Response to anti-Catholic father in law

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Just wanted to know how to answer this. This was sent to my fiance by her father. He had sent prior to this a story about how the “emerging” church was trying to reunify with Rome and that this was a bad thing and that the “mary factor” would destroy Christianity.

They have had blow outs before about her converting so I need a response that isnt too over the top and not argumentative.
You got the post I just sent, as it stated take heed. I love you baby girl. I pray you will know the TRUTH AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE. Look to the author and the perfecter of your faith Jesus alone.Have you started reading the book of John yet? Please do,you must learn the word for you to know what is false and what is truth.
Repent and trust in Jesus ALONE for your salvation.He has done the work our part is to fight the good fight of faith and let not the devil steal it from us by telling us there is more work than the work Christ has already done. He hung on the cross and His last words were IT IS FINISHED. Our good works added to that means nothing. Faith acting through obedience to HIM ALONE will bring you the Holy Spirit. and your assurance of salvation…not man…this is Christian
I Love you with all my heart…
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If you want to see the first email of the “emerging Church” I can post it but this was the second email he sent. The reason he told her to read John is because he was trying to prove that Infant baptism and the way the Catholic Church teaches the Eucharist were not biblical the other day. So he told her to read John.
 
I am having the same problem with my parents right now. Just about every day I am getting online printouts about The Cult of Mary Worship or The Whore of Babylon or blablabla. It wears you down. But I have found that there are no words that can impart logical thinking or reason to this type of histeria. I have just stopped responding. Everything goes into the trash bin and I give no response.

There’s a verse in the Gospel, can’t think of it just now, where Christ warns against casting your pearls before swine. Now, I know that sounds like an extreme putdown, but I believe it applies, sometimes it’s no use arguing with people who won’t listen to reason. You just have to move on, do what you know is the Lord’s will for you, and put it in His hands to deal with as He sees fit.

God Bless,
Jeanette
 
The best question I have heard asked of a protestant who is anti mary is : Where do you think mary is seated in heaven?

Again face to face after much prayer, only then it might get them thinking about their defamation of God’s mother.

Our Queen of Heaven - Forever the first human to be filled with the Holy Spirit

Brother John
 
This is my favorite part:
Our good works added to that means nothing. Faith acting through obedience to HIM ALONE will bring you the Holy Spirit.
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Good works mean nothing, but you have to obey God (i.e. good works) to be saved. That is exactly what the catholic church teaches.

You notice that he then relates obedience to salvation? He seems to say that obedience (or good works) bring the Spirit and thus salvation. Seems to be the opposite of what he is trying to say.
 
I don’t think that there is much at all that you can say to him which will be useful.

People who do not want to hear something, don’t hear it. If he is not open at all to what Catholicism is about, then whatever you are going to say to him is just going to be more fodder for him to use for more arguements back. You can play a game of volleying apologetics, but unless and until he is willing to listen - not with his ears, but with his mind and heart - it will only serve to send him looking for another “defense”.

Your fiancee is his daughter. Being the father of two daughters, I can tell you that his feelings for her run deeper than you understand or have experienced. You love her, but have for only a while; he has loved her for her lifetime. You are choosing her for a wife - the two shall become one flesh; but it hasn’t yet.

But she is flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bones. You need to not walk in that minefield.

From the sound of your posts, he loves her and he loves the Lord. She is the one who is going to have to deal with this battle, and he fears for her salvation. You and I can understand that his fear is unfounded, but he can’t. And that you need to internalize.

You need to pray, and continue to pray for both of them. And pray hard; this is something that could continue on for one of their lifetimes, his or hers. You are getting a taste of what could continue for years to come; or could result in a break in their relationship. There are simply no easy or magic answers, but odds are there will be a lot of pain, and lot for a longtime to come.

And if that is not an acceptable answer, then you need to find a different one; because finding something to say to him is not an anwer. In short, you both need to step back and take a long look at your relationship. The old saw that “no man is an island” applies to married couples equally; this isn’t just going to go away, and no matter which way it goes, there will be a cost to her, and to him. And if there is a cost to her, there will be a cost to you also.
 
My own in-laws are also Protestant and have all been taught that Catholics rely on works.

