On Catholicism in a Protestant University

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sw_myers

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I have been reading quite a bit on these forums and have seen alot of gross misrepresentations of protestants towards the catholic faith. That is probably to be expected, that is how they were taught. I do sense quite a bit of frustration from catholic posters towards these misconceptions on the catholic faith.

I just wanted to let you know that I have good news. I was in college at Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, OK five years ago…(Church of the Nazarene denomination…Wesleyan-Armenian doctrine) majoring in theology-ministry. The professors, some of the best in the denomination, were never critical of the catholic faith. They taught a great understanding of the history of the church through 2000 years. My church history professor even made sure we did not get caught in the trap of ‘catholics worship saints/mary’ issue.

Anyways, These men were teaching the future of the Church of the Nazarene’s leaders…so there is hope that these gross misunderstandings may become lessened as the years go on…at least in my old denominations case.
 
Hey SW! I have been Catholic my whole life, and while at times it does bother me that some denominations don’t even consider us Christian, for the most part, I can ignore alot of the prejudical statements. On the otherhand, my husband who has only been Catholic for 3 years this Easter really gets fired up and annoyed at these kind of statements. I am very happy to hear that not all protestants teach the “evil Catholic” rendition of Christianity. It does promote the idea that there could be a reunification of faiths some day. The Catholic untruths that bug me are from former Catholic women that spout that the Catholic Church opresses women. Now that gets me! Historically, Catholic Schools and Hospitals gave high positions to women long before their secular counterparts ever did. As a woman I appreciate the way that Catholicism elevates women and I also enjoy my role as a woman, mother and wife as defined by my faith. I am especially annoyed at prodeath advocates that criticize Catholics for standing up for the sanctity of every life not just the convenient ones or planned ones.
 
That is encouraging! I wish it was happening in more denominations. It seems like everytime I listen to Christian radio anymore, all I hear is teaching that is anti-Catholic. I used to love to listen to Christian radio (it’s not Catholic radio) but now I’m starting to feel more alienated from that community than I ever thought I would.

I think it’s sad.
 
I have to agree with SW. I was raised in an evangelical church. I don’t ever recall even once hearing “whore of Babylon” talk there. My mother’s opinion was that catholics can be Christian. While I now disagree with that based on a complete understanding of the catholic church, it shows that her attitude was not anti-catholic.

As far as the church itself, the topic of catholicism never came up. Even though I grew up in a non-denominational bible church, I never heard the term sola scriptura until about two years ago on a debate board that was trying to disprove catholicsim. The church I was in believed in sola scriptura, but never referred to it that way.

The worst I was ever exposed to was Chick tracks in a christian bookstore my family frequented. I don’t recall my mother explicitly disputing the tracts, but in hindsight I think she disagreed with the rhetoric. My mother is very strong willed but can also be very subtle. I think it was her quiet example in that area that kept me from swallowing the Chick stuff whole.

My rambling point is that in my experience, evangelicals have not been anti-catholic. It wasn’t until I started investigating the catholic faith on the Internet that I was first exposed to it. The Internet doesn’t always give a clear picture though. Some seemingly popular sights aren’t the mainstream.

Bloggers like Joe Carter at The Evangelical Outpost and Mark D. Roberts (at his self-named blog) really are more of the mainstream. These people disagree with Catholic doctrine, but don’t see us as anit-Christs. In fact, I’ve found some of Mark D. Roberts posts on liturgy to expand my understanding. Hopefully one day he will find his way across the Tiber as other Presbyterian ministers like Scott Hahn and Marcus Grodi have done 🙂
 
I know a great deal of evangelicals and the majority of them are not anti-catholic or hold any feelings against Catholics, but the problem is a key few do, such as the pastor of the Church where many of my friends do.

I think interacting with the people and sharing the faith goes a long way toward dispelling the myths and misconceptions. It was interesting to note that not until we were coming back to the Catholic Church is when we received the most anti-catholic material. My wife recieved a book called Roman Catholicism, by Rick Jones which is a gross misrepresentation of Catholicism, but it was effective in keeping her out of the Church for a while. It took a little bit of research and some months before she started to even consider the Church. I ended up having to write a couple essays to keep a handy reference on refuting the first couple chapters of this book, if anyone ever needs it.

The problem is not the thousands who just think Catholicism is another denomination and don’t hold radical beliefs. The problem is the vocal few, deliberately misrepresenting Catholic and spreading prejudice which keeps many people from even considering Catholicism as Christian.
Thanks for the good news, that is encouraging.

There are answers to every question about Catholicism, feel free to post and we will be happy to answer and if we don’t answer clearly enough let us know and we will do our best to help.

