Suggestions for who a Catholic apologist should debate next

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I have noticed that several Catholic apologists have debated James White. This is good. However, there are several other prominent Protestants who are speaking falsehoods about the Catholic Church. I would like to see who those of us on CAF think a Catholic apologist should debate.

I nominate John MacArthur. This sermon was extremely hostile and full of errors. podcast.wayofthemasterradio.com/audio/podcasts/1106/WOTMR-11-09-06-Hour1.mp3. Then, on John MacArthur’s website, this is found gty.org/resources.php?section=transcripts&aid=231486. John MacArthur clearly needs to be debated by a knowledgeable Catholic apologist who will be able to show all the errors of these comments and defend the Catholic Church.
 
MacArthur would be good. I want to see one of these men debated as well, Comfort, Gendron, and Hunt since these are the men that my father in law goes to to learn about Catholicism. I know Gendron just debated Staples, but my internet is too slow to be able to watch it. Also if I am not mistaken I think Hunt has debated Catholics before but I am not sure. That leaves Comfort, but after watching the dreadful debate he had against the Atheist, I doubt he will be doing anymore debates.

Also I wouldnt mind seeing someone take on the author of, The Gospel According to Rome James McCarthy

God bless
 
Roman_Catholic said:
Comfort,
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Ditto! And put Kirk Cameron on there too. From what I’ve heard on their show, they only take calls from lost Catholics and people on this forum who have tried getting a response from them have been ignored.
Roman_Catholic said:
Gendron,
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The Staples-Gendron debate is here from the June 14 episode. (Thanks to PaulGH for posting this link in another thread.)
Roman_Catholic said:
and Hunt since these are the men that my father in law goes to to learn about Catholicism. I know Gendron just debated Staples, but my internet is too slow to be able to watch it. Also if I am not mistaken I think Hunt has debated Catholics before but I am not sure.
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A Karl Keating-Dave Hunt debate from 1993 on “Action Sixties” is here.
Roman_Catholic said:
Also I wouldnt mind seeing someone take on the author of, The Gospel According to Rome James McCarthy
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Not a “debate”, but apologist Gary Michuta wrote a book called The Gospel According To James McCarthy.
 
I would like to see an R.C. Sproul Catholic-Protestant debate.

Pastor Sproul is a very knowledgeable Reformed minister who, to my knowledge, has never made an incorrect statement about Catholicism. He really knows the Church well. His major disagreement with Catholicism is with the doctrine of the Treasury of Merit.

I think a debate limited to that topic would be fascinating and very helpful.
 
Cat said:
I would like to see an R.C. Sproul Catholic-Protestant debate.

Pastor Sproul is a very knowledgeable Reformed minister who, to my knowledge, has never made an incorrect statement about Catholicism. He really knows the Church well. His major disagreement with Catholicism is with the doctrine of the Treasury of Merit.

I think a debate limited to that topic would be fascinating and very helpful.
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That would be interesting, but I think a debate with an anti-Catholic would be more helpful to defend the Catholic position, especially with some of the prominent anti-Catholics who are getting Catholics to leave the Catholic Church to join their church.
 
I question the effectiveness of the debate format for apologetics.
 
Let’s throw Matthew Fox into the debate. I would love to see him get all perplexed by some answers and then come back to the church…probably not gonna happen–but a girl can dream.

Blessings,
Heather
 
mark_a said:
I question the effectiveness of the debate format for apologetics.
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I agree with you. I look at the debates like for example Dr White against Catholic apologists and it seems like both sides are more interested in showing that they are smarter than the side, than actually doing apologetics. The current format depends to much in the ability of the debater to debate, the actual argument becomes secondary.

Take a look at some of Dr Whites debates he uses this simple but effective technique: He ask a question without making eye contact and with very guarded tone, when his opponent starts answering he reaches over for a book and starts searching for something, this throws his opponent on a loop because they start thinking “What is that book he is looking? Did I just contradict the Church? Did I just contradict one of my own books?”, more times than none the catholic side stubles after this little trick.

He is not depending on the reason of his argument, he is just taking advantage of human nature on stressfully situations, to get his oponets “Off their game”.

I favor written debates in which a side makes a claim and the other side (and whoever is following the debate) have time to research and refine their answer. This is they way the first Christians debated their opponents, this is why we still have the works of Justine and others.These could take days, but I find them more productive.

Another problem with the current format is that you could have a wealth of knowledge but if you are not good a public speaking you can not defend your points. I often wander how would Moses fare in an apologists debate, very badly I’m affraid and he wrote the first 5 books of the Bible!!

In His love

A Catholic Deacon
 
I’d like to see Jesse Romero debate one of the Iglesia ni Cristo apologists (I forget their names).* Sorely *needed, especially in Southern California. Fireworks guarenteed! 😃
 
mark_a said:
I question the effectiveness of the debate format for apologetics.
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Catholicdeacon said:
I agree with you. I look at the debates like for example Dr White against Catholic apologists and it seems like both sides are more interested in showing that they are smarter than the side, than actually doing apologetics.
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Some debates yes, but some no. Just because some debaters do a poor job, the whole category shouldn’t be discarded. And often, the only opportunity for the Catholic view to even reach non-Catholics is a debate in their forum (i.e. when Jimmy Akin went on the Bible Answer Man, or even Pat Madrid vs. White).
 
MarcoPolo said:
And often, the only opportunity for the Catholic view to even reach non-Catholics is a debate in their forum (i.e. when Jimmy Akin went on the Bible Answer Man, or even Pat Madrid vs. White).
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Why couldn’t ETWN invite Protestants on their programs to debate Catholic apologists?
 
lak611 said:
Why couldn’t ETWN invite Protestants on their programs to debate Catholic apologists?
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They could. I think they should occassionally…I was happy to see Drew Mariani on Relevant Radio have Mike Gendron debate Tim Staples on his show the other day…I know protestants were listening because they were calling in more than usual. If it’s done civilly, I think it can be of benefit.

Jimmy Akin has ideas on what makes a productive debate.

Sometimes debates can be good, other times not.
 
There’s also a great five day debate between Tim Staples and radio host and Bible teacher Steve Greg on Greg’s show “The Narrow Path” that took place December 18th through December 22, 2006. You can find it here in the archives of Greg’s show:

thenarrowpath.com/

They went through a different topic each day. I personally think Tim was too nice and could have nailed Greg a lot more than he did. You be the judge. 😃
 
Personally, I’d love to see someone (maybe even a Church Father) debate John Hagee about the nature of Israel and the Church.
 
Fidelis said:
The last “Church Father” died around 800 AD. Did you mean a Catholic priest? 🙂
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That was a half serious comment. Yes, I know the Church Fathers are dead. John Hagee in his sermons has declared that the early Church Fathers were anti-Jewish so I thought it would be cool if they could actually say their peace instead of being miscontrued. On second thought, Rosalind Moss would be a great choice too.
 
I would like to see Jimmy Akin or Patrick Madrid debate Richard Bennett (reportedly a former Catholic priest) on any topic.

PS: I have tried looking for Gary Michuta’s audio debate with James White on the Canon of Scripture but unable to find it except on Mr. White’s website. Is it available any where else (IE: a catholic website)? BTW almost finished with Mr. Michuta’s new book and it is fantastic.

Larry
 
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