If something is successful it’s worth considering.

Having said all that, if a person is not well-grounded in their own Catholic Faith and not equipped to handle the inevitable challenges they will face from hearing erroneous teaching, it is better they steer clear, and learn more about their own Faith first. If they don’t have a Catholic radio station in their area, there’s lots of free stuff they can get for the asking that will help them grow in their Catholic Faith.
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=53748&highlight=free+stuff

 

[awalt]

I listen to Family Radio a lot in the car. If you are not familiar with it, Google on Harold Camping. He has some pretty unorthodox views to say the least. Anyway, here is why I do:

1. No Catholic Radio stations in my reception area
2. It is way better than most of the other vulgar filthy stuff on the radio, and I don’t like trying to find CDs to listen to
3. A lot of the programs are Christian music, and just Bible reading which doesn’t offend my Catholic beliefs

It is somewhat entertaining hearing him on from time to time trying to explain through a really convoluted pattern throughout Scripture why the world is going to end in 2011. I keep wondering what he thinks of verses like Matthew 24:

42 Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

I guess that means no one will know when it is coming except him!

And of course his other huge gaffe is how he tells everyone they will be damned for all eternity if they stay in any local congregational church, that Satan is there now per Revelation. Listening to Family Radio is safe though .

It’s fun playing with fire!!

 

[Mamamull]

It’s fun playing with fire!!

I love the playing with fire line.

I agree that the vulgairty out there on the airwaves is disgusting. I have two sons - 7 and 5 and I shelter them from that junk as much as possible.

I do the CD thing a lot since even the EWTN broadcasts cover topics not intended for children’s ears.

I love music and sing a lot, so I might as well have something going that compensates for my voice. Catholic Music Network takes a lot of the guesswork out of buying music.

http://www.catholicmusicnetwork.com/

I live in an area with more than one Catholic bookstore, but I sadly can’t buy much of the music that I want at any of them. I just don’t hit the demographics right, I guess.

I love some “generic” Christian music – esepcially Caedmon’s Call “Back Home” CD – mostly acoustic and lots of great lyrics --sometimes they almost seem Catholic.

Still, I need the fully Catholic stuff – Catholic Latin Classics by the Cathedral singers is lovely,

Fr. Stan Fortuna, CFR was a jazz bassist before becoming a Franciscan priest. His music ranges from jazz to traditional with a bit of funk, to straight out rap. He does the Theology of the Body in six minutes in a song called “Say “Yes” to Sex” – great humor and good theological teaching.

Check out CMN, it is worth the trouble.

AMDG,