My friends I need help no more then ever, I'm going into my first debate conversation

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Valtiel

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with a group of protestants…

My brother had to have his car fixed and of course I had to drive him up there so he could pick it up. So I take him and three of his friends, who basicly found my catholic answer bible and ganged up on me. Unfortunetly I can’t drive and have a serious discussion and I was seriously rusty on apologetics, so we agreed to meet up at a neighbors house to really get into it. And of course I’m as nervous as can be right now, I need a lot of resources in three hours.
  1. Sola Scriptura
  2. Defending the deuterocannon
  3. Church history
  4. defficincies of protestant bibles and historical perspectives
on more specific notes, I was told that the "apocrypha couldn’t included in the old testament cannon becuase it wasn’t written in original hebrew and that the apocripha is not historically accurate…

and please provide me with anything else you think that I would need. I am hoping to at least dispell myths and defend my faith if not help lead those to the truth…
 
Good luck man. I’ll be sure to pray for you. I know how hard it is for me talking with my parents (who are rather anti-Catholic) about my increasing love for and understanding of the Catholic church.

That being said, in the short amount of time you have I would recommend going through the tracts here on www.catholic.com first. They provide great short answers to many Protestant questions, and you could read them all in a short period of time.
 
Deus Solus:
Good luck man. I’ll be sure to pray for you. I know how hard it is for me talking with my parents (who are rather anti-Catholic) about my increasing love for and understanding of the Catholic church.

That being said, in the short amount of time you have I would recommend going through the tracts here on www.catholic.com first. They provide great short answers to many Protestant questions, and you could read them all in a short period of time.
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I know I have all of them, but I still need much more…
and thank you I need all the prayer I can get…
 
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Valtiel:
with a group of protestants…

My brother had to have his car fixed and of course I had to drive him up there so he could pick it up. So I take him and three of his friends, who basicly found my catholic answer bible and ganged up on me. Unfortunetly I can’t drive and have a serious discussion and I was seriously rusty on apologetics, so we agreed to meet up at a neighbors house to really get into it. And of course I’m as nervous as can be right now, I need a lot of resources in three hours.
  1. Sola Scriptura
  2. Defending the deuterocannon
  3. Church history
  4. defficincies of protestant bibles and historical perspectives
on more specific notes, I was told that the "apocrypha couldn’t included in the old testament cannon becuase it wasn’t written in original hebrew and that the apocripha is not historically accurate…

and please provide me with anything else you think that I would need. I am hoping to at least dispell myths and defend my faith if not help lead those to the truth…
Click to expand...
I will say good luck to you. I am a Protestant. There aren’t any defficincies in the Bible. Protestants took the deuterocannon out of the Old Testament. The books of the New Testament are the same for both Protestants and Catholics. As far as historical persepectives I don’t know. As far as Sola Scriptura I can’t speak against it because I believe the basis of it. I think that everything we as Christians need is in the Bible. So I don’t relly on Church teachings, especially if they don’t have scriptural evidence.
I agree that many Protestants have misconceptions. I know I use to have them. I probably still have a few. Peace be with you.
 
Print this out and take it with you!!!

geocities.com/thecatholicconvert/biblecheatsheet.html

This will give you scriptural support for everything you’re likely to hear. If they quote a verse and it sounds anti-catholic, look to the four verses prior and four verses subsequent to determine context. This will stop most things in their tracts (pun intended).

DON’T GET CAUGHT IN VERSE-SLINGING!!! Examine the verses they cite, and insist they examine the ones you cite. It’s not a game of “who has more verses supporting their side” - if there’s even one verse that undermines their absolutist position, that’s enough.

Good luck, and PRINT OUT THAT LINK!!!

RyanL
 
The MOST important thing to do is to set the rules straight from the start.

Tell them that you are willing to present your case but they have to accept a few rules.
  1. You will discuss a topic BUT they are NOT allowed to distract you from that topic and start jumping around to different things. IF they have questions or comments that digress into other areas, they can write them down or remember them for later.
That is the most important rule and tell them they MUST accept it before you do anything.
  1. Pray together that you can all can use this discussion to grow closer to God. That you all exhibit the Christian charity and love that is Christ.
  2. Tell them that you might not be able to give all the answers right away, but if they want to talk to you they must accept that you might have to get back to them on something.
  3. Reiterate Rule Number #1.
 