I’d say both of you should keep it simple and reassuring–saying that “Yes, for us it’s all about Christ alone. We simply believe that He’s asking us to follow Him by following the Church He gave us.”

It’s all about Jesus; no argument. But when you’re challenged that Jesus alone means just this, or just that…It seems to me that’s your opening to start saying, "We’re trying to follow the entire Word; it’s telling us the Church is the pillar and foundation of truth, it’s built on Peter, and when we’re judged, Christ is going to do it based on whether we loved our neighbor (Matt25).

And Pray.

Peace.
 
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Roman_Catholic:
Just wanted to know how to answer this. This was sent to my fiance by her father. He had sent prior to this a story about how the “emerging” church was trying to reunify with Rome and that this was a bad thing and that the “mary factor” would destroy Christianity.

They have had blow outs before about her converting so I need a response that isnt too over the top and not argumentative.

If you want to see the first email of the “emerging Church” I can post it but this was the second email he sent. The reason he told her to read John is because he was trying to prove that Infant baptism and the way the Catholic Church teaches the Eucharist were not biblical the other day. So he told her to read John.
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He gave you the answer. Obedience. As he said, you must be obedient to Christ, this consists in doing good works and avoiding bad works. Hence, what you do affects your salvation. As James said, faith without works is dead. You believe? Good, the devil believes too.
 
Faith itself is a work.I forget where the verses are but there are a few in the Bible where God COMMANDS us to believe on His Son, repent of our sins and continue our WORK of Faith. To dissobey those commands is sin.

Faith is not some simple acknowledgement in Christ but it is giving your whole self to God and continuing on the path.
 
My response would be that if you cannot respect my choices, and if you cannot cease with this nonsense, then you will not be welcome in our home and you will not be welcome to communicate until such time as you can respect me, my family, and my religion.

But, that’s me. And, I have a very low tolerance for this sort of thing.
 
He seems very confused about works. He says there is no more work beyond what Christ has done, but then he says we have a part to play, a battle to fight. He says good works mean nothing, but then he says faith acting through obedience will bring the Holy Spirit, which is hardly nothing. He seems to be arguing against himself, which is rather common, because every serious Christian knows that we have to live out our faith in love, to shoulder our own cross, to perform those works intended for us from before the world was born.
 
Try the CA web site, search for “faith & works.” You will find a plethora of good material.
 
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Strider:
Try the CA web site, search for “faith & works.” You will find a plethora of good material.
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Strider? Now would that be from “The Lord of the Rings?” Cool name 🙂
 
You know what message you send back to him?

“Thank You.”

The end, nothing else. Leave it at that. Anytime he sends you this stuff, just say “thank you” and move on.
 
If he wants to see what the early church taught on the Eucharist check out:

For Example:
“They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again”
Ignatius of Antioch,Epistle to Smyrnaeans,7,1(c.A.D. 110),in ANF,I:89

If he wants to see what the early church taught about Infant Baptism check out:

For Example:
“And many,both men and women, who have been Christ’s disciples from childhood, remain pure and at the age of sixtey or seventy years…”
Justin Martyr,First Apology,15:6(A.D. 110-165),in ANF,I:167

Ask him why HIS Church doesn’t teach what the True Christian Church has been teaching for almost 2000 years!!! Ask him why he continues to persecute the True Christian Church just like they did in the first century. If it didn’t work back then, what makes him think it will work today???

“For I will be with you til the end of this age”!

Notworthy
 
Hey thanks for all of your responses.

We emailed him back that the Catholic Church teaches that Salvation is through the Grace of God and the works without faith is dead. We said that she absolutey believes God calls for our love and obedience and that it is out of this love and obedience that she will humbly submit to the Jesus Christ and join the Catholic Church because she feels that this is His will, “Thy will be done”.There was more to it than that but this is pretty much what we focused one, his misconceptions. We also said that we would love to clear up anyother misconceptions about the Church, because in reality we have learned far more by his challenges than we could ever had without him. It is because of him that I found this site and have been motivated to learn my faith in the first place.

But I hope everyone will stay with this thread, this is sure to be a never ending string of emails and along with Gods help we will need all of you.

Thanks and God bless
 
Have these Protestant ever look at the word when we say “Hail Mary?”

Look at the difference. “Pray for us sinners our death amen.”

versus:

“Forgive us our sins.” in the Our Father prayer.
 
