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Blue Collar Apologetics Session 7Handout Material

“The glory of God is man fully alive” (St. Irenaeus, Lyons).

Website infohttp://www.biblechristiansociety.com/home.php http://www.saintteresahutchinson.com https://www.catholic.comhttp://www.ofcuniversity.com

“The Catholic faith is like a lion in a cage. You don’t need to defend it. You simply need to open the cage door.”

Rules of Engagement

1. Pray2. Learn more about your faith daily…small steps make big changes over time3. Do not be afraid - Luke 5:10 10 (RSV2CE) and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men.”4. View questions as opportunities5. Don’t get frustrated6. Don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know”

Apologetic Strategies

1. The “ignorant Catholic”2. Be “Aw” fensive and not “Uh” fensive3. It’s the principle of the thing4. But that’s my interpretation

Reminder of 2 Essential Layers of Foundation

1. The Bible is a Catholic book!2. There truly is an answer for every intelligible question about our Catholic faith – it is your responsibility to go find it.

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Authority in the Church, this is a big question and controversy today. And we will find that many issues in Christianity are addressed or not addressed depending on how you answer this one big question. Who gets to make the final call on what is right and what is wrong when it comes to faith, morals, doctrine, dogma, and the Bible. Doesn’t matter what the topic is, Mary, purgatory, the Real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, celibacy, abortion, contraception, the Pope and infallibility, you pick it, it all boils down to authority.

John Martignoni was very clear on this point, no matter where the conversation starts, it is important that you steer it toward the question of authority as soon as possible. The question of authority affects virtually all the other questions and topics you will talk about, and it normally saves you a lot of time getting there as soon as you can. Example…this question comes up from some Evangelicals, where in the Bible does it talk about Mary being assumed into heaven? The Catholic

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answer is, nowhere in the Bible does it address the assumption of Mary into heaven, at least not directly.

But that pithy answer is not going to satisfy some of our brothers that claim Catholics don’t teach the Bible. The next question you ask could and should lead the conversation toward the issue of authority in the Church, like…where does it say that Mary wasn’t assumed into heaven. The honest answer is, there is no verse that says she absolutely was not assumed into heaven. Your response is simple, then why can’t I believe that if I choose to. More often than not they will tell you passionately, if it is not in the Bible that you shouldn’t believe it. Bingo…then ask them what verse in the Bible says that if it’s not in the Bible, then it’s not true and I shouldn’t believe it. They will quickly realize they have seriously contradicted themselves.

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They are believing something central to their protestant faith, that is nowhere to be found in the Bible. I was raised on this false belief, if it’s not in the Bible than I shouldn’t believe it. As Jackie and I looked into the Catholic faith we began to realize how many our Protestant beliefs were not in the Bible, and yet we passionately believed every one of them. For example, we believed in altar calls, the sinners prayer, Wednesday night church, that baptism is optional, and all of us believe in the Trinity. We believed a lot of stuff that was not directly written in the Bible.

At this point the conversation has changed from the assumption of Mary, which we can still address later, to a conversation about two things they believe and now must admit are not in the Bible. Altar calls are central to the belief of all evangelicals...guess what...not anywhere in the Bible. These same evangelical churches don’t have altars. Did God use those altar calls to bring souls into the church, of course, by His unlimited grace. Far too many, however, disappeared from the church is just a few months. And no, it was not because of the “rapture”.

The Bible does not say that Mary was not assumed into heaven, and the Bible does not say if it isn’t in the Bible than you shouldn’t believe it. Now we have some common ground to focus the issue on the authority behind what they

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believe, by what authority do you believe those things that are not explicitly written about in the Bible. So here is where we point out to them that you say we Catholics shouldn’t believe many things not mentioned in the Bible, but then why is it OK for you to believe many things not mentioned in the Bible…is that fair? Remember, we are not trying to label them hypocrites, but instead our goal is get them to examine carefully what they believe and why they believe it. Socrates stated, “a life unexamined is not worth living”. They may tell you right there, Socrates is nowhere in the Bible, but then ask them, is it true or not true? They know it’s true, truth is truth, no matter the source, each of us needs to examine the life we are living.

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This is great time to agree on the fact that we both agree the Bible is the inspired and inerrant word of God. The Catholic Church teaches that, but I do not agree with what you think that Bible says or does not say about several issues. So…here we are two well-meaning Christians trying to find truth in the Bible, asking the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide into all truth. But now we find ourselves in disagreement about several important issues, who is, if anyone, the final authority able to tell us which one of us is right, and even if we are both wrong?

Most of the time Catholics find themselves on the defense, but the issue of authority turns the conversation from defense to being on the offense, showing them that most protestants are really not “Bible only” believers…otherwise known as “sola scriptura”. Their beliefs are really based on their individual, fallible interpretations of the Bible and many things that are not in the Bible. Most of them have never thought of their faith in that way. It was shock to Jackie and me. Unfortunately, we never had this kind of conversation with a real live, in the flesh, Catholic. Instead we began to realize this as we watched the Journey Home program on EWTN.

