Mythbusters

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JamieMc

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I’ve been tasked with coming up with a two hour class for a confirmation class titled, “Mythbusters.” The students are high school freshmen.

In the introduction I was going to break down why being able to defend your faith (both christianity and catholicism) is important.
Then I was going to break the class down into several catholic “myths” to “bust.” Such as “Catholics worship Mary/saints”, “Where is that in the Bible?” etc etc. I was hoping for some ideas that we could “bust.” Since this is only a two hour class and I’m dealing with high school Freshmen I need to keep it pretty simple so I don’t go over their heads. Also maybe some ideas on activities that could help dispell the myth.

The single thread that I wanted to weave through the class is that to be able to defend your faith you must LEARN your faith.

Any help that you could come up with is greatly appreciated. 🙂 😃
 
Catholics don’t read\aren’t allowed to read the Bible.

God Bless,
Scylla
 
Catholics must obey without question every word that comes from the Pope’s mouth and aren’t allowed to think for themselves.

The Catholic Church executed numerous heretics during the Inquisition.

Renaissance Popes authorised the sale of Indulgences in order to fund the building of St Peters.
 
Myths?
Good suggestions so far, and add these.

Catholics don’t believe the Bible. Refuting Sola Scriptura is gonna be key to almost every other myth.
The Deuterocanonicals.
The Communion of Saints

I might also suggest that you get Beginning Apologetics # 1 and use it as the source for both myths and refutation notes. It’ll be hard to do better.

John Martignoni’s FREE MP3 apologetic Bible studies may also prove a great source for that crowd as many of them are into downloading music from the net. Maybe give that site out as a reference for further interest.

Two hours…Wow! Sounds like a Gilligan’s Island that one could get lost on for a long time. :rotfl:
Pax tecum,
 
I would begin the class with a discussion of the meaning of the word “myth,” a certain literary form, and the meaning of related terms: fable, allegory, parable, fiction, story, narrative, truth, lie, fact, so the discussion begins on solid ground.
 
Catholics worship statues.
Catholics pray to dead people.
Catholics practice “vain repetition” in prayer.
Catholics call their priests “father”, and that’s unbiblical.
 
Catholics think you can ‘pray someone out’ of hell. :rolleyes: That one’s pretty common.
 
Get a copy of Karl Keating’s book What Catholics Really Believe** It has exactly what you’re looking for with good explanations of the truth.

Peace,
Linda
 
LilyM said:
The Catholic Church executed numerous heretics during the Inquisition.

Renaissance Popes authorised the sale of Indulgences in order to fund the building of St Peters.
Click to expand...
Not to derail the thread, but I thought these were true??:confused:
 
No, they’re ‘half truths’ or distortions of truth.

The Catholic Church never ‘killed heretics’. The governments (rulers) of places like Spain were the ones who carried out the actual punishments for the very few people (not the ‘millions’ as so often claimed) who were found to be recusant (recurring) or unrepentant heretics who had claimed to be Catholics but who were not, in fact, practicing the faith. And it was not the ‘prostestants’ who were ‘killed’ in most cases–Prostestantism not being a ‘force’ until the 16th century and the most famous Spanish Inquisition for example a product of the 15th century. . .

And no Pope ever authorized the ‘sale’ of indulgences. Certain reprobate priests and bishops may have done this, but it was not then, and will never be, a practice of “the Catholic Church.” One does not buy one’s way into heaven.
 
Peter was never in Rome so he was never “pope.”

Constantine started the Catholic Church in the 4th century

These are two I find hysterical!
 
One big one a friend once said to me during our high school years, “It doesn’t say anywhere in the Bible that pre-marital sex is wrong.” She was referring to the fact that nowhere in the Bible is the word “pre-marital sex.”

All the stories in the Bible are just stories that were made up to teach us a lesson and they were overly exaggerated to prove a point. - That’s what I was told by my freshman religion teacher.

Also, maybe the misconception that one can believe that the Eucharist is just a symbol.
 
I got these from Crisis magazine online. An article by Deal Hudson.
  1. Christianity is no better than any other faith. All religions lead to God.
  2. Why should I believe the Bible? The Old and New Testaments contradict each other countless times.
  3. I don’t need to confess my sins to a priest. I can go straight to God.
  4. People’s memories of their past lives prove that reincarnation is true…and that the Christian view of Heaven and Hell is not.
  5. Properly interpreted, the Bible does not condemn homosexuality.
  6. If the Church truly followed Jesus, they’d sell their lavish art, property, and architecture, and give the money to the poor.
  7. Catholics should follow their conscience in all things…whether it’s abortion, birth control, or women’s ordination.
  8. Dissent is actually a good thing, since we should all keep our minds open to new ideas.
  9. There’s no such thing as absolute truth. What’s true for you may not be true for me.
  10. I don’t need to go to Church. As long as I’m a good person, that’s all that really matters.
  11. Natural Family Planning is just the Catholic version of birth control.
  12. Someone can be pro-choice and Catholic at the same time.
 
Any “fact” about the Catholic Church in any Jack Chick publication.
 
Almost any “fact” about the Catholic Church in The Da Vinci Code.
 
mommyof4 said:
Not to derail the thread, but I thought these were true??:
Inquisition and Indulgences.
confused:
Click to expand...
The truth is always rather complex. In the case of the Inquisition, heresy was a political threat to the rulers of the day, because if the King’s religion was false then why should men obey him? Heresy is also a threat to the Church - any organisation devoted to promoting an idea has to deal with members who deviate from the aims. The situation is no different from the RSPCA facing an influx of pro-hunting activists, or the Labour Party facing down Marxists.

As for indulgences, the legitimate idea of doing good works to reduce time in Purgatory had become rather corrupted to the non-legitimate activity of purchasing salvation with money. Contributing money to build a church is of course a good work, buildings are extremely useful if not strictly necessary for the mission of the Church, and money to build them must be raised somehow. However any financial activity involving large sums of money brings with it dangers, as Evangelicals in the USA have found to their cost, as the Labour Party has found with the cash for peerages scandal, as churches which accept Lottery money will find. Had a different way of raising finance been found in the Renaissance, nothing fundamental would have changed.
 
Looking at this list it really just amazes me how many accusations there are against the Catholic church and faith. Boy, talk about being persecuted…and catholics are always accused of persecuting too lol
 
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