Many say it does not say it in the Bible.

[Rence]

Usually providing sound apologetics is not going to lead to any non-Catholic conceding that the Catholic argument is correct.

As Catholic philosopher Peter Kreeft says, “Some people scorn apologetic reasoning [because] they decide with their hearts much more than with their heads whether to believe or not. The heart is our center, not the head. ** But apologetics gets at the heart through the head. ** The head is important precisely because it is a gate to the heart.” (bold mine).

But then how can one have a meaningful discussion with a non-Catholic about Catholic teachings and evangelize?

 

[Rence]

We’re talking about the ancient manuscripts of the NT. Every Scripture scholar, Catholic or not, (with the right credentials, of course) has access to them.

Does a pastor of a particular congregation have access to them, if he asked?

 

[PRmerger]

But then how can one have a meaningful discussion with a non-Catholic about Catholic teachings and evangelize?

I’m not understanding the question.

Why can’t someone have a meaningful discussion with a non-Catholic about Catholic teaching and evangelize, given that, as Kreeft says, “the head is important precisely because it is a gate to the heart.”

 

[PRmerger]

Does a pastor of a particular congregation have access to them, if he asked?

For what purpose? So he could determine for himself whether the Gospel of Mark is inspired? Or that the letter to the Hebrews is?

Why would a pastor want to have access to the earliest manuscripts that the Catholic bishops used when discerning the canon of Scripture?

 

[Rence]

I’m not understanding the question.

Why can’t someone have a meaningful discussion with a non-Catholic about Catholic teaching and evangelize, given that, as Kreeft says, “the head is important precisely because it is a gate to the heart.”

If using sound apolegetics isn’t effective, then what is? I must be a very poor evangalist.

 

[PRmerger]

If using sound apolegetics isn’t effective, then what is? I must be a very poor evangalist.

Kreeft doesn’t say it’s not effective. It’s simply the portal.

 

[rom422]

Originally Posted by PRmerger
Well, they say that they don’t “trust” the Church, yet they seem to have no problem trusting that the Church got it right in discerning the canon of Scripture for them.

That’s because it’s all they have. All the documents are in the custody of the Catholic Church.

Yes, but Protestants don’t have to accept all the NT books that the Catholic Church has determined to be infallible, just as they didn’t accept some of the books in the OT canon. At one time, for example, Luther thought of removing the Epistle of St. James from the NT canon. So, the fact that the more than 33,000 Christian denominations are using the same NT canon as the Catholic Church uses, is evidence of an impressive trust that non-Catholics have on the Catholic Church!

Well, on the flipside, I kind of don’t get why it’s so curious to you. The Catholic Church has all the old documents in its vaults. The only thing other religions have is the Bible because they don’t have access to the other documents. Maybe if they had the other documents, they might be able to see a whole different world that our own heirarchy can see? I don’t know. But they only have the Bible, and they had the bible before the sects started breaking off as well. To be honest, I’m kind of suprised that more documents haven’t been made more available by the Church with the internet and all. I know they’ve made some available to the public, but there’s a whole library full of documents that only Catholics have access to. The others don’t have anything else to go on but the Bible.

Are you serious? Many of the known apocryphal books are in the Internet now. Some are published in books. The writings of the Church Fathers are also all available. The decrees of the various Church councils as well as Papal Encyclicals are available in a CD from New Advent. The Vatican also has an online library where you can find all these, including speeches made by the Popes. The CCC as well as the Code of Canon Law are all available for everyone to see.

I am not saying that everything is in the Internet. I’m sure there are documents not available in the Internet yet, such as the trials of suspected heretics (including Joan of Arc? or Galileo?), the canonization proceedings of saints, etc. It’s just too much to put everything there, and it may not even be necessary. Some of these documents are of interest only to scholars and special interest groups, but not for everyone.

I highlighted in red a portion of your text. “Our own hierarchy”? Are you talking of something other than the Catholic Church? I don’t understand.