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Blue Collar Apologetics Session 4Handout 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. Pray to the Holy Spirit for wisdom and guidance…pray, pray, pray.2. You don’t have to know everything3. Do not be afraid Luke 5:10 (RSV2CE) 10 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/attacks as opportunities5. Don’t get frustrated!6. Never be afraid to say, “I don’t know….” But then go find out.

4 Strategies

1. The ignorant Catholic, similar to rules of engagement #62. Be Aw-fensive and not Uh-fensive, not always on the defensive3. It’s the principle of the thing!4. 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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Review of “it’s the principle of the thing” and a discussion of purgatory in the Catholic understanding

1. There are some very important articles of our faith that the Bible does not expressly speak of by name

2. The word Trinity and the concept of one God in three persons is never named explicitly in the Bible but the principle of the Trinity has been revealed to the Church over time. Eventually the Church was able to connect together several scriptures revealing the truth of the Trinity and explain the great mystery of our Triune God

3. Purgatory is another part of our faith that should be understood in this way, the word cannot be found in the Bible, but connecting scripture from the Bible reveals the principle

It is so important to realize the Catholic Church has the answers to all the Bible based questions we might be confronted with. When we begin to doubt this reality, that doubt can weaken our faith in the Church’s authority and draw us away from our Catholic faith, by thinking the Church doesn’t have the answers. The problem is we are the ones that don’t know the answers, but thankfully we are beginning to see that change. Sadly…too many Catholics have already suffered that fate.

What about the infallibility of the Catholic Church and the Pope? This subject is once again best addressed with “it’s the principle of the thing”, since the word infallibility is not found in the Bible. We will add a fourth strategy to finding the “principle of the thing”, called “that is my interpretation”. Many Catholics are confronted with protestants making the claim that we Catholics have an incorrect understanding of the Bible; or our interpretation of scripture is all wrong; or that we need to better understand what the “original Greek” really means; or something else along those lines.

When the conversation turns to the infallibility of the Pope, or the teachings of the Catholic Church, this is your opportunity to remind them of what protestants actually believe. You might say it this way, “don’t you believe, like most protestants, we should live our lives by the Bible alone, and that every man or

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woman has a right to interpret the Bible in their own way, guided by the Holy Spirit? Almost all protestants will agree with that statement, it is one of their core beliefs. That is when you can inform them, “well that’s my interpretation”. “Are you saying, I don’t have the right to interpret scripture in my way, but you do have that right?” And are also you saying your interpretation is better that mine? Do you believe that your interpretation is the only one that is right?” You in reality have leveled the playing field, by establishing by their own protestant theology that you have the same right to interpret scripture as they do.

You and I as Catholics have the right and we are encouraged to study scripture and determine for ourselves what it all means. But if I ever want to publicly share a valid and truthful interpretation of a sacred scripture, as a Catholic, I will follow the Catholic Church’s teaching on that scripture and stay within the boundaries of Catholic teaching. If I break with my submission to the Church’s teaching, and proclaim my own interpretation, it won’t be long before I will have started yet another protestant denomination, and spit with the Church. When Jackie and I became Catholic, we vowed to follow the teachings of the Catholic Church, and not our own interpretation. And we couldn’t be happier.

It is very important to realize that most Protestants do not believe any man or human organization is infallible...that all men are fallible. That belief is then open to a very important question. Ask them if they believe they too are fallible, along

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with everybody else. Many Protestants believe that all men are fallible in theory, but when you get down to making them admit that they too are fallible, they don’t accept that so-called universal truth. Everyone else seems to be fallible (subject to error) except, their pastor or their church, or their denomination. Contradiction? You bet.

The net result of asking if they are fallible too, is that all men are fallible including all Christians and hopefully they will include the Catholics as Christians. They will eventually have to admit that they too, and/or their pastor, could in fact be teaching in error, and that their interpretation of the Bible could be flat wrong. You will be surprised how many of them never even thought about fallibility in that way. They didn’t realize that they were really saying anybody that doesn’t believe what I believe is in error, me and my church are the only ones that are right. It might even dawn on them this may be the reason we have 33,000 Protestant denominations, and we are still counting.

Many protestants are “fallible” in theory, but act “infallible” in practice. In theory they believe everyone has a right to “interpret the Bible correctly”, but in practice they are convinced they are the only ones that got it right. The direction of this kind of reasoning eventually brings up the question of who in the Christian world has the authority to teach the Bible with the assurance of being error-free. If every man is fallible, than protestants have to admit, they are in the class too, and what they believe could be in error. Most Catholic converts will tell you that the question of authority became a big issue for them as they drifted from one Protestant church to another. If protestants are honest about what they believe, they have to say that their fallible interpretation of the Bible is no better then your fallible understanding of sacred scripture.

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But, that is not the end of the discussion, only the beginning. As Catholics, we can boldly go on to say that yes, we personally may be fallible, but the teachings of the Catholic Church, the Pope and the bishops in communion with the Pope are infallible, as it related to matters of faith and morals. And you and I can show them the principles of infallibility found in the Holy Scripture and in the catechism of the Church. At this point it is important to state those related principles from the Bible and the catechism of the Church. Most Protestants are not aware that some of their core beliefs are in serious contradiction.

As Catholics, you and are free to interpret what the Bible is saying, within the boundaries of the teaching of the Catholic Church. I like those boundaries that are so clearly stated in our catechism. I was looking for those boundaries in the Protestant world, and I never found them. Some of the teachings I have heard in my Protestant past would make your skin crawl, and you would be amazed at how much heresy is still being taught out there with no authority to step in and correct the error. It ends up being the blind leading the blind.

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So, what are the scriptural principals behind the idea of infallibility? Here are some important thoughts and then some specific scriptures. You might start by reminding our separated brethren that Pope Francis began his papacy by asking everyone to pray for him, acknowledging that he was sinner, all men are sinners. Infallibility has to do with the teaching of the Pope, and of the Catholic Church dealing with faith and morals. Do you really think the Church founded by Jesus Himself would be allowed to teach doctrinal error when it comes to faith and morals? That makes no sense.

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Luke 10:16 (RSV2CE) 16 “He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

Luke 22:31–32 (RSV2CE) 31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren.”

Matthew 18:18 (RSV2CE) 18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

John 14:26 (RSV2CE) 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Here are some notes on John 14:26 in the Ignatius Study New Testament from Scott Hahn.

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John 16:13 (RSV2CE) 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

Here are the notes on this passage.

This idea of authority is fundamental. It not only affects the acceptance of the infallibility of the Pope and Church teaching, it affects many other teachings of the Church as well. The Assumption of Mary, purgatory, confessing to a priest, praying the Rosary, all of these are key doctrines and practices of the Catholic faith that are believed and followed by Catholics grounded in the authority of the Church. By using these two strategies here, “it’s the principle of the thing”, and “that’s my interpretation”, you and I can be very effective in sharing and defending our Catholic faith.

I really like the way the video ended, our Catholic lady challenged right back when the protestant challenged her over her interpretation of the Bible. She asked him very directly where he got the authority to declare that all Catholics are wrong and only he and his church were right. And by the way she asked if he knew how long his church had been around, 200 years maybe? Why should she trust the teaching of a church that was not founded by Jesus and probably split just

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because they disagreed with Catholic teaching? And why is the interpretation of the Bible by his protestant church to be believed more than the 33,000 other protestant churches and their interpretation of the Bible. She made it clear that she would rather trust the Church the Jesus founded two thousand years ago, along with her infallible teaching on faith and morals, based on the principles she just shared from scripture. This confidant Catholic was firm, but respectful as she defended Catholic teaching.

Notes: