The Catholic's Best Argument

[PumpkinCookie]

What do you think is the best or most effective argument in favor of Catholicism?

I’ll go first.

I think the best argument in favor of Catholicism is that it seems to fulfill our deep desire for:

A perfect father
A perfect mother
A perfect family
A perfect, endless life
Forgiveness
Meaning in suffering
A special, unique, and exclusive mission in life
Physical, tangible connection with the divine (sacraments)
A relation with others based on love (rather than competition/indifference)
Hope for miraculous deliverance
A scapegoat (satan)
The comfort of having trusted experts decide difficult questions for us (bishops/popes/priests)
Our enemies to be punished
Our friends to be rewarded
A group of friends who will never let us down, and who always want to help us and have special powers and abilities to do so (angels/saints)

Catholicism offers the apparent fulfillment of a lot of these desires, and few (or no) world-views are as comprehensive in their attempt to fulfill all of these desires. It’s all things to all people, and can absorb idiosyncratic desires of a wide variety of human beings to a great extent. I will refrain from discussing possible counter-arguments in this thread.

What do you think is the Catholic’s best argument?

 

[fred_conty]

I would pick God’s choice for us because it is true … happiness. And that takes in quite a bit.

“The seed of glory sown in man will flower when we see your face.” (Hymn)

 

[Charlemagne_III]

The best argument for CATHOLICISM you do not mention.

Jesus Christ sacrificed himself to redeem us from our sins.

Your summary in general, though flawed here and there, suggests how much Catholicism has to offer and how nearly nothing atheism has to offer.

 

[goout]

Pardon me, Catholicism does not have an argument.

Catholicism is faith not an argument.

 

[Aloysium]

. . . it seems to fulfill our deep desire for: . . .

This merely demonstrates your misunderstanding of Catholicism.
I suppose this would be why you keep looking for HD miracles.

 

[PraiseChrist]

What do you think is the best or most effective argument in favor of Catholicism?

I’ll go first.

I think the best argument in favor of Catholicism is that it seems to fulfill our deep desire for:

A perfect father
A perfect mother
A perfect family
A perfect, endless life
Forgiveness
Meaning in suffering
A special, unique, and exclusive mission in life
Physical, tangible connection with the divine (sacraments)
A relation with others based on love (rather than competition/indifference)
Hope for miraculous deliverance
A scapegoat (satan)
The comfort of having trusted experts decide difficult questions for us (bishops/popes/priests)
Our enemies to be punished
Our friends to be rewarded
A group of friends who will never let us down, and who always want to help us and have special powers and abilities to do so (angels/saints)

Catholicism offers the apparent fulfillment of a lot of these desires, and few (or no) world-views are as comprehensive in their attempt to fulfill all of these desires. It’s all things to all people, and can absorb idiosyncratic desires of a wide variety of human beings to a great extent. I will refrain from discussing possible counter-arguments in this thread.

What do you think is the Catholic’s best argument?

An argument in favor of Catholicism is in looking into historical evidence behind the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Once someone believes who Jesus said he was, then it is a matter of how to follow him. Looking at the historical evidence of the first Christians, the writings of the first few successors of the apostles, the persecuted lives of the 12 Apostles after the resurrection, one can be more disposed to having Faith.

From the Catechism of St Pius X:

8 Q. How are we certain that the Christian Doctrine which we receive from the Holy Catholic Church is really true?
A. We are certain that the doctrine which we receive from the Holy Catholic Church is true, because Jesus Christ, the divine Author of this doctrine, committed it through His Apostles to the Church, which He founded and made the infallible teacher of all men, promising her His divine assistance until the end of time.

9 Q. Are there other proofs of the truth of Christian Doctrine?
A. The truth of Christian Doctrine is also shown by the eminent sanctity of numbers who have professed it and who still profess it, by the heroic fortitude of the martyrs, by its marvellous and rapid propagation in the world, and by its perfect preservation throughout so many centuries of ceaseless and varied struggles.

 

[fladreamer]

This merely demonstrates your misunderstanding of Catholicism.
I suppose this would be why you keep looking for HD miracles.

If all else fails, we’ll settle for SD miracles.

What is the one thing about catholicism that made you, Aloysium, ‘‘buy’’ it?

I for one can’t think of anything that hasn’t already been mentioned by PumpkinCookie. If only I’d been richly catechized…But seriously, though, his list encompasses all my (the) aspirations/desires of my heart. Apart from affluence, that is.

 

[ProdglArchitect]

I was convinced by a deep examination of the claims of the Church, the historical evidence surround Her (as well as that surrounding Judaism), the evidence of the Church’s works in the world, and lastly by the rational, reasoned responses given to any legitimate inquiry I had.

In short, the best argument for the Catholic Church is the historical reality of how the Church has acted (and how consistent is has been on all dogmatic teachings) throughout history, and the deep wells of philosophical and theological reasoning that support it.