God Bless
Scylla
 
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scylla:
I know a great deal of evangelicals and the majority of them are not anti-catholic or hold any feelings against Catholics, but the problem is a key few do, such as the pastor of the Church where many of my friends do.

I think interacting with the people and sharing the faith goes a long way toward dispelling the myths and misconceptions. It was interesting to note that not until we were coming back to the Catholic Church is when we received the most anti-catholic material. My wife recieved a book called Roman Catholicism, by Rick Jones which is a gross misrepresentation of Catholicism, but it was effective in keeping her out of the Church for a while. It took a little bit of research and some months before she started to even consider the Church. I ended up having to write a couple essays to keep a handy reference on refuting the first couple chapters of this book, if anyone ever needs it.

The problem is not the thousands who just think Catholicism is another denomination and don’t hold radical beliefs. The problem is the vocal few, deliberately misrepresenting Catholic and spreading prejudice which keeps many people from even considering Catholicism as Christian.
Thanks for the good news, that is encouraging.

There are answers to every question about Catholicism, feel free to post and we will be happy to answer and if we don’t answer clearly enough let us know and we will do our best to help.

God Bless
Scylla
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I am going through quite a trial right now concerning these very things. My family is bombarding me with videos and books which are EXTREME in antiCatholic views and I find them so disturbing that I can’t hardly sleep anymore. Not because *I * believe them, but because *my family does * and I feel helpless. And it’s not as though I don’t know the answers, I have read a boatload of books on the faith and some addressing basic apologetics, but I am wondering if anyone knows of any courses that may have been developed to use in local parishes to help Catholics, both cradle and converts, to develop a systematic response to some of these ridiculous and disturbing accusations? The Church needs to step up to the plate with some help for the lay people who are under constant attack, most who are clueless about their faith to begin with.

You know, there is such a huge difference in the way Evangilicals/Fundamentalist in general respond when discipling converts to Christianity. They have so many resources and they are so willing to take people under their wings and equip them to do battle in these areas. I find Catholicism vastly under resourced and understaffed to effectively help nurture her converts. I’m not trying to be critical here, honestly, I understand the crisis the Church is facing, but it will never get better if she cannot defend her flock from the wolves. She won’t have much of a flock left.

Has any kind of apoligetics for parishes been developed and made available to us who are struggling NOW? 😦 I feel like I am in a war, and don’t have a battle plan or a leader.

Thanks!
 
Check out the store here, there are many websites that deal with answering objections and clearing up misconceptions.

www.biblechristiansociety.com

free cd’s just pay the shipping

www.saintjoe.com

Good stuff here

You are right, I think many of the parishes take for granted the persistance and force behind the attacks on the faith. They are way behind on providing resources to Catholics as they assume since the faith is true, everyone just sees it.

There is plenty available, but unfortunately local churches have been a little slow in coming on board with defense of the faith. If you would like more feel free to PM me.

God Bless
Scylla
 
Jeanette L,

scylla is correct go to www.biblechristiansociety.com and get the free CD’s from John Martignoni. There are 14 of them and all of them very good. Each CD is approximately one hour long. They answer most of the protestant arguments with scripture. It will cost you $14 for all 14 and you should have them in a week or less.

If I were you I would tell your family that they have to spend one hour listening to John CD’s for every hour of time you have spent, watching, reading and listening to their propaganda. If you have spent 10 hours with their stuff then it is only fair that they spend 10 hours with your stuff.

Listen to the CD’s yourself first then sit down with your family and a bible and listen to them again. Stop the player when needed and look up the verses at the time.

Good luck and God Bless
 
Fish & Scylla -

Thank you both for your responses. I did go to BCS site and it looked very helpful. I will order all tapes and get started.

Thanks again. I always feel panicked after the weekends, it seem that’s when all the poop hits the fan for me at home, everyone wants to rescue me from this horror they think I’m sinking into. I guess my weapons are being sharpened! 😉

God Bless,
Jeanette
 
Once you research it a little bit, you will look forward to those encounters. I now wait in anticipation for the chance to share my faith.

The problem is many times once you have logical clear answers a lot of people will back off and not even want to discuss the faith. Especially those who have very emotional barriers to the Catholic faith.

Even today as I walked in the door in on my brother who was going on a rant about Catholicism to my Dad, he stopped in mid-sentence when I walked in and immediately changed the subject. All I heard was “bowing down like he is important”, then silence when I walked in the door and a complete change of subject. It was pretty amusing and sad at the same time.

My poor dad is the nicest man, who has a lot of trouble explaining the faith, so hopefully he listens to the cd’s I gave him over the next couple days.

God Bless
Scylla
 
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