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Roman_Catholic:
Just wanted to know how to answer this. This was sent to my fiance by her father. He had sent prior to this a story about how the “emerging” church was trying to reunify with Rome and that this was a bad thing and that the “mary factor” would destroy Christianity.

They have had blow outs before about her converting so I need a response that isnt too over the top and not argumentative.

If you want to see the first email of the “emerging Church” I can post it but this was the second email he sent. The reason he told her to read John is because he was trying to prove that Infant baptism and the way the Catholic Church teaches the Eucharist were not biblical the other day. So he told her to read John.
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Seems to me that your father-in-law is under the assumption that the Catholic Church teaches dependence on good deeds. That we ‘depend’ on the Catholic Church for salvation. Tell your father-in-law that we Catholics depend on Jesus Christ for salvation and it’s Him that we put our faith in. Cause Jesus is the one that founded the Church in the first place.
Also your fiance’s father is quite misinformed I’m afraid. For the Eucharist read John chapter 6. Infant baptism? Well, the book of Acts says that ENTIRE families were baptized. His argument that infant baptism is not biblical holds no water. The Church teaches that Baptism is a necessity! It is by grace that we are saved. Tell your father-in-law that the Sacrament of Baptism has sanctifying grace. The sacraments of the Church are not symbols. Infant baptism has been practiced since the beginning of the Apostolic times.
 
Jeanette L says…

There’s a verse in the Gospel, can’t think of it just now, where Christ warns against casting your pearls before swine. Now, I know that sounds like an extreme putdown, but I believe it applies, sometimes it’s no use arguing with people who won’t listen to reason. You just have to move on, do what you know is the Lord’s will for you, and put it in His hands to deal with as He sees fit.

Eph replies…
…and yet another that warns of FALSE Gospels being taught in the end days by wolves in sheep’s clothing…! 👍
 
VociMike writes…
He seems very confused about works. He says there is no more work beyond what Christ has done, but then he says we have a part to play, a battle to fight. He says good works mean nothing, but then he says faith acting through obedience will bring the Holy Spirit, which is hardly nothing. He seems to be arguing against himself, which is rather common, because every serious Christian knows that we have to live out our faith in love, to shoulder our own cross, to perform those works intended for us from before the world was born.

Eph replies…

IF what he means is “JESUS CHRIST” did the “entire work” that ONLY he could do in full …for our Salvation by paying the entire price for our sins on the cross…
Then he’s right about no more good works with regards to our Salvation being needed to be done by us…!

See…Faith in Jesus Christ alone… brings the Holy Spirit into a person’s life …and THEN it’s the Holy Spirit dwelling in the person that leads the person to do good works…and not the person themself…!
So really we can’t boast to anyone about doing any good works in and of ourself…because it’s really not us doing them…it’s the Holy Spirit doing them through us …and not us ourself…!

(( Did I just repeat myself with all that…??? )) LOL 👍
 
bones_IV says…
Seems to me that your father-in-law is under the assumption that the Catholic Church teaches dependence on good deeds. That we ‘depend’ on the Catholic Church for salvation. Tell your father-in-law that we Catholics depend on Jesus Christ for salvation and it’s Him that we put our faith in. Cause Jesus is the one that founded the Church in the first place.

Eph writes…

I agree with you…JESUS CHRIST is the lone leader of the CHURCH…not anyone else…! Not me…not you…or anybody else…just Jesus Christ…! One Church…One faith…One Baptism…and ONE Lord …Jesus Christ…!

Bones iv says…
Infant baptism? Well, the book of Acts says that ENTIRE families were baptized. His argument that infant baptism is not biblical holds no water.

Eph replies…

Well in context from Acts we see that the ones that “heard” the word and had faith were Baptised…Since no one can really teach a 5 day old baby from God’s word…this can’t mean infant baptism…

Infants that young don’t understand words or any language yet…! Let alone the Gospel of Jesus Christ…So obviously this is speaking of “all” that heard the word and understood what was being said and taught to them…!

Thus we MUST conclude all that were old enough to understand the Gospel were Baptised…!

Baptism IS important but one thing we all must remember is…people don’t go to hell for not being Baptised…
People go to hell for NON Faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior…! 👍
 
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