Need help evangelizing Catholics

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Most people I discuss (argue) religion with were born Catholic, but have become Protestant. I say Protestant , but really they are on their own with no religion. They all recite the same old tired attacks on the Catholic Church.
First, I would like some strategies and methods to show them that they have strayed from the truth of the one true Church.
Let me say that my discussions are with the non intellectual street type person and I am always careful not to “cast pearls before swine”
Second, what are some of the beliefs that most Protestants or Sola Scriptura people have that are actually not in the Bible?
Basically I like to come on strong with the facts (nothing too deep) and leave 'em with something to think about.

Any help would be appreciated!
 
Read some of the tracts in the library on this site.

Learn the difference between strawmen and truth. Most attacks on the Catholic Church are strawmen or halftruths. This takes practice and takes a little bit of study.
catholic.com/library.asp
Download some MP3’s of Catholic Answers and feel free to PM those of us who invite you to.
catholic.com/radio/calendar.php

The common belief of many Protestants\fallen away Catholics is very difficult to pin down and you have to know this before you talk to them. Always define agreements before you talk to someone or else you will go in circles.
Like this, always ask to clarify their belief if there is a chance they will dance around the truth.

If you have questions feel free to PM me.
If you would like elaboration ask away there are many more knowledgable people than me here.
Read 1 Corinthians 9 about how you do need to engage them on their level to discuss anything fruitfully. You seem to know this anyways based on the premise of your original post.

God Bless
Scylla
 
You said it yourself… Sola Scriptura.

The Bible Christian Society has some of the best materials that I have found as does The Catholic Society of Evangelists.

It’s the sole cornerstone of all the other non-Catholic errors.

It’s all and always going to come down to that one core disaster that looks inviting but is so far afield from what the Word of God really says.

One of my favorites is to show that the allegations that anti-Catholics use most are nothing more than fabrications. Why right here on CAF yesterday we caught someone using an alleged quote from a Papal statement to say that we worship the Blessed Virgin. It was a simple matter to find the document on the Vatican website and show that they had not taken it out of context, they had *completely * rewritten that part of the text to say something that was not there at all. :eek:

Most often “ex-Catholics” have some moral issue with the church’s teachings and it’s not really about doctrines it’s that they want “Christianity Lite” as taught outside of the faith because they want to contracept, or something. Not that they’ll tell you that up front.

You want to win back Catholics to the faith? You better know why we believe what we believe both from the Word of God and from Tradition and be able to show that there’s no contradiction.

It’s important to show them that they have been decieved by people who perhaps mean well but who know even less about the Catholic faith than they did before they bailed.
Pax tecum,
 
Church Militant:
Most often “ex-Catholics” have some moral issue with the church’s teachings and it’s not really about doctrines it’s that they want “Christianity Lite” as taught outside of the faith because they want to contracept, or something. Not that they’ll tell you that up front.
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That’s the truth in a nut shell!
 
It’s not just ex-Catholics - it’s also ‘practicing’ Catholics. A Catholic friend told me just today that she just 'hates having all these different religions, everybody thinking they are right, and why can’t we just all agree that it’s okay no matter what you believe - Hindu, Muslim, Baptist, Catholic, as long as it’s good for you and your family and you don’t hurt anybody. * It just doesn’t matter what church you go to or what you believe as long as you’re a good person." Then she said she is probably more liberal than I am when it comes to the Catholic Church. *Well, that was just a slight understatement! (although I don’t like applying ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’ when it comes to the teachings of the Church - the terms just don’t apply.)

Anyway, I probably didn’t handle it as well as I could have - I explained several things to her - in a nice way - but wish I would have asked her more questions and let her talk more instead of me just telling her my thoughts. I struggle with this - I want people to know the truth so badly that I’m not patient enough sometimes and probably talk too much instead of listening more. Thankfully God is giving me lots of practice lately it seems.
 
You need Karl Keating’s book Catholicism verses Fundamentalism. It really hits everyone of the typical attacks and reaffirms the truth and why we believe what we believe.

Ditto on the biggest reason most leave the RCC, they want something easier or lets them do it their own way. Some are actually miseducated or uneducated in the truths of the faith, but the truths (the whys and hows) will bring these home.

Pray for God to lead you to the information you seek and give you the words you need to bring them to where he wants them to be! Pray that they will hear your words as they are intended

Also, do not let them frustrate you, as I have one former Catholic who tried to throw me off by making gradious staments off the cuff. It was a tactic to mess up my thoughts at the time. Interestingly, my first though when she made these statments was not a loss of words but “oh God, please forgive her for she really can not mean what she is saying!”
 