 

[PraiseChrist]

A scapegoat (satan)

“Satan made me do it” isn’t Catholic teaching. Satan tempts us, but in the end, if the infinitely good God sends someone to hell, it’s not because Satan forced someone to do something, it’s because that person rejected God despite countless graces. The world, our flesh, and Satan all tempt us, but our free will to reject God is the scapegoat. One of the pains of hell is that we have no one to blame but ourselves for sending us there.

If anyone is the scapegoat in Catholicism, it’s Jesus Christ, since he had to take the punishment for all the choices people made in rejecting God. The more mankind raises its face in pride, the more God’s face drops in giving up his life for the redemption of mankind.

 

[Della]

Because it’s true.

 

[PraiseChrist]

Because it’s true.

I had a feeling someone would say this lol

 

[pianistclare]

No one has to argue for Catholcism.
It stands as the Church that Christ Himself founded.
When people begin to realize that church is not something “you get something out of” but a worship and a work that God is due. in thanksgiving, they will be far less dissatisfied with each other and the work of the church. Christ came to redeem us, but also to show us what to do.

Catholicism is true.
All the other stuff is what a person wants to either take credit for or place blame for.
This is not a quality of faith.

 

[e_c]

How ironic that the OP lists Satan as the scapegoat, when Christ is actually the fulfillment of the literal scapegoat defined in the Torah.

The best argument is that those who claim to have been there and seen such and such event that would confirm the divinity of the Church’s origins have no reason to lie, could not all be confused, and we are simply not radically misunderstanding them.

 

[Aloysium]

. . . What is the one thing about catholicism that made you, Aloysium, ‘‘buy’’ it? . . …

The one thing is personal.
A couple of other points:

• It is the quickest, most sure-fire way to come to know God.
• The Catechism

 

[fhansen]

What do you think is the best or most effective argument in favor of Catholicism?

I’ll go first.

I think the best argument in favor of Catholicism is that it seems to fulfill our deep desire for:

A perfect father
A perfect mother
A perfect family
A perfect, endless life
Forgiveness
Meaning in suffering
A special, unique, and exclusive mission in life
Physical, tangible connection with the divine (sacraments)
A relation with others based on love (rather than competition/indifference)
Hope for miraculous deliverance
A scapegoat (satan)
The comfort of having trusted experts decide difficult questions for us (bishops/popes/priests)
Our enemies to be punished
Our friends to be rewarded
A group of friends who will never let us down, and who always want to help us and have special powers and abilities to do so (angels/saints)

Catholicism offers the apparent fulfillment of a lot of these desires, and few (or no) world-views are as comprehensive in their attempt to fulfill all of these desires. It’s all things to all people, and can absorb idiosyncratic desires of a wide variety of human beings to a great extent. I will refrain from discussing possible counter-arguments in this thread.

What do you think is the Catholic’s best argument?

Not so much for our enemies to be punished as that goodness will, simply, ultimately reign; justice will be done, good and evil no longer allowed to coexist. And satan isn’t much of a scapegoat, “The devil made me do it” doesn’t cut it in Catholicism where we’re all held accountable for our own choices and actions.

The best argument for Catholicism IMO is that it gives substance and structure to the idea that life has ultimate purpose and meaning, that reason and order reign at a basic level, that the goodness and love we should experience to one degree or another in this life are actually foundational to the universe, in spite of the sufferings and evils we’ll also endure here.

 

[BobCatholic]

Take a look at the enemy.

Satan sends his followers to steal the Eucharist from Catholic Churches and do black masses. Not communion wafers from the baptist church. Not the Eucharist from Eastern Orthodox churches. Not the Methodist church’s communion. The #1 top of the list, and everyone else is ignored, target is the Catholic Church.

Take a look at those who seek to take power and be totalitarian. The first institution they attack is the Catholic Church, and the institution they expend the most energy and resources doing so. Communists. Fascists. Totalitarians of all stripes do this.

Take a look at the people who believe that there are no such things as sexual ethics, who seek to impose their relativistic beliefs on others. They spend most of their resources railing against the Catholic Church.

When evil people are spending time, energy and resources fighting against the Catholic Church, that speaks volumes of the goodness of the Catholic Church and that it alone is doing something right.

 

[Della]

BobCatholic’s post reminded me of the famous quote by G. K. Chesterton (made before WWII, btw) about the place of the Church in the world:

“We do not want, as the newspapers say, a church that will move with the world. We want a church that will move the world.”

Even then the newspapers wanted the Church to conform to the zeitgeist of the day instead of being the beacon of truth in a fallen world. Man never changes. In his hubris he assumes he knows better than God and the Church Christ founded no matter in which era/generation he was born.

 

[fisherman_carl]

Love, goodness, beauty, and truth. The fulness of which are found in God, and that which is revealed to us through his church.

 

[po18guy]

The Beatific Vision.