One Hundred Fifty Reasons I'm Catholic - And You Should Be Too!

http://www.ourcatholicfaith.org ^ | January 23, 2014 | Dave Armstrong

[NKP_Vet]

1. Best One-Sentence Summary: I am convinced that the Catholic Church conforms much more closely to all of the biblical data, offers the only coherent view of the history of Christianity (i.e., Christian, apostolic Tradition), and possesses the most profound and sublime Christian morality, spirituality, social ethic, and philosophy.

2. Alternate: I am a Catholic because I sincerely believe, by virtue of much cumulative evidence, that Catholicism is true, and that the Catholic Church is the visible Church divinely-established by our Lord Jesus, against which the gates of hell cannot and will not prevail (Mt 16:18), thereby possessing an authority to which I feel bound in Christian duty to submit.

3. 2nd Alternate: I left Protestantism because it was seriously deficient in its interpretation of the Bible (e.g., "faith alone" and many other "Catholic" doctrines - see evidences below), inconsistently selective in its espousal of various Catholic Traditions (e.g., the Canon of the Bible), inadequate in its ecclesiology, lacking a sensible view of Christian history (e.g., "Scripture alone"), compromised morally (e.g., contraception, divorce), and unbiblically schismatic, anarchical, and relativistic. I don't therefore believe that Protestantism is all bad (not by a long shot), but these are some of the major deficiencies I eventually saw as fatal to the "theory" of Protestantism, over against Catholicism. All Catholics must regard baptized, Nicene, Chalcedonian Protestants as Christians.

4. Catholicism isn't formally divided and sectarian (Jn 17:20-23; Rom 16:17; 1 Cor 1:10-13).

5. Catholic unity makes Christianity and Jesus more believable to the world (Jn 17:23).

6. Catholicism, because of its unified, complete, fully supernatural Christian vision, mitigates against secularization and humanism.

7. Catholicism avoids an unbiblical individualism which undermines Christian community (e.g., 1 Cor 12:25-26).

8. Catholicism avoids theological relativism, by means of dogmatic certainty and the centrality of the papacy.

[CynicalBear]

>>Does that mean God condemns the billions of people that ....through no fault of their own...were born on a part of the planet, or at a time that had no knowledge of Jesus?<<

John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

[CynicalBear]

“your sins have been forgiven” is a proclamation of God’s forgiveness, not from some carnal human.

[bike800]

Adam and Eve, Moses, Abraham, Abel, All the prophets ...God chosen people by his own words...are they denied heaven as well?

[Arthur McGowan]

Do you deny that there are any sacraments?

[impimp]

So then you assert that nobody from the Old Testament was saved?

[MamaB]

My minister teaches directly from the Bible-—verse by verse which is the way it should be done. We all love him.

[CynicalBear]

>>Adam and Eve, Moses, Abraham, Abel, All the prophets ...God chosen people by his own words...are they denied heaven as well?<<

Nice try but if you don’t understand the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament after Christ’s death and resurrection you really need to study that.

[MamaB]

That is something I have never understood. Why do they confess to a man when God is always available anywhere, any time? No man s sinless so how can they forgive anyone?

[CynicalBear]

>>So then you assert that nobody from the Old Testament was saved?<<

You really don’t understand the difference between the Old and New Testament?

[CynicalBear]

>>Do you deny that there are any sacraments?<<

As they are understood by the Catholic?

[redleghunter]

Without faith it is impossible to please God. That was preached to the Hebrews.

[Arthur McGowan]

How are they understood by the Catholic?

[redleghunter]

A little off topic but knowing how you like history...remember the Bishop Odo of Bayeux? Legend has it he used a mace in combat so as not to shed blood.

[redleghunter]

Ah LOL. The cause and effect humor is great.

[HarleyD]

I hope this is from the articles for these are some of the dumbest statements that I've seen.

21. Many Protestants take a dim view towards Christian history in general

Wrong. Much of the founding Protestant writings go back to the teachings of the early church fathers. It is these same teachings that are now ignored by the Catholic Church except for some selective quotes.

22. Protestantism from its inception was anti-Catholic, and remains so to this day (esp. evangelicalism)....The Catholic Church, on the other hand, is not anti-Protestant.

Protestantism was anti-Catholic from its inception simply because of heretical doctrinal teachings that do not align with the founding fathers (see #1). The Catholic Church official dogma states the follow:
20.Membership of the Catholic Church is necessary for all men for salvation.

Please note the inconsistency of many Catholics here to the official dogma of the Church

24. Most Protestants do not have bishops

Some do, some don't. But bishop is only one translation from the Greek. Another is overseer. If one wants to be literal, then these people should be called Hagios (the Greek term). However, I don't really think these people would like to be known as "the Hags".

25. Protestantism has no way of settling doctrinal issues definitively.

While this sounds very admirable, truth is Catholics and their close companions the Orthodox do not agree on several major doctrinal issues, one being if the Pope is the final authority and infallible in judgment.

26. Protestantism arose in 1517, and is a “Johnny-come-lately” in the history of Christianity.

Protestantism traces its roots back to Augustine. Some go even further tracing it roots back to John the Baptist.

27. The Protestant notion of the “invisible church” is also novel in the history of Christianity and foreign to the Bible (Mt 5:14; Mt 16:18), therefore untrue.

Mat 5:14 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

Mat 16:18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

This is a great example of standard Catholic practice-throw out some meaningless scripture references to pretend they support the argument. I would suggest the author seriously study the following verse:
Col_1:16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

28. When Protestant theologians speak of the teaching of early Christianity (e.g., when refuting “cults”), they say “the Church taught . . .” (as it was then unified), but when they refer to the present they instinctively and inconsistently refrain from such terminology

That was then, this is now. Protestants believed what the early church fathers taught. They don't believe what the current Church teaches. (This seems like a big DUH!)

29. The Protestant principle of private judgment has created a milieu (esp. in Protestant America) in which (invariably) man-centered “cults”

All one has to do is Google the worship of Mary, zodiacs in Catholic churches, Hindu worship in Catholic churches, Buddha worship in Catholic churches... Shall I go on?

30. The lack of a definitive teaching authority in Protestant (as with the Catholic magisterium) makes many individual Protestants think that they have a direct line to God

Mat_6:6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

This is what happens when you have a Protestant convert who has a BA degree in Sociology. All of a sudden they're an expert in Protestant history (bad) and Catholicism (good). Catholics can be such saps for accepting these people credentials.

[CynicalBear]

I’m not going down that rabbit trail with you. The ritualistic “sacraments” of the Catholic Church are far removed from true teaching of scripture and that has been shown many times on these forums.

[HarleyD]

To the contrary. ...ST. AUGUSTINE

OK. I'd love to see some quotes from A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints.

[ansel12]

That has nothing to do with my post and the political reality of Catholics and their relationship to government and the democrat party in America.

The Catholic vote has never changed, they were as devoted to FDR, as they have been to the Kennedys, Pelosi, and the modern left.

[impimp]

I guess this conversation is over since I don’t know the difference between the OT and the NT./sarc