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This is a good example of their private, fallible interpretation of the Bible, Romans 3:28 (RSV2CE) 28 For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law. They will quote this verse and then say, see, it says we are saved by faith alone, and not from works. Two things are wrong about that, the word alone is not in the verse, and the works talked about there are the works of the Law that Jews were required to follow. It does not say we are saved by faith alone, and the works spoken of here are not the good works that Jesus taught in the Gospels, like feeding the poor, or visiting the prisoners, or being a good Samaritan to someone. They just misquoted that verse and then they took it totally out of context.

Most protestants will tell you that they are fallible, in fact they believe all men, and women, are fallible. What does that mean as a point of fact…it means that whoever the fallible teacher and/or preacher leading their church is, he or she is possibly, and even probably teaching and preaching in error. That fact of fallibility means that there is no way to guarantee that anyone is teaching the truth, all of us is subject to error, leaving all of us in a hopeless situation with no guarantee that what we are believing as Christian doctrine and matters of faith are actually true. Reminds me of an old comparison of the US and Britain, we are two amazing nations, separated only by our common language.

But it even goes deeper than that, it really means in the protestant world each believer is left to themselves to decide what is truth, and what is not. Can you

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begin to see why we now have over 30,000 denominations, and counting? The use the same protestant Bible, with 33,000 different interpretations.

It is hard for me to believe that Jesus would leave His church here on earth with no final authority to determine what is truth, and what is not, concerning our faith. Why would God give us an inerrant book of Sacred Scripture with no authority to settle disagreements and teach without error from the Bible. This is the achilleas heal of Protestantism, no infallibility, no binding authority…no binding authority, no real authority at all. Remember the baseball analogy and the absence of official umpires…total chaos.

But we need to realize at this point we have not convinced anyone about infallibility or true authority, although we may have made them examine and begin to question what they truly believe. Does the Bible point to the office of Pope, both in authority and infallibility? The Catholic Church makes the claim that the lineage of the Pope confirms a line of succession all the way back to Peter. So, let’s first examine what the Bible says about Peter, Matthew 16:15–19 (RSV2CE) 15

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father

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who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

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And this begs the question, does this office of prime minister, or vicar, or keeper of the keys of the kingdom have any previous precedence in the Bible, and here it is, Isaiah 22:20–22 (RSV2CE) 20 In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, 21 and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your belt on him, and will commit your authority to his hand; and he shall be a father (I might expand here to papa, or pope) to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 22 And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.

This passing of the key of the House of David, is a prefiguring of the office of prime minister, and the new House of David is whom in our time…the Church. Nobody ever showed Jackie and I these verses, until we began to think in Catholic ways. When King Jesus, Son of David and Sone of God, ascended into heaven, who did he leave the keys of the kingdom to...Peter. This exchange between Peter and Jesus says a lot to me, John 21:15–17 (RSV2CE) 15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 A second time he said to him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Sure sounds to me like the Good shepherd Jesus, is

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passing on the responsibility of shepherding His flock to the next shepherd, Peter the first Papa, or Pope of the Church.

The very first half for the Book of Acts, Peter is front and center. Who was the only one willing to get out to the boat, and walk on the water? Not for very long granted. It was Peter. It was Peter that finally realized that they needed to take the Gospel to the Gentiles. Every time the apostles are listed in the Bible, Peter is the first in order. Listen to this amazing passage in the Amplified Bible, Luke 22:31–32 (AMP) 31 Simon, Simon (Peter), listen! Satan has asked excessively that [all of] you be given up to him [out of the power and keeping of God], that he might sift [all of] you like grain, 32 But I have prayed especially for you [Peter], that your [own] faith may not fail; and when you yourself have turned again, strengthen and establish your brethren. Listen to the pronouns that are plural concerning the rest of the Apostles, and the personal pronouns that are singular concerning Peter. This is the same responsibility that the has Pope today. Pope Francis is the servant of all servants. God is strengthening his faith in order to establish the faith of his fellow Bishops. Pope Francis began his papacy asking all of us to pray for him, because he was a sinner.

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The issue of papal infallibility has nothing to do with the pope being a sinner, they were and are all sinners, especially Peter. Infallibility has to do with God’s power and ability to keep His Church from teaching error when it comes to doctrine and morals. Can God do that, even most protestants will admit that God can do it, the question becomes has He done that in the past, and will He continue to keep His Church from error on matters of doctrine and error as we go forward. Jesus promised that He would send the Holy Spirit, “to lead us and guide us into all truth”.

Jesus Himself taught with this kind of infallible authority, and the people often would say, we have never heard a rabbi teach with such authority. Guess who is heading up His Church right this very moment, Jesus. Without this rock foundation, completely free from error, the teaching authority of the Church would erode and leave all of us to fend for ourselves, and eventually splinter the Catholic church into thousands of pieces. Sound familiar, I saw it first hand in the protestant world. Who is leading the way in this culture of death, defending life from the moment of conception, to natural death. Thank God, many protestants have joined us now, and are fighting with locked arms against abortion and assisted suicide.

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Which Church is the most ridiculed and maligned in the press for living in the dark ages and not giving in to the gay agenda going on out there in our confused and modern world. Which Church leads all others in charitable programs working among the poor, in virtually every nation on earth. Which Church has monasteries and convents full of religious praying for this lost and dying world around the clock, 24/7. Jackie and I went looking for the early church founded over 2000 years ago by Jesus Himself, and we found her. To our amazement, she was and is known around the world as the Catholic Church. We are thrilled to be Catholic.