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cocot:
Second, what are some of the beliefs that most Protestants or Sola Scriptura people have that are actually not in the Bible?
Basically I like to come on strong with the facts (nothing too deep) and leave 'em with something to think about.
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Well, that is kind of hard to say scince there isn’t one protestant veiw.All seem to have the common mistake of Sola Scriptora and 9 out of 10 chances they don’t beleive much of anything that we do in Mary.
But, it would be a look at one church at just look. I am sure that all the various denom. have a website so you could look there for an accurate picture of what the beleive (in baby form at least). Take a look at that so you know what to bring when you go to talk with one.
The numerous Fundamentalist or “Non-Denom” are a little more tricker. They you would simply have to talk too. See what the beleive. Those are people you really need to bring your whole bag of phamlets (as apposed to aglican where you don’t need to worry about discussing wheather there is a trinity or not.).
I would strongly suggest working on stuff that prostestants well throw at you saying that we balieve which we don’t. You can “Buy” forgiveness with an indulgance or You worship Mary or any number of things. Scince it is rather difficult to prove a negative, may I be as so bold as to suggest that one might try to prove the opposite is true. The Church condmens Polytheism (CCC X) so thereby there is no way we could worship Mary. And so on and so forth.

Hope this helps. And Good luck.
 
Thank you for the responses.
Let me clarify a little. When I say that I am arguing with Protestants, I mean they are protestants by default, to me. Really they are no religion, only that they were brought up Catholic and are now nothing
 
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kp1:
You need Karl Keating’s book Catholicism verses Fundamentalism. It really hits everyone of the typical attacks and reaffirms the truth and why we believe what we believe.

Ditto on the biggest reason most leave the RCC, they want something easier or lets them do it their own way. Some are actually miseducated or uneducated in the truths of the faith, but the truths (the whys and hows) will bring these home.

Pray for God to lead you to the information you seek and give you the words you need to bring them to where he wants them to be! Pray that they will hear your words as they are intended

Also, do not let them frustrate you, as I have one former Catholic who tried to throw me off by making gradious staments off the cuff. It was a tactic to mess up my thoughts at the time. Interestingly, my first though when she made these statments was not a loss of words but “oh God, please forgive her for she really can not mean what she is saying!”
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Don’t mean to go off topic. But I will! All my friends and family want to give me a gift for my upcoming Confirmation. So I was on Amazon.com looking at books on Apologetics. When you read the reviews for Karl Keating’s book Catholicism and Fundamentalism. There is one review that makes me laugh. This is it…
Where did this guy learn to research, January 2, 2006
Reviewer: Bradley S. Wesner (Indianapolis) - See all my reviews
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This is just another book written by a guy that knows nothing of the Catholic faith. Once again we get a rant on all of the things that Rome is doing wrong, and once again that rant is founded in ignorance. NOTE TO YOU: Catholics do not think that they are saved by works, and this is not the teaching of the church. We also do not think that Mary is a deity. We also do not pray to graven images.
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Get a clue, do some real research, and then write a real book.
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Back to the topic. There is a website with some nice tracts in PDF format titled “Rock of Inspiration”

nw-cybermall.com/Rock-of-Inspiration/

Print them out and give them away to these non-Catholics. There are many tracts on the views of the church, what the church is really about.
 
First, pray for them, because nothing you say, no matter how well-prepared and truthful, will have any effect if God hasn’t opened their hearts and minds by His grace. That seems obvious, but it’s easy, when engaging in evangelism, to fall into the trap of trying to do what only the Holy Spirit can do – give the grace of faith and repentance. Been there, done that 🙂

Second, find out what they do believe and why they’re no longer in the Church. They’ll be much more likely to listen to you if you take the time to listen to them. (Acts 17:16-33 is an example of a good way to evangelize).

Third, pray for wisdom to know what to share and how to share it in a way they will understand.

Fourth, always make sure your motive is love.
 
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Elzee:
It’s not just ex-Catholics - it’s also ‘practicing’ Catholics. A Catholic friend told me just today that she just 'hates having all these different religions, everybody thinking they are right, and why can’t we just all agree that it’s okay no matter what you believe - Hindu, Muslim, Baptist, Catholic, as long as it’s good for you and your family and you don’t hurt anybody. *It just doesn’t matter what church you go to or what you believe as long as you’re a good person." Then she said she is probably more liberal than I am when it comes to the Catholic Church. *Well, that was just a slight understatement! (although I don’t like applying ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’ when it comes to the teachings of the Church - the terms just don’t apply.)

Anyway, I probably didn’t handle it as well as I could have - I explained several things to her - in a nice way - but wish I would have asked her more questions and let her talk more instead of me just telling her my thoughts. I struggle with this - I want people to know the truth so badly that I’m not patient enough sometimes and probably talk too much instead of listening more. Thankfully God is giving me lots of practice lately it seems.
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Elzee, if I were you, I’d start a thread about this. I’m sure there are a lot of people here who have been in similar situations and can help you evangelize her.
 
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