hi im a roman catholic. the seventh day adventists argue with me about a lot of things.i feel ashamed that i dont know.i realy need answers to these questions.
- they argue that we should not pray for departed souls,they say that its God’s wish, its God’s soul he will do what ever he wants…
- they argue over us catholics believing strongly in the rosary prayer, our devotion to mother mary, they even want to know the origin of the rosary, y r we so devoted to it,they argue that there is nothing about the rosary in the bible. why should we say it.
i told them that the prayer hail mary is taken from the bible…but they keep askin who told us to say it ten times??
- the prayers we say…they argue the prayers we say is all by heart…we dont say our prayers from our mind…
i have not lost my faith hearing these things…but i would really like to give them answers and shut them up. the way they talk and argue with me as though my religion is fake and made up…
i really need your help here…
The Bible tells us to pray for the dead, but it’s probably not in their Bible. You have to use to complete Bible to find it. Remind them that if they aren’t using the Catholic Bible, they aren’t using a complete Bible.
We pray for the dead who are enduring purgation. Those in Heaven don’t need prayers, obviously. Those who are in Hell can’t be helped by our prayers. Those in purgatory, though, can be helped by prayers. Remind them (they probably don’t know) that souls in purgatory are being cleansed. They will enter Heaven, not Hell.
You already pointed out that the Hail Mary and the Our Father are biblical prayers. What more do they need to know?
Ask them if they think it is wrong to repeat passages from the Bible? (The Hail Mary)
Ask them where the Bible tells us not to recite these passages. If it is not anti-biblical, what right do they have to deny its validity?
Also, ask them what it is about the number 10 that they have a problem with.
Hand them instructions on “saying” the rosary. I think most non-Catholics have no idea that this is a meditative prayer and not a mindless repetition of the same prayer for repetition’s sake. They seem to think that the duration (the number of repetitions) is what the prayer is about.
Catholics pray is all kinds of ways. We have memorized prayer, like the Lord’s Prayer. Funny how so many non-Catholic Christians chide Catholics for our prayers, yet themselves say the Lord’s Prayer from memory.
Non-Catholic Christians make the mistake of thinking that Catholics, because we have a plethora of memorized prayers to choose from, that that is the limit of our prayer life.
How ignorant of them to assume such a thing. How narrow-minded.
Your mind has to be incredibly prejudiced against Catholicism to assume that because there are a lot of prayers written down, those are the only prayers Catholics say. And “say”. Prayer takes so many, many forms. To limit prayer to spoken (or thought) words is ludicrous.
It sounds like their prayer life could use a little boost. When you give them the rosary instruction booklet (it costs less than a dollar), also give them a rosary (you can find inexpensive rosaries for about a dollar.) Consider this expense part of your tithe. It’s money well-spent.
I assume that you know these people fairly well. It sounds like they are being very rude. If you are uncomfortable with their accusations, tell them that this is your religion, and you will not tolerate their denouncing it. You don’t owe them an explanation. If they want to know more, and they can’t be polite in their questioning, point them to the Catechism of the Catholic Faith. Also, “Why Do Catholics Do That” is a good book to introduce some common Catholic things.
If they’re not interested in the questions to bother looking at these books, they’re only asking the questions to try to prove to you that your faith is wrong. They probably think they’ve found an easy target.
You could bring your copy of the CCC with you. When they ask a question, tell them to look it up. That should take the wind out of their sails. There’s no fun in getting the answer if you can’t, in the process, belittle a Catholic’s faith.