OH! And take things one-at-a-time! Don’t let them say “Mary, Purgatory, Saints, Eucharist, Baptism, Priesthood, etc. - NOW DEFEND!”. Tell them to pick one topic, and you’ll work forward from there. Also, if you don’t know enough about a topic, ADMIT IT!! Simply say, “I don’t know much about why we believe that, but here are my initial thoughts and I’ll get back to you on it the next time we meet.”

DON’T B.S.! They’ll get you every time (and if they don’t, God will!).

RyanL
 
While you are bulking up on some of the resources others are giving you (try not to get overwhelmed but concentrate on possible objections that may come up, and the answers to those plus the best argument you can think of in support of the Catholic position), let me give a little practical advice. Since it sounds like it’ll be (at least) three against one, don’t allow yourself to become a punching bag. Attempt to keep the conversation focused with only one question and one questioner at a time. Don’t allow topic jumping and insist on being allowed to finish what you are trying to say (and give them the same courtesy).

Speaking of courtesy, make sure you maintain your composure. It is easy to get frustrated, but it’s better to be humble rather than lash out or give tit for tat if emotions get high or the other party is just being unfair or uncharitable.

In the future, I’d advise you to not agree to such lopsided odds, and to give yourself more time to prep, but do the best you can. We’re all praying for you.
 
Pray, pray, pray!!!

There will be no conversion without prayer.

Great advise so far. Try not to let them choose all of the topics. A great topic to have them defend is sola scriptura and / or sola fida.

God :blessyou:
 
Just after you put down the ground rules. Start by examining all that you have in common. You probably believe about 90% of the same things. They are your separated brothers and sisters in Christ.
 
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Valtiel:
with a group of protestants…

My brother had to have his car fixed and of course I had to drive him up there so he could pick it up. So I take him and three of his friends, who basicly found my catholic answer bible and ganged up on me. Unfortunetly I can’t drive and have a serious discussion and I was seriously rusty on apologetics, so we agreed to meet up at a neighbors house to really get into it. And of course I’m as nervous as can be right now, I need a lot of resources in three hours.
  1. Sola Scriptura
  2. Defending the deuterocannon
  3. Church history
  4. defficincies of protestant bibles and historical perspectives
on more specific notes, I was told that the "apocrypha couldn’t included in the old testament cannon becuase it wasn’t written in original hebrew and that the apocripha is not historically accurate…

and please provide me with anything else you think that I would need. I am hoping to at least dispell myths and defend my faith if not help lead those to the truth…
Click to expand...
First of all, Pray, Pray, Pray. Second, It’s up to them to say what they think that we have wrong. Then, for the things that you don’t have an answer for, say, “I’ll have to get back to you on that one.”, but don’t do that too much.

This may be helpful:
scripturecatholic.com/

May the Grace of Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you.(2 Cor 13:14).
 
By the way, archeological findings and analysis of the Dead Sea scrolls (Qumran) of 1947 revealed that several deuterocanonical books were originally composed in Hebrew (Sirach, Judith, 1 Maccabees) or Aramaic (Tobit). The “not written in Hebrew” argument is a lame polemic.
 
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Fidelis:
While you are bulking up on some of the resources others are giving you (try not to get overwhelmed but concentrate on possible objections that may come up, and the answers to those plus the best argument you can think of in support of the Catholic position), let me give a little practical advice. Since it sounds like it’ll be (at least) three against one, don’t allow yourself to become a punching bag. Attempt to keep the conversation focused with only one question and one questioner at a time. Don’t allow topic jumping and insist on being allowed to finish what you are trying to say (and give them the same courtesy).

Speaking of courtesy, make sure you maintain your composure. It is easy to get frustrated, but it’s better to be humble rather than lash out or give tit for tat if emotions get high or the other party is just being unfair or uncharitable.

In the future, I’d advise you to not agree to such lopsided odds, and to give yourself more time to prep, but do the best you can. We’re all praying for you.
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thanks but it is probably going to be me against 6 or 7, I’ll be completely overwhelmed, but I can try…
 
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Valtiel:
thanks but it is probably going to be me against 6 or 7, I’ll be completely overwhelmed, but I can try…
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Always have in mind Luke 16:31:

"He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ "
 
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Valtiel:
thanks but it is probably going to be me against 6 or 7, I’ll be completely overwhelmed, but I can try…
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Wow, can you tell us how it went??? 6 or 7 is a lot. The others are right. Pray at all times, begin and end, and maintain composure not matter what. You and all the others involved are in my prayers. Thanks and God Bless.
